great-grandfather Joseph Henry Thomas, a prominent black Bermudian in the 19th Century.

Born 1823 Died: April 29, 1908 (at the age of 85 years) 1844: Member of the Founding Committee of the Industrious Man's Library `for the Benefit of the Black and Coloured Population' of Bermuda.

1846-1853: Teacher in charge of The Lane School (Supported by the Funds of the `Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts') from 5th. May 1846 to late summer of 1853.

1848-1855: J.H. Thomas was one of the Founding Fathers of Odd fellowship in Bermuda. On the 4th of May 1848, he made a visit to the United States and secured a charter to start up a lodge in Bermuda, and accordingly, in the same year, the colony's Lodge movement began with the formation of the Somers Pride of India Lodge, Number 899, St. George's of which Mr. Thomas was a founding member. This lodge was the first of many in Bermuda to be associated with an international secret society.

On September 7, 1855, J.H. Thomas of the Somers Pride of India and Alexandrina Lodges represented Bermuda at the Old-Fellow Convention in Philadelphia.

1853-1859: Established a private Seminary, `The Chester School', on October 1853. (His wife, Ann Mary Rubottom Thomas, instructed Females in Plain and Fancy Needle-work.) Five and a half years later the school closed.

J.H. Thomas returned to Lane School between Dec. 1858 and Feb. 1859.

1853-1856: Member of The Berkeley Club which was formed to maintain St. Paul's College. (An inter-racial school).

1859: One of Bermuda's first black jurors. He was elected juror in November 1859.

1870: One of eleven Members of the General Committee that instituted proceedings to bring the British Methodist Church of Canada to Bermuda (the fore-runner of The A.M.E. Church in Bermuda).

1870: J.H. Thomas was appointed of Body No. 2 of the Devonshire College Trust for the establishment of a coloured secondary school. (The Devonshire College Act 1870, provided money for segregated education. Money was divided between Body No. 1 and Body No. 2. The members of Body No. 2 fought unsuccessfully for Body No. 1 and Body No. 2 to join forces to have an inter-racial school.) 1879: First Chairman of the Originators and of the Founding Committee of the Berkeley Educational Society which had its initial meeting on October 6, 1879.

Reference: Heritage by Dr. Kenneth E. Robinson The Berkeley Educational Society's Origins and Early History by Dr. Kenneth E.

Robinson.

A New Dawn by James E. Smith Bermuda Annual Conference, A.M.E. Churches in Bermuda, 100 Years (Page 26).

Joseph Henry Thomas BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIS