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1866
background
John Oliver Thomas was a Black Jamaican, born in the 1830s, who went to Bluefields, in the Mosquito Coast, in the late 1850s.
from Family Search: unfortunately the original record is not available.
Houses at Bluefields, painted by a visitor in July, 1845.
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"Bluefields is the capital of Mosquitia. It is situated on the river and lagoon of the same name. In the midst of the palms bordering the river is the residence of the king, and his English tutor or guardian, over which floats the British flag. At some distance from this is the House of Justice, which is under the Mosquitia flag." (Belize newspaper article from the late 1840s)
"In October 1847, Bluefields and its dependencies contained 599 inhabitants of all ages [...]. These occupy two villages, the largest of which is Bluefields proper, containing 78 houses; the lesser, ‘Carlsruhe’, the Prussian colony consisting of 92 souls, occupying 16 houses. Very few of these houses are built of board [...] There is neither church nor priest in the place."
(E. Squier, Notes on Central America, 1855) |
who was Dr. Joseph E. Thomas?
Joseph Evan Thomas graduated in Medicine at Howard University in May 1899, probably the first Jamaican to do so, though at least two Jamaicans had earlier graduated there in Dentistry - as did two more at the same time as Thomas in that year.
However, I have so far found out very little about Dr. Thomas, and what I have found is very difficult to interpret - I hope that others with more information will be able to help!
The first reference I have found to Dr. Thomas in Jamaica was in the Gleaner, April 14, 1908 -
'Dr. Joseph E. Thomas, who said: I am a certificated medical practitioner and obtained my degree of M.D. from Howard University.Washington, D.C., U.S.A. I came to Jamaica in April, 1907, arriving in Montego Bay in November last.'
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Daily Gleaner, July 19, 1915
DEATH OF DR. THOMAS. Bocas del Toro, July 14.— "Dr. Thomas is dead." Like a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a sharp clap of thunder these four words passed in rapid circulation from lip to lip, from street to street, and startled this entire community a few minutes after seven o'clock last Friday morning, 9th inst. The lifeless body of the late doctor was found in a sitting posture in his office on the upper floor of the premises, 47 First Street by one James Nelson, who said he hails from Black River, Jamaica, and was in the employ of the deceased about two months, long after six o'clock that morning. The body, except for a jacket, was fully clothed; and in front of the rocker, where it was discovered, a copy of the "Gleaner" lay folded. The crowd gathered fast and thick and by [?] o'clock the street in front and the piazza below were lined with hundreds of men, women, and children. Policemen and civilians were placed on special guard; the officials of the Government and Drs. Paul Osterhout and C. A. Vaz (port and sanitary doctors respectively) soon arrived. No post mortem examination was held on the corpse, although the doctor was last seen and heard of at about 11 p.m. on Thursday night. With this, the majority of residents here are highly dissatisfied. The funeral cortège moved at 5.15 p.m.; hundreds were in the procession. Of the four surviving coloured medicos, two attended, to wit, Dr. Thos. H. Stewart (who drove with the clergyman) and Dr. A. O. Rawlins. With but few exceptions all the prominent Jamaicans attended. The burial ceremony was conducted by the Revs. R. Waite-Smith (Anglican) and M. C. Surgeon (Wesleyan). Both clergymen spoke in eulogistic terms of the late medico's intellectual attainments and practical skill as a physician and surgeon. Mr. Surgeon emphasising on his very brilliant career at York Castle High School, Jamaica, B. W. I. where he became a college fellow of the doctor, and also of his very excellent record as a Medical student at Howard University, U.S.A., where he passed at 98, a figure never attained before nor since by any student entering there. The coffin was wrapped with the British flag, from the dwelling to the grave. Dr. Joseph Evan Thomas was born at Pearl Cay, Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua, where his late father John O. Thomas, a very prominent Jamaican, had emigrated. He saw the light of day on January 31, 1875. He became a naturalized British subject and was most interested in England's progress in the present war. 
- the tomb of Dr Joseph Evan Thomas in Bocas del Toro.
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On a FaceBook page from Bocas del Toro I have found this information and picture; I hope others have more knowledge of Spanish than I do, so will not need a translation! (The one on facebook confirmed my amateur interpretation, but was really not of a standard I would wish to reproduce.)
Dr. Joseph E. Thomas 1875-1915
Patriarca de la conocida familia Thomas de Isla Colón, era nativo de Bluefield, Nicaragua y se calcula que arribo a Bocas del Toro durante el primer quinquenio del siglo XX, luego de un breve periplo por Providencia, San Andrés.
Dr. Thomas, inferimos, fue uno de los pocos médicos en ejercer la medicina privada en Bocas del Toro, con independencia de los servicios prestados por la United Fruit Company. Es casi nada lo que se conoce sobre sus estudios aunque la tradición oral de su familia apunta a que los mismos se realizaron, tal vez, en el Reino Unido.
Contrajo nupcias con Rosilda López con quien tuvo tres hijos, Guillermo (1903), Ruby (1907) y José (1910) siendo este último padre del popular propietario del Hotel Bahía, Don Tito Thomas.
El Dr. Thomas muere prematuramente en 1915 a los 40 años de edad. Su tumba se encuentra ubicada en el cementerio de Isla Colón. Se conoce que su pasión era la cría de caballos de carrera, afición que compartió junto con otros pioneros como los Surgeon y los Anderson.
Información y retrato cortesías de Don Tito Thomas.
' pioneers of old mouths '
Patriarca de la conocida familia Thomas de Isla Colón, era nativo de Bluefield, Nicaragua y se calcula que arribo a Bocas del Toro durante el primer quinquenio del siglo XX, luego de un breve periplo por Providencia, San Andrés.
Dr. Thomas, inferimos, fue uno de los pocos médicos en ejercer la medicina privada en Bocas del Toro, con independencia de los servicios prestados por la United Fruit Company. Es casi nada lo que se conoce sobre sus estudios aunque la tradición oral de su familia apunta a que los mismos se realizaron, tal vez, en el Reino Unido.
Contrajo nupcias con Rosilda López con quien tuvo tres hijos, Guillermo (1903), Ruby (1907) y José (1910) siendo este último padre del popular propietario del Hotel Bahía, Don Tito Thomas.
El Dr. Thomas muere prematuramente en 1915 a los 40 años de edad. Su tumba se encuentra ubicada en el cementerio de Isla Colón. Se conoce que su pasión era la cría de caballos de carrera, afición que compartió junto con otros pioneros como los Surgeon y los Anderson.
Información y retrato cortesías de Don Tito Thomas.
' pioneers of old mouths '
I have linked up with Josè G. Thomas S. in Bocas del Toro, and we are finding out more about this pioneer doctor - and his father, John Oliver Thomas, who left Jamaica in the 1850s for Bluefields in Nicaragua, - and his brother, Dr John Oliver Thomas, who graduated from Howard in 1895.
