Biography of Milo J. Thomas, pages 333/334/335. History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



The two most strongly marked characteristics of both the 
East and the West are combined in the residents of the 
section of country of which this volume treats. The 
enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and 
makes possible almost any undertaking in the comparatively 
new and vigorous Western states is here tempered by the 
stable and more careful policy which we have borrowed from 
our Easter neighbors, and the combination is one of 
peculiar force and power. It has been the means of placing 
this section of the country on a par with the older East, 
and at the same time producing a reliability and certainty 
in business affairs which is frequently lacking in the 
West. This happy combination of characteristics is 
possessed by the subject of this sketch, Milo J. Thomas, a 
leading citizen and successful business man of Corunna, 
DeKalb county, Indiana.  Milo J. Thomas, to whom the 
enterprising town of Corunna, DeKalb county, Indiana, is 
largely indebted for its present prosperity, is a native of 
the county in which he now lives, and was born on August 
15, 1861. He is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Reckenwalt) 
Thomas, both of whom were natives of the state of Ohio, the 
father born at Louisville. Daniel Thomas came to Indiana in 
an early day, settling in Richland township, where he 
followed the vocation of farming with splendid  success 
until his retirement, when he moved to Corunna, where he 
now resides.  The subject of this sketch and an older 
sister, Almira, who died in infancy, where the only 
children born to him.  Milo J. Thomas received his 
preliminary education in the common schools of DeKalb 
County, and then went to Valparaiso University, this state, 
where he attended one hundred and six weeks, and, thus well 
qualified, he engaged in the  pedagogical profession and 
for eight years was numbered among the successful teachers 
of this locality, his summers being employed as a clerk, in 
which he gained valuable mercantile experience and 
familiarized himself with business methods and ideas. In 
1888 Mr. Thomas engaged in the general mercantile business 
at Corunna, carrying a general line of hardware, lumber and 
farming implements, his hardware stock including a well 
selected line of heavy and shelf hardware, stoves and 
ranges,  and in the conduct of this enterprise he seemed to 
have met along-felt want, for his success was notable from 
the beginning. This success was not accomplished without 
much hard labor, indefatigable effort and a persistency 
that would brook no obstacles, and twice during his 
business career he was visited by disastrous fires, first 
on May 9, 1889, and again on July 22, 1895, but, undaunted 
by apparent disaster, Mr. Thomas at once rebuilt and 
restocked his new store and has now the enviable reputation 
of owning the largest and best equipped hardware and 
implement store in the state,  the size of the town 
considered.  Among the hardware men of Indiana Mr. Thomas 
has long enjoyed a high reputation, both because of his 
business success and because of his high standing as a man, 
and he was recently elected president of the Indiana Retail 
Hardware Dealers' Association, and honor deserved by him 
and thoroughly appreciated. He was also chosen a delegate 
to the National Hardware Dealers' Association,, which 
convened at Jacksonville, Florida. On November 15, 1897, 
Mr. Thomas engaged in the banking business under the name 
of the Thomas Exchange Bank, and in this enterprise his 
judgment was again vindicated,  for the Thomas Exchange 
Bank has grown in importance and influence until today it 
is one of the leading banks of DeKalb county. It also has 
the honor of being one of the fifteen hundred banks in the 
United States which have won a place on the Roll of Honor, 
which means that the surplus and undivided profits are 
greater then the capital stock. Mr. Thomas is now president 
of the DeKalb County Bankers' Association, Always on the 
lookout for an opportunity to advance local conditions, Mr. 
Thomas, in 1893, succeeded in getting telephone 
communication with the outside world and the Corunna 
Telephone Exchange, which was established in 1897, became 
one of  the most popular public utilities of this locality. 
Eventually Mr. Thomas disposed of his interest in the same, 
but to him belongs the credit for its establishment here. 
Mr. Thomas also for a number of years held important 
interests in the Corunna Flouring Mills, and in many other 
ways has been one of the most important and influential 
factors in the advancement of the commercial interest of 
this thriving town. Sound mental powers, invincible courage 
and a determined purpose that hesitates at no opposition 
has so entered into his composition as to render him a 
dominant factor in the business world and a leader of men. 
He is essentially a man of affairs, of sound judgment, keen 
discernment, rare acumen, far-seeing in what he undertakes 
and every enterprise to which he has addressed himself has 
resulted in liberal financial returns. His success in life 
has been the legitimate fruitage of consecutive effort, 
directed and controlled by good judgement and correct 
principles. On September 17, 1885, Mr. Thomas married Vesta 
Kline, the daughter of Henry J. and Elmira S. (Harding) 
Kline. Mrs. Thomas's father was born in Huron county, Ohio, 
and her mother in DeKalb county, Indiana. Elmira Harding 
was a daughter of Dimmick Harding, who came from New York 
state to DeKalb county, settling in Richland township. He 
became the father of two children, Mrs. Thomas, who was 
born June 26, 1868, and Archie, born in December, 1872, and 
who  died at the age of one year. Henry J. Kline came to 
DeKalb county at the age of twelve years with his parents, 
John and Catherine (Geisler) Kline, who settled in Richland 
township, their former home having been in Crawford county, 
Ohio, and he was married to Elmira Harding in 1862. After 
the death of his first wife, Mr. Kline married Elma 
Reynolds, the daughter of Nathaniel and Jeannette Reynolds, 
who had come to DeKalb county from New York state. He died 
on July 1, 1909. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have been born five 
children, namely: Harry K., born March 24, 1877; Bertha M., 
March 5, 1889; Charles A., July 16, 1894; Hugh A., July 27, 
1896; Wilma, October 26, 1900. Hugh A. Thomas was 
accidentally shot and killed by a companion on February 26, 
1911.  Thus in brief have been given the leading facts in 
the eventful career of a man whom Corunna honors as a 
successful business	man, public-spirited citizens and a 
man whose private life will stand the test of scrutiny. 
Finally, in him there are combined the qualities of head 
and heart that win confidence and beget friendship, and in 
the locality which has so long been honored by his 
citizenship no one enjoys to the higher degree the good 
will of all know him.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com