Charles W. Thomas, whose post office address is Roslyn, is the proprietor of a hotel at Flower Hill. He was born in Saxony, Germany, July 4, 1847, and is the son of Lawrence and Barbara (Sieter) Thomas, also born in Fatherland. During the fifteen years of his life spent in his native land our subject was given a good education and for a short time attended college May 28, 1862, after spending some time in crossing the Atlantic, he was landed in New York City.

The Civil War being in progress when Mr. Thomas came to America he soon enlisted and was mustered into the regiment known as the "Lost Children," with which he served for five months. He then became a member of Battery M, Fifth United States Light Artillery, which he joined at Yorktown, Va., and took part in some of the most important battles of the war, among them being the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Woodstock, (in the Shenandoah Valley), Winchester and Cedar Creek, in which latter conflict the Union soldiers were obliged to retreat. During this period Mr. Thomas served under the name Karl Wilhelm. He remained in the service until the close of the war and on being ordered to report at Washington, D.C., was honorably discharged June 3, 1865. Although he did not participate in the grand review, he remained at the capital and was a witness of this thrilling sight. During over three years of service our subject was never seriously wounded, although at one time he was kicked in the eye by a horse and disabled for some time.

Having saved $300 or $400 out of the small wages paid him while in the army, Mr. Thomas started in the trucking business in New York and was thus engaged for a period of twelve years. When eighteen years of age he was married in the metropolis to Miss Elizabeth Turant, the ceremony which made them one being performed August 26, 1865. Miss Turant was also of German birth, having been born in Hanover. She remained the loving companion of Mr. Thomas for seven years, and in 1872 departed this life, leaving two children. For his second wife our subject chose Louisa Wenner, by whom he has become the father of four children.

After abandoning the trucking business our subject was bookkeeper and collector for a firm in the city for two years. He was then engaged for the same length of time in the manufacture of furniture, and after closing out his business in this line secured a position as conductor with one of the street railway companies. The next account we have of him was three years later, when he embarked in the saloon business, continuing to be thus engaged in New York City for five years. In 1886 he removed to College Point, and after five years spent in business there took up his residence in Flower Hill.

In his political relations Mr. Thomas is independent. Socially he is a Mason and Odd Fellow of good standing, and also belongs to the Knights of Honor and the Order of Foresters. He is a Grand Army man and often meets his old comrades at the various reunions, which he never fails to attend. He formerly belonged to William T. Kennedy Post, No. 42, of New York City, but he is now allied with Elijah Wort Post, No. 654.

Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record of Queens County (Long Island) New York"
(Copyright 1896 by Chapman Publishing Company)

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