The DeSoto Press - Desoto, Missouri, Friday, April 28, 1916 Mrs. Sarah Ellen Pipkin Thomas passed away at the residence of her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James Walter Evens at Waco, Texas at 1:20 p.m. April 17th, 1916, aged 73 years, 7 months and 9 days, while on a visit with them. Mrs. Thomas was born in St. Louis County, Missouri September 8, 1837 while her mother was temporially at the home of her father, Mr. Jonah Parke. She was the eldest child of the late Hon. Philip Pipkin and Sarah Parke. Judge Pipkin, a distinguished lawyer, was a member of the Missouri Legislature from Jefferson County in 1843 and he enjoyed the rare distinction of having been a member of three Missouri constitutional conventions; those of 1846-47, 1861-64 and 1875. He also held several of the other minor offices both in Jefferson and Iron counties. Mrs. Thomas' grandfather, Col. Philip Pipkin, commanded a Tennessee regiment in the Seminole (Florida) War of 1814, and her great grandfather Lester Morris, was a soldier for four years in a Virginia regiment of the Revolutionary War and was severly wounded in battle at Savanah, Ga. in 1780 and was there captured and held prisoner by the British until after the seige of Yorktown, a period of 18 months. In 1844, the subject of this sketch moved with her father to Hillsboro from Sandy, where she continued to reside until she was married, at the age of 19 years, to John Lilburn Thomas by Rev. John Lilburn McFarland of DeSoto, on December 25, 1856. Her husband-to-be was then living and practicing law at Steelville, Mo, and there being no railroad to that town, the bride and groom went overland in a one horse buggy. It took them three days to make the trip at the rate of 20 miles a day, the bride carrying her whole wardrobe in an ordinary valise. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas lived nearly two years at Steelville, moving to Hillsboro in September 1858, where they continued to reside until 1881, when they went to DeSoto. Mrs. Thomas was the mother of 12 children, the first being twins, stillborn, but only five survive her. They are: Mrs. Kora S. Evens, the wife of Mr. Evens, Superintendent of the Texas Division of the M.K & T. Ry with headquarters at Waco, Texas; Winna of Denver, Colo, wife of Wm B. Morgan, a former teacher at Hillsboro and law student in Judge Green's office and late Judge of the Colorado Court of Appeals; Zoe Mitchell, now residing in Los Angles, Cal; Emily, the wife of Frank Hamal who is in the insurance business, and now living in Sacramento; and Richard M. who resides in Washington, DC and is the attorney in charge of the credit deparment of Miller Brothers Automobile Co. She also has eight grandchildren living. Though Mrs. Thomas was the mother of so many children, she lived to see youngest of these attain the age of 38 years. She had been on an extended trip to see her daughter, Mrs. Hamal in Sacramento, where Zoe joined them, her daughter Winna at Denver and then Mrs. Evens at Waco and was in usual health until four days before her decease. Mrs. Thomas, after her release from the care of young children, devoted much of her time to visiting the sick and doing all she could to comfort and aid them. She was one of the past matrons of the DeSoto Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star but at the time of her death whe was a member of Brookland Chapter No. 11 of Washington, DC. She was an anti-suffragette but she loved society at all times and while her husband was a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri, 1891-2 and Assistant Attorney General for the Post Office Department in 1898, she took a very active part on the social functions of the State and Nation. It may be truly said of her that she was a staunch friend, a loving, faithful and devoted wife and ideal mother. "None knew her but to love her; none named her but to praise." One of the saddest incidents, however, in connection with her sickness and death must be recorded. She had none of her children with her at that trying time except Mrs. Evens, even her husband, on account of physical disability was not able to go to her bedside. She was a member of the Episcopal Church and a devout Christian and after the funeral service by an Episcopal minister at her daughter's home in Waco at 3:30 p.m. April 18th, she was placed to rest temporaly in a vault at the place. When her husband passes away they will both be taken to Hillsboro and permanently laid to rest near where they were married and spent together many happy years of the best part of their lives. [From Microfilm from MO Historical Society, Columbia, MO]