Thomas, Benjamin Cassius

Benjamin Cassius Thomas was born in Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, on June 21, 1855, to John P. Thomas and Elizabeth Craghead. In 1863, he crossed the plains with his family to Austin, Nevada, where he grew up riding the range and eventually served as county sheriff and sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. He relocated to California in the mid-1880s, living in Healdsburg, Merced County, and Oakland before permanently settling in Fresno County.

In Fresno County, Benjamin worked as a deputy sheriff, ditch company employee, skilled carpenter, and administrator for his parents’ estates. He developed a productive vineyard and ranch near West Park, equipping his land with modern pumping plants and joining the California Associated Raisin Company. Married in Nevada to Mamie Eames of San Francisco, he raised four children—Presley, Kenneth, Margaret, and Edith—and remained a prominent, highly regarded figure in local agricultural and civic affairs.