Charles Thomas was born August 9, 1853 in Derby, CT. His parents were John Adams Thomas of Woodbridge and Eunice Johnson of Oxford. He had two brothers, Frank and John, and a sister Adele. His father John was a grocer in Derby who died in 1866 at age 46. His mother died in 1897 at age 75.
He married Jennie S. Gorham on January 3, 1878 in Derby, CT. They had three children: Maude A. Thomas (1881-1958), Harry Burdette Thomas (1883-1939), and Alice May Thomas (1886-1910). His wife preceded him in death in 1905 at age 49. Jennie Gorham was born in Montgomery, Massachusetts.
I don't know what great-grandfather Charles did for a living, but he was a drummer. You can see his drum in this picture. His grandson Charles Bronson Thomas became a drummer for the U.S. Army band in the 1930s. According to stories I've heard, he marched in the Memorial Day Parade of Derby-Ansonia on May 30, 1928. At the end of the parade, he sat down on the curb, leaned against a pole, and passed away. He was 74 years old. He is buried at Oak Cliff Cemetery in Derby, CT.
There is a large granite monument at the THOMAS plot in Oak Cliff Cemetery. Charles and Jennie and their daughters Maude A. Thomas and Alice May Thomas are buried there. Four children of his son Harry Burdette Thomas and Bessie Alling Bronson are also buried there. Robert Irving Thomas (1914-1915) and Violet Louise Thomas (1917) died in infancy. Tragically, Lewis George Thomas (age 5) and Ruth A. Thomas (age 7) died within four days of each other in the flu epidemic of 1918.