Abijah Thomas & his octagonal house

Abijah Thomas (1814-1876) was the son of Thomas Thomas (1766-1838) and grandson of John Thomas (1733-1821). According to family tradition, John thomas came to Virginia from Connecticut in about 1761 and eventually settled on the Holston River in southwest Virginia. His son, Thomas, became a landed planter and married Freelove Cole, daughter of Joseph and Remember Cole who had emigrated to Virginia from Ulster County, New York. They were the parents of ten children, Abijah being the youngest. He married Priscilla Cavinette Scott in 1836 and they were the parents of twelve children. He was an antebellum entrepreneur who eventually went bankrupt and died penniless. Their numerous posterity lives throughout the United States as well as in France.