The Early Years
Leland was born Leland William Thomas January 17, 1908 to James William “Will” and Sadie Ella (Ashby) Thomas in Vernon County, Missouri. He joined three older siblings. His mother would give birth to two more healthy babies before she died during childbirth when he was ten. After Sadie died, her oldest daughter Dessie, my grandmother, took over running the household and helping raise her younger siblings. (Photo at top: Back: Dessie, Verda,Delbert ; Front: Theo “Bud”, Oren, Leland.)
On December 31, 1926, before Leland turned 19, he joined the U.S. Navy. He served just over 2 ½ years completing his service August 21, 1929.
His First Wife
A couple of weeks after being discharged from the Navy (September 3, 1929), Leland married Frances Marie Howell. In the census the following year, Leland and Frances were living with Frances’ mother and sister. In 1933, they had a daughter Joan Berniece. She was followed by a son Leland William Thomas Jr. in 1934. At the end of 1936, they had a son John Carl that only lived two days.
One version of the story from another researcher is that it was around 1935 that Frances claimed that Leland, who she said was a traveling salesman, headed to California. However, no evidence has been found to date of his being a traveling salesman, If he left in 1935 John Carl could not be his son, and Leland would not make it to California for several years. Another version of the story said that he left for California to join the Navy for WWII. This aligns with his timeline of reaching California. However, there is more to the story. . .
His Second Wife
In July 1936, several months before Leland and Frances’ son John Carl briefly visited the earth, He married Edith Lehr in Elkton, Maryland using the name Leonard Thomas. It seems the name change and the out of state marriage may have been because Leland had not divorced Frances.
Leonard and Edith lived in the general area of York, Pennsylvania for several years. The year following their marriage, they had a stillborn daughter. In 1941, a stillborn son would follow at only seven months gestation. They are not known to have had any children that survived childbirth.
WWII
When WWII came about, Leonard joined the United States Navy Reserves. He served from May 22, 1942 until October 21, 1945. During his service he spent a significant amount of time in San Diego, where he was assigned to the US Navy Sub Repair Unit where he was a metalsmith. He was attached for a time to the U.S.S. Griffin.
On March 8, 1945, when the U.S.S. Seminole was commissioned, Leonard was assigned to the ship. He sailed with the ship to do training in the Hawaiian Islands before heading to Okinawa. Twice during this period, the ship had to take evasive maneuvers, not to avoid the Japanese, but to avoid typhoons.
After the War
After the war, Leonard and Edith lived in California. To my knowledge, he never made an effort to see his children. I can’t fathom leaving my children and moving a couple thousand miles away. Our family knew about the children, but I don’t know if any pictures of them survived. I did hear a story, however, that my grandmother had a picture of Leland and Frances and he wanted her to destroy it.
He continued to exclusively use the name Leonard as his legal name. However, to the day she died, my grandmother called him Leland. Meanwhile, to be completely different, Edith called him “Tom.”. When I spoke to a distant relative a few years ago that had known Leonard when he lived in California, he was surprised to learn that his name wasn’t Tom. It was the only name he had ever known.
Perhaps Edith called him “Tom” because she didn’t want to slip and call him Leland when referring to him in official communication or maybe it was simply a pet name. However, between my grandmother’s insistence that he was Leland and the family’s knowledge of his first wife and children, Edith had to have known about his past. It is unknown what version of the story he shared with her.
Leonard died March 1, 1960. The military apparently figured out the connection between Leland and Leonard as the application for his military gravestone had his earlier service added onto the card with his WWII service.
Not Quite Done . . . One more mystery!
As if there wasn’t enough mystery in this story, another mystery showed up in the 1950 census. In that census, Frances is with John Squares, a new husband (or they at least claim to be married). Her known children with Leland are in the household. However, there are two additional children listed with the last name of Thomas who are listed as step children to her husband. These are Robert F. Thomas, who was born in 1939, and Jacquelyn Thomas, who was born in 1943. They are not children that John had with his prior wife and I have found no explanation for these children.
Leland’s Kids?
Could they be Leland’s and he went back and forth between Frances and Edith for a period of time?
This option is definitely possibly for Robert. Depending on the exact date of Jacqueline’s birth, it could rule this option out based on his WWII service dates. At this point, it cannot be ruled out.
Half-Siblings?
Could Frances have gotten pregnant by another man and just used the Thomas name saying her husband was a traveling salesman and gone a lot?
This is very possible. It definitely wouldn’t have been the first or last time a woman whose husband was absent or even dead claimed him as the father of a child born out of wedlock.
Someone Else’s kids?
Could they be someone else’s kids entirely?
This is possible, but if so, they were considered members of the family. A death record for Leland W. Thomas Jr. mentions their names. Unfortunately, a complete obituary, which might tell us more, has not been located.