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Cyrus Thomas (1825-1910)
Born in 1825 in Kingsport, Tennessee, Cyrus Thomas moved to Illinois in 1849 and was soon appointed deputy county clerk in the office of his brother-in-law John A. Logan, county clerk of Jackson County. In 1851, Thomas was elected county clerk for one term before practicing law in Murphysboro and becoming active in the Lutheran ministry. During the period from 1869 to 1873, he served as entomologist and botanist on the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, under F. V. Hayden. He published in 1873 a noteworthy synopsis of the Acrididae (grasshoppers and locusts) of North America. In 1874, he was one of twelve faculty members at the newly opened Southern Illinois Normal College (now SIUC), beginning at the salary of $1800 per year, which was the highest paid of any member of the faculty except the president, then called the principal. In 1875, he was additionally appointed State Entomologist of Illinois. His expertise was soon needed on the U.S. Entomological Commission to tackle economic issues involving insects, thus he had to cease his work at Southern in 1879. Later he devoted twenty-five years to archaeology and ethnology at the Smithsonian; he remained professionally active until his death in 1910.
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Last updated: 29-Sep-05 / ghw