Dr. Thomas in New York
According to Robert Roberts, Dr. John Thomas did not stay long in New York after landing from England on July 13, 1832. His father arrived only three days after Dr. Thomas, despite having left England three weeks after him, much to the Doctor’s surprise. I rather suspect that most of Dr. Thomas’ family came with his father, some to stay permanently. I deduce this because:
- Robert Thomas (by elimination) is noted by Dr. Thomas as working in Alexander Campbell’s publishing business in 1833.
- His brother Alfred was a doctor in Washington, D.C. soon after this period.
- His only other surviving brother was the secretary of the Society for the Protection of Animals in England at this time, and was a remarkable and strong-willed individual. (It was at this brother’s house that Dr. Thomas and his daughter stayed while in England in 1848-50, and at whose house “Elpis Israel” was written.)
- In November, 1834, Dr. Thomas notes, “My mother and sister, who you (Alexander Campbell) saw in New York, have put on Christ since their arrival in England.”
So two brothers, a sister, (who subsequently returned to America and died here a Christadelphian), his mother and father were with Dr. Thomas in New York, I believe.
In Cincinnati – first contact with the Campbellites
According to Robert Roberts, Dr. Thomas arrived in Cincinnati in September, 1832, and with his father went with letters of introduction to the house of a director of a local bank. Living opposite was a Major Daniel Gano who was interested in the arrival of a Baptist minister and his family from England. He invited the family to dinner, and Gano turned the conversation to religion. He raised the subject of baptism, and gave Dr. Thomas pamphlets written by Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott. This same Walter Scott preached at a funeral the next Sunday, met Dr. Thomas, and after some intense discussions baptized him in the Cincinnati Canal by moonlight
This account of Robert Roberts implies that Walter Scott was the first Campbellite preacher Dr. Thomas heard. In a contemporary letter, however, Dr. Thomas says, “I next heard brother Challen. I shall not attempt to describe the satisfaction I experienced in listening to his address. They said he was a Campbellite…I determined to hear it again. In the meantime Walter Scott encountered me, and baptized me, not into your ‘ism,’ but into Christ…Up until this time I had not read a page of your writings. For my first acquaintance with you I am indebted to our beloved brother Gano.”
Dr. Thomas here shows, very early, his independence from any organized religion. Although baptized by a prominent Campbellite, he was clearly stating his only master was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Walter Scott, although regarded by Dr. Thomas as the original founder of Campbellism, is probably more accurately described as “the youngest of the four men who are generally, and rightly, regarded as the founding fathers of the Disciples of Christ (or Campbellites.)” He was also instrumental in 1827 in “baptizing the first person in modern times who received the ordinance in perfect accordance with apostolic teaching and usage.” (So the Disciples of Christ claim.) One must stress that at this time the Campbellites were themselves only slowly separating from the Baptists.
The precise sequence of events surrounding the first adult baptism of Dr. Thomas is apparently lost in the mists of time. (He had, of course, been christened as an infant, as the Chorley Parish Register in England shows.) But it is clear Daniel Gano was the catalyst who introduced Dr. Thomas and his family to the Campbellites. Not only Dr. Thomas, but at least one brother, a sister, and both parents were at one time members of this movement.
Daniel Gano also invited Dr. Thomas to share his house, and he did so for seven months before leaving to return east, settling briefly in Philadelphia. Dr. Thomas was to see and enjoy the hospitality of Gano on several other occasions.
On the way back from his exploratory visit to Illinois in 1839, Dr. Thomas writes “I arrived in Cincinnati after an absence of about 6 years…(I) spent a very agreeable time with our warm hearted and excellent brother Scott, at the houses of brethren Lawson and Gano.” Obviously his then-current estrangement from most of the Campbellite movement in Virginia had not influenced his friendship with Walter Scott and Daniel Gano. In addition, on his way back from Illinois in 1844, Dr. Thomas left his wife with Daniel Gano while he and his daughter stayed with R. Malone in Richmond. (This house of the Malone’s is still standing, but in increasingly poor repair.)
Daniel Gano
What sort of person was the man who introduced Dr. Thomas to the Disciples of Christ, or Campbellites? Robert Roberts records him as “Clerk of the supreme court of the United States” and a “gentleman, who as a result of presiding at a debate between the Rev. Alexander Campbell and Mr. Owen, embraced the views of the former with a sincerity illustrated by the fact that he incurred a forfeit of 500 dollars lying upon a horse he had entered for the races at Lexington, Kentucky.”
After a slight detour looking into the history of the Supreme Court, I found many references to Daniel Gano when I was in Ohio. I am reasonably certain this individual is the one referred to by Robert Roberts, as he is the only D. Gano recorded as living in Cincinnati in the census of 1820. The debate referred to by Robert Roberts was locally quite famous, taking place over eight days in April, 1829. (It is described in a well-known book by Frances Trollope, “Domestic Manners of the Americans.” Daniel Gano was her landlord.)
Daniel was a major figure in Cincinnati at the time, serving as clerk to the Hamilton County Courts in succession to his father. Born in 1794 (and thus eleven years older than Dr. Thomas), he lived in Cincinnati all his life. He was instrumental in the local route of the Miami Canal, in which Dr. Thomas was likely baptized. We also know he took a deep interest in raising fine horses and cattle, and built in his life no fewer than 27 houses in Hamilton County. There is no evidence, however, that he ever became closely associated with the Christadelphians before his death in 1873. It is recorded that his only son was a great believer in spirit manifestation, so he did not pass on his own convictions to his children. He is often referred to as “Major” Daniel Gano, but this title was an honorary one. He furnished a substitute in the war of 1812, although he assisted in preparing troops for that war.
To quote a contemporary record: “Major Daniel Gano, the old longtime clerk of the old court of common pleas and supreme court, and quite as long time clerk of the old superior court — who of the old pioneers of this city does not remember him, the finished and thorough clerk of the courts, and the cultured and polished gentleman? He was born and grew up here, and he lived here, and he died here. Near fourscore years of age, he departed this life, which had been rewarded, through the whole long line of it, by the highest regard and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He was a worthy, clever man and most efficient officer, and was certainly one of the best looking men in the city and country. He was distinguished for wearing a large, perfectly white cambric ruffle down the open bosom of his shirt, tied back with a beautiful breast pin, and the old-fashioned, Revolutionary plaited queue of his hair, tied with black ribbon in a bow and hanging down his back between his shoulders; and even for modern times he never gave it up, and retained in his toilet this mark of the old Revolutionary forefathers of this country to the day of his shroud and coffin. He was buried with it, and no doubt it is in his grave and flourishing still.”
Daniel Gano obviously struck up a strong friendship with Dr. Thomas, and the two would have made a striking contrast. One an English physician, probably, if the pictures of Dr. Thomas from this time are any clue, dressing in formal English morning clothes (but no beard!). The other dressed as one from Revolutionary times, with a long pony tail of hair down his back.
Notes on sources: Most references are to be found in early Apostolic Advocates and the Millennial Harbinger. If any are interested, I can supply citations and also where copies can be found in the U.S.A. The information on Daniel Gano can be found in any major library in Ohio: in particular, from The History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, published in 1899, and History of Hamilton County, Ohio. Information on Walter Scott is in many sources: the one quoted is The Disciples of Christ — A History by W.E. Garrison.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One