• Born: May 2, 1831
• Died: July 23, 1903 (Buried at St. John’s Lutheran Church Ridge Valley, old cemetery)
• Spouse: Sarah Ann Hetrich (aka Hotrich or Hetrick)
  • Born: June 19, 1830
  • Died: Feb. 27, 1907 (Buried at St. John’s Lutheran Church Ridge Valley, old cemetery)
  • Daughter of Joseph Hetrick (1803-1894) and Sarah Ann Erney (1801-1885), also buried at Ridge Valley
• Married: January 15, 1853 at the Tohickon Reformed Church
• Occupation: Constable of Tylersport, according to family legend
• Children:    Milton, William H, Henry H, Hannah E, Anna Catharina, Maria Jane, Sarah Alice

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Sadly, little is known about the life of Jeremiah Thomas except the facts surrounding his family. He was born May 2, 1831 and died July 23, 1903 at the age of 72.  

Legend tells us that he was the constable of his hometown of Tylersport.  He married Sarah Ann Hetrich / Hotrich on January 15, 1853 at Tohickon Reformed Church (now St. Peter’s UCC in Perkasie), the same church at which his father, Nathan, and presumed grandfather, Josiah, were also married.  

His wife, Sarah Ann Hetrich, who lived 77 years from June 19, 1830 to February 27, 1907 is buried alongside her husband and many of their children and grandchildren in the old cemetery at St. John’s Lutheran Church Ridge Valley. 

Children of Jeremiah and Sarah Ann:

Jeremiah and Sarah Ann had seven children.

Milton H Thomas was born on June 9, 1852 and died on August 7, 1904.  He married Mary Schoenly on December 7, 1872. Records indicate that the couple had two children: William (b. 1874) and Charles (b. 1877; married Andora Fox, sister of Philip Thomas’s wife, Alice).  Census records also indicate that Milton worked as a cigar maker in a cigar factory. Milton is buried in the old cemetery at St. John’s Ridge Valley, though the resting place of his wife is unknown.

William H Thomas and his family are discussed here.

Henry H Thomas (though not a direct ancestor) and the circumstances of his life and tragic death are discussed here.

Hannah Elizabeth Thomas was born on May 30, 1862 and died on December 12, 1936.  Like her older brother, William, she lived in New York for several years and it is presumably there that she met her husband, Jacob Kortsteger of Prussia.  It is unknown whether the couple had any children. It was during Hannah’s time in New York that her older brother, Henry, died tragically in Colorado, leaving much of his possessions to her.  By 1920, Hannah and Jacob had returned the Pennsylvania. Both Hannah and her husband are buried in the old cemetery of St. John’s Ridge Valley.

The last three of Jeremiah and Sarah Ann’s children died very young.  Anna Catharina was born on November 30, 1854 and died on January 16, 1855.  Maria Jane and Sarah Alice, twins, were born on October 14, 1871.  Maria Jane died on August 6, 1872, and Sarah Alice died later that same month on August 30.  All three are buried in the old cemetery of St. John’s Ridge Valley.

Jeremiah, his wife Sarah Ann, & many of their children and grandchildren are interred in a family plot in the corner of the original cemetery at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ridge Valley.