The family has played a crucial role in helping Peter by preserving personal stories, photographs, and heirlooms that offer invaluable insights into the past. Their shared memories and oral histories often fill gaps in official records, providing context and emotional depth to historical events.
My parents, Jean and Leslie Thomas, instilled my love of history. My devoted wife, Marie Lynn Bourassa Thomas, has assisted me, encouraged me, and promoted my work for the past thirty-one years. My son, Cameron, and I accompanied one another on an eight-month jaunt to visit historic, archaeological and geological sites across the US and New Zealand (see Travel Log). My son-in-law, Matthew Kramer, created this web site; he and my daughter, Jocelyn, presented me with the site as a Christmas gift in 2024. My grand-kids may take a peak someday, when they outgrow scouts, sports and the turmults of the teen years.
Peter and Marie Thomas - married since 1993
SHARING A FAMILY LEGACY
In the summer of 2024, two faculty members, Eric Zuelow and Matthew Anderson, at the University of New England, located in Biddeford, Maine, were developing a jointly-taught course that would combine the disciplines of history and archaeology. The University of New England, formerly St. Francis College, encompasses the former house site at which my father, his parents, his grandparents and great grandparents lived during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Eric reached out to me and a distant cousin to see what information we might be able to provide about this branch of the family. My initial response (see below) provides a sketch of this set of ancestors and the place where they lived. Many questions were raised and numerous mysteries were solved during the run of the course which was greatly enjoyed by a large class of energetic students.
FOR A PODCAST LOOK AT THE PROJECT AS IT UNFOLDED, GO TO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFVVTJpf4ik , as well as a series of podcasts at https://sites.une.edu/unepast/
Past Owners and St. Francis College - a brief history.pdfLanphar-Mitchell family letters.pdfThe Lamphar-Mitchell-Flood-Thomas Family Letters (1849-1944)
