Dates

• Existence: 1873-1962

Biography

Seth Thomas (1873-1962) began his career teaching school in West Virginia. In 1893, he became the principal of public schools in Mason City, West Virginia. During the summers he attended college, enrolling in summer sessions at Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, and at the University of West Virginia at Morgantown. Thomas moved to Iowa in 1900, where he worked as a traveling salesman for a seed house in Independence. Returning to college, he attended the University of Iowa from 1901-1902. In 1902, he again became a principal, this time of a high school in Washington, Iowa. This time he attended summer sessions at the University of Iowa and earned his in Ph.B. (1904), M.A. (1906), and LL.B. (1910).

Thomas was admitted to the bar in 1910 and began practicing law. He was the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa from 1914 through 1921. In 1933, he was appointed Solicitor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two years later he became a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge for Iowa's 8th Circuit. Judge Thomas remained in that position until his retirement in 1954.

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