THOMAS DEVIN was of Heguenot descent, the original name having been DeVinne. He was the son of Michael, who was a refugee in the north of Ireland and emigrated to Maryland. While Thomas was yet a lad; his parents removed to the city of Marietta, Ohio; where they had a farm of four hundred acres. Here he began to exhibit some of the tact for business affairs which characterized his later life.
At twenty years of age he made a trip with a flat-boat laden with farm produce down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, which was then their best market, and continued for several years these annual excursions. He married and removed to Morgan County, settling upon a tract of eight hundred acres of land, and opened up a farm. But his inclination for mercantile pursuits led him to give up farming and he removed to town of McConnellsville, arranged for a store and began merchandising, which thereafter; was the chief business of his life. From McConnellsville he went in 1835 to Oxford, Ohio, and thence two years subsequently to Decatur, Illinois. In 1839 with his wife and seven children he removed to Iowa, settling at Pittsburg, in the Des Moines Valley, where he continued in trade until 1855, when he settled permanently at Ottumwa. Here entering upon a business which he established while residing in Pittsburg, he prospered and became one of the wealthiest men in that section of the State. His sons were all educated in the colleges of Ohio.
The Ottumwa "Courier", in a notice of him, says: "Mr. Devin has been identified with the interests of Ottumwa since 1844, but did not move his family here until 1855. He was thus a part of the history of this place for nearly thirty years. For his time; he has been a leading man among the moneyed and commercial men of the Des moines Valley until the infirmities of age obliged him to narrow down his business operations. He was a man of singular purity of life as well as inflexibility of purpose. His name is widly and firmly engraved upon the commercial history of all of this part of Iowa, and always reliable, active, energic business man, and in his domestic relations as the best of husbands and kindest of fathers."
LOT 82-F
First wife Lucena Davis Devin is buried at Pittsburg Cemetery, Pittsburg, Van Buren County, Iowa. His second wife was Elizabeth Brooks, who had previously married Joseph Chambers.
THOMAS DEVIN was of Heguenot descent, the original name having been DeVinne. He was the son of Michael, who was a refugee in the north of Ireland and emigrated to Maryland. While Thomas was yet a lad; his parents removed to the city of Marietta, Ohio; where they had a farm of four hundred acres. Here he began to exhibit some of the tact for business affairs which characterized his later life.
At twenty years of age he made a trip with a flat-boat laden with farm produce down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, which was then their best market, and continued for several years these annual excursions. He married and removed to Morgan County, settling upon a tract of eight hundred acres of land, and opened up a farm. But his inclination for mercantile pursuits led him to give up farming and he removed to town of McConnellsville, arranged for a store and began merchandising, which thereafter; was the chief business of his life. From McConnellsville he went in 1835 to Oxford, Ohio, and thence two years subsequently to Decatur, Illinois. In 1839 with his wife and seven children he removed to Iowa, settling at Pittsburg, in the Des Moines Valley, where he continued in trade until 1855, when he settled permanently at Ottumwa. Here entering upon a business which he established while residing in Pittsburg, he prospered and became one of the wealthiest men in that section of the State. His sons were all educated in the colleges of Ohio.
The Ottumwa "Courier", in a notice of him, says: "Mr. Devin has been identified with the interests of Ottumwa since 1844, but did not move his family here until 1855. He was thus a part of the history of this place for nearly thirty years. For his time; he has been a leading man among the moneyed and commercial men of the Des moines Valley until the infirmities of age obliged him to narrow down his business operations. He was a man of singular purity of life as well as inflexibility of purpose. His name is widly and firmly engraved upon the commercial history of all of this part of Iowa, and always reliable, active, energic business man, and in his domestic relations as the best of husbands and kindest of fathers."
LOT 82-F
First wife Lucena Davis Devin is buried at Pittsburg Cemetery, Pittsburg, Van Buren County, Iowa. His second wife was Elizabeth Brooks, who had previously married Joseph Chambers.
Family Members
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John Davis Devin
1819–1904
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William Davis Devin
1821–1866
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Michael Luther Devin
1823–1899
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Rufus Devin
1824–1825
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Thomas Jefferson Devin
1826–1906
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Henry Devin
1828–1828
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James Davis Devin
1830–1866
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George Washington Devin
1832–1898
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Lucena Devin
1835–1836
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Samuel Devin
1837–1837
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Brooks Chambers Devin
1852–1892
