Cameron E. Thom

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Cameron E. Thom (June 20, 1825 – February 2, 1915) who came to California during the gold rush, was a lawyer, a Confederate officer in the Civil War, and the 16th Mayor of Los Angeles (1882–1884).

California

Cameron Erskine Thom was born in Virginia. He came to California in 1849 during the gold rush and after a few years of unsuccessful mining, he studied law in Sacramento. In April, 1854, Thom was sent by the government to handle land cases in Southern California. He settled in Los Angeles, where he was at the same time appointed Los Angeles City Attorney and Los Angeles County District Attorney, to fill unexpired terms.

In 1857 he was elected State Senator to represent what are now Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and a part of Ventura Counties.

Post Bellum Los Angeles

Captain Thom served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war, in 1865 Thom returned to California. He had lost his property, fortune, and his wife (Susan Hathwell returned to her family in Marysville, and died). Shortly after arriving in San Pedro he was recognized by an old friend - J.M. Griffith, who lent him $300.

Captain Thom served again as Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1869–1873, and 1877-1879. He served as Mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1882 to 1884.

City of Glendale

The land case known as The Great Partition of 1871 resulted in Rancho San Rafael being divided into thirty-one sections and given to twenty-eight different people including 724 acres (2.93 km²) for Thom. The land belonging to Prudent Beaudry, Cameron Thom, Alfred Chapman, and Andrew Glassell evolved into Glendale. Harry J. Crow, Cameron E. Thom, and his nephew, Erskin B. Ross, along with B.F.Patterson and B.T.Byram were responsible for the creation of the City of Glendale in 1887.^[1]

Legacy

In 1858, Thom married Susan Henrietta Hathwell(1839 – 1862), and after her death, married her sister, Belle Cameron Hathwell (1859 – 1924) in 1874.^[2] He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles.^[3]

Mount Thom in the Verdugo Mountains of Glendale is named for him.

His daughter Rowena Thom was born in 1907. Rowena became Rowena Rathbone when she married a pioneering GP; Robert Rathbone. They had two sons, Pembroke Rathbone and Christopher Rathbone.

Rowena Thom is widely recognised for her photography and taught psychology.

Christopher Rathbone is a writer and is currently working on a novel to be published soon.

References

↑ John Calvin Sherer, 1922, History of Glendale and Vicinity, The Glendale Publishing Company
↑ Yuba County Marriage Records
↑ "Cameron E. Thom". Find a Grave. Retrieved February 10, 2014.

Political offices
Preceded by Benjamin Eaton	Los Angeles County District Attorney 1854—1857	Succeeded by Ezra Drown
Preceded by David B. Kurtz	California's 1st State Senate district 1857—	Succeeded by Jonathan J. Warner
Preceded by Alfred B. Chapman	Los Angeles County District Attorney 1869—1873	Succeeded by Volney E. Howard
Preceded by Rodney Hudson	Los Angeles County District Attorney 1877—1879	Succeeded by Thomas B. Brown

v t e Mayors of Los Angeles

	S. Foster Hodges Wilson Nichols Coronel S. Foster T. Foster S. Foster Requena Nichols Marchessault Mellus Woodworth Marchessault Mascarel Aguilar Turner Aguilar Toberman Beaudry MacDougal Cohn Toberman Thom Spence Workman Bryson Hazard Bonsall Rowan Rader Snyder Eaton Snyder McAleer Harper Stephens Alexander Rose Sebastian Woodman Snyder Cryer Porter Shaw Bowron Poulson Yorty Bradley Riordan Hahn Villaraigosa Garcetti

Authority control	VIAF: 13774565

Persondata
Name	Thom, Cameron E.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	June 20, 1825
Place of birth
Date of death	February 2, 1915
Place of death

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