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Thomas, the eldest son, was seen at the house. During
the day, grocer’s and butcher’s wagons were seen making
deliveries. Charles, two of his sisters, and two servants
were now in residence.
Charles told reporters that no one had shown any hostility.
“Because we live here is no reason why our neighbors
should be compelled to associate with us,” he said. The
Brooklyn Eagle announced on October 23 that Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas had joined their children. No neighbors
moved out, and nothing happened. Not with the Thomas
family anyway. The next time reporters gathered on Fort
Greene Place, it was because of General Molineaux. His
son Roland was accused of being one of the early twentieth
century’s most notorious murderers. Perhaps they
should have worried about him.
Thomas owned the Lake House for ten years. He never
retired. After giving that up, he took possession of the
Rumsen Inn, in Red Bank, N.J., which he owned for eleven
years. He didn’t live on Fort Greene Place for very long
but did invest in other property in Brooklyn. When he
died at his home in Red Bank after a long illness on July 8,
1907, he was 70 years old. One of his sons and two of his
daughters had taken over his business, showing much of
the same talent for hospitality as their father.
His funeral took place at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
in Manhattan, where he was a vestryman, and he is
buried in the family plot in Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Thomas was eulogized in papers across the nation. “One
of the best-known hotel men in the country,” one paper
announced. “The fine art of entertaining was his in
largest measure.” Another paper stated: “He enjoyed a
wide acquaintance among public men, especially those
high in political and financial circles. General Grant was
a warm supporter of his.”
Today, as the accomplishments of many of America’s
unsung chefs, cooks and hoteliers of African descent are
finally becoming better known, perhaps Hiram S. Thomas
will become a household name once again - revered as
his own self-made success, and a master of the art of fine
and gracious dining.
Hiram S. Thomas family gravestone in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. Photo by Susan De Vries.