James A. (James Armstrong) Thome

Born in Augusta, Kentucky, on January 20, 1813, James A. Thome was the son of Arthur and Mary Armstrong Thome. Although he grew up in a slaveholding household, he turned strongly against slavery while studying in the 1830s, first at Augusta College and then at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati.

Thome became associated with the antislavery movement that grew out of the Lane Seminary debates and later continued his studies at Oberlin. He went on to serve as a professor at Oberlin and was widely known as a Presbyterian minister, antislavery lecturer, and writer. Sources also connect him with the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society and with advocacy for immediate emancipation.

He died on March 4, 1873. Remembered as an abolitionist who broke with the world he was born into, he stands out as a figure whose religious work, teaching, and public speaking were all tied to the fight against slavery.