Merry Bee Genealogy - Nisbet
Thomas A Nisbet, NG-010, chart 03
documented chronology for
Thomas
Thomas family group
1st-Dempster
(pdf)
Thomas married Elizabeth Dempster 03 August 1867 in Jackson County Illinois. On the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763–1900, his name is cross-listed under Nesbitt and Nasbilt.
He is listed as Thos Nesbitt age 34 in 1870 US Census, living in Carbondale Precinct, Jackson County, Illinois. The household is comprised of Thomas, his wife Elizabeth (age 34), and their eleven month old daughter Jane (Jennie). He owns real estate valued as $500. By 1870 Thomas A is employed as a railroad engineer.
Elizabeth died between 1870 and 1872 and Thomas A remarried Mary Gray Winning. Four children were born: Thomas Alexander (09 June 1873), David (1876), Mary, and Jobena (09 February 1880). Only Thomas and Jobena lived. Family records report that the family lived in Mount Carbon (near Murphysboro) as well as Carbondale, but there is no record of when that might have been.
He is listed as Thos Nesbitt age 44 in 1880 US Census, living in Carbondale, Jackson County, Illinois. The household is comprised of Thomas, his wife Mary (age 26), Jennie (11), Thomas (7), and their four month old daughter Jobena. Thomas A is employed as a railroad engineer.
Thomas A had a full beard and never used a razor in his lifetime. He was afflicted with asthma, a family allergy, for it was passed on to son and grandsons.
The family home in Carbondale was by the railroad tracks and the children used to watch for their father’s train to come by so they could wave. There was a picket fence along the front and that was the waiting place, climbing up on the cross pieces and clinging to the top of the pickets. “Ole Man Nesbit,” as he was called by fellow railroaders, was a firm believer in promptness and running on schedule. So the eager children could expect him to come by at almost a certain time. One day as he came into town another train was a bit slow taking the siding to let him pass. They heard his whistle but thought he’d slow down. But they learned that “ole man Nesbit” didn’t blow his whistle for naught as he plowed into the other train and sent a car or two off the tracks. From then on he had the undisputed rightaway. And the children never forgot that scene from their “front seat” of observation.
Thomas A died 27 August 1885 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Carbondale, Jackson County, Illinois, lot 18.