Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Thomas celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary May 18, at their home in the Pine Grove district, Hood River Valley, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Jackson, son-in-law, received with them. The house was beautiffy decorated with flowers, the predominating colors being yellow and white. Mrs. Margaret Lester, Mrs. Elsie Olson, and Mrs. Harriet Miller, nieces of Mrs. Thomas, served the refreshments.

Little Elizabeth Jackson, grandaughter, Little Phyllis Wells and little Harriet Alice Miller, great-nieces, opened the door for the guests. Grace Jackson, grandaughter, looked after the registration of the guests, which numbered 80 or more.

Mark E. Thomas was born in Hampton, Rock Island, Ill. November 4, 1858. Martha J. Wells was born near Mount Carroll, Carroll County, Ill., July 17, 1861. They were married in Mount Caroll, Ill., May 18, 1883. They came to Oregon in 1900 where they lived till 1907, when they moved to Alberta, Canada, w here they lived 10 years. In 1917 they came back to Hood River where they lived for two years. Then they moved to Vancouver, B.C., coming back to Hood River in 1928. They are the parents of seven children, four deceased. Two boys died in infancy, one daughter, Mrs. Eva Holloway, died in 1919, and daughter Mrs. Lulu Jackson died in 1925. Two sons, Earl and Raymond Thomas lives in Alberta, Canada. One daughter, Izetta Foster, lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Mrs. Thomas was a sister of Jerome and Warren Wells, pioneers of Hood River Valley, now deceased and Charles Wells of Kitscoty, Alberta, Canada, and Mrs. Isabell Brock of Ovid, Colorado.

Contributed by Charlott Jones.
From the Hood River News, Hood River, Oregon May 1933
Martha Jane "Mattie" Wells Thomas was the daughter of Andrew and Eliza Ridgeway Wells, who resided in the Mt. Carroll area of Carroll County,\