Personal History
The following information was collected in Washington D.C., from the National Archives Building, by William W. (Wes) Romine in 1972. It was the earliest definite information found at that time.
- On the 1830 census, a Thomas Romine was found with 7 children in Greenup County, Kentucky.
- On the 1840 census, although being unable to substantiate this being the same person, Thomas Romine, age 37, lived on a farm in Franklin County, Missouri, with 8 children. Thomas Romine was born in 1803 in Kentucky. His parents were born in Virginia.
- On the 1850 census, Thomas Romine was still in Franklin County, Missouri, and his age was 47. He was listed as having $1,000 worth of property and 7 children at home, including 8 year old Wesley.
- On the 1860 census, no listing was found of the Missouri Romines probably due to the U.S. Civil War.
- On the 1870 census, Thomas Romine now 67, with Mary A. 47, lived on a farm in Benton Township, Howell County, Missouri with 6 children at home. John Wesley, age 28, with wife Isabele also lived on a farm in the locale.
- On the 1880 census, Thomas (77) and Mary (57) continued to live on their farm outside Moody, Missouri.
Significant Events of 1803
- The Napoleonic Wars begin, when the United Kingdom declares war on France after France refuses to withdraw from Dutch territory.
- Thomas Jefferson nominates James Monroe and Robert Livingstone to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans from France. The Louisiana Purchase completed the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic (thereby doubling the size of the United States).
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition begins as Lewis and a crew of 11 depart on the Ohio River.
- British explorer Matthew Flinders arrives in Sydney becoming the first person to circumnavigate Australia, proving it is one continent.
- Ohio is admitted as the 17th U.S. state.
- The first performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony in D, is conducted by the composer, in Vienna.
- The first US public library opens in Connecticut.
- Robert Fulton tests his steam paddle-boat on the River Seine, France, but it sinks.
- Major breakthroughs in chemistry occur, with the identification of the elements rhodium and palladium (by William Hyde Wollaston); osmium and iridium (by Smithson Tennant); and cerium (by Wilhelm Hisinger, Jons Jakob Berzelius and Martin Heinrich Klaproth).
- The first horses arrive in Hawaii.