CSA 2-Ha-v5, 10¢ dark blue Hoyer with Shooting Star variety, position 14, 4 large margins, used with red grid and matching red SPARTA GA MAR 25 (1862) on excellent long folded letter to Honl A.H. Stephens V.P. Richmond, Va. from Judge Jas. Thomas and marked/addressed to “Dear Elic.” Thomas was not only a close friend, but was related by marriage. The letter is full of insight of the times, with numerous mentions of military appointments, dignitaries, Linton Stephens, and politics. Both the philatelic use and the letter are excellent. $700. 

James Thomas (1799 [?]-1866) was a lawyer and judge, a native of Hancock County, Georgia. He conducted a successful law practice from Sparta. In 1820, Thomas married Emmeline Gonder of Hancock County. They had two daughters: Acquila, who died in infancy, and Emmeline, who first married George Bell. In 1852, after Bell's death, Emmeline married Linton Stephens (1823-1872), half-brother of A.H. Stephens, who moved from Crawfordville to Sparta to form a law partnership with Richard Malcolm Johnston. After the death of Emmeline Stephens in 1857, Thomas maintained close ties with his son-in-law and his half-brother, Alexander Hamilton Stephens (1812-1883). In 1860, he was a member of Georgia's non-secessionist delegation which failed to win admission into the Democratic Convention in Baltimore. Thomas spent his last years as a planter in Hancock County, where he had considerable property holdings.