This short history of the Thomas’, a village just outside Freetown is taken from “The Winding Road“:

The Freetown house was a transit station for the Thomases. Their roots are in Benguema. This was the house built as a Freetown retreat for the family, with money partly provided by my father. He had built his own house in the village and had left it in the care of our Aunt Hannah. Whenever he visited Benguema, the house was made ready for his use. It was situated on Wellington Street, the main road through the village. His parents’ house was on the opposite side of the same road. As was common in those days with families working or trading in centres in the interior of the county, the Thomases’ Freetown project was thought necessary to give members of the family visiting Freetown for any length of time, from Benguema or any other part of the country, access to accommodation in a convenient location in the city without calling on the hospitality of friends or strangers. Continue reading “The Thomas’ of Benguema”