Hiram W. Thomas (1832-1909) was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, and died in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. Thomas was a minister, pastor, and platform lecturer. He was educated at Cooperstown Seminary in Cooperstown, New York, and later in Berlin, Germany. He entered the ministry of the Evangelical Association in 1852 and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856. He was tried for heresy and expelled from the church in 1881. Thomas then founded the People's Church of Chicago and was one of a handful of progressive clergy in Chicago, Illinois, who organized the first Parliament of World Religions and was elected president. His writings include The Origin and Destiny of Man, Life and Sermons, and The People's Pulpit.

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