Other notable white abolitionists and suffragists who had Quaker backgrounds were Sarah and Angelina Grimké, Rhoda M. Coffin, and Mary B.

She planned for her departure several months in advance, which included preparing her home and sewing clothing for Paulina, her only child at that time.

[2][3] In 1845, when Thomas attended a Quaker yearly meeting in Salem, Ohio, she heard Lucretia Mott deliver an address on women's rights.

)[2][12] The association's constitution proclaims as the basis for women's equality "a undeniable and self-evident truth" that God created "every one of his creatures 'free and inalienable rights.

Other notable signers include Amanda Way, Mary B. Birdsall, Fanny and Henry Hiatt, and Agnes Cook.

[8][13] During the Indiana Woman's Rights Association's fourth annual meeting in 1855, Thomas was elected as one of the vice presidents of the organization for the following year.

Sarah Underhill, Emily Neff, Emma B. Swank, Elizabeth Wright, and Mary Birdsall served as her vice presidents.

[2][14] In her opening remarks Thomas stated "that while we [women] were still deprived of many rights and privileges, we had accomplished a great work for we now occupied a position much in advance of what we did a few years ago".

[8] She also explained, "By my example, as well as my words, I have tried to teach women to be more self-reliant, and to prepare themselves for larger and more varied spheres of activity” and continued to do so for the remainder of her life.

[14] Beginning in March 1857, Thomas became a coeditor of a national woman's magazine called The Lily, temporarily filling in for her fellow suffragist and Indiana Woman's Rights Association vice president Mary Birdsall, who had purchased the magazine from Amelia Bloomer in 1854 and was publishing it in Richmond, Indiana.

[1] On January 19, 1859, Thomas, Mary Birdsall, and Agnes Cook addressed a special joint session of the Indiana General Assembly when it met to hear a petition for women's rights.

[4] Thomas presented the petition using logical arguments and strongly advocated for equal rights after pleading with the assembly to listen respectfully.

Beginning in January 1863, Governor Morton and the Indiana Sanitary Commission enlisted the aid of women, including Thomas, to help carry supplies to the front line and to serve as nurses.

[3][7][20] In addition to her service at Vicksburg, Thomas nursed wounded soldiers at hospitals in Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tennessee; and Natchez, Mississippi.

(Earlier, while practicing medicine in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Allen County Medical Society twice rejected Thomas's election into its membership, which some sources conclude was most likely due to her sex).

Though not a lobbyist in any sense of the term, her influence and work aided materially in bringing about better legislation in Indiana for women and children.

"[1] According to an obituary published in 1889 in the Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, "she was always deeply interested in the care of the helpless and needy, -- a veritable Dorcas, and beloved physician indeed to the poor.