Thomas Williamson Means (November 3, 1803 – June 8, 1890) was a settler of Hanging Rock, Ohio, and a native of South Carolina.

[3] Thomas' grandfather, William Means, settled in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, and later moved to South Carolina.

His youngest son, Colonel John Means, a native of Union District, South Carolina, became an influential and prominent man in that State.

Thinking it better to rear his sons in the free States, he moved to Ohio in 1819, gave his slaves their freedom, and settled in Adams County.

In 1853, next to such notable individuals as the Poage family and Levi Hampton, he was part of a hastily organized company that met with iron manufacturers at Bethesda Church in Ashland, helping to buy fifteen-hundred acres of land for the newly formed Kentucky Coal, Iron & Manufacturing Company.

Two years later, Roswell G. Horr listed the Estate of Thomas Means, made in "iron smelting and manufacturing", as one of only 22 "American Millionaires" in Kentucky.