Karl Heinrich Thomas was born 3 October 1808 in Breslau, Silesia (Prussia). He was the son of a battalion doctor. He is believed to have died in 1860. He married an unknown daughter of James Galloway from Edinburgh who was serving as a missionary in Karras, North Caucasus, and Circassia. Another of James Galloway's daughters, Nancy, was married to Pastor Christian Gottlieb Hegele. On 19 April 1830, he began his theological studies in Breslau (Germany) and was ordained in 1840. From 1840 to 1849, he served as pastor in Elisabethtal in the Tiflis District, and from 1849 to 1852 was pastor in Tiflis. From 1851 to 1860, Pastor Thomas served the parish in Katharinenstadt (North).
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen – Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: AER Verlag Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland, 1978): 175.