Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas was an intelligent, spirited woman born in 1834 to one of the wealthiest families in Georgia. Her diaries over a 41 year period documented her life before, during, and after the Civil War. In 1851 she graduated from Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia and married in 1852. The Civil War and its aftermath caused Thomas to experience bankruptcy, the death of loved ones, and serious illness. In 1899 she was elected president of the Georgia Woman Suffrage Assoc.