He supposedly changed his name during the Civil War as he was a spy and bushwhacker.  He moved to Hernando County around 1878 and then on to Pasco County in 1893.  He was bitten by a puppy dog that he and his wife owned.  He cut the head off of the dog as he suspected it to be mad with rabies.  He took the head to Tampa where it tested positive for rabies.  The doctored warned his family of the symptoms and that if he ever showed them that he was to be locked in the room and no one to enter.  In 1914 after a couple of small spells the doctor showed full symptoms of having rabies. The family called for the town druggist who came and administer ether to the doctor, they knocked him out so that he could not harm any one.

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Thomas C. Whitman was born on June 27, 1842 in Butler County Ohio to unknown parents and died on June 6, 1914 at his home south of Ehren, known as Twenty- Mile Level.