Commodore Thomas Domin, U. S. N., like many other officers of the old
Navy, often left his family in Fredericksburg while absent on the long
tours of sea duty, sometimes two and even three years in length. Thus,
while a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1801, Commodore Domin
called our town "home" for many years.
Entering the U. S. Navy in 1818, after many voyages to all parts of the
world he was with Admiral Perry when the latter forced his way into the
Japanese harbors. When the war between the States was imminent, he
retained his place in the old Navy, with the promise that he would not be
ordered to action against his adopted State.
He served on the Light House Board at Baltimore for the duration of the
war, and upon his retirement in 1870 lived in Fredericksburg, for a time.
He died in Savannah, Ga., in 1873.
He resided, when in Fredericksburg, in the house now owned by Dr. C. Mason
Smith on Prince Edward Street.