Merced-El Dorado-Fresno County CA Archives Biographies.....Thompson, Walter W. 1873 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 10, 2006, 3:45 am

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

WALTER W. THOMPSON

   Among the varied industries for which California is noted is bee culture, and
a man who has made a record for himself in that industry is Walter W. Thompson,
of Dos Palos, inspector of apiaries for Merced County. The son of Ephraim and
Martha J. (Cook) Thompson, he was born in St. Charles County, Mo., on May 21,
1873. His father was born in Wythe County, Va., on October 26, 1842, the son of
Bryant and Barbara (Buchanan) Thompson, of old Virginia families and prosperous
farmers and stockmen, Bryant Thompson owning a farm of 640 acres. Ephraim's
education was interrupted by the breaking out of the Civil War and on April 6,
1861, he enlisted in a company of cavalry under Captain McDonald of General
Stuart's division in the Army of the Potomac. He entered as a private, served
through the war, was wounded three times, was captured and spent thirteen months
in the prison at Camp Morton, in Indianapolis, and came out of the service a
sergeant. After the war he went to Missouri and bought seventy acres of land,
leased some more and farmed for twenty years. He was married at Crab Orchard,
Va., on November 5, 1866, to Miss Martha J. Cook, born in Virginia, a daughter
of Frank and Mattie Cook, farmer folk of the South. In 1890 the Thompson family
came to Dos Palos, Cal., where the father bought thirty acres northwest of Dos
Palos, and here he has farmed and raised chickens ever since. There were four
sons in the family who grew up. Walter is the oldest of those living; the others
are John T. and R. C.

   Walter W. attended the public schools of St. Charles and O'Fallon, Mo., and
when he was twenty-two he struck out for himself, going to El Dorado County
where he mined; also following mining in Oregon and Idaho. In 1900 he came back
to Dos Palos and improved a five-acre ranch he had purchased, and he also owns
twenty acres in Fresno County and 480 acres in San Bernardino County.

   On June 12, 1905, Walter W. Thompson was united in marriage with Miss Susan
E. White, daughter of Henry Jackson and Sally White. Her mother was twice
married and by her first husband she had a son, George Appleton. By the second
marriage she had the following children: Rebecca, Mrs. Alvord of Merced; Eva,
Mrs. Smith, also in Merced; Susan E.; Emma and Anna. Mrs. Thompson was born at
Raymond, Fresno County and was educated in the high school in Merced. Mr. and
Mrs. Thompson have two children: Virginia, wife of Orlo Cruisenberry of Los
Banos, and Edward, a high school student, Class of 1926. Politically, Mr.
Thompson is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to Santa Rita Lodge No. 124, I.
O. O. F., in which he is a Past Grand; and he belongs to the Rebekahs and to the
Modern Woodmen of America in Dos Palos. Mrs. Thompson is a member and Past Noble
Grand of Rebekah Lodge No. 333, of Dos Palos. Mr. Thompson has been raising bees
in Merced County since 1905 and has had as many as 600 stands at one time. He is
an authority on bee culture and has served as deputy inspector and inspector of
apiaries of Merced County since 1911.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/merced/bios/thompson653nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 4.0 Kb