Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Thomson, Thomas Freeman 1850 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 14, 2004, 12:14 am

Author: William Harden
p. 634-635

   THOMAS FREEMAN THOMSON. The gentleman to a brief review of whose life the
reader's attention is herewith directed is one of Chatham county's most
admirable public officials and business men and has by his enterprise and
progressive methods contributed in a material way to the development of city and
county. He has in the course of an honorable career been most successful in his
various associations and is well deserving of mention in the biographical
memoirs of this part of Georgia. Thomas Freeman Thomson, state and county tax
collector, was born in Macon, Georgia, July 12, 1850, the son of Dr. Methven S.
and Mary E. (Freeman) Thomson. He is of Scotch descent, the birth of his father
having occurred at Perth, Scotland, January 7, 1815. The elder gentleman was
reared and educated there and came to America at about the age of twenty-one
years. He located in Macon, Georgia, about the year 1840 and resided there for
over half a century, his demise occurring December 10, 1893. He had been all his
life active in the practice of his profession and was widely known throughout
middle Georgia. He was three times mayor of Macon, being the "war mayor" of the
city and serving in such capacity throughout the period of the great conflict.
Dr. Thomson is remembered by all as a man of the finest characteristics. The
subject's mother, who died in January, 1887, was of an older family in Georgia.
She was born on Staten Island, New York, October 24, 1824, the daughter of Azel
Roe and Delia (Shaw) Freeman. Azel Roe Freeman was a soldier of the War of 1812,
who removed to Macon with his family in 1827. Her brother, George C. Freeman,
who is the father of Judge Davis Freeman, of the Savannah city court, removed
from Macon to Savannah in 1854 and is still living in this city.

   The youth of Mr. Thomson was passed in the troublous days preceding and
during the Civil war. Mr. Thomson received as good an education as was possible
under the circumstances. He received a good commercial training in Eastman's
Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he was graduated in 1869.

   In January, 1870, Mr. Thomson came to Savannah, which has since been his
home. His first position was in charge of the books of a wholesale and retail
grocery house. Prom this position he went into the old Southern Bank, as
bookkeeper; this bank, established in 1870, was the beginning of the present
Citizens' & Southern Bank. Leaving the Southern Bank he became connected with
the Merchants' National. Subsequently he became identified with the National
Bank of Savannah, when it was established November 10, 1885, and for eleven
years he was cashier of this bank. Altogether he was twenty-five years in the
banking business in Savannah—six years with the Southern, eight years with the
Merchants' and eleven years with the National Bank of Savannah.

   For four years after retiring from the bank he was special agent for the New
England Mutual Life Insurance Company. Then in 1901 he was elected to the office
of state and county tax collector of Chatham county, which he has filled, by
successive elections, ever since. He is a very popular official and his office
has a wide reputation for efficiency.

   Mr. Thomson is a Mason of statewide prominence, of both the York and Scottish
Rites, a Knights Templar, and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and in
addition is a Shriner. He was for several years treasurer of the Scottish Rite
bodies in Savannah. He was for ten years a member of military organizations in
Savannah, first of the Savannah Cadets, and then with the Chatham Artillery. By
election of the Savannah Cadets he is an honorary life member of that historic
organization. He is also a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks and no one is more beloved in fraternal circles. He and his wife are
members of "Wesley Monumental Methodist church.

   Mr. Thomson was married in Savannah, Miss Margaret J. Meldrim, of this city,
daughter of Ralph and Jane (Fawcett) Meldrim, becoming his wife. She is a sister
of Gen. Peter W. Meldrim, one of the leading lawyers of Savannah. Mr. Thomson
and his admirable wife are the parents of six children, all fine citizens and
all sharing the high ideals of their parents. They are: Ralph M. Thomson, Rev.
Thomas H. Thomson, Robert C. Thomson, Edward G. Thomson, Margaret M., wife of
Mr. Earl Dasher, and Meldrim Thomson. There are seven grandchildren. Mr. and
Mrs. Robert C. Thomson have three children: Thomas P., Jr., Robert P. and John
L. Rev. Thomas H. Thomson and wife have two daughters, Eunice and Sarah; and Mr.
and Mrs. E. L. Dasher have a son, Thomas Thomson Dasher. Mr. and Mrs. Meldrim
Thomson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have one son. Meldrim Thomson, Jr.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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