Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Thompson, Maj John M ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 3, 2007, 4:06 pm Author: Genealogical/Biographical Publishing Co MAJ. JOHN M. THOMPSON, who resides in New Lenox Township, near the Joliet line, was born near St. Thomas, twenty miles from London, Canada, in 1832. His father, James, a native of Salem, Mass., born in 1787, became a machinist in early life and at the age of twenty-five was made superintendent of a large cotton factory in Massachusetts. About 1820 he removed to Canada and settled on the Twenty, a large stream, where he built and began the carding of wool and manufacturing of woolen cloth. Ten years later he removed to the vicinity of St. Thomas and bought a large tract of land, where he engaged in farming, besides building and operating a saw and grist mill and also a woolen factory on Beaver Creek. After the Canadian rebellion of 1837 he left his family on the homestead and went west to look up a new location. He finally selected a site for water power in Roscoe, Winnebago County, Ill. There he built a woolen factory and a few years later a grist mill. On the completion of this work he returned to Canada and brought his family to his new western home. From 1840, the date of his settlement in Illinois, until his death in 1853, at the age of sixty-five years, he was engaged in the manufacturing of woolen goods and in merchandising. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Snure, was born in Pennsylvania and died in Illinois in 1886, aged eighty-three years. Of their ten children seven are still living. The eldest of the family, Clark, deceased, was for several terms a member of the assembly and for two terms a state senator in Minnesota, also served as superintendent of Indian affairs during the massacre of 1863-64. He was also president of the Southern Minnesota Railroad. Edward, who was also a senator in Minnesota, was a merchant miller, owning mills at Hokah, Houston County, Minn. He is now living, retired, in California. Mary Catherine is the wife of J. W. Abbott, a dry-goods merchant of Beloit, Wis. Eliza died in 1871. John M. is the subject of this article. Agnes died soon after her graduation from the Rockford Female College in 1855; Anna is the wife of Major Wagner, of Tracy, Ill.; Marie married Seely Perry; James lives in Duluth, Minn.; Fannie is the wife of a physician in Lyons, France; and Albert died when two years old. At the age of twenty-one our subject went to Hokah, Houston County, Minn., and acted as superintendent of a saw and grist mill owned by his brothers, Clark and Edward, who were at that time giving their attention largely to public affairs. At the same time he read law. In 1869 he returned to Roscoe, Ill., to complete his law studies. The day after Fort Sumter was fired upon he started out to raise a company of volunteers and upon the completion of the work he tendered the services of the company to Governor Yates, but as several companies were tendered from his county and only one could be accepted, the choice fell upon a company raised by Stephen A. Hurlbert (afterward a major- general). Immediately afterward, Mr. Thompson went to St. Paul, Minn., but his mind was so occupied by the national struggle that he could not apply himself to his law books nor could he concentrate his mind on business affairs; so he went to Fort Snelling and enlisted in Company K, Fourth Minnesota Infantry. Two weeks after his enlistment he was elected first lieutenant and later was selected as adjutant on Col. John B. Sanborn's staff. Late in 1862 he was unanimously elected and commissioned captain of Company E, Fourth Minnesota Infantry, and served at the head of the company in many hard-fought battles, including the siege of Corinth, Iuka, battle of Corinth and Champion Hills. On the battlefield of Iuka he served as acting major, in the absence of the major, and was favorably mentioned by his colonel for gallantry and recommended for promotion. In that battle, though in the thickest of the fight, he was not injured, though having many narrow escapes; at one time his hat band was shot off his hat. Shortly afterward Adjutant-General Thomas, of the United States army, while on a tour of inspection in the west, offered him the rank of colonel of a colored regiment, which he accepted, but requested that he might be permitted to remain with and command his company until after the siege of Vicksburg. The request was granted and he remained with his company. At Champion Hills, May 16, 1863, Major Thompson was reported mortally wounded by a gun shot through the left lung and was left on the field to die, as was supposed. In a few days all the wounded were removed for whose recovery the slightest hope was entertained, but as he had been given up, he with many others was left to fall into the hands of the Confederates. He was taken prisoner and the rebel surgeons also reported him mortally wounded; but, on account of his strong constitution and good habits, his wound did not prove fatal. After six months he was exchanged and ordered to report at the St. Louis barracks. From there he was sent to Fort Snelling, on the way visiting his mother at Roscoe, Ill. He remained at Fort Snelling and St. Paul until his marriage, which took place at Joliet, Ill., January 14, 1864. On the day he was made a Benedict he received a telegram announcing his promotion to be first major of the Second Minnesota Cavalry. With his regiment he took part in the Indian warfare of 1864, and in the fall of the same year was ordered to report to and take command of Fort Ripley, on the head waters of the Mississippi. Later he was transferred to St. Paul as president of court martial, where he remained until mustered out of service, May 5, 1865. Coming to this county the same month, Major Thompson built what was at the time one of the finest residences in the county and probably the finest farm house in the state. In 1867, accompanied by his wife, he went to Europe and spent eight months, visiting Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and the British Isles. On his return he gave his attention to the raising of high- grade horses and cattle. During the war he was a Republican, afterward became independent and during Cleveland's first term he supported the Democratic party, believing it to be more favorable to the farmer in its tariff platform. From 1887 to 1893 he was master of the state grange, during which time he traveled over the entire state, speaking in almost every county. He also traveled in the interest of the Grange in the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He was a member of the thirty-ninth General Assembly. At the close of his term the Chicago Herald placed his name on a roll of honor with the names of seventeen others, stating that every vote these gentlemen cast was in the interests of agriculture and labor. In 1897 the Democratic party nominated him to represent the twelfth district in congress, but he declined the nomination in the convention. However, in response to the appeal of the district committee and leading members of the party, he withdrew his resignation and reluctantly consented to represent the party during the fall campaign. Although he was not elected, yet he reduced the majorities formerly given his opponent, J. G. Cannon, of Danville, who had represented his district for twenty years. The marriage of Major Thompson united him with Miss Mary Jane Davidson, daughter of Judge John J. Davidson, a pioneer of 1834. They have had four daughters and one son, viz.: Jennie Marie, John D., Helen E. (Mrs. Charles Fish), Agnes (deceased) and Vera. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present Biographical Publishing Company; Chicago 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/thompson1631nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 8.3 Kb