Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Thompson, Hon John M 1832 - 
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Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

HON. JOHN M. THOMPSON. Few residents in New Lenox Township have so strong a 
claim upon the consideration of the readers of this volume as the gentleman 
above named. He has borne an honorable part in the public affairs of a great 
commonwealth, won a gallant record for service during the Civil War, 
successfully and intelligently prosecuted a farmer's career, possesses a 
cultured mind and much learning in the law, and represents a family which has 
given many honored members to public life. His home is on a finely-improved 
farm where every necessary and convenient structure, first-class machinery and 
farm implements, and high grades of stock may be seen. The estate consists of 
about six hundred acres which, when covered with growing crops, present an 
appearance of prosperity not to be surpassed in Northern Illinois. The 
Thompson family is of English origin while the maternal ancestors of our 
subject sprang from Germany. His father, the late James Thompson, was born in 
Salem, Mass., and his mother, Sarah (Snure) Thompson, in Canada. Their first 
home after marriage was in the Dominion, from which they removed to Winnebago 
County, Ill., about 1840. Mr. Thompson first built a blasting furnace and 
afterward a factory in which he manufactured woolens and did custom carding 
and fulling. He resided in Roscoe until his death, which occurred in 1863. His 
widow survived until September, 1884, breathing her last in Rockford. Their 
family consisted of eleven children, of whom the following facts may be noted: 
Clark W., a resident of Minnesota, died in April, 1885, at the age of sixty-
one years; he was a State Representative, a member of the Constitutional 
Convention and State Senator several terms, bearing a prominent part in the 
political affairs of the State. He was also one of the Lincoln Electors, and 
the first President of the Southern Minnesota Railroad. He owned a tract of 
twenty-five thousand acres and established the town of Wells, which was named 
for his wife. Edward, a miller, residing in Blunt, S. Dak., has been a 
Representative and State Senator; Mary C. is the wife of James Abbott, of 
Beloit, Wis.; Eliza J. died in 1870; the next in order is the subject of this 
sketch; Agnes died in 1854 at the age of sixteen years; Anna is the wife of 
Maj. D. C. Wagner, of Chicago; James a resident of Fillmore County, Minn., was 
nominated to the Legislature but declined to run; Marie L. is the wife of 
Seely Perry, of Rockford; Fanny A. is the wife of Dr. Manuel Quintero, of 
Lyons, France; Albert died when two years of age. The natal day of our subject 
was October 22, 1832, and his birthplace Yarmouth, Canada. He was nine years 
old when his father removed to Illinois, and he prosecuted his studies at Mt. 
Morris and Beloit, Wis. After completing his classical education he was 
employed as clerk in a store and post-office at Roscoe for a year, then, in 
the fall of 1855, went to Hokah, Houston County, Minn., where for about three 
years he had charge of the business of his brother Clark. He next engaged in 
the real-estate business in the same place, and two years later turned his 
attention to the study of law. In 1859 he returned to Roscoe, Ill., continuing 
his legal studies there a twelvemonth. Assisted by F. G. Ensign and James B. 
Kerr, he raised a company of men under the first call for troops in 1861, to 
become a part of the Fifteenth Illinois Infantry. He tendered his services but 
was rejected, and returning to Minnesota entered the office of his brother 
Clark, who had been appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs and was located 
at St. Paul. There Mr. Thompson resumed the study of his chosen profession. In 
September he accompanied his brother up the St. Louis River and Lake Superior, 
assisting him in paying off the Nation's wards. He was nearly prepared for 
admission to the bar but was still determined to enter the army, and in 
October, 1861, enrolled himself as a private in Company K, Fourth Minnesota 
Infantry. In due time he was in the field, bearing his part in the many 
privations and dangerous scenes incidental to a soldier's life. He 
participated in ten of the hardest-fought battles of the war, among them being 
Iuka, Corinth, Jackson and Champion Hills. From the ranks he was promoted to 
the position of First Lieutenant of his company and afterward solicited by the 
Colonel to act as his Adjutant. He was afterward unanimously elected Captain 
of Company E, and still later (January 14, 1863) promoted to be First Major of 
Cavalry and assigned to duty with the Second Minnesota. That regiment took 
part in the Indian campaign, and Maj. Thompson was assigned to the command of 
Ft. Ripley. He was finally detailed to serve on a court martial convened in 
St. Paul, Minn., and remained there until the surrender of Gen. Lee, when he 
resigned, his resignation to take effect May 1, 1865. At Forty Hills he 
received a slight wound and at Champion Hills, while leading his company to 
charge a battery, he was shot through the body. He was supposed to be mortally 
wounded, was so reported, and being left to die on the field was taken 
prisoner and held from May 16 until some time during the following September 
when he was exchanged. On account of the wound he had received, Maj. Thompson 
was led to adopt farm life, and in May, 1865, located a short distance east of 
Joliet. He has given his attention chiefly to his farm, placing it in a 
condition second to none in the county and making it the source of an abundant 
income. Having some years since returned to Minnesota for business purposes, 
he was elected to the State Legislature and resided in that State about two 
years, creditably discharging the duties of his official station. In 1867, 
accompanied by his wife, he visited the World's Fair at Paris, and traveled 
quite extensively on the continent. In Joliet, January 14, 1863, Mr. Thompson 
was united in marriage with Miss Jennie M., daughter of Judge John J. and 
Priscilla (Moore) Davidson. Her father had been a Probate Judge in Indiana, 
but in Will County, of which he was one of the early settlers, he followed the 
occupation of a civil engineer. He died in New Lenox Township in 1844, his 
wife surviving him nearly forty years and breathing her last in the county 
seat in 1881. She was a native of New Hampshire and an estimable woman, under 
whose careful training her daughter grew to womanhood in possession of fine 
traits of character, useful habits and courteous manners. The family of which 
Mrs. Thompson is a member, consisted of herself and a sister, Rachel D., now 
the wife of H. N. Higginbotham, of the firm of Marshall Field & Co., Chicago. 
Mrs. Thompson was born in New Lenox Township in December, 1840, and after 
acquiring a fundamental education entered Rockford Female Seminary, from which 
she was graduated in due time. She has borne her husband five children—Jennie 
M., John D., Helen, Agnes and Vera. The son is now a clerk in the dry-goods 
house of Marshall Field & Co. Agnes died when in her eighth year. The other 
daughters are at home, gladdening their parents with their increasing culture 
and true womanliness. Maj. Thompson has taken quite an active part in 
political affairs, always endeavoring to act upon principle and fearing not to 
change his party affiliations as his views regarding party policy were 
modified or his opinions as to the National needs diverged from a former 
standpoint. He was originally a radical Republican, but afterward became 
active with the Greeley faction. For some years he was independent, then 
affiliated with the Greenback party, by which he was nominated Secretary of 
State by acclamation. In November, 1887, Maj. Thompson was elected Trustee of 
the State Grange of Illinois, Patrons of Husbandry, and in the fall of 1889 
was almost, unanimously re-elected to the same office on account of the 
prosperity which the order was enjoying under the business management of 
himself and colleagues. At Springfield, May 2, 1890, he was elected Chairman 
of a conference of the four organizations—the Patrons of Husbandry, Farmers' 
Mutual Benefit Association, Farmers' Alliance and Knights of Labor. They 
formed a federation known as the Farmers and Laborers' Conference, of which 
Maj. Thompson was elected first President.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 

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