Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Thompson, James A. 1833 - 1885
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 6:33 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

JAMES A. THOMPSON.

    James A. Thompson, deceased, at one time a prominent and well-known resident
of Marshall county, was born at Chester, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1833, and
died at his home in Waterville, Marshall county, September 2, 1885. He was the
son of Andrew and Eliza (Burford) Thompson, who emigrated from Ireland to
America in the early days to better the opportunities for themselves and those
dependent upon them. They located at Chester, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
where they continued to reside until 1852, when they moved to Grundy county,
Illinois.

    James A. Thompson received his education in the schools of Pennsylvania,
there grew to manhood and moved with his parents to Illinois. Here he was
married, October 2, 1861, to Sarah Leach, the daughter of Henry and Sarah
(Bagshaw) Leach, natives of England. The parents came to America in 1841 and
established their home in Illinois, sixty miles west of Chicago. This territory
at that time was for the most part undeveloped, and Mr. Leach had to do his
trading at old Fort Dearborn—the Chicago of today, making the trips to that
distant post with a team of oxen. Mr. Leach was the first to plant corn in that
section, of the commercial kind of today. He was a pioneer horticulturist,
experimenting with seeds, shrubs and plants that he had sent from the old home
in England. He was a man of exceptional ability, well educated, of a literary
turn of mind and contributed many valuable articles to magazines and Eastern
newspapers. His life was a worthy one, and his influence in the community in
which he lived was uplifting.

    James A. Thompson engaged in general farming in Grundy county, Illinois, and
later in the grain business at Morris, that state, but was compelled to retire
on account of ill health. In 1868 he came to Kansas, where he invested in land
at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; now valued at one hundred and
twenty-five dollars per acre. In 1876 he established his home in Waterville,
Kansas, which was then the terminus of the Central Branch of the Missouri
Pacific railroad. Here he became interested in the real estate and loan
business, in which he was successful, and was one of the extensive landowners in
Marshall and Washington counties. He took the greatest interest in the growth
and the development of the district in which he lived, and was known as a
public-spirited citizen, who used his best efforts for the prosperity of the
county. He was a member of the Masonic order. At the death of Mr. Thompson, his
wife took charge of his business interests, which she continues in a most
successful manner, being recognized as one of the most capable business women of
the county.

    James A. and Sarah Thompson were the parents of one child, Olive A.
Thompson, who received her education in the public schools, at the Saint Angelus
Academy of Morris, Illinois, and has taken her bachelor degree at the University
of Kansas, where she graduated in 1887. She is a musician of note, studied under
Prof. Frederick Boscovitz, of the Hershey School of Musical Art, in Chicago,
conducted by Clarence Eddy, the noted pipe organist. She is also an artist of
much ability, having studied under D. F. Biglow, of Chicago, and others. Both
Mrs. Thompson and her daughter are prominent members of the Order of the Eastern
Star, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have always been active in the
advancement of community interests in Waterville and the vicinity.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)

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