Biographical Sketch of John A. Thompson, Johnson County, Missouri, Centerview Township. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** John A. Thompson, a well known and respected farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a son of a well remembered and honored pioneer family. He is a son of Josiah and Elizabeth Thompson and was born in 1850. Allen Thompson, grandfather of John A., was a well to do farmer of Pennsylvania and from that state, Josiah Thompson came with his family and settled on a farm in Centerview township, Johnson county, Missouri, in 1867. He was a minister of the United Presbyterian church and in the early days organized a church of this denomination in John- son county, and in his belief died in 1907. John A. Thompson has liv- ing one brother, George, whose home is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1850, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, John A. Thompson was born. He was reared in that state and at the age of seventeen years came with his parents to Missouri. For some time he was a student at Lincoln Institute at Greenwood. Early in life he began farming and stock rais- ing, pursuits in which he has ever since been interested and engaged. He now resides in Centerview, where he owns several town lots and a nice, comfortable home, but on a small tract of land south of town he is still raising stock. Mr. Thompson devotes most of his attention to hogs and to growing alfalfa. Reverend Josiah Thompson, father of John A., introduced alfalfa in this part of the country. For the past 20 years, Mr. Thompson has been a resident of Centerview. In 1873, John A. Thompson was united in marriage with Virgie Porter, daughter of Samuel Porter, of Ohio. To this union have been born three children: Labertha, the wife of Mr. Graham, of Centerview, Missouri and the mother of one child, a son, Porter; and Mary, the wife of Mr. Porter, of Jefferson City, being the only two now living, of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. Interesting reminiscences are stored in the remarkable memory of Mr. Thompson and he talks in an entertaining way of the days gone by, when there were vast tracts of unfenced and un- broken land in Missouri and cattle were permitted to roam over the wide prairie. Oxen were used to aid in breaking sod and one often saw a yoke of oxen and a team of horses hitched together. Wild game abounded and travel was difficult because of the lack of any roads. The trails at time became impassable. For the first two or three years after his family had moved to Missouri, young John A. spent many lonely hours. Settlements were so very far apart that he had few young friends or acquaintances at first, but later there were many social gatherings to attend and hi youth was spent more happily. For a long time the Thomp- son family lived in ahouse of two rooms, which the father built when he first came to Johnson county. Reverend Josiah Thompson and "Uncle Jacky" Whitsett were prominent among the early preachers. Centerview was then only a "half switch" with not one building. Of the first families who came to this county from the East at that time there now remain but representatives of two, the Ozias and the Repp families. Mr. Thompson is an intelligent, industrious citizen, a man who has done much to aid in the upbuilding and improvement of his township and his county. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny (Eisenbarger) Harrell ====================================================================