Multnomah-Clatsop-Linn County OR Archives Biographies.....Thompson, Henry C. June 8, 1855 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 27, 2007, 1:34 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

      HENRY C. THOMPSON, of Portland, is doing important work in the real 
estate field and in his business career has demonstrated what may be 
accomplished by hard work and strength of purpose, guided and directed by 
intelligence and sound judgment. His life record, was told by Fred Lockley in 
the Oregon Journal of July 29, 1926:
     “‘My father, Rev. Lewis Thompson, was born in 1809 near Covington, 
Kentucky,’ said Mr. Thompson as we ate lunch together in the Hotel Astoria 
recently. ‘He and Abraham Lincoln were both Kentuckians and both were born in 
1809. My father studied medicine but decided to take up the ministry and was 
graduated from Princeton University. He was five feet, eleven inches high, had 
black hair and blue eyes, and weighed from one hundred and seventy-seven to 
one hundred and eighty-three pounds.  My grandfather was a slave owner and at 
his death he left his slaves to my father, who didn’t believe in slavery, so 
he liberated them. His old friends looked upon him with suspicion as an 
abolitionist, so he went to Ohio. Later he migrated to Missouri and went to 
teaching to earn his bread and butter and to preaching for the love of it. In 
those days but few ministers depended upon their parishioners for a 
livelihood. They usually made their own living at teaching, farming, 
blacksmithing or something else and preached because they felt the urge to do 
so.
     “‘After moving to Missouri father found the slavery question so 
acrimonious that he decided to come west to get away from it. Lots of 
southerners didn’t believe in slavery, which, like the open saloon, is gone 
forever. Father crossed the plains in 1845 in the Sol Tetherow wagon train and 
was the First Presbyterian minister to establish a church in the Oregon 
country. In the late ‘40s he was pastor of the Clatsop Plains Presbyterian 
church, attended by Mrs. Jacob Kamm of Portland when she was a little girl, 
her father, Dr. William H. Gray, being one of the principal supporters of the 
church.
     “‘My mother’s maiden name was Sarah Elizabeth Cheadle. She was born in 
Ohio about 1829. Her father, Richmond Cheadle, crossed the plains in the 
late ‘40s—1847, I think—and settled near Lebanon. I was born on Clatsop 
Plains, June 8, 1855. I was the fourth child, Sarah Elizabeth, my oldest 
sister, was born about the year 1850. She was a musician and teacher. Mary, 
the next child, died young. My brother, Ed P. Thompson, lives at Oakland, 
California. I came next. Millie, the next child, married Captain M. A. 
Woodside. He was a deep sea sailor and during the forty-two years of his 
seafaring life he has visited most of the well known ports of the world. His 
home was situated in Oakland. My brother Trueman had the highest record for 
scholarship of any pupil in the Sacramento public schools. He died while in 
his teens.  
     “‘About 1864 we left Clatsop Plains on board the Ajax to join father in 
California. His work as a minister kept him on the go pretty constantly. When 
he was sixty-nine his team became frightened, ran away and upset the buggy. 
Father’s hip was broken and he lay by the side of the road for twenty-two 
hours before a passing traveler picked him up and took him to the nearest 
settlement. Father was eighty-six when he died.
     “‘I struck out for myself when I was fifteen. I went to Sacramento, where 
I landed a job driving a bakery wagon. My hours were from 3 a. m. to 8 p. in. 
seven days a week. I received ten dollars a week. I worked on the bakery wagon 
for two and a half years and then got a job in a grocery store, as I wanted to 
go to night school. I worked in the grocery store for two years and meanwhile 
attended night school, taking the business course.
     “‘In 1874, when I was nineteen years old, R. D. Hume, the salmon packer, 
hired me to go to Ellensburg, as Wedderburn was then called, to work in his 
store and serve as bookkeeper for his cannery. Mr. Hume packed the fall and 
summer run of salmon. The salmon ran from ten to thirty pounds. He paid twenty-
five cents each for them, irrespective of size. He owned somewhere between six 
thousand and ten thousand acres along the Rogue river and he operated a 
sawmill and a store. I had to open the store at 6:30 a. m. and keep it open 
till 10 p. m, so I didn’t have much time to myself. I stayed there for two and 
a half years and then drew my savings and went to Astoria, where I bought a 
half interest in a grocery store and meat market.
     “‘Along about 1888 I was married to Lulu W. Warren, daughter of Daniel K. 
Warren, president of the Astoria National Bank and a member of the family for 
whom the town of Warrenton is named. I became cashier of the Astoria National 
Bank and put in twenty-five busy years in that city. For a term I was one of 
the councilmen of Astoria and served for ten years on the school board, while 
for three terms I was treasurer of Clatsop county. No, I never represented 
that county in the legislature. I ran for a seat in the lower house not long 
after I came to Astoria. The reason I didn’t go to Salem was that my opponent 
had more votes than I, so I decided I didn’t want the place anyway.
     “‘In 1902 I moved to Portland, going into the wholesale commission 
business.’ Mr. Thompson is now dealing in real estate, handling his own 
property, and has prospered in his undertakings. In addition to his extensive 
holdings in Portland he has a large tract of land at Canon Beach which he is 
improving and has sold a number of lots at this popular seaside resort, which 
is noted for its scenic beauty. His activities have been equally beneficial to 
Portland and he is also identified with financial affairs, being one of the 
directors of the Portland National Bank.
     Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two children. Their son, Harold W., a 
newspaper man, resides in San Francisco and in 1926 was appointed assistant 
bank examiner. The daughter, Frances Edwina attended lectures at Reed College 
and in 1926 she toured Yellowstone Park, making the journey alone in her car, 
greatly enjoying the trip. She is now attending lectures in Paris, France.
     Mr. Thompson casts his ballot for the candidates of the republican party 
and supports those projects which are destined to prove of benefit to his city 
and state. As one of the Royal Rosarians he has aided in making the annual 
Rose Festival a pageant of which Portland’s citizens may well be proud. In the 
Masonic order he has attained the Knight Templar degree and has crossed the 
sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, He is a past high 
priest of St. John’s Chapter, a past master of No. 7 Temple, both of Astoria, 
and is also a member of Myrtle Chapter of the Eastern Star. Alert, energetic 
and capable, Mr. Thompson has made the most of his opportunities and in 
winning prosperity he has also gained the esteem and good-will of his 
fellowmen, never deviating from the course dictated by conscience and honor.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 334-335

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