BIOGRAPHY: James M. THOMPSON, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 127-9
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JAMES M. THOMPSON, a merchant and ex-soldier of Ebensburg, this county, was born 
in Blairsville, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1840. His great-
grandfather, Robert Thompson, which is as far back as this family can trace 
their lineage, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1737, where he married Mary 
Cannon, whose home was also there. Their children, eight in number, were all 
born in Ireland, two of them dying there when quite young. 
     On the 29th of May, 1789, this Robert Thompson and wife, with their 
children (Hugh, Martha, James, John, Margaretta and Elizabeth) emigrated to 
America, where, soon after their arrival, they settled and remained for some 
time in what is now Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Being 
staunch Presbyterians they became members of the "Old Salem" church. 
     In this congregation resided James Thomson, also from Ireland, but of 
direct Scotch descent, a gentleman of more than ordinary education, and in 
mental ability much above the average. He had been a Presbyterian elder in 
Ireland, and was one of the founders of the "Old Salem" congregation and clerk 
of the session at the time that Robert Thompson and family came into the bounds 
of this congregation. 
     This James Thomson was the father of nine children, the fifth of whom was a 
daughter Martha. She was born in Ireland in 1770, came to America in 1771, with 
her parents, and on the 8th of September, 1791, became the wife of Hugh 
Thompson, the first son of Robert Thompson, above mentioned. This Hugh Thompson 
and his wife Martha (nee Thomson) were the parents of nine children: Mary, Jane, 
Joseph, James, Robert, John, William, Hugh and Samuel. 
     In 1793 Hugh Thompson and wife, Martha, with their first-born babe, Mary, 
attempted to settle on land on Thompson's run, about one mile above what is now 
Kellysburg, Indiana county, and eleven miles north of the present town on 
Indiana, in what is now Rayne township. This start in life in the howling 
wilderness was interrupted by the unfriendly Indian, and they soon returned to 
Derry township, where they remained until after the defeat of the Indian forces 
by Gen. Wayne in the Ohio campaign in the month of August, 1794. Peace followed, 
and in the spring of 1795 the family, now increased by another daughter (Jane), 
came out once more and safely settled on the same land that the hostilities of 
the Indian had driven them from before. This time Robert Thompson, the father of 
Hugh, with his wife and five other children, came along and settled on a portion 
of the same tract of land. Martha, Robert Thompson's second child, and Hugh's 
sister, was now the wife of one Hugh Cannon. The family was now permanently 
settled, and to this day the fine farms which they carved out of the forest are 
known as the "Old Thompson Homestead," 
     Of these old original Thompsons, Robert, the father of them all, died on 
the old place on October 13, 1809, and his wife, Mary, on January 15, 1815. 
Hugh, their son, died on June 13, 1829, and Martha, his wife, on September 10, 
1848. All are buried in the Gilgal Presbyterian graveyard, four miles north of 
the "Old Homestead." All were members of the Gilgal church.
     Hugh Thompson and Martha, his wife (nee Thomson), were the grandparents of 
James M. Thompson, of Ebensburg, the subject of this sketch, and their sixth 
child, John, was his father. 
     Major John Thompson, as he later in life came to be known, was born on the 
"Old Homestead" June 1, 1804, and died in Ebensburg on December 5, 1879. He was 
reared and received his education in the old subscription schools of this 
boyhood days. On leaving school he began life on his own account in the 
mercantile business, and was later, for a number of years, landlord of the 
"Cambria House" and the "Mountain House," at Ebensburg, and was postmaster at 
the same place for fifteen years. On March 24, 1830, he married Miss Ellen 
Patton, and their union resulted in the birth of the following children: Joseph, 
Benjamin, Mary, Ellen, Amelia, James, John, Robert and Rose. 
     James M. Thompson received his education in the common schools of 
Ebensburg, and on leaving school accepted a position as traveling salesman for a 
clothing house in Philadelphia. He remained in their employ from 1857 to 1859, 
when he resigned his position and accepted another with the wholesale 
Philadelphia tobacco house of Wardell & Stephenson, remaining with them until 
1862, when he enlisted as a soldier in the Union army, in company F, One Hundred 
and Thirty-Third regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers infantry, and served for ten 
months. He participated in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, before 
Maye's Heights, in front of the historical "Stone Wall," and Chancellorsville, 
in which fourteen of his company were killed, fifteen were wounded and two made 
prisoners. Among the killed were his captain and first lieutenant.
     On retiring from the service of his country he again entered the employ of 
Wardell & Stephenson, and remained with the firm until December, 1863. On 
severing his connection with the above firm he located in Ebensburg and embarked 
in the mercantile business on his own account, opening a general store, which he 
has conducted to the present time. He has been eminently successful, and has 
built up an extensive and lucrative business. 
     In political faith he is a republican, and has served for two terms as a 
member of the Ebensburg borough council. In religion he is an attendant of the 
Presbyterian church. He is a member of John M. Jones Post, No. 556, G. A. R., of 
Ebensburg. 
     On June 26, 1866, he married Miss Frances M. Rogers, daughter of Evan 
Rogers, of Churchtown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, whose mother's maiden 
name was Catherine Jenkins. Miss Rogers was a cousin of our martyred President, 
Abraham Lincoln. Their marriage resulted in the birth of the following children: 
Walter R.; John E., who is engaged with his father in the mercantile business; 
Frances and Ellen, who died in infancy, and Mary R., who is at home with her 
parents.