BIOGRAPHY: Roland THOMPSON, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 637-638.

  ROLAND THOMPSON, Milroy, Mifflin county, Pa., was born at Milroy, March 8, 
1837.  He is a son of James and Jane (Reed) Thompson.  Roland Thompson's 
paternal grandparents were Moses and Lydia (Adams) Thompson.  His father, James 
Thompson, was a member of the firm of Foster Milliken & Co., iron manufacturers, 
at Milroy, Mifflin county, from 1827 to 1833.  About 1840 Mr. Thompson turned 
his attention to manufacturing woolen goods at Milroy, and later formed a 
partnership with Isaac Hawn, who had been running the old woolen mill, which was 
destroyed by fire in 1839.  After some years Mr. Hawn retired, and Mr. Thompson 
continued the business, associating with himself his sons, Albert, Roland and 
Samuel T., in the firm of James Thompson & Sons.  This partnership was continued 
until 1873, when the firm suspended.  Mr. James Thompson had six children:  
James Reed, born in 1826, and died unmarried in 1858;  Samuel T., born in 1828, 
married Clara Ashmead Barr, of Newark, De., who died in 1875, leaving one son, 
Frank Forrester;  Albert, born in 1831, married Sarah J. McFarland;  Jane 
Elizabeth, born in 1835;  Roland, born in 1837;  and Anna Martha, born in 1840, 
died at the age of four.  Mr. James Thompson died in February, 1879.  His wife 
died in November of the same year.
  Roland Thompson attended the public schools at Milroy until he was eighteen, 
when he entered the academy at Potters Mills, Centre county, Pa., to prepare for 
Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Washington county, Pa., graduating from that 
institution in the class of 1860.  Having completed his collegiate course, he 
began a tour of the southern States, and spent one year in Mississippi, when his 
plans were frustrated by the breaking out of the Rebellion.  He returned to his 
home and enlisted, in August, 1862, in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-first 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after nine months of gallant service was mustered 
out with his regiment at Harrisburg, Pa.  On his return from the war, he became 
a partner in the firm of James Thompson & sons, manufacturers of woolen goods.  
This firm had an extensive and profitable business, but owing to disturbances in 
financial circles, they were unable to meet their liabilities, and suspended in 
1873.  Mr. Roland Thompson has won many friends by his genial manner and his 
benevolent disposition.