BIO:  Archibald Thompson, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, Chanceford Township, Pg 92

ARCHIBALD THOMPSON (the ancestor of the Thompsons in York County) came from 
Scotland, and was a Scotch Covenanter, some of his ancestors being compelled to 
live in caves during the persecution.  He married Margaret Wallace, daughter of 
Alexander Wallace, who came to York County in 1730, and in whose house Old 
Guinston Church was first organized.  Archibald Thompson and Margaret Wallace had 
four children:  Alexander, single; Agnes married Samuel Collins; James, single, 
and Joseph, who married Mary Purdy, the daughter of Archibald Purdy and Agnes 
Gilliland.  Joseph Thompson, born February 2, 1762; died December 19, 1813.  Mary 
Purdy, born 1766; died 1834.  They had ten children as follows:  Archibald 
married Jane Kirkwood, Joseph married Jane Martin, Nancy married Robert Anderson, 
Alexander married Margaret McKinley, James married Rosanna Kerchner, Margaret 
married William Reed, Mary married Thomas Grove, William married Mary Ann Hoopes, 
Samuel H. married Elizabeth Shenberger.  Andrew Purdy married Elizabeth Donaldson 
and had eight children, of whom William R. Thompson, of the banking firm of 
Semple & Thompson, corner Fourth Avenue and Wood Street, Pittsburgh, Penn., is 
the eldest.  Andrew Purdy Thompson studied for the ministry, and was sent by the 
Associate Church as a missionary to the island of Trinidad in the West Indies.  
After three years absence, he came home and has been almost uninterruptedly 
engaged in the work of the American Bible Society.  William R. Thompson, of 
Pittsburgh, was born in Alleghany City, in 1845.  During the civil war, he 
entered the Union army.  Since 1865 he has been engaged in the banking business; 
was seven years cashier of the Mechanics National Bank of Pittsburgh, and 
afterward its president.  He is now the active member of the banking firm of 
Semple & Thompson.