Orville W. Thompson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1427-1428 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	ORVILLE W. THOMPSON, cashier of the First National Bank of 
Vermillion, Clay county, was born in the town of Vermillion, which is 
still his home, on the 13th of November, 1871, so that his boyhood days 
were passed under the territorial regime. He is a son of that honored 
pioneer, Myron D. Thompson, to whom specific reference is made on 
another page of this volume, so that it is not necessary to recapitulate 
the family history at this point. The subject secured his fundamental 
educational training in the public schools of his native town, having 
been graduated in the Vermillion high school as a member of the class of 
1887, while later he was matriculated in the State University of South 
Dakota, at Vermillion, where he completed the classical course and was 
graduated in 1893, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Shortly 
afterward he became associated with his father in the grain and lumber 
business, the latter having at the time been a member of the firm of 
Thompson & Lewis. In 1896 the title was changed to the Thompson-Lewis 
Company, and two years later the business was incorporated under the 
style of the Thompson Lumber Company, the subject having been vice-
president of this company from the time of its organization. In 1896 he 
was elected cashier of the First National Rank of Vermillion, and he has 
ever since retained this incumbency, proving himself one of the 
discriminating and able young financiers of the state and evincing an 
executive power which has done much to further the prestige of the 
institution mentioned. Mr. Thompson and his brother, Martin L., 
organized the Thompson Brothers Cattle Company, of which he is 
president, and they control an extensive business, having a fine stock 
ranch of sixty-five thousand acres, in Potter county. 

	In politics Mr. Thompson has been a staunch advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party from the time of attaining his legal 
majority, and he is one of the active and zealous workers in its cause, 
being a member of the Republican state central committee at the time of 
this writing. He is a member of the Baptist church, and fraternally has 
attained the Knights Templar degree in the Masonic order, being also 
identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic 
Shrine and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.