Freestone County, Texas Biographies Biography of Joseph R. Thompson, Sr. (Jul. 26, 1849-Apr. 26, 1937, buried in Ridge Park Cemetery in Hillsboro, Tx.) Source - A Memorial and Biographical History of Hill County, Texas Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 pages 237-238 JOSEPH R. THOMPSON, of the firm of Thompson, Lang & Co., retail implement dealers of Hillsboro, was born in Wilcox county, Alabama, in 1849, the eldest child of J. L. Thompson, an attorney by profession,and a native of Alabama. The latter recieved his education principally in the University of Alabama, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and died in 1862. The grandfather of our subject, Rev. James Thompson, was a Methodist minister, a native of North Carolina, and died in 1851. J. L. Thompson married Elizabeth, a daughter of E. Rodgers, a farmer of North Carolina. The latter was a soldier in the war of 1812, and came to Texas in 1876, where he died at the residence of his son-in-law, Judge Alexander White. The subject of this sketch was educated at Camden, Alabama, and at the age of fourteen years his father died and he then came to Leon county, Texas. He clerked in a country store two years for J. L. Caldwell, and then went to Fairfield, Freestone county, spent the year of 1868 in Dolbear's Commerical and Literary Academy, graduating in July, 1869, and then went to Marlin, Falls county, as salesman and bookkeeper for Whitaker & Alexander Bros. After his marriage Mr. Thompson managed his father-in-law's plantation for five years, and then came to Hillsboro and engaged as bookkeeper for Cox & Bell. In 1882 he embarked in the hardware business under the firm name of Thompson & Blakely, which partnership existed eight years, and in 1890 Mr. Thompson bought the latter's interest, and also sold an interest to Mr. Lang. In 1888 Mr. Thompson purchased Harpold Bros.' implement and machinery business, and took in E. M. Turner as a partner, and since that time the business has been conducted as E, M. Turner & Co. In 1889 a branch house was opened at Itasca, this county, where they handle all kinds of hardware and implements. Besides the business already mentioned, Mr. Thompson finds time to devote to other enterprises looking to the material advancement of Hill county; is secretary and manager of Hillsboro Milling Co., reogranized in 1891; vice-president of the Hillsboro Board of Trade; and is largely interested in real estate, both in Hillsboro and Itasca. The firm handles cotton as a matter of collection for the three establishments. Mr. Thompson owns a farm of 200 acres, a large part of which is within the corporate limits of Hillsboro. He also performs his duty politically, serving as a delegate to various conventions; socially, is a member of the K. of H. and the K. of P.; and religiously, is Steward and Trustee of the Mehodist church. In contrasting the stocks in 1882 and 1891 we find they stand as follows: In 1891, hardware $16,000, implements, $10,000; Itasca, $8,000. Sales of the three houses in 1890 were $125,000, and in 1891 promise to be even greater. Mr. Thompson married Miss Amelia Moreland, of Freestone county, and a daughter of Col. Joseph and Mary Ann (Lamar) Moreland. The mother is a sister of the second President of the Republic of Texas, and a relative of Justice L. Q. C. Lamar. Col. Moreland was Land Commissioner under President Lamar, was an extensive planter by occupation, and acquired his title by being the chief officer of a regiment of Alabama State troops before the war. He came to Texas in 1837, locating at Austin, where he died in 1875. Mrs. Thompson was educated at the Huntsville (Texas) Female College. She was the mother of four children, three now living: Lamar, attending Bingham College, Asheville, North Carolina; Joseph R., at the same school; and W. E., at home. Mr. Thompson lost his first wife by death in February, 1880, and in February, 1882, he married Miss Maggie, a daughter of J. H. Johnson, of Tennessee, and a soldier in the Confederate army. Two children have been born to the last union, Hester E. and Elizabeth E.