GEORGE W. THOMPSON.
George W. Thompson is one of the oldest pioneers living in the State of Kansas, and is all probability the oldest living pioneer in Atchison county today. His career has been an interesting and even romantic one, and reads like a tale from modern fiction. Homesteader, farmer, statesman, politician and man of wide influence are terms which can well be applied to this aged gentleman who has spent sixty-one years of his four score and eight in assisting in the development of the Sunflower State.
George W. Thompson and Wife
One of the Oldest Pioneer Couples in Atchison County
George W. Thompson was born in Georgetown, Ky., October 18, 1827, a son of Benjamin and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson, natives of Virginia and Maryland, respectively, and descendants of old southern stock. Benjamin Thompson was born in Virginia in 1799, the same year in which George Washington died. He was a son of George Thompson, who removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1811, walking the entire distance over the Blue Ridge mountains to the new home in the forests of Kentucky, where they lived until 1843, and then joined the influx of settlers who were going into Platte county, Missouri. The Thompsons loaded their entire effects on wagons and drove as far as Frankfort, Ky., and then boarded an Ohio river steamer which carried them to St. Louis. An interesting episode of this trip concerns the passage of the boat over the falls at Louisville, Ky., or five miles below that city. At that time the water was very high in the river, and the captain of the steamer decided to take a chance and go over the falls. During the passage the pilot’s steering gear broke and the boat drifted over the falls without guidance in safety, but not without expressions of fear on the part of the passengers. This boat was the “Meridian,” one of the fast steamers of the river, and it frequently raced with other river craft. The trip required about three days from Louisville to St. Louis, which was at that time a city of about 50,000 inhabitants. Mr. Thompson recalls that the boats were lined up along the wharfs at St. Louis for over one and one-half miles, and he has never forgotten the sight. About five days longer were required to make the trip from St. Louis to Parkville, Mo., the trip ending on June 14, having commenced June 1, 1843. Benjamin plied his trade of bricklayer in Platte county, and built the Green Hotel in Platte City, which is still standing as a monument to his skill and handicraft as a mason. He was the first brick mason in Platte City and he erected the Green Hotel in 1844. Benjamin became prominent in the affairs of Platte county and was a fine orator and public speaker.
For many years he was an active and influential figure in the political life of Platte county, and he was a poet who left many evidences of creative literary ability which are still prized among the archives of the county. He resided in Missouri until 1860 and then came to Kansas where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in Mt. Pleasant township in 1862. His wife survived him and lived to an advanced age, dying in 1892, having been born in Rosamount county, Maryland, near Curlew. They reared a fine family of nine children, of which George W. was the third child.
George W. Thompson, with whom this review is directly concerned, grew to sturdy manhood in old Kentucky, and was educated in the neighborhood schools. Since boyhood, he has been a student and is at this day one of the best read men of his generation. He learned the trade of bricklayer under his father and followed the trade while living in Missouri. As early as 1854 he came to Kansas, on the day following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act which threw the Territory open to settlement. He came up the Missouri river in a small boat and landed at the mouth of Nine Mile creek in Leavenworth county. After investigating the possibilities in this county, he filed upon a Government claim and went back to his home in Platte county, returning in January of 1854 to erect a log cabin. This erected, he again went home, returning in November and roofed his cabin with clapboards made by him and his brother, and built a stone chimney and daubed the chinks with mud. He located permanently on his claim January 15, 1855, and on his way nearly lost his oxen in the river. In the meantime a man named Dunham had jumped his claim, and it became necessary for him and Dunham to compromise matters and divide the land which was considered valuable because it had a very fine spring of good, pure water available. Two years later Mr. Thompson sold his claim and entered 160 acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He moved to Atchison June 14, 1856. He developed this farm and lived on it for forty-eight years, or until 1914, when he came to Atchison to reside with his daughter, Mrs. Keats.
Mr. Thompson was married in Missouri in 1850, to Rebecca Stigers, a native of Knox county, Ohio, born April 18, 1831, a daughter of Conrad Stigers, a native of Germany. The mother of Mrs. Thompson was Mary Snell Stigers, who was born in Virginia, of French parents, and whose father was shipwrecked on the coast of Virginia. She was a direct descendant of the famous French family of D’ Estang, and her father was a connection of Count D’ Estang. To Mr. and Mrs. George W. Thompson were born nine children: Benjamin T., born October 11, 1850, in Missouri, and died March 12, 1902; Mary Katharine, born October 2, 1854, wife of Asa Barnes, of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; John Emmet, born February 17, 1857, in Atchison county, and now residing in California; Harriet M., born April 2, 1859, wife of T. M. Grant, Atchison county; Louis T., born May 8, 1861, died May 1, 1864; Mrs. Dora T. Keats, born March 21, 1864, wife of H. T. Keats, of Atchison; George McClelland, born May 20, 1867, a farmer, Mt. Pleasant township; Clara Thompson, born September 5, 1870, and Albert T., born October 5, 1873, died in infancy.
The Thompson family is one of the oldest in America and is of English origin. The founder of the family came to Virginia with Capt. John Smith in 1607, and through the marriage of John Rolfe with Pocahontas, the princess daughter of old King Powhatan of the Indian tribes of Virginia, the family and successive generations claim to have Indian blood in their veins. They are or were connected with the famous Pickett family, of whom General Pickett was a member. It will thus be seen that on one side the present members of the family can lay claim to being descended from the nobility and on another to being descended from an Indian princess and one of the earliest of the old Virginia gentlemen. It is not to be wondered that the founder of the family in Atchison county has made such a fine record during his long residence here.
Mr. Thompson has always taken an active and influential part in the political affairs of Kansas, and has been a life-long Democrat. He has the unique distinction of having voted for but one candidate who was elected President, and that was Franklin Pierce in 1852. This is probably due to the fact that he has always been independent in his voting, and acted upon his own convictions when it came time to cast his ballot. His last vote was cast for Theodore Roosevelt. When Populism was in vogue in Kansas he voted for the Populist candidate for President. It was only natural that he himself become a candidate for office on account of his education and the inherent gift for leadership. He served as a member of the Kansas legislature at the sessions of 1867, 1868 and 1869, and has been a candidate a few times since. At another time, early in his career, he was elected superintendent of public instruction in Atchison county, but refused to serve, and sent in his resignation. His last candidacy for the legislature was given him by the fusion of the Populists and Democrats, but he was defeated by White by a very small majority. During the campaign of 1866, he was asked to become a candidate for the legislature by many Republican friends and upon the advice of his many friends in the county, he cast his votes for both Ross and Pomeroy for the positions in the United States Senate. It is a matter of history that both Ross and Pomeroy were elected to represent Kansas in the United States Senate, Ross subsequently making himself very conspicuous by voting against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
This fine old pioneer was also a soldier in the Civil war, and served as first lieutenant of the company commanded by Capt. Asa Barnes in the battle of Westport. Mrs. H. T. Keats, daughter of Mr. Thompson, has in her possession a number of interesting souvenirs of this battle, among them being the belt buckle, and bayonet worn by her father in the battle, and the company’s flag, Captain Barnes’ shoulder straps, and James Binkley’s cap box, in addition to having some of the Government scrip, with which the soldiers were paid. The colonel of the Twelfth regiment was Colonel Louis L. Treat, another member of the company being T. L. Cline. Very few of the members of this company or regiment are now living.
On October 8, 1915, this noted old pioneer was eighty-eight years old and still vigorous, mentally. His power of thinking is not much diminished, and he is still a reader and student. Constant reading and thinking, we are told, is conducive to longevity and Mr. Thompson has always been a great reader and student of history and philosophy. He is a man, self-made and self-taught, and is blessed with a keenness of intellect far above the average. His life has been a well rounded and useful one, and he has had a career of which he and his children and grandchildren can well be proud. His long life has been clean and for years he has been a stern advocate of temperance and has practiced his own belief. In his younger days he was a noted and powerful orator who had the ability to thrill and sway his hearers. Few men can look back over a longer vista of years, well spent in honest pursuits, and in behalf of his fellow men than George W. Thompson. All honor to him as the oldest and most distinguished living pioneer of Atchison today.