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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to
Fulton County, Ohio
History & Genealogy
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Source:
The County of Fulton
A History of Fulton County, Ohio
Publ.: Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical Association
1905
Transcribed by
Sharon Wick
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ADDISON BROOKS THOMPSON,
a well-known business man of Delta, is a native of Fulton
county and a representative of one of the earliest pioneer
families of that county, his birth occurring on the parental
farm, Oct. 1, 1860. Here and in Delta his life has
been spent in various lines of successful business endeavor.
His father, Abraham B. Thompson, a native of
Lincolnshire, England, was born Mar. 5, 1831, and when an
infant three months old was bereft of a mother's tender
care, and a little over a year old when his father came to
the United States, leaving behind three helpless children,
who were entirely dependent upon the charities of relatives.
In 1848 his father returned to England, and when he again
left for America he took Abraham, then a lad of seventeen,
with him and established a home in Royalton township, Fulton
county, where the son lived until he attained to his
majority. His chief consideration when about to start
out in life for himself was the acquirement of at least a
fair business education. This he accomplished by
working out by the month to earn the means to enable him to
attend a school at Maumee City, only suspending his studies
when his means were exhausted. At this time, when he
realized so strongly the need of means to prosecute his
studies at school, the California "gold fever" was rampant
all over the country and young Thompson decided to
seek his fortune in the far West. In 1854 he made the
journey by way of the Nicaraguan route, but was prevented
from landing for some time because of small-pox on
ship-board. Upon landing he found himself entirely out
of money, but this fact did not long discourage him.
Borrowing thirty dollars from a friend he made his way into
the mining districts with renewed hope. After enduring
all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life
and practicing the closest economy for four years he
accumulated about two thousand dollars. In the fall of
1858 he returned to Ohio and invested his money in a farm of
one hundred and sixty acres in Amboy township, which he at
once began to improve and cultivate. Abraham
Thompson was one of the most prominent and progressive
farmers of Amboy township, was honored with all of the
township offices and for nine years served as county
commissioner. In 1869 he erected suitable buildings on
his farm and commenced the manufacture of Cheese, in which
industry he continued during the balance of his life-time,
and which is now operated by his son, the subject of this
sketch, who in fact has been interested in the plant since
1880, and since 1888 has been the business head of the
industry. By the establishment of this industry the
farmers of the community have been greatly benefite4d, the
annual distribution of cash among them averaging for many
years fifty thousand dollars. While a rival industry
at Delta has diminished this amount, the volume of business
transacted is still an important item of dairying interests.
In 1875 he removed to York township, one half-mile north of
Delta, and two years later erected an elegant residence on
the place in which he lived until a short time before the
death of his wife, when he built a handsome residence in
delta. He built an extensive cheese factory on this
farm and operated it in connection with the one in Amboy
township until 1883, when the latter was sold. Wile
successful both as a farmer and manufacturer, he was notably
so in the cheese industry, accumulating a comfortable
fortune. The product of these factories, all of the
very best quality, was marketed mostly in Toledo, O., and
Adrian, Mich., although a fair proportion was used to supply
the home demand. The home farm is owned and occupied
by his daughter, Mrs. J. W. Miller, and the village
home is the property of the other daughter, Mrs. Grandy.
Abraham Thompson was an active and zealous member of
the Masonic fraternity and attained to a high rank in the
counsels of that time-honored organization. Whatever
he found to do he did with all his might, and from 1863
until the day of his death he was a faithful adherent to the
teachings of Free Masonry. In his intercourse with men
he was ever fair and honorable, and the passing of this
venerable pioneer was the occasion of universal mourning.
On Nov. 27, 1859, he was married to Miss Susan Ann
Powlesland, a native of Devonshire, England, who had
accompanied her parents to this country in 1849. To
this marriage five children were born. They are:
Addison B.; Cara Dora, born May 18, 1862, now Mrs. J.
W. Miller; Evaline Fancetta, the wife of Fred
Grandy, and Ira J., who is married and lives at
Swanton. His first wife having died in Delta, he chose
as his second wife Mrs. Mary J. Huntington of Delta,
who died in 1901. Addison Brooks Thompson is
prominently associated with the business affairs of Delta
and the surrounding country. He settled up the
business of his father's large estate and distributed the
property among the heirs on the most equitable conditions.
His own personal interests being quite extensive, he is one
of the busiest men in the county. Realizing the need
of another bank in Delta, he succeeded by dint of constant
agitation of the question in interesting other capitalists
in the project, and in 1900 the Farmers National Bank of
Delta was organized and incorporated with a capital of
twenty-five thousand dollars. Since its organization
it has paid regularly a semi-annual dividend of two per
cent, and has a surplus capital of five thousand dollars
beside, the stock being worth one hundred and thirty, and
every dollar sold since the organization has realized more
than par value. In addition to this banking business,
Mr. Thompson is busy superintending his large farming
and dairy interests. For about five years he was
actively engaged in the mercantile business in Delta.
Desiring a central location, where he might always be found
by those wishing to do business with him, he accepted the
agency of the Toledo and Indiana electric railway company at
Delta when the road was first built, and he still holds that
position. When twenty-one years old he became a member
of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons. In
1890 he received the degrees in Octavious Waters Chapter,
Royal Arch Masons, and three years later became a member of
the Toledo Commandery, Knights Templar. He and family
are attendants at the services of the Presbyterian church,
of which organization his wife is a member. In
politics he is a Republican, as was his distinguished father
before him, believing it to be the party of progress and
sound government. Being a public-spirited and
progressive citizen his efforts in favor of the advancement
of public interests have always been felt in the community.
On May 9, 1883, he was married to Miss Harriet R.,
the daughter of W. K. and Harriet D. Gilbert, of
Delta, her ancestors being of English stock. W. K.
Gilbert, a very prosperous business man in his
life-time, is now deceased and his widow lives with her
daughter, where she finds a hearty welcome, her presence
adding cheer to the happy family. They are the parents
of four children, three of whom are still living. They
are: Arthur B., born in April, 1884, is a graduate of
Delta high-school and at present a very successful teacher
in the public schools; Winnie A., who was born in
May, 1886, and died in November, 1894; Fred G., born
in November, 1894, and Floyd E., born in October,
1896.
Source: The County of Fulton - A History of Fulton County,
Ohio - Publ.: Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical
Association - 1905 - Page 598 |
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ELI THOMPSON, who maintains
his home in the village of Fayette, is a veteran of the
Civil war, and is a well-known and popular citizen, having
been for nearly a quarter of a century employed as
section-foreman on what is now the Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern Railroad. He was born in Sunbury,
Northumberland county, Pa., Dec. 17, 1833, and is a son of
William and Mary (Campbell) Thompson, both of whom
were likewise born in that same county of the old Keystone
State, the original ancestors of the Thompson family
in America having come from Scotland and settled in Berks
county, Pa., prior to the War of the Revolution. The
Campbell family also is of pure Scottish strain, and
the original American representatives settled in New Jersey,
near the Pennsylvania line, later removing over into the
latter State, prior to the Revolution. William
Thompson was the youngest in a family of nine children,
and all are now deceased. In 1835 he came with his
family of Ohio and settled in Knox county, where he worked
at his trade, that of carpenter and joiner, for the
following eleven years. In 1846 he returned to
Northumberland county, Pa., where he remained until 1850,
when he came again to Ohio, and located in Morrow county,
whence, in 1853, he came to Fulton county, settling on a
farm two and one-half south of Fayette, in Gorham township,
and their remaining until his death, which occurred Oct. 20,
1887, at which time he was nearly seventy-five years of age.
His wife passed away in 1872, at the age of sixty-three
years. Of their eight children Eli is the
eldest; Alba died in 1855, aged twenty years;
Elizabeth remains on the old homestead farm, never
having married; Sarah is the wife of Charles
Gorsuch, of Waldron, Hillsdale county, Mich.; Mary
died in infancy; Phynanda became the wife of Frank
Spencer, and she died in Fayette, Ohio, in 1901, her
husband having previously died on a farm near Cleveland, O.
William operates the old homestead farm; and
Bartlett is a resident of Bryan, Williams county.
William Thompson was a leader in the local ranks of
the Democratic party for many years, and both he and his wife
were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Eli Thompson secured his early educational training
in the common schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio and also
attended a select school for a time. As a young man he
commenced work at the trade of carpenter and joiner, in
Morrow county, Ohio, learning the trade under the direction
of his father, with whom he was associated in this field of
labor until the removal to Fulton county. Here Eli
continued to work at his trade independently, and he also
taught in the district schools of the county for three
winter terms. In 1861 he was employed as clerk in a
general store in Fayette, after which he returned to
Pennsylvania for a visit. On the 1st of November,
1862, he there enlisted as a private in Company H, One
Hundred and Seventy-third Pennsylvania volunteer infantry,
in which he was forthwith made quartermaster-sergeant, in
which office he continued until the close of his term of
enlistment. He was with his regiment at Norfolk, Va.,
and after the battle of Gettysburg the command was attached
to the Second Division of the Eleventh Corps of the Arm of
the Potomac. He received his honorable discharge, Aug.
10, 1863, and he then located in Pottsville, Pa., where he
was employed three years as outside foreman of a colliery.
In 1872 he came to Fayette, Fulton county, and in that year
purchased his present attractive little homestead of fifteen
acres, lying within the corporate limits of the town on the
south side. The first three years he worked at his
trade and he then entered the employ of the Canada and
Chicago railroad, continuing with the line after the road
became a part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern
Railroad, with which he has been section-foreman for thirty
years, having served under five different track-masters and
being one of the trusted employes of the system. He is
an uncompromising Republican, takes a lively interest in
public affairs, and he served four years as a member of the
village council of Fayette. He was a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows for more than twenty years.
Oct. 25, 1863, Mr. Thompson was married to Miss
Mary A. Aregood, of Pottsville, Pa., in which State she
was born and reared, and they have eight children, namely:
William I., resident of Elkhart, Ind.; Eli B., at
the parental home; Joseph F., of Detroit, Mich.;
Olive M., at the parental home; Osman A.,
likewise a member of the home circle; John H., of
Delta, this county; Alva A., of Morenci, Mich.; and
Sadie S., of Detroit, Mich.
Source: The
County of Fulton - A History of Fulton County, Ohio - Publ.:
Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical Association - 1905 -
Page 601 |
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IRA J. THOMPSON, a
prominent manufacturer of Swanton, is a native of Royalton
township, Fulton county, born May 10, 1868. He is a
son of Abraham B. and Susan (Powlesland) Thompson,
and a brother of Addison Brooks Thompson, of Delta, a
full sketch of whose life and family history appears
elsewhere in this work. Ira J. Thompson when
seven years old accompanied his parents to the farm near
Delta, where his early manhood years were spent. He
received his education by attending the Delta public schools
and Fayette Normal University. After attaining his
majority he farmed the old homestead for six years and then
purchased a farm of his own, located one half-mile north of
it. Here he resided until 1900, when he leased the
farm and removed to Swanton. For the next four years
he was engaged in the transfer business. In the spring
of 1905 he embarked in the business of manufacturing cement
blocks for building purposes, a business that he has since
conducted with marked success. Mr. Thompson is
the inventor of a machine for mixing the sand and cement, by
means of which the mixing process is more quickly as well as
more thoroughly done than by hand. This machine is
operated by the same gas-engine that pumps the water to wet
the blocks and to make the mortar. The stock on hand
and ready for use consists of about twenty-five hundred
blocks, the daily capacity of the plant being three hundred
blocks. In addition to his plant he also operates a
steam wood-sawing outfit, and contemplates erecting a mill
for grinding feed. Mr. Thompson is a Republican
in politics and a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and
Accepted Masons. On Dec. 25, 1890, he was wedded to
Miss Ada E. Haynes, of Ai, the daughter of Jacob and
Nancy Haynes, early settlers of that locality.
Mrs. Thompson was born in Fulton township Dec. 14, 1864,
where she was reared and educated. To these parents
there have been born two interesting children. They
are: Florence and Fern, both in school. By dint
of close application to business and untiring energy Mr.
Thompson has won success in life, notwithstanding the
fact that he is still a comparatively young man.
Source: The County of Fulton - A History of Fulton County,
Ohio - Publ.: Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical
Association - 1905 - Page 602 |
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ALEXANDER THOMSON,
who is now living essentially retired in the village of
Fayette, has been one of the prominent and successful
farmers of Fulton county, and is known as a citizen of
sterling character, possession those dominating traits which
ever distinguish the true Scotsman, though he has been a
resident of the United States from his boyhood and is
loyally appreciative of the institutions and privileges of
our great republic. He was born in Cabrach Braes,
Forbes parish, Tullynessel, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the
1st of October, 1842, being a son of Alexander and Ann
(Dow) Thomson, who were born and reared in that same
parish, where the respective families had been established
for many generations. In 1854, when Alexander, Jr.
subject of this sketch, was twelve years of age, the parents
immigrated to America, making Ashland county, Ohio, their
destination. They arrived in New London, Huron county,
on the 23d of October of that year, and there the father
died the next day, as the result of an attack of cholera,
which he contracted in Quebec, Canada, while en route, and
he was sixty-three years of age at the time of his death.
His devoted wife survived him by many years, passing to the
"land o' the leal" in 1871, aged sixty-eight years.
They became the parents of three sons, of whom Alexander
alone survives. James, who was a soldier in
Company A, Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, in the
Civil war, died at Pittsburg Landing, while in service, and
is buried at Cairo, Ill.; William died in 1862, and
his remains were laid to rest in Savannah, Ashland county,
Ohio, beside those of his loved mother. Alexander
Thomson, to whom this review is dedicated, passed his
youth in Ashland and Richland counties, and such were the
exigencies of time and conditions that his educational
advantages were somewhat limited, though he had received
excellent preliminary training in his native land. He
has made good the handicap of his youth, however, and
through well-directed reading and studious application, as
well as through association with men and affairs, he has
become a man of broad information, possessing an alert
mentality and having all the canny originality of the stanch
race from which he is sprung. He traveled for years in
various Western States and territories, and in 1872 he
located near Boydton, Mecklenburg county, Va., where he
secured seven hundred and seventeen acres of land and
engaged in farming. He thus continued until 1877, when
he traded his Southern plantation for one hundred and sixty
acres in Chesterfield township, Fulton county, Ohio, paying
an additional consideration of two thousand dollars.
He took up his residence on his new farm, which he greatly
improved, making it one of the model places of the county
and being successful in his agricultural and stock-growing
operations. He continued his residence on the
homestead, which he still owns, until 1902, when he located
in Fayette, where he has since lived retired. Mar. 26,
1872, Mr. Thomson was united in marriage to Miss
Mary McCombie Johnston, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Tytler) Johnston, who were born in the city
of Aberdeen, Scotland, and who came to America on the same
ship as did the Thomson family. They also
located in Richland county, Ohio, near Savannah, and there
Mr. Johnston died May 9, 1881, aged seventy years,
and his wife died May 22, 1901, at the venerable age of
ninety years. Of their four children all are living.
Following is a brief record concerning the children of
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson: They are parents of three
children: Anna is the wife of David Carey, of
Decatur, Mich.; Margaret died at the age of two
years; Lulu is the wife of Arthur Miller, of
Fayette. Mr. Thomson is independent in his
political views, supporting the measures and candidates
meeting the approval of his judgment and taking an
intelligent interest in the issue of the hour. Though
never ambitious for office he has rendered effective service
as trustee and assessor in Chesterfield township.
Source: The County of Fulton - A History of Fulton County,
Ohio - Publ.: Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical
Association - 1905 - Page 603 |
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LYMAN A. TOMPKINS, M. D.,
after laboring long and faithfully in his chosen profession,
in which he gained precedence as one of the leading
physicians and surgeons of Fulton county, is now living
practically retired in the village of Metamora. The
Doctor was born in Reed township, Seneca county, Ohio, on
the 5th of Feb., 1841, a son of John and Julia (Jordan)
Tompkins, both natives of Steuben county N. Y., where
their marriage was solemnized and whence they removed to
Seneca county, Ohio, about 1835, the father becoming one of
the pioneer farmers of Reed township, where he reclaimed 120
acres of wild land, becoming one of the substantial and
influential citizens of the county, where both he and his
wife died. His father, William Tompkins, also a
native of Steuben county, N. Y., removed to Seneca county,
Ohio, about the same time, likewise reclaiming a farm, upon
which he paused the residue of his life. Thus four
generations of the family have been represented in the
Buckeye State. Michael Jordan, maternal
grandfather of the Doctor, was a farmer by vocation and
passed his life in Steuben county, N. y. The children
of John and Julia (Jordan) Tompkins were as follows:
Michael, Sally, Emeline, Betsey, Delos, Lois, William,
Myron, Lyman A., Alfred, Margaret, and Ardella.
Dr. Tompkins was reared to manhood in Seneca county,
where he was accorded excellent educational advantages,
having entered the Seneca County Academy, at Republic, after
leaving the common schools, and having later continued his
higher literary studies in Heidelberg College, at Tiffin,
that county. While a student in this institution he
also took up the study of medicine, under the direction of
General Franklin, M. D., of Tiffin, an able
representative of the Eclectic school of practice, and after
leaving Heidelberg College Dr. Tompkins took a course
of lectures in Miami Medical College, in Cincinnati, this
being in the year 1866. In 1867 and 1869 he was a
student in the Physio-Medical College, in the same city,
this institution representing a new and beneficent system of
practice. In the last mentioned year he was exposed to
small-pox and compelled to leave the city, but the college
gave him an unlimited certificate to practice medicine, this
being in every aspect equal to a diploma. In 1871 he
began the practice of his profession in Ai, Fulton county,
where he was located for sixteen years, building up an
extensive practice, ramifying through Fulton, Lucas, Wood,
Seneca, Williams and Henry counties, Ohio, and extending
into Lenawee county, Mich. At one time he was
compelled to keep ten horses in order to meet the exigencies
of his widely-extended practice, his stable thus having as
large a complement of horses as did the average livery of
Fulton county at that period. He gained the
distinction of having the largest practice of all country
physicians in the State, and his efforts were signally
self-abnegating and faithful, no matter what personal
discomfort and hardship he was called upon to endure when
ministering to those in affliction and distress. In
1887 Dr. Tompkins located in Metamora, where he
continued in active practice until 1892, when he felt
justified in retiring, his labors having been protracted and
arduous, and he has since given his attention principally to
the supervision of his farming interests, owning one hundred
and forty-seven acres of land, in Amboy township, Fulton
county, and Richfield township, Lucas county. During
the years of his active professional work the Doctor was a
valued factor in the county, State and national conventions
of the school of medicine of which he was so prominent and
able an exponent, and he has done a large amount of work as
examining physician for pensions and insurance. In
politics he is an uncompromising Republican, but he has
never manifested aught of ambition for public office.
In 1869 he married Miss Rhoda A. Abbott, native of
Vermont, who died in 1873, leaving one son, Abbott D.
In 1874, the Doctor wedded Miss Lucy J. Merrill,
whose death occurred in 1893. Arthur Lyman, the
only child of this union, was graduated from the Fayette
Normal University when but fifteen years of age, prior to
which time he had accumulated $560 through is personal
efforts. The faculty of Fayette University pronounced
him the brightest student who had ever attended the
institution, and his name is still mentioned there with the
same mark of approbation. After leaving school he was
cashier of a bank in Fayette for two years, when death cut
short his promising life, his age at the time being
seventeen yeas. In 1884 Dr. Tompkins married
his present wife, whose maiden name was Mrs. Elizabeth B.
Baker, daughter of Azariah and Harriett (Kennedy)
Baker, and who was at the time a resident of Seneca
county, Ohio. Mrs. Baker is a member of the
Methodist church at Metamora, Ohio.
Source:
The County of Fulton - A History of Fulton County, Ohio -
Publ.: Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical Association -
1905 - Page 604 |
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