One Township's Yesterdays Chapter XXVI
THOMPSON
LEWIS THOMPSON the pioneer, was born December 20, 1804, in Bracken County, Kentucky, was by occupation farmer, politically
a Democrat and a member of the Christian or Disciples Church. He was married to PHEBE DICKSON, February 27, 1825. Of their
children,
William D.
Alexander C.
Nancy J.
Julia A.
grew to maturity. The Thompson family came to Union Township in the migration of '36.
WILLIAM D. THOMPSON who was nine at the time of their coming, having been born in Fayette County, Indiana, March 4, indiana_map_1827, traces the
line of ancestry back through several generations to his great grandfather, JAMES THOMPSON, who came to this country and settled in
that part of the District of Columbia taken off the State of Maryland, where WILLIAM THOMPSON, his grandfather, was born in 1776.
In 1798, he was married to NANCY LEWIS, and moved to Bracken County, Kentucky, about 1800.
He and his father were Baptist ministers, but after moving to Fayette County, Indiana, in 1816, he severed his connection with the
Baptist Church and became identified with the Disciples, of which denomination he was also a minister until his death. He assisted
in the organization of a number of congregations in Fayette and other counties, and also preached in Marshall County, after settling
here in 1836. On coming to this region, he purchased a large tract of land near Maxinkuckee lake, on which he and his children settled.
He reared a family of four sons and four daughters. [
of which were]
Mary became the wife of ELIAS DICKSON, of Union Township.
William L. went to Lincoln, Nebraska.
WILLIAM D. THOMPSON
WILLIAM D. THOMPSONwas married February 14, 1850, to AMANDA LOGAN, daughter of THOMAS LOGAN. The Logans were also pioneers, settling
in this part of the country at about the same time as did the Thompsons. There were four children:
Phebe C.
Laura, E.
Albertus C.
Olive M.
WILLIAM D. THOMPSON held the office of Justice of the Peace in Union Township for four years ending in 1858, and was
Center Township Trustee from April, 1882 to 1886. He was a Democrat. For a number of years he was an elder in the Christian Church
of Plymouth. The anniversary of the arrival of the THOMPSON family upon the banks of Maxinkuckee, July 26, 1836, has been observed
throughout the years, the members having established the custom of visiting the lake and the old homestead at that time.
Other Thompson families settled in this part of the country at early dates. Among them was the family of JOHN L. and SARAH (VANSICKLE)
THOMPSON, natives of Kentucky and Germany respectively, who were early settlers of Illinois and who located near Wolf Creek Mill,
Green Township, in 1834. JAMES THOMPSON, for many years a prominent citizen of Marshall County, was one of the original pioneers
of the southwestern part of what is now Center Township. After partly clearing a farm there, he moved to the northeast corner of
West Township. He was a Virginian by birth, and his ancestry was purely American, according to family records and traditions. His
father was LARKIN THOMPSON.