Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/118

94 THOMPSON, Maurice, author, b. in Fairfield, Ind., 9 Sept., 1844. His parents, who were south- erners, removed to Kentucky, and thence to the hill-region of northern Georgia. The son was edu- cated by private tutors, and early became interested in the study of out-door life. He served through the civil war in the Confederate army, and at its close went to Indiana, became a civil engineer on a railway survey, and in due season rose to be chief engineer. He "then studied law, and opened an office at Crawfordsville. He was elected in 1879 to the legislature, and appointed in 1885 state geolo- gist of Indiana and chief of the department of natu- ral history. He has written much for periodicals, and has published in book-form " Hoosier Mosaics " (New York, 1875) ; " The Witchery of Archery " (1878) ; " A Tallahassee Girl " (Boston, 1882) ; " His Second Campaign " (1882) ; " Songs of Fair Weath- er" (1883); "At Love's Extremes" (1885); "By- ways and Bird Notes" (1885); "The Boys' Book of 'Sports " (1886) ; " A Banker of Bankersville " (1886); "Sylvan Secrets" (1887); "The Story of Louisiana," in the " Commonwealth Series " (1888) ; and "A Fortnight of Folly" (New York, 1888).

THOMPSON, Merriwether Jeff, soldier, b. in Harper's Ferry, Va., 22 Jan., 1826 ; d. in St. Joseph, Mo., in July, 1876. He was educated in the com- mon schools, was mayor of the city of St. Joseph, Mo., in 1859, and was appointed brigadier-general in the Missouri state guards early in 1861, and in the Confederate army in October of that year. He was a most successful scout and partisan officer, and achieved frequent successes by strategy and daring against greatly superior forces. He was held in high regard by Gen. Sterling Price and Gen. Leonidas Polk, under both of whom he served. He recruited his command personally, and, as a rule, clothed, armed, and subsisted them without expense to the Confederate government. He was the inventor of a hemp-break, which is now in gen- eral use, and an improved pistol-lock. He sur- veyed, as civil engineer, the greater part of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and parts of the Kansas and Nebraska road.

THOMPSON, Richard Wigginton, secretary of the navy, b. in Culpeper county, Va., 9 June, 1809. He received a good education, and removed in 1831 to Kentucky, whence, after serving as a store-keeper's clerk in Louisville, he went to Lawrence county, Ind. There he taught for a few months, and then returned to mer- cantile business, at the same time stud- ying law at night. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, began to practise in Bedford, Ind., and served in the lower house of the legislature in 1834- '6, and in the upper house in 1836-'8. He was for a short time president, pro tempore, of the state senate, and acting lieutenant-governor. He was a presidential elector on the Harrison ticket in 1840, zealouslv supporting Gen. Harrison in public speeches and by his pen, served in congress in 1841-'3, having been chosen as a Whig, and was a defeated candidate for elec- tor on the Clay ticket in 1844. He served again in congress in 1847-'9, declining a renomination, and also refused the Austrian mission, which was of- fered him by President Taylor, the recordership of the land-office, which Fillmore tendered him, and a seat on the bench of the court of claims, which President Lincoln urged him to accept. He was again a presidential elector, on the Republican ticket, in 1864, and delegate to the National con- ventions of that party in 1868 and 1876. In the latter he nominated Oliver P. Morton for the presi- dency. In 1867-9 he was judge of the 18th circuit of the state. On 12 March, 1877, Mr. Thompson entered President Hayes's cabinet as secretary of the navy, and he served nearly through the admin- istration, resigning in 1881 to become chairman of the American committee of the Panama canal com- pany. He is also a director of the Panama rail- road. He has written many political platforms, and obtained a reputation for his ability in formu- lating party-principles. He has published " The Papacy and the Civil Power" (New York, 1876), and a " History of the Tariff" (Chicago, 1888).

THOMPSON, Robert Ellis, educator, b. in Lurgan, Ireland, in the spring of 1844. Coming to this country in his thirteenth year, he settled with his parents in Philadelphia, and. entering the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, was graduated in 1865, and in 1868 received the degree of A. M. In 1867 he was licensed to preach by the Reformed presby- tery of Philadelphia, and in 1868 was chosen pro- fessor of Latin and mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania. He became professor of social science in 1871, and in 1881 professor of history and English literature, which chair he still holds. Since 1870 he has given instruction in political economy, and he is well known as an advocate of protection to home industry. In 1884-'5 he lec- tured at Harvard on protection and the tariff, and in 1886-'7 he delivered a similar course at Yale. In 1870 he became editor of the " Penn Monthly," then newly established, and continued such for ten years. In 1880 a weekly supplement of notes on current events was begun, which in October of that year was expanded into " The American," a weekly journal of literature, science, the arts, and public affairs, which is still published in Philadelphia un- der his editorship. In 1883-'5 he edited the first two volumes of the " Encyclopaedia Americana," a supplement to the ninth edition of the " Encyclo- paedia Britannica," but, his health failing, he was obliged to resign the remaining two volumes to other hands. In 1870 Hamilton college conferred on him the degree of Ph. D., and in 1887 he re- ceived that of S. T. D. from the University of Penn- sylvania. Prof. Thompson is the author of " Social Science and National Economy " (Philadelphia, 1875 ; revised ed., 1876 ; partly rewritten, under the title of "Elements of Political Economy," 1882), and " Protection to Home Industry," his Harvard lectures (New York, 1886).

THOMPSON, Smith, jurist, b. in Stanford, Dutchess co., N. Y., 17 Jan., 1768; d. in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 18 Dec, 1843. He was graduated at Princeton in 1788, studied law with Chancellor James Kent in Poughkeepsie, teaching part of the time, and was admitted to the bar in 1792. He practised for some time in Troy, but, on the removal of Chancellor Kent from Poughkeepsie to New York, Mr. Thompson returned to the former place. In 1800 he was chosen to the legislature, and in 1801 he was a delegate to the State constitutional convention. In the latter year he was appointed attorney for the middle district of New