Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/160

 TH03IPS0N

THOMPSON

Winfield Scott, at the Soldiers' home, Washing- ton. D.C.; Charles Morgan, at Clinton, Conn., (about 1871), and of .Vlniiliam Pierson of Yale (1874); the medallion portrait of Gen. John A. Di.\. and the ideal works: Elaine, a bust, and Morning Glory, a medallion. He died in Middle- town. N.Y., Sept. 20. 1S94.

THOMPSON, Lewis O., educator, was born in Bergen, Norway, Marcli IS, lf?39. He came at an early age with liis parents to America; settled in Cliicago, 111.; was graduated from Beloit college, Wis., A.B., 18G3. A.M.. 1866, and from the Union Theological seminary, New York city, 1866. He was profe.ssor at Northwestern university, Water- town, Wis., 1866-68: stated supply at Belle Plaine, Minn., 186S-69, being ordained to the ministry by the presbytery of Minnesota, Jan. 28, 1869. and was president of Nortiiwestern univer- sity, 1869-72. He wa^ in iTidianapolis, Ind., 1872- 73; stated supply at Cottage Grove, Wis., 1873- 75; pa-stor in Peoria, 111. , 1876-82, and at Henry, 111., 1886-87. He is the author of: The Presidents and their Administrations (1873); Nothing Lost (1876); The Prayer-Meeting and its Improvement (1878); How to Conduct Prayer-Meetings (1879); Xineteen Christian Centuries in Outline (1882), and unfinished MSS. He was drowned at Henry, 111.. July Ki. 1'<S7.

THOMPSON, Maurice, author, was born in Fairfield, Ind., Sept. 9, 1844. He removed with liis parents to Kentucky and subsequently to northern Georgia, where his father was an ex- tensive planter; was educated under private in- struction; enlisted as a private in the Confeder- ate army in 1861. serving through the war on scout duty, and afterward returned to Indiana, where he established himself as a civil engineer, eventually becoming chief engineer of a railroad survey. He was married to Alice Lee of Craw- fordsville, Ind., where he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1879; state geologist and chief of the department of natural history, 1885-89, having from an early age given mucli attention to the study of natural science; atid was a member of the Democratic national convention of 1888. In 1893 Mr. Thonip- 8<^>n delivered the Carew lectures on " Conception, Composition and Expression," before the Hart- ford Theological seminary. He is the author of: Honsier Mosaics (1875); The Witchery of Archery (1879); How to Train in Archery, with Will H. Thompson (1879); A Tallahassee Girl (1882): His Second Campaign (1882); So7igs of Fair Wratlier (1883); At love's Extremes

(1855); Byways and Bird Notes (1885); A Red- Headed Family (1885): The Boys' Book of Sports

(1856); A Banker of Bankrrsrille (18S0); Sylvan Secrets (1887); The Story of Tx)nisiana in the

"American Commonwealth Series" (1888); A Fortnight of Folly (1888); Poems (1892); The Ethics of Literary Art (1893); Lincoln's Grave. poem (1894); Stories of the Cherokee Hills (1898); Toxophilus in Arcadia; The Ocala Boy; The King of Honey Island; My Wijiter Garden (1900); Alice of Old Fmcennes (1901), which last was dramatized. He died at his home, " Sher- wood Place." Crawfordsvilie. Ind., Feb. 15, 1901.

THOMPSON, Merriwether Jeff, .soldier, was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., Jan. 22. 1826. He attended the free schools; subsequently removed to St. Joseph, Mo., and in 1859 was mayor of that city. He was commissioned brigadier-general of the Missouri state guards in the spring of 1861, and in October, the same year, brigadier-general, C.S.A. General Thompson's brigade operated as an independent command, carrying on guerrilla warfare to IMissouri. and later arming 3000 ninety-day troops to defend New Orleans against the army of Gen. B. F. Butler. April 25, 1802. He was commonly known as the " swamp-fox," but fought in no important engagements and re- ceived no promotions. After the war. he became a civil engineer and surveyed the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and portions of the Kansas and Nebraska road. He died in St. Joseph, Mo., in July. 1.^76.

THOMPSON, Richard Wigginton, cabinet officer, was born in Culpeper county, Ya., JuTie 9, 1809. He removed to Louisville, Ky., in 1831, and later to Lawrence county, Ind., where, in 1834, he was admitted to the bar. He was a representative in the Indiana legislature. 1834- 86; state senator, 1836-38. and a presidential elector for Harrison and Tyler in 1841. He was a Whig representative from Indiana in the 27th and 30th congresses, 1841-43 and 1847-49; was de- feated as a candidate for presidential elector on the Clay and Frelinghuysen ticket in 1844; de- clined President Taylor's offer of the Austrian mission, as well as President Fillmore's offer of the recorder.ship of the general land-office, and dun'ng the civil war was in charge of a recruit- ing post near Terre Haute, Ind. He was a pres- idential elector for Lincoln and Johnson in 1^64; was a delegate to the Republican national con- ventions of 1868 and 1876. framing the platform of the former, and was judge of the fifth Indiana circuit court, 1867-69. In 1«77 he wa.s appointed secretar}' of the navy in President Haj'es's cabinet, resigning in 1881 to become chairman of the American committee of the Panama Canal com- pany. He is the author of: The Papacy and Civil Power (1877): History of the Protective Tariff (18««8); Footprints of the Jesuits (1894), and Recollections of Sixteen Presidents from Washington to Lincoln (2 vols., 1894). He died in Terre Haute, Ind.. Feb. 9, 1900.