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Author: HuntingtonV
Surnames: Thompson, Richards, Mills, Blair, Shaffer, Chopson, Fix, Benson, Stinson,
Colbert, Swaim, Bonham, Coolman
Classification: biography
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Message Board Post:
From Biographical Memoirs of Huntington County, 1901, pages 589-590
Byron E. Thompson was born in section thirteen, Salamonie township, Huntington county,
Indiana, December 4, 1858, and is to-day one of the leading tillers of the soil in that
section. He is a son of Ebenezer and Mary Ann (Richards) Thompson, and a grandson of John
Thompson and Lewis Richards. The maternal grandfather, Lewis Richards, resided in Darke
county, Ohio, where the mother was born November, 1825, and in 1833 he moved his family to
Indiana, locating in Wayne township, Huntington county, where he purchased and cleared
eighty acres of land. His wife died in 1871 and he went to Michigan, where he died,
leaving six children.
The paternal grandfather, John Thompson, was a native of Kentucky, but came north to
Indiana about 1840, and took up two hundred acres of land. He bought and sold
considerable land, and cleared about one hundred and ninety acres, upon which he lived
until 1876, when he moved to Warren, where he died twelve years later. He had been twice
married, the first union resulting in the birth of four children, the only one now living
being John H. Thompson, who resides on the old homestead. He was called to mourn the
death of his wife while still a resident of Kentucky, and he then placed at the head of
his household Mrs. Polly Thompson, who died in 1885. Her children are Robert, of Wells
county, Liberty township; Margaret, who is unmarried; and Annie, the wife of Lewis Mills,
of Wells county.
Ebenezer Thompson, the father of our subject, was born in Bracken county, Kentucky, about
the year 1823, and at the age of seventeen came to this state with his father and settled
in Salamonie township, Huntington county. He was a farmer of undoubted ability and met
with reasonable success. He was twice married, his first wife being Parmelia Blair, by
whom he had two children, John H., of East Warren, and Jane, who married Philip Shaffer, a
farmer of Salamonie township. After the death of Mrs. Thompson, he was married to Mary
Ann Richards, who bore him a family of eight children, as follows: Ezra, who married
Emily E. Chopson, now residing in Warren; George H., who married Miss Mitta Fix, is a
farmer of Salamonie township; Lewis E. married Miss Melinda Benson and lives in Grant
county; Lucretia, who resides with her mother on the old homestead; Byron E., our subject;
Millie, who married John Stinson, a farmer of this township; James, who died at the age of
six years; and!
Alice, who married Wiley Stinson and died in April, 1899. Ebenezer Thompson died
December 8, 1896, leaving many friends to mourn him. While not a member of any church,
his life was that of an earnest Christian, believing in the faith of the Disciples
church.
Byron E. Thompson was reared on the farm and early became inured to hard work. At the age
of twenty-three he began to do for himself, and on July 2, 1883, led to the altar Miss
Mary E. Colbert, a lady esteemed for her many excellent qualities of mind and heart. She
is a daughter of Lemuel Colbert, a wealthy farmer of this township, whose biography
appears elsewhere. Lemuel Colbert is a native of the state of Ohio, where he was born
November 15, 1842, but has been a resident of Indiana since his babyhood, his father,
George Colbert, coming here when Lemuel was about one year old. He is readily recognized
as the leading farmer of this section, and his magnificent home is most attractive and
inviting. He was married February 6, 1862, to Miss Mahala Swaim, who was called to the
better land on February 26, 1869. She left two children, Mary E., the wife of our
subject, and Samuel E., who married Miss Minnie Bonham, now residing in Warren. After the
death of his wife Mr. Col!
bert was married to Miss Margaret Coolman, and four children were born to this marriage:
William C., David L., Lena L. and Ada Viola.
The children who have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are: Jessie E., born
August 21, 1883; Jennie M., born October 20, 1884; Julia Ann, born March 23, 1886;
Ebenezer L., born July 31, 1887; Samuel H., born August 10, 1889; Ada L., born March 23,
1891; Edna A., born July 25, 1892; Benjamin H., born September 6, 1895; and Delpha E.,
born October 26, 1900. Mr. Thompson farmed in section one, Salamonie township, for five
years after his marriage, and then bought the John Chopson farm of one hundred and twenty
acres in sections eleven and fourteen, this township, and later purchased forty acres in
section ten. He has placed many improvements thereon in the way of buildings, ditches,
trees, etc., and has brought the soil to a state of fertility which yields him splendid
returns in the way of harvests. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in politics, and no resident
of Huntington county stands higher in the estimation of his neighbors.
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