R.W. Thompson, dealer in hardware, agricultural implements and seeds, was
born in Kirklin Township, Clinton County, Indiana, April 3, 1834, a son of
John M. and Ann H. (Halliday) Thompson, the father born near Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, of Irish ancestry, and the mother a native of Warren County,
Ohio, born in 1808, of English descent, and a grandson of William Thompson,
who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, but died in Warren County, Ohio.
The father was about a year old when he was taken by his parents to Clinton
County, Ohio, and there he was reared and married to Ann H. Halliday, and to
this union were born the following children - Sidney Ann, wife of George W.
Myers, of Boone County, IN; Mary, wife of John Myers, of Boone County;
Delilah, wife of Samuel Harding: R.W., the subject of this sketch; Drusilla
was accidentally scalded to death when about four years of age; Nancy J.
married John Stevenson, who died in 1862, two years after his marriage,
leaving one son, Horace V., who is now clerking in a dry-goods store in
Kirklin; Samuel H., living in Kirklin; he enlisted in the late war, a member
of the Eighty-second Indiana Regiment, returning home with a slight wound,
and with health impaired: Sarah E., wife of W.A. Huffine, living in Kirklin,
and Amanda, who lives with her sister, Mrs. Stevenson. The parents came to
Clinton County with their family, which then consisted of four children. The
father was a second time married, taking for his second wife, Nancy White,
widow of Richard White, by whom he had three children--John L., living in
Kirklin; Milford W., died aged two years, and Eliza C., widow of Johnson
Bogan, has two children. Mrs. Thompson had two children by her former
marriage. R.W. Thompson, whose name heads this sketch, was reared to
agricultural pursuits in Kirklin Township, receiving his education in the
district schools. When he was twenty-one years old his father died, after
which he managed the home farm. He was married December 4, 1859 to Eliza
Whittaker, who was born in Kirklin Township, thi county, January 6, 1841, and
was here reared and educated, a daughter of Ambrose and Lucinda (Holcraft)
Whittaker. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson - Charles
A., born on the same farm as his father, October 4, 1860, died October 15,
1875; Flora D., born November 25, 1862, wife of Geo.. M. Kutz of Kirklin;
Frank A., born January 21, 1865, a deaf mute, a graduate of the Indiana
Institution for the deaf and dumb; Anna L., born in Iroquois County,
Illinois, in October, 1869; Mary B., born at Boswell, Indiana, in may, 1872,
and died in March, 1875, and Willia A., born September 13, 1877, in Benton
County, Indiana. Mr. Thompson continued to resided on the home farm till
1865, when he went to Iroquois County, Illinois, and there engaged in farming
and stock-raising, buying 160 acres of land there on which he lived for six
years. He then sold his land and returned to Indiana, locating in Boswell,
Benton County, where he built a hotel which he ran a year and a half. He
also erected a business house and a livery stable at that place. He
subsequently traded his hotel and livery for a farm adjoining the town, on
which he lived till March, 1881, and during this time he lost $1,500 by
endorsing a note for a neighbor for that amount. On selling his farm in
March, 1881, he came to the town of Kirklin and engaged in his present
business, which he has since followed with fair success. In his political
views Mr. Thompson is a Republican. Both he and his wife have been members
of the Methodist Episcopal church for thirty years, are among the respected
citizens of Kirklin.
"History of Clinton County, Indiana"
submitted by Michele Thompson Guros (thanks to Mary Wilson!)