User:Mrkbailey/William Preston Thompson

William Preston Thompson (5 Sept. 1788- 22 Nov.1848) was a Virginia and Missouri military leader, judge, politician, frontier doctor and one of the first settlers of present-day Grundy County in northern Missouri. His ca. 1833 two story brick “Thompson House” made from local clay soil and kiln dried on-site still stands in present-day Crowder State Park as the first of its kind in what would later become Grundy County, Missouri. Thompson was the son of frontiersman, soldier and politician Captain James Thompson, maternal grandson of General Evan Shelby of King’s Meadow fame, and paternal great-grandson of Colonel James Patton, one of the first magistrates and most influential settlers of the Virginia Valley. William Preston Thompson was influenced and raised by those who forged, fought for and settled southwest Virginia. He would later go on to settle new frontiers as well.

Virginia
On Sept 5, 1788, William Preston Thompson was born in Washington County, Virginia to Captain James Thompson (1750-1811) and Catherine Shelby (1755-1833) and was the second of four children. He received an education which included Medical college in Richmond, Virginia. He was also active in politics and the military. William Preston Thompson married twice. His first wife, Jane Robertson Russell (31 May 1788-3 Oct 1816) of Burke’s Garden, Tazewell County, Virginia, was the daughter of General William Russell and Elizabeth Henry, sister of Patrick Henry.

William and Jane were married Dec 12, 1805 in Burke’s Garden and had six children: Elizabeth Henry, Maria Ann Patton, Patrick, James, William and John Henry. Patrick, James and William all died young. On Oct 3, 1816 when their youngest son, John Henry, was one year and one month old, Jane died also. After her death, Thompson’s two daughters, Elizabeth Henry and Maria Ann Patton, went to live with their maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Campbell Russell (nee Henry). John Henry, Thompson’s only surviving son, grew to be a Reverend in Boyd County, Kentucky.

A few years after Jane’s death, about 1820, Thompson married his second wife, Sarah (Sally) E. Meek (5 Mar 1802 - 8 Oct 1851) also of Burke’s Garden and daughter of Samuel Meek and Amelia Keyes. William and Sarah had nine children: Caroline A., Milton Vale, Catherine Smith, William Preston, James Winston, Evan Shelby, Columbus Keyes, Sarah Jane and Mary Jane. Of these children only five lived reached adulthood: William, James, Sarah and Mary all died young.

Missouri
William and Sarah moved to Ray County, Missouri about 1821 the same year that Missouri was admitted to the union as the 24th state. Tradition is that Thompson made his move west with approximately eight slaves and resided first in Ray County where he ran for office, served as judge and practiced medicine.

In the fall of 1833, William Preston Thompson and his brother-in-law, James Harvey Meek, set out for unsettled Missouri territory and built a log cabin in what would be Grundy County. It is said that the Thompson family and their slaves resided in that cabin while work on their two story brick house began just outside of present-day Edinburg, Missouri. After the cabin was completed James Harvey Meek left Missouri to retrieve his family. In 1834, he returned with his family and another brother-in-law, John Scott, to settle the area near the Thompson house making it the first known settlement in that part of Missouri.

William Preston Thompson was one of two doctors in northern Missouri. It is said he covered an area that extended from the existing Ray County line to the Iowa border and from Linn County to the Missouri River on the west. He also practiced medicine in Decatur County, Iowa. One patient recorded that Thompson provided “the best doctoring he had ever had.” “Few men were better known or more widely esteemed than Dr. William P. Thompson.” (The History of Daviess County, Missouri)

Dr. Thompson is also credited with naming the streams and rivers in Northern Missouri, two of which are the Thompson River and Thompson’s Fork.

Military Career
Virginia Missouri
 * 18 Jul 1809 - Ensign
 * 20 Feb 1810 - Lieutenant (Recommended, didn’t accept)
 * War of 1812 - Paymaster
 * 21 May 1816 - Recom’d Major, 1st Batt., 70th Reg.
 * 18 May 1819 - Lieut. Col., 70th Reg.
 * Moved to Ray County, Missouri about 1821 and therefore was removed as Lieut. Col. In the 70th Reg. 20 May 1823
 * 29 Sep 1836 - Candidate for Brig. Gen. of the Twelve Months Volunteers, Missouri Militia (Far West Newspaper)

Although there is an account of Thompson being the Brig. Gen. in command during the Heatherly War, it is unclear which Thompson this was as one county book claims William Preston Thompson and another B. J. Thompson.

Political Career
Thompson was also a part of the Virginia Congress and U.S. Congress. When he ran for office he was considered an “Old Time Whig Party” member.

In February 1839, Thompson and two others then serving in the Livingston County court created new townships and renamed four. Of the new townships Washington, Morgan and Marion were entirely, and Jefferson and Franklin partially, in what is now Grundy County. Jefferson included a part of Cream Ridge. Medicine Creek Township’s name was changed to Chillicothe, Shoal Creek was changed to Monroe, Sugar Creek to Madison and Indian Creek to Jackson. The new names were in honor of great American statesmen and warriors.

Mormon Expulsion or Missouri Mormon War
In the fall of 1838, William Preston Thompson and others drove members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) from the state of Missouri. This period of time is referred to by some as the 1838 Mormon War and by others as The Expulsion. As a judge, he held court in his house to ratify mob efforts and then accompanied the mob and aided in driving the Mormons from the state. Documented is the account of Asahel Lathrop whose ill family was abused by Thompson and others resulting in the subsequent deaths of Lathrop’s wife and children and the loss of their home, land and property. Mr. Lathrop later recorded:

“they (the mob) had meet at the house of one Doct. William P. Thompson …entering into measures respecting the people Called Mormons…” Lathrop further recorded that “W. P. Thompson was a Justice of the Peace and they all Jointly agreed to Drive every Mormon from the state and notified me that I must leave immediately or I would be in danger of loosing my life.” [sic]

Later Years
Court records indicate that throughout his life Thompson was involved in court battles over financial issues. The longest and best documented of which involving himself and his sister-in-law, Margaret (nee Workman 1788-1848), the widow of his brother James Patton Thompson (1779-1814), and filed in Tazewell County, Virginia. Margaret alleged that Thompson had wrongfully taken control of her deceased husband’s estate after his death and had sold off properties without her consent and used the proceeds of the sales for himself. The case lasted from 1817 to 1845 with the court ruling that Thompson repay Margaret the sums which had not been used to pay his brother’s debts as stipulated in his will.

Grundy and Livingston counties in Missouri also document other court battles that Thompson was involved in regarding financial issues which continued up until his death in 1848.

William and Sarah were still living in their two-story brick house when Grundy County was formed in 1842 from Ray County. Both would live there until the end of their lives.

William Preston Thompson died 22 November 1848 and is buried in the Thompson family cemetery not far from the Thompson House in Grundy County.