Plumas
County
Biographies
JOHN W. THOMPSON
Among
the residents of Plumas County, none is more entitled to specific mention in
the permanent record of the community than was John W. Thompson, whose death,
on March 11, 1905, was deeply regretted throughout the wide range of his
acquaintance, for he was not only a man of marked business ability, successful
to an unusual degree in his individual affairs, but was public-spirited,
neighborly, honorable in all of his relations with his fellowmen and genuine in
his friendships. He was numbered among
the pioneers of this section of the state and none more than he contributed to
the development and upbuilding of the locality in which he lived. Mr. Thompson was born at Bethel, Clermont
County, Ohio, on the 1st of July, 1829, and was a son of McKendre and Mary (McLain) Thompson, both of whom died when
their son was but two years of age. He
was taken to the home of an uncle, Lee Thompson, a merchant to Point Pleasant, Ohio,
who reared him to manhood and gave him such educational opportunities as were
afforded in the public schools of that locality. In 1850 the young man, lured by the prospect
of wealth to be found on the Pacific coast, came to California, by way of the isthmus of Panama and reached San Francisco in March. In the fall of that year he came to Plumas county and, wisely deciding that a steady business was more
desirable than the uncertain fortunes of mining, he opened a store and boarding
house at Nelson Point. These he
conducted with very satisfactory results until 1858, when he sold out to advantage. Prior to this he had bought the twelve
hundred acres of land which has always been known as the Illinois ranch and on
leaving the store he gave his attention to stockraising on this ranch. A short time later, however, he disposed of
his livestock and returned to the east on a visit. On coming back to California he located in
Sutter county, where he again became interested in
livestock. He was unfortunate, however,
for the floods of 1861-2 overtook him and caused him a loss of thirty thousand
dollars in stock. He then came to Plumas
County and located on the home place, where he engaged in farming and
stockraising. He made a specialty of breeding and raising
fine trotting horses, one of which he sold for four thousand five hundred
dollars at San Francisco. He also became
the owner of a sawmill and a grist mill, which he
operated very successfully for many years, finally disposing of them a few
years prior to this death. He put about
five hundred acres of his ranch under cultivation, raising large crops of
diversified nature, and the remaining seven hundred acres were mainly in
timber, some of which was very valuable.
He was a progressive and enterprising man, using the best machinery
available in his farming operations and keeping abreast of the times in his
ideas and methods with the result that he realized handsomely on his
operations.
On
September 4, 1862, in Marysville, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Mrs.
Rhoda (Cunningham) Graham. She was born
in Fairfield County, Ohio, a daughter of Francis and Rhoda (Post) Cunningham,
both of whom were born in Pennsylvania in 1799.
The father, who was born and reared in Washington County, moved to Ohio
in 1832 and later became a contractor on the construction of the Scioto Canal
in that state. He also owned a flour
mill, which he conducted successfully until selling out his interests in Ohio
in 1852. Coming then to California, he
became interested in mining, but later turned his attention to the milling
business, establishing at Marysville the first flour mill in that
locality. This was widely known as the
Cunningham mill but in 1861 it was completely destroyed by the great flood with
devastated this section of the state.
This disaster hastened his death, which occurred the following year, his
wife having passed away in 1861. Though
Mr. Cunningham came to this state in 1852, his wife did not join him here until
1856, at which time she was accompanied by her daughter Rhoda, then the widow
of William D. R. Graham, who had died in 1854.
By that marriage she became the mother of a son, also named William D.
R. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson became the
parents of three children, namely:
Carrie M., the wife of W. J. Miller of Quincy; Rhoda A., mentioned
elsewhere in this work; and John W., a mining engineer who graduated from the
University of Nevada and is now in Spain doing expert work on oil flotation in
gold mining. He has held important
positions with the Silver King and other corporations in Utah and Nevada. Mrs. Thompson passed away in 1913, at the age
of seventy-eight years, and in 1920 their daughter Rhoda, who had remained on
the ranch, sold the property and moved to Quincy, where she now resides.
In
1854 Plumas county was set off from Butte county and
Mr. Thompson was appointed one of the commissioners to perfect the new county
organization. In 1854 he was rewarded
for his efforts and was given the honor of raising the flag over the newly
organized county at Nelson Creek. He was
a staunch Democrat but never sought public office of any nature. He was a member of the State Agricultural
Association and maintained a warm interest in the county and state affairs, all
of which he attended. He was one of the
organizers of the District Fair Association and was a director of that organization
during its existence. He possessed the
qualities which were so essential to success during the early history of this
section of the state, and he so impressed his personality on the community in
which he lived that his death was regarded as a distinct public loss.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 97-99. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.