BIOGRAPHY - William Hamilton Thompson
WILLIAM HAMILON THOMPSON is prominently connected with the business
interests of Melvin, being the senior member of the firm of W. H. & W. E.
Thompson, dealers in lumber and farm machinery. He has been a resident of
Peach Orchard Township, Ford County, since 1872, and has made his home in
Illinois since 1865.
Mr. Thompson claims Ohio as the State of his nativity, his birth occurring
in Belmont County, on the 4th of December, 1851. With his parents, he came
to Illinois, the family settling in Marshall County, near New Rutland, La
Salle County, where he attended the public schools. On attaining to man's
estate, in the fall of 1872, he came to Ford County, and, locating in Peach
Orchard Township, engaged in farming. He still owns a farm of eighty acres
on section 36, but in later years he has given no attention to agricultural
pursuits, but has devoted his energies to the lumber business.
An important event in the life of Mr. Thompson occurred on the 23d of
September, 1875, when in Paxton he was united in marriage with Miss Ruth
Hunt, a daughter of John S. and Jane Hunt. The lady was born in La Salle
County, Ill., February 20, 1856, and came to this county with her parents in
1867. Three children grace the union of this worthy couple, a son and two
daughters: Zella Ann, Delmer B. and Della.
Mr. Thompson continued to engage in agricultural pursuits until 1876, when
he left the farm and embarked in his present business as a dealer in lumber
and farm machinery in Melvin, where he has since made his home. He is a
straightforward, upright business man and is held in high regard by all who
know him. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
in his political affiliations he is a stalwart Republican, warmly advocating
the principles of that party and laboring for its success and upbuilding.
During his residence in Peach Orchard Township, he has held various official
positions of honor and trust, having served for one year as Collector, as
President of the Village of Melvin for two years, and as United States
Census Enumerator for his home district in 1890. Mr. Thompson and his
partner have built up an extensive trade in their line, as the result of
good management and an earnest desire to please their patrons, and are
esteemed among the worthy and reliable business men of Ford County, his
entire life since attaining to years of maturity our subject has passed in
this community and has thus formed a wide and extensive acquaintance.
Extracted 28 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford County, Illinois, published in 1892, page 261.
