| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 173 cont'd |
NEWTON THOMPSON.
NEWTON THOMPSON, of Marmaton township, of Allen County, who owns the northeast quarter of section 22, town 24, range 20, came to Kansas from Carroll County, Missouri, but he was born in Carroll County, Indiana. His birth occurred near Delphi October 15, 1856, and he is a son of George R. Thompson, a resident of Moran, Kansas. The latter spent many years of his life as a blacksmith in Delphi, to which point he went from Washington County, Indiana. In 1866 he emigrated westward to Saline County, Missouri, and resided there and in Carroll County, that State, till 1879, when he came to Kansas. He was engaged in burning lime in the two Missouri counties and in the latter one he purchased and operated a farm. The first years of his residence in Allen County were passed in the country and he improved a farm in section 23, town 24, range 20.
Mr. Thompson is directly traceable to the Irish. He is a great grandson of Thos. Thompson, born and reared in Ireland. The latter came to America prior to the Revolution and settled in Kentucky as a pioneer. There he reared his family and, at Frankfort our subject's grandfather was born in 1775. Thos. Thompson died in Franklin township, Indiana, in 1828, at the age of seventy-two years. His son, Robert Thompson, our subject's grandfather, died in Washington County, Indiana, in 1864. He was a pioneer to Indiana and among the first settlers of Washington County. Thos. Thompson was a soldier of the American Revolution, as were three of his sons. Robert Thompson was a captain in the War of 1812 and was engaged in the battle at New Orleans. He married Elizabeth Robinson and George R. Thompson is the ninth of ten children in his family.
George R. Thompson was born in Washington County, April 10, 1824, and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in the 2nd Indiana cavalry, a rather independent organization, under the command of General Ed. McCook. He participated in every engagement of cavalry from Atlanta, in the fall of 1863, to the close of the war. His division went in advance of Sherman to and away from Savanah and saw the war ended at Jonesboro,
| 174 | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
North Carolina. He was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee, July 26, 1865.
Our subject's mother was Emily Perdue. She bore eight children and our subject is the sole survivor.
J. Newton Thompson was schooled in the country and has practiced nought but farming. He was married in Allen County in February, 1880, to Leota Banta, a daughter of William Banta. Mrs. Thompson was one of the early and successful teachers of the county and was a boarder in the home of Hon. E. H. Funston, whose oldest son, the General, was one of her pupils.
The Bantas came to Kansas from Brown County, Indiana. William Banta was born in the state of Kentucky in 1817 and died in Allen County in 1897. He married Eleanor Coffland and was the father of Mrs. Thompson, Byron Banta, of Oklahoma; Rhoda, wife of Geo. W. Smith, one of the leading teachers of Allen County; Albin Banta, of Kansas City, Kansas; Mrs. Alice Jones, wife of Rev. L. S. Jones, of Westphalia, Kansas; Elijah Banta, of Allen County, and Mrs. Pearl Cox.
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's children are: Addie Thompson, born 1880, is a graduate of the common schools and a teacher; Minnie Thompson, a graduate of the common schools; Rothwell, Clair, Arthur and Glenn Thompson.
"Newt" Thompson is one of the enthusiastic Republicans of Allen County and holds a membership in the Presbyterian church at Moran.
Pages 173-174, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
