Charles E. Thompson

CHARLES E. THOMPSON. - Presiding on the bench of the municipal court of Kansas City, district No. 2, Judge Thompson has gained precedence as one of the representative members of the bar of his native county, and prior to entering the legal profession he had been a prominent and successful factor in connection with educational affairs in Wyandotte county, where he finally was called to the responsible office of county superintendent of schools. He is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the county, with whose history the name has been identified in a prominent way for more than half a century, and both on this score and on account of his personal accomplishment is he eminently entitled to recognition in this work.

Judge Thompson was born at Edwardsville, Wyandotte county, Kansas, on the 21st of May, 1874, and is a son of John A. and Rhoda E. (Mornock) Thompson, the former of whom was born in the state of New York, and the latter of whom is a native of England, where she was reared and educated. John A Thompson was a child of four years at the time of his parents' immigration from the old Empire state to Kansas, and his father, M. L. Thompson, became one of the prominent pioneers of this commonwealth, to whose development and upbuilding he contributed a generous quota. He first settled at Leavenworth, which was then but little more than a frontier military post, and about the year 1865 he removed to Wyandotte county and became one of the early settlers of Edwardsville, where he became one of the leading citizens of the county, within whose borders both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. Their names merit an enduring place on the roll of the sterling pioneers of the Sunflower state. John A. Thompson was reared to maturity at Edwardsville, was afforded good educational advantages, and there he has continued to maintain his home, the while he has well upheld the prestige of a name honored in the history of this favored section of the state. He is president of the Edwardsville State Bank and is manager of the local telephone exchange, in which he is one of the principal stock holders. He has wieded[sic] much influence in the development and upbuilding of the town and county in which he has resided from his childhood days, and here he holds secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. Mrs. Thompson was born and reared in England, as has already been noted in this context, and she came to the United States when seventeen years of age, making Wyandotte county her immediate destination, and here she was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of the pioneer days prior to her marriage. Of the four children, three sons and one daughter, the subject of this review was the first born, and other than himself one son is living, John A., Jr. The lineage of the Thompson family is traced back to stanch English origin and the founder of the American branch was Anthony Thompson, who came to this country in 1627 and settled in New England. Representatives of the name were found enrolled as patriot soldiers in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, and the family has in later generations found representation in many states of the Union.

Judge Charles E. Thompson is indebted to the public schools of his native town for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school, and he thereafter continued his studies in the Kansas State Normal School and in Park College, Parksville, Missouri. The future judge soon put his scholastic attainments to practical test and utilization by adopting the pedagogic profession, in which he was destined to achieve much of success and popularity. He soon proved his power in this vocation and thus secured the position of principal of the Edwardsville high school, in his native town, where he thus set at naught all application of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." Later he assumed the principalship of the Armstrong school, in Kansas City, Kansas, where he continued to labor with all of zeal and efficiency until 1902, when there came further and well merited recognition of his ability and sterling character in his election to the office of county superintendent of schools. At the expiration of his first term, in 1904, he was chosen as his own successor, and he thus continued incumbent of this position for four consecutive years, during which he did much to systematize and otherwise raise the standard of the schools throughout the county in an administration that gained to him distinctive popular commendation and also the earnest cooperation of teachers and school officials. In the meanwhile he has prosecuted the study of law under effective private preceptorship, and he was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1906. In the following year, upon his retirement from the office of superintendent of schools, he engaged in the practice of his profession in Kansas City, where he soon secured a substantial business, based alike on his professional ability and his personal popularity in his native county. Judge Thompson is serving as municipal judge, and the duties of this office now demand the major part of his time and attention, the while he has proved himself well equipped for the position, through knowledge of the law and through the essentially judicial mind that readily determines the elements of justice and equity in cases submitted for adjudication. The Judge is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he takes a lively interest in its cause, as does he also in all things touching the general welfare of his home city and county. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

In 1908 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Thompson to Miss Rose Galvin, who is a daughter of James and Mary Galvin. Judge and Mrs. Thompson have three children: Dorothy Rhodes, Francis Howard and Marjorie.