People with Butler County OH ties, found in Montgomery Co IN
(History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: AW Bowen, 1913)
Transcribed by Karen Zach * * Page numbers are from the 1913 book * *
Index of Names
* Page 1029: THOMPSON
Henry T. THOMPSON
One of Ripley township citizens whom nature seems to have especially designed to be a tiller of the soil is Henry T. Thompson, one of the venerable and most highly honored native sons of Montgomery county. The pursuits of agriculture have afforded him high gratification, and in the conduct of his farm the principles he has held have been peculiarly adapted to the successful development and improvement of the varied elements of farm life. He has ever been energetic and enterprising and everything about the place indicates that an experienced hand is at the helm. This gentleman is a well informed farmer, who, from a small beginning has built up a comfortable competence and is now enjoying the result of his industry and enterprise, his property having been acquired through his untiring diligence, foresight and good management. He is one the oldest native born residents of the western part of the county, and he has lived to see and take part in momentous changes here, having known the county when it was little improved, when the vast woods stretched in every direction and when the roads were ungraded, the streams unbridged, and when there were very few of the evidences of present-day civilization.
Mr. Thompson was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, as above intimated, on October 17, 1837. He is a son of Alexander and Jane (Taylor) Thompson. The father was born on April 3, 1806, in the sate of Pennsylvania. He received a limited education in the primitive schools of his time and he followed farming and the trade of mill wright during his active life. He came to Montgomery county Indiana, in a very early day, when this county was practically a wilderness and here he established the future home of the family, enduring the usual privations of life on the frontier. He was a rugged, hard-working and honest man, who never permitted hardships, no matter how appalling, to thwart him. He reached the advanced age of eighty-nine years, dying in May, 1885. The mother of our subject was born in Butler county, Ohio, on May 14, 1801, and she grew to womanhood there and received what education she could in the rural schools. Her death occurred in 1867, at the age of sixty-six years.
Fourteen children were born to Alexander Thompson and wife, four of whom are still living, namely: David, born November 2, 1818; Elizabeth, born January 14, 1822; William, born September 26, 1823; Francis, born May 12, 1825; James, born September 2, 1826; Ruhana, born April 6, 1828; Isabelle, born December 28, 1829; Jane, born August 1, 1831; Hester, born August 17, 1833; Nancy A., born May 17, 1835; Henry T., born October 17, 1837; Sarah C., born May 1, 1840; Joseph R., born December 22, 1841; the youngest child died in infancy.
Henry T. Thompson grew to manhood on the home farm and did his share of the work about the place. He received such educational advantages as the early schools afforded in his community in the early days here. He has never married. He has always followed farming and general stock raising. He is now the owner of a finely improved and valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Ripley township. It is nearly all tillable, and it is rolling, so that but little tile is needed. All the improvements on the place, including the residence and outbuildings, were made by Mr. Thompson. He has a pleasant home, and keeps a good grade of live stock from year to year. He lives with his sister Jane, who is a widow, also a daughter-in-law.
Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Democrat but he has never been especially active in public matters
