Col. William Thompson

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Husband Col. William Thompson ¹

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           Born: 22 May 1834 - Pottsville, Schuylkill Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 9 Jul 1905 - Pottsville, Schuylkill Co, PA 1
         Buried:  - Pottsville, Schuylkill Co, PA

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         Father: Samuel Thompson (1792-1851) 2 3 4
         Mother: Elizabeth Cunningham (1805-1874) 1

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Wife

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           Born: 
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       Marriage: 

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Col. William Thompson

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Prior to the Civil War, when 27 years of age, he was the head of a well established and profitable banking concern. In September, 1862, War Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin gave him authority to recruit a cavalry company in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and on Nov. 1st he was mustered into the service as captain of Company H, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry, which belonged to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and served under the successive commands of Generals Pleasanton, Buford, Merritt and Devin, with the greatest efficiency and distinction. For several months, commencing in May, 1863, Captain Thompson commanded Gen. George G. Meade's escort, Companies D and H, and later was with Gen. P. H. Sheridan in his battles; his active service, in fact, included participation in nearly every engagement in which the Union Cavalry took part in the operations of the Army of the Potomac during the last two years of the war. He was severely wounded in the right shoulder at Kearneystown, Virginia, when three divisions of the Union Cavalry made a charge upon Gen. Early's entire force, to divulge its strength and plans. He was elected major Feb. 13, 1865, and a month later, Mar. 13th, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel "for meritorious and distinguished services." It was only when incapacitated by his wounds that he was ever absent from the front; and with these exceptions, he never lost a day's duty while he was in the service. He was mustered out on June 20, 1865. Colonel Thompson's interest in his companions in the army did not end with the war. His regiment had the honor of firing the first gun in the great conflict at Gettysburg, and to him to a great extent is due the erection, on that historic field, of a grand monument to the memory of those who gave up their lives in the struggle. Upon the close of his service in the field, Colonel Thompson again turned his attention to the calling for which his early education and experience had fitted him. Possessed of a fair competence by inheritance from his father, he became a large stockholder in the Miners' National Bank of Pottsville, one of the oldest and most substantial banks in the state. He was elected a director of this institution on Jan. 13, 1882, and thereafter made its interests his life work, his long and honorable connection with it ending only with his death. He served as a cashier from May 23, 1882, until Jan. 25, 1893, when he became vice-president. He became president on Jan. 12, 1894. His property holdings included some of the finest business blocks in Pottsville. An attendant at the Presbyterian Church, Colonel Thompson was one of its most open-handed supporters. Colonel Thompson never married. He was buried in the Thompson family plot in the Charles Baber cemetery.

1 Addams S. McAllister, The Descendants of John Thomson, Pioneer Scotch Covenanter (Easton, PA: The Chemical Publishing Company, 1917), Pg 148.

2 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 462.

3 John E. Alexander, A Record of the Descendants of John Alexander (Philadelphia, PA: Alfred Martien, 1878), Pg 31.

4 Addams S. McAllister, The Descendants of John Thomson, Pioneer Scotch Covenanter (Easton, PA: The Chemical Publishing Company, 1917), Pg 147.

5 Addams S. McAllister, The Descendants of John Thomson, Pioneer Scotch Covenanter (Easton, PA: The Chemical Publishing Company, 1917), Pg 149.