My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

John J. Thompson was born in Bedford County, Tenn., January 25, 1823, and is the son of Samuel C. and Rebecca (Doty) Thompson. Samuel Thompson, a native of Virginia, was born in 1801, and married in Tennessee, about the year 1820, Miss Doty, who was born in Tennessee in 1803. They were the parents of ten children, of whom those living are: John J., Rebecca A. and Mary E.; those deceased are: William, Isaac D., Enoch G., Lucy, Henry, Nancy D. and Thomas. Mr. Thompson died in Hardeman County, Tenn., in 1862, and his wife in 1875. John J. received but limited advantages for schooling, the educational facilities at the period of his boyhood being far from satisfactory. At the age of twenty-one he began life on his own responsibility, selecting farming as his occupation, which, together with the mechanic’s trade, has principally occupied him. Coming to Arkansas in 1861, he settled in Phillips County, near where he now resides in Lee County. He owns eighty acres of land with fifty in cultivation, the principal products being corn and cotton; he is also engaged to some extent in the raising of cattle and hogs. Mr. Thompson was married in Hardeman County, Tenn., on March 24, 1846, to Miss Mary R. Clift, a native of that State and county, and a daughter of Barney B. and Helsie Clift. Mrs. Thompson died in Lee County, October 23, 1886, having borne seven children: John H. (Baptist minister of Springfield, Mo.), William T. (a farmer of Lee County, Ark.) and Franklin P., Martha E., James R., Charles R. and one infant dead. Mr. Thompson served as justice of the peace for one year, and has been a member of the school board for two years. In secret organizations he is connected with the Agricultural Wheel.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lee County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Lee County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.