California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


JAMES WALLACE THOMPSON.� The son of a California pioneer of 
1849. although born in Missouri. James Wallace Thompson has made a record 
for himself in Fresno County. He first saw the light of day July 22, 1855, in 
Cole County, where his father, Joseph Coe Thompson had settled in 1853. 

The elder Thompson was a native of Tennessee, who crossed the plains 
in 1849, in the train of N. C. Bachman and in the same big train also came 
Governor Edwards. Mr. Thompson spent three years in the mining districts, 
then returned to his eastern home via Panama, and the following year took 
up his residence in Cole County, Mo. In young manhood he had married 
Elizabeth Jane Greenup, a native of Missouri. They farmed in Cole County 
until 1861. but the call of the West was too strong to be resisted any longer, 
and with his family. Mr. Thompson came to California via Panama, landing 
May 9, 1861, at the Daulton ranch in what is now Madera County, then owned 
by N. C. Bachman. Three years were spent on that ranch, during which time 
Mr. Thompson discovered the Ne Plus Ultra copper mine. In 1864 the fam- 
ily removed to the location where James Wallace Thompson now lives and 
where the father took up a homestead and preempted 320 acres of land upon 
which he raised hogs and cattle. He traded an interest in the copper mine to 
Henry Clay Daulton for a small band of sheep and from 1872 to 1886 was en- 
gaged successfully in raising sheep. The elder Thompson passed away on 
March 10, 1009; his wife had preceded him, on December 14, 1875. Both 
were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at Acad- 
emy. Their three children are: James Wallace, our subject; Mary F., who 
was the wife of G. P. Baley and who died at Tollhouse: and Annie I., a na- 
tive daughter, born in Fresno County, who presides over her brother's home 
on the old Thompson ranch, of which she is part owner. 

Jim Thompson, as he is familiarly known, was educated in the public 
school at Academy. From a lad he assisted his father on the farm and 
helped make the needed improvements. In 1886 they sold the sheep and 
began raising cattle, to which the ranch has since been devoted. Tt was in 
that year that Tim took charge of his father's place, and he has since given his 
attention to the cattle business. The property has been increased in acreage, 
until there are 640 acres in the home place at Academy, besides 1.200 acres 
of range land in the same vicinity. 

Mr. Thompson owns 200 acres on Huntington Lake, near the foot of 
Mt. Kaiser, lying within the National Forest Reserve, where he has ranged 
his cattle in the summer since 1886, and where he has built a summer home. 
He also runs some of his cattle on the Reserve near Trimmer. Mr. Thomp- 
son is a well-posted and successful cattleman. His operations have been on 
a large scale and his success has been in proportion. 

From a boy Jim had a desire to play the violin and made violins from 
cigar-boxes. Prof. J. D. Collins, his teacher at Academy, on Jim's sixteenth 
birthday presented him with an excellent violin. The boy was delighted and 
by self-study he learned to play and read music, and before long his talent was 
in much demand at dances and parties. He still treasures the violin given 
him by his teacher. 

Mr. Thompson is a Democrat in national politics, and his religious asso- 
ciation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. During the many 
years Mr. Thompson has lived in Fresno County he has won the esteem and 
good will of many friends.