DELAWARE
AND BUCHANAN COUNTIES.
ALBERT THOMPSON,
who recently died at
his home three miles north of
Manchester, was another one
of the early settlers of Delaware
county. He came to this county
in the spring of 1852 and was therefore a resident of it for nearly
forty years. He was an upright man and a useful citizen, and a brief history of
his life fills an appropriate place in
this work.
Mr.
Thompson was born in Chenango county, New York. His parents were also natives of New
York, the father, Jerias
Thompson, having been born November 29, 1775,
and the mother, Rachel Morgan, January
18, 1786. These were married December 25, 1803,
and after a residence of some years in York State
moved to Michigan,
settling in Jackson
county, where the father died April 24,1859,
and the mother, May 27, 1864. They lived on the farm
all their lives and were engaged in the peaceful
pursuits of agriculture, to which they also trained their children. The
father never had any public career, but served his country like a patriot in
the War of 1812, and afterwards found a home in the great Northwest territory, which he
as a citizen soldier helped to rid of
its savage occupants and foreign enemies. Jerias
and Rachel Thomson had born to them
fourteen children, of whom the subject of this notice is the tenth. The
full list in the order of their ages is as follows—Ambros,
born June 5, 1805; Amanda, born December
16,1806; Smith, born November 1,
1808; Curtis, October 10, 1810;
Morris, December 17, 1812; Lucinda,
January 4, 1815; Almon, January 10,1817;
Caroline, August 27, 1818; Calvin, October
3, 1820 (died March 23, 1876), Albert, June 23, 1822; Emaline Marietta,, Aprri 2,1883; Fannie and John.
Albert, the subject proper of this notice, was
a lad about fifteen years of age when his parents moved to Michigan and settled in Jackson county.
His youth, therefore,
was spent in that county. His education was necessarily limited
because at that date Michigan
was a new state and her splendid educational system had not then
been developed. Young Thompson followed farming pursuits and occasionally
attended a, term of the district schools during the winter.
So living, he reach manhood and in 1851, April 23, married, taking to wife
a neighbor girl, Miss Margaret Darrab. A year
later he came to Iowa and settled in
Delaware county, followed in the fall by his wife, and he continued to make this his
home from that time on till his
death. He thus became one of Delaware county's pioneers and he was, during his entire residence in the county, identified with the best interests of his adopted home, and his name is held in pleasant
recollection by all of the older citizens of
the county, and especially by his
associates of an early date, with whom he
shared the hardships and privations of pioneer
life. Mr. Thompson was engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life, being at one time one of the heaviest land holders in
his township and always a successful
farmer. He reached the county at a sufficiently early date to get his choice as to
lands, and the place he selected as a homestead
was one of the most desirable tracts of land in the vicinity where he
settled. He added to this by purchase, and he devoted many years of a long and industrious life to improving the possessions
so acquired. He was a man who was very
fond of his home and he spent but very little time away from it. As long as he was able to go, he was out
about his farm, looking closely after his affairs. Never
having any sons, the management of his farm devolved on himself, and he met his obligations in
this respect with scrupulous exactitude. To do so left him no time for
pursuits of a different nature nor had he any time for diversions, except such as came naturally to him in the line of
his engagements. He never held public office, except those neighborhood offices which all good citizens are
expected to accept and fill when called on for that purpose. The duties
of these he discharged with credit to himself
and satisfaction to those concerned. He always showed much interest in
the social and moral welfare of his community
and he never spared means or effort in the encouragement he gave to all
movements and purposes looking to the advancement
of those interests. He took but little part in politics, although he was
in early life a stanch whig,
and in later life an ardent democrat. He voted regularly, as every citizen who
has the good of his country at heart should; and he was a man who kept himself posted on the general events of the
day. So living, he died, passing from
the scenes of this life on the twenty-fifth
day of June, 1890, sincerely mourned by all who knew him, because he was an honest man, an industrious,
useful citizen, a kind neighbor, faithful friend and a devoted father and husband.
Mr. Thompson left surviving him a wife and seven children, the children being daughters, all of
whom are now grown and most of whom are
married and themselves the heads of families. What has been said in
this article concerning Mr. Thompson's early privations and hardships applies
also to his faithful wife and widow, who, joining him soon after he located in
the county, bore him the cherished
companionship, which he sought with
her hand, for nearly forty years, and who
cheerfully seconded and ably assisted him in all his undertakings and in
all his early arduous efforts to make for himself and little ones a home in the
then inhospitable West. Mrs. Thompson,
like her husband, was born in an
Eastern state and became a pioneer at an early age. She is a native of Sussex county,
N. J., and was born September 19, 1828. Her parents were
natives of the county of Antrim, North Ireland, and came of the ancient Presbyterian
stock of that locality. They were reared and married in their native country and came to America
in 1818 and settled
in Sussex county, N. J. The
father's full name was John Darrah and the mother's
maiden name Nancy Armstrong. They moved from New Jersey to Schuyler county, N. Y., about 1835, and in 1840 to Jackson county, Mich. There the father died in 1849, at the age of eighty-four; and the mother
in 1864, at the same age. They were the parents of seven children, of
whom Mrs. Thompson is the youngest. The
others are—John, Nancy, Rose and David, deceased; and Esther and Jane, twins, living.
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson had born to them a
family of eight children, as follows—Ada, now the wife of S, S. Ives, of Richland
township, this county; Hattie, who died at
the age of ten; Mary, wife of George Graham, of Oregon City, Ore.; Emma,
wife of Fremont Thompson, of Kent county, Mich.; Alice, wife of O. G. Kenyon,
of Linn county, Iowa; Agnes, unmarried, now
residing in Portland, Ore., and Elizabeth and Fannie, who remain at home with their mother.
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