The following article was published in the NATIONS CENTER NEWS of Buffalo, SD on Thursday, 
February 10, 1983. This appeared in a weekly feature called “Meet Your Neighbor” by Linda Stephens. 
(photos not included). 

Madeline Thompson 

January 20, 1983, I drove to Ekalaka, MT to 
visit with Madeline Thompson, just two days after her 
85th birthday. To celebrate, Madeline and some of her 
lady friends had gone downtown for dinner. 

Madeline had previously compiled a lot of 
family history for the Carter County book, “Shifting 
Scenes”. I am going to use that and also material 
collected by her sister-in-law, Irene (Thompson) 
Sykes, along with my interview material. 

Madeline stated, “My father William, 
grandfather Arthur, and grandmother Jane Sloan 
came to the United States from Ulster, northern 
Ireland in 1875, when Willie was about 5 years old. 
My grandfather was a cabinet maker in the Belfast 
shipyards, reasonably good work at that time. 
Grandmother’s brother John Finlay was visiting them 
from America and had told his sister about “our free 
schools”. So she approached Arthur with the 
suggestion that they go back to America with John 
when he went so Willie could have the free schools. 
On receiving Arthur’s acquiescence - probably 
forgotten by the time John was ready to return. Jane 
had the furniture all sold and the tickets to America 
were bought and was all packed ready to go to 
America with John. 

“Because grandmother had an uncle Sammy 
Anderson in Hancock County, Illinois, they settled 
there and grandfather’s carpentry work was in much 
demand in this early period of the country’s growth.” 

“My father learned the carpenter’s trade but 
was more interested in teaching so he went to a small 
local college at Carthage, IL which was nearby. He 
married Myrtle Cannon whose parents were local 
farmers but who lived with an aunt in the same town.” 

Six children were born to Myrtle and William 
Sloan. They are as follows: 

Arthur (deceased) became a research 
chemist. He worked with synthetic rubber for a 
company in Ohio and registered patents on it. He also 
worked with liquid hydrogen. He later moved to 
Washington, DC where he was a research chemist for 
the US government and also owned his own company. 
His wife Ruth (deceased) also worked for the 

government, but in the diplomatic field. She was the 
head of African affairs. They had no children. 

Hubert (deceased) was Associate dean at 
the College of Agriculture at the University of 
Minnesota in St. Paul. His wife Marge also taught 
Dietetics at the University of Minnesota. They had 
one daughter Patty. Marge is now retired living in 
Texas. 

Beatrice married Vern Simmons. He was 
killed in a plane crash in the Crazy mountains west of 
Billings while serving in the air force during W.W.II. 
Beatrice lives in Springfield, IL where she is retired 
after working many years for the Illinois Department 
of Education. They had one daughter Andrea “Andy” 
who is married to Vern Thomas. They live in Dover, 
Delaware where he is stationed in the service. 

Madeline was the 4th child. (continued 
later). 

Agnes married Carl Larson (deceased) who 
was a sanitary engineer for the city of Springfield, IL. 
Agnes was a chemist working in bacteriology for the 
Sanitation Dept. of Illinois. They had no children. 
Agnes is now retired. 

Robert was born in Camp Crook. He was 
treasurer of a large gas company stationed in New 
York City. He is now retired living in Maryland. He 
and his wife Nettie have one son Robbie. Robbie and 
his wife Susie have two sons. He teaches and she 
coordinates art work in a school in Maryland where 
they live. 

William Sloan first began teaching high school 
in Nauvoo, IL. Madeline said that Nauvoo is on the 
Mississippi river and was settled by the French 
communists who came to the United States to get 
away from their government. They picked Nauvoo 
because the soil was of the same quality as in France. 
They started vineyards and produced wine. She said it 
was a very peaceful settlement and they did not try to 
influence people with their beliefs or way of life. 
Later the Mormons moved in and a lot of trouble 
occurred. Joseph Smith, one of their leaders, was 
jailed and subsequently murdered in his jail cell at 
Carthage, IL which was only about 30 miles from 

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Nauvoo. The Mormons then moved on to 
Independence, MO and later on to Salt Lake City, UT 
although many families chose to stay at Nauvoo, so 
there is still a heavy concentration of Mormons living 
there. 

In 1903 Madeline’s grandparents moved to 
Urbana, IL, bought lots and built houses, so they could 
be located near the University. Madeline’s dad taught 
during the winters and went to school in the summers. 

In 1907 Arthur and Jane Sloan, Madeline’s 
grandparents moved to South Dakota and settled on 
homesteads in Harding County, near the Penville Post 
Office, which was located about 17 miles south of 
Reeder, ND. The Chicago Milwaukee RR had been 
built just 2-3 years before and had opened up this area 
for settlement. 

In 1908 Madeline’s family moved out to their 
grandparents homestead also, but kept the Illinois 
home so when their children were grown, they could 
return and attend college at the University. 

The first summer after Sloan’s moved to 
Penville, they then moved to Camp Crook, SD where 
the community was building a school. William helped 
construct the school. The lower floor held grades 1-8 
and upstairs they had the 9th and 10th grades. All the 
subjects were taught in each grade. When the family 
moved to Camp Crook during the year Madeline said, 
“all the trees of this pretty little town were a heavenly 
change from the bleak South Dakota treeless prairies. 
In fact, about the first thing my grandmother did when 
she moved to Penville was to plant an orchard. 
Wherever Grandmother ever lived she always planted 
fruit trees such as peach, pear, grape, cherry and 
mulberry.” 

Madeline said, “My dad taught the first high 
school in Harding County in Camp Crook. In those 
days of no cars the small inland towns served as 
distributing centers for the people of the different 
areas. They had a grocery store, post office, drug 
store, doctor (maybe), bank, barber shop, church, 
school, saloons, and livery barn to carry on the town’s 
business.” 

Madeline said that during her homestead days 
a happening occurred that will never be forgotten - as 
1910 was the year of Haley’s comet. “It was a huge 
ball of fire streaking across the sky with a long fiery 
tail. It lasted for days,” Madeline said, “and I hope to 
be here to see it again in 1986.” 

Madeline said that Mrs. Hunt taught the 
grammar room at the school and she traded arithmetic 

for Latin so the high school graduates could have a 
foreign language to enable them to enter college. 

In the first high school class were Charlie 
Thompson, Floyd Ridgway, Nick Hinkle, Evelyn 
Knight, Lois Grant, Leslie McPherson, Donald 
McClusky and Mona Sankey. Lois, Leslie, Mona and 
Donald dropped out before graduating though, so just 
four students were in the first graduating class in 1913. 
In the second graduating class from Camp Crook in 
1914 were Sara Kerr, Sarah Martin, Esther McDonell, 
Margaret Mosely, Alfred Thompson, and Agnes and 
Madeline Sloan. 

In 1914 the Sloan family moved back to 
Urbana, IL. William returned to college and received 
his degree in Education in 1916. Myrtle stayed with 
the Sloan children until all of them had graduated from 
the University of Illinois. In the meantime William 
returned to South Dakota and taught at various schools 
returning to Illinois in the summers to be with his 
family. 

William taught at Buffalo, Nisland, Custer and 
finally at Spearfish. He started with the new school 
system in Spearfish and was with it for 13 years until 
his death which occurred in July 1937. One month 
later, his wife Myrtle died in Illinois. 

Madeline graduated from the University of 
Illinois in 1919 with a degree in Home Economics and 
then took a post-graduate course in 1920. She taught 
two years at Mt. Olive, IL. 

While attending high school in Camp Crook, 
Madeline met Charlie Thompson. In 1914 Madeline 
had returned to Penville, SD and visited her 
grandparents. It was during this visit that she again 
saw Charlie. They began writing each other, and 
dating during the summers when she got back to South 
Dakota. 

In the meantime, her grandparents had started 
a general store in Penville and when Pennywells left 
the post office, they also took that over. 

In 1921 Madeline took up a homestead near 
Charlie’s homestead in Carter County, MT west of 
Camp Crook about 10 miles. After her two years of 
Illinois teaching, Madeline came to South Dakota and 
she and Charlie were married June 30, 1922 at the 
home of her grandparents Arthur and Jane Sloan at 
Penville, Madeline said. “We almost weren’t married 
though! It was to have been a 6 o’clock wedding with 
a dinner afterwards. When 6 o’clock came, there was 
no minister. We were to have had Rev. Todd who 
was also the storekeeper at Ralph. Someone from the 

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ranch had to go for him. He had been taking 
inventory that day and entirely forgot the wedding ... 
but , we were just as solidly married at 9:00 p.m. and 
maybe we enjoyed the delayed dinner even more. 
Charlie had borrowed an old Ford to come to Penville. 
The young couple didn’t own a vehicle until about 
1925, and then of course it was a pickup. 

Charles Thompson was the first child born 
to Augusta (Jensen) and John Thompson. 
John was born of Danish parents on July 22, 1867 in 
Schleswig-Holstein, a province of Germany* . He 
attended school in Germany and apparently received a 
pretty good elementary education. During his life he 
strived to increase his education and purchased law 
books and books on mathematics and surveying. 
during the long winter evenings or any spare time he 
had on the ranch, he would study and read. In 
October of 1902, he received a certificate issued by 
the United States Dept. of Justice, appointing him 
Land Commissioner for the District of South Dakota. 
Also, at the same time, he was appointed Deputy 
Surveyor for Butte County, South Dakota. 

When John was 15-16 years old he and his 
brother Charles, who was two years his senior, left 
Germany and came to America. For two years it is 
not known what they did, but the spring of 1885 found 
them in the south-eastern corner of the Dakota 
Territory. It was there they joined a wagon train of 
Norwegian immigrants on their way to the Montana 
Territory. The train consisting of some 20 people, 
several wagons, horses and cattle, left Vermillion on 
May 4th and reached the Little Missouri July 8, 1885. 
They had traveled from the southeastern corner 
through the Northwestern corner of the South Dakota 
Territory, over 400 miles of rough uninhabited country 
in a little over 60 days. 

For the first several years John worked part of 
the time in the mines in the Black Hills to get money to 
start his ranching operations. Then 1891 was a dry 
year and grass was not good along the Little Missouri, 
John, with a few other men, went east along the Grand 
River in Dakota where they thought they might file 
claims. John found a suitable location, but after 
plowing a half acre and laying up a few logs, 
abandoned the idea and returned to western Montana, 
next to the South Dakota line. 

John settled on the Montana side and filed a 
claim on Hackberry. August 15, 1892 he was issued 

the brand X-K for the cattle and horses registered in 
his name. 

The fall of 1892 John traveled to Minneapolis 
with a load of cattle he had to sell. While he was 
there, he met Augusta. 

Augusta Jensen Thompson was born 
February 6, 1870 in Sarpsborg, Norway. After 
completing the usual school curriculum afforded young 
Norwegian girls at the time, she was confirmed at the 
age of 13 years. The following year she left Norway 
and came to America arriving in Manistee, Michigan 
where two older sisters were living. Sometime later 
they all moved to Minneapolis where Augusta worked 
in the home of a moderately wealthy family for 4 
years. This was fortunate for her because she learned 
English and much about the customs and culture of the 
American way of life. Through her church and 
various social events she gained many friends among 
the young people in her age group. 

In the fall of 1892 Augusta met John 
Thompson and after a very brief acquaintance and 
whirlwind courtship, they were married at the home of 
her sister Julia on November 23, 1892. Thanksgiving 
day they left for Montana, coming by train to 
Terraville, in the Black Hills, and from there by team 
and wagon to the Little Missouri. 

The trip by wagon was long and cold. John 
wrapped Augusta in some buffalo robes and had her 
sit on the bottom of the wagon. He walked beside the 
team most of the way. 

John had not yet built a house on his claim, but 
was living in Peder Bonefield’s first log cabin. It was 
to this cabin that he brought Augusta. When they 
arrived he announced, “Here we are!” Augusta 
looked around and then asked, “But where is the 
house?” John pointed to the cabin grinning. “This is 
the house!” 

They spent a happy winter in this cabin and 
quickly doubled the number of rooms by simply 
hanging a calico curtain across the center. Augusta 
soon became acquainted with all her neighbors and 
friendships were formed that lasted throughout their 
lives. 

The next spring John began building on their 
house. This was where they lived until they sold out to 
Peder Bonefield in 1902. It was on this ranch that 
four of their eight children were born. They were 
Charles, Alfred, Mabel and Augusta. Mrs. Sophia 
Bonefield attended as midwife at each birth as she did 

*

 This region was returned to Denmark after WWI. 

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for most of the families in the Capitol-Ericson 
community. 

It was here that an incident occurred that 
stood out vividly in Augusta’s memory and she related 
the story to her children: 

One day when Augusta and the children were 
alone she was startled to see several Indians peeking 
through the windows. They came into the house and 
indicated by sign language that they were hungry and 
wanted something to eat. She was so frightened that 
she did exactly as they bid and went about fixing a 
delicious meal of meat and vegetables. The two older 
children Charles and Alfred, who were about 5 and 3 
years old, climbed upon the bed and covered up. One 
Indian, noticing the blankets wiggling, pulled back the 
covers and reaching out his hand to them said “How! 
How!” After they had eaten all she had prepared, 
they smiled happily and patted their stomachs to show 
their appreciation. As they were leaving one young 
fellow noticed a calendar on the wall with a pretty 
picture and took it with him. 

About a week or ten day later the Indians 
were back and this time had their women with them. 
John was home, and he directed Augusta to fix mush. 
She was so scared she could hardly prepare it, but at 
last the big kettle of mush was ready. John served it, 
giving each Indian a big dish full: all the time visiting as 
best he could by sign language. Since this food was 
unfamiliar to them they did not like it. They would 
taste and stir, and taste and stir. They soon left, but 
they were not so happy this time. After they were 
gone Augusta said to John, “How did you dare to do 
such a thing? They might have killed us all!” John just 
smiled and said, “They won’t be back for more.” 

As in all communities at that time, the 
schoolhouse was the center of social activities: 
Christmas programs, dances, spelling bees, literaries, 
debates, mock trials, and games. The fun they had 
was the fun they made, and everybody took part. 
Thompsons, along with their neighbors and at times 
friends from adjoining neighborhoods attended, and 
enjoyed these activities. 

John and Augusta were also charter members 
of the Little Missouri Lutheran Church. When their 
first baby, Charles was to be baptized, they made a 
hurried trip to Chuning’s store in Camp Crook for 
material to make the christening clothes. The only 
cloth available was dark colored calico, so they came 
home empty-handed and Augusta cut up the petticoat 
from her wedding dress to make the baptismal dress. 

After John sold the ranch they moved for a 
time on a place acquired from Frank Durm. It was 
here on April 8 that another daughter, Lillian Ruth, 
was born. She was born on the night of a raging 
blizzard and it was not possible to get help. Out of 
necessity, John acted as midwife and delivered his 
baby daughter; all went well, and they got along just 
fine. 

However, tragedy was soon to strike the 
Thompson family. Barely 4 months later an epidemic 
of scarlet fever spread through the community. Their 
daughter, Mabel, aged 5 years, was stricken and died 
August 6, 1902. This disease was so contagious that a 
public funeral was not held. The family went to the 
Camp Crook cemetery alone and John read from the 
Bible before the burial. Alfred Jensen, Augusta’s 
brother, helped with the opening of the grave and was 
with them through this time. Also, a few friends, 
noticing the ceremony, had ridden over to express their 
sorrow. After Mabel’s death the family moved to 
Camp Crook and here, just five months later, the little 
baby, Lillian Ruth, came down with whooping cough 
and died January 24, 1903. 

John opened an office in his home where he 
conducted his land and surveying business. Much of 
his survey work necessitated a lot of travel and he 
drove a Top Buggy with a snappy matched team. The 
horses were kept until they died years later on the 
ranch at Chimney Rock where the boys had robes 
made from their hides. 

John had various interests. He was a 
stockholder in the First National Bank of Belle 
Fourche. He also had several bands of sheep leased 
out on shares. At times he made personal loans to 
individuals. 

In 1908, he moved his family to Tacoma, WA 
where they lived for one year. By this time two more 
daughters -Selma (1904) and Irene (1906) had 
joined the family. 

In 1909, Thompsons came back to Camp 
Crook and John bought a ranch west of there. In 1910 
the youngest child, Julia was born. 

In the spring of 1911 John became very ill. It 
was later found that he had tuberculosis. Treatment 
for several months in a Denver hospital was of no 
avail and he died October 21, 1911, at age 44 years. It 
was a terrible shock to the family. 

The Thompson family stayed together and 
continued living in Camp Crook. At the time of John’s 

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death, Charlie and Alfred were in high school and 
Augusta and Selma were in the grades. 

Augusta enjoyed music and it was part of the 
Thompson home life. The children were always 
encouraged to play a musical instrument. Augusta had 
an old guitar that she had brought to Montana with her 
from Minnesota. In the evenings, the children would 
coax her to sing and play. The boys both played 
musical instruments and saw to it that their old Victor 
phonograph was well supplied with new records. 
Their sister Augusta played the piano very well and 
had taken music lessons since she was small,, each 
week crossing over the river on the Sol Catron 
swinging bridge for her lessons with Nellie Catron. 

Tragedy was again to strike the Thompson 
family when on March 11, 1915, Augusta died from an 
injury that occurred in a high school basketball game. 

Charlie and Alfred bought a ranch on Box 
Elder Creek from Hans Lykken, which they operated 
under the name “Thompson Brothers”, and ran horses 
for several years. They kept their dad’s old brand of 
X-K, but had the brand MU registered in their 
partnership name. 

June of 1915, the water of Box Elder Creek 
rose quite rapidly. Augusta and the girls were alone 
on the ranch. Charlie and Alfred were haying on their 
homesteads near Chimney Rock. Augusta and the 
girls were surprised and quite frightened to wake up 
and find water had surrounded the house. They could 
see the saddle horse and milk cow standing on top of a 
manure pile by the barn. The water did not get any 
higher, and they were relieved when their neighbor, 
Ole Stensvik, paddled over to their place in a horse 
trough, he had converted into a boat. 

During WW1, Augusta and her daughters 
Selma, Julia and Irene lived in Camp Crook. Charlie 
went into the army and Alfred stayed on the ranch. 
After the war the boys sold their land on Box Elder 
and transferred their ranching operations to Chimney 
Rock. It was there they all lived, until the girls were 
grown. In the 1930s the boys dissolved the 
partnership. 

Alfred married Margaret Culhane and later 
moved to California. They had two children, Margaret 
Ann and John Alfred. 

Selma married Pat Galbreth and they lived on 
their ranch in Perkins County, about 17 miles south of 
Reeder, ND. Selma was killed in a head-on crash on 
a country road going to church on Easter Sunday 
morning. Later Pat died of a heart attack occurring in 

a grain elevator. Their son Tom was killed when he 
was a senior in high school. The plane he was piloting 
crashed into the ground. Their son Bill is living on the 
home ranch, is married and has 3 children. Their 
daughter Cheryl is living in California. 

Julia “Tomye” married Max Curvo and they 
live in Las Vegas where he is in construction. They 
have 3 daughters: Bonnie, Reba and Cheryl. 

Irene married Edwin Sykes. They live in 
Ekalaka, MT where he worked in the Court House as 
Clerk & Recorder and later served as postmaster for 
many years. They have 3 sons - Gerald, Charles and 
Harrison. 

Augusta lived on the ranch for some time with 
Madeline and Charlie. In the late 30s she moved to 
Ekalaka and lived for the next 30 years until she died 
June 8, 1967 at age 97. 

Madeline and Charlie lived on her 
homestead adjoining his, all their married life. First in a 
tiny cabin and then in a larger log house that they built 
themselves. It was situated halfway up the Rim Rock 
Hills and Madeline said, “had one of the most beautiful 
views I know. I don’t agree with my father who 
stated “you can see a hundred miles but what do you 
see !” 

Charlie and his brother Alfred were together 
in the sheep business until 1931 when Charlie and 
Madeline took over the ranch and from then on ran 
just cattle. They got their first herd from Herman 
Halverson and also bought his brand H lazy H. 

Madeline said,” We had all kinds of conditions 
during our times together: drought, hail, grasshoppers 
and low prices. I taught Chimney Rock School 5 
years during the 20s and late 30s, riding across the 
tableland or batching!. When I did this, Charlie baked 
my bread and brought it to me on the weekends.” 

Madeline’s grandfather, Arthur Sloan died on 
their homestead in 1924 and was buried in Reeder, 
ND. His wife, Jane stayed on their ranch for awhile 
and then took a trip to Ireland with her two sisters. 
She returned to South Dakota, but they remained in 
Ireland. She then went to Spearfish to live with her 
son William, Madeline’s father. It was here she had a 
stroke. She and William then sold her ranch and 
grandmother Sloan move in with Charlie and Madeline. 

Madeline recalled the strange circumstances 
concerning the death of her grandmother. “She died at 
our ranch Feb. 12, 1936. It was during an awful 
winter when the roads were so snow blocked that we 
couldn’t get anyplace. The mail was often dropped 

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from an airplane. It was extremely cold, and after 
Grandma died, Charlie happened to have some 12-inch 
planed boards from which he constructed a box that 
we used as a casket. I dressed Grandma and we 
padded the box and kept her in the small cabin till the 
weather warmed up some. In the latter part of 
February or first part of March Jesse Lasater, the mail 
carrier, took Grandma to Camp Crook on a toboggan, 
where he met John Dahl who took her on to Buffalo. 
There my dad met them and he took her to Reeder, 
ND where she was buried beside grandfather. 

Madeline continued, “During the 40’s and 50’s 
we got water piped into the house and the plumbing 
installed so we felt we were beginning to live in 
civilization. We had had radio from the first so we had 
always heard the news and music. Raymond Teigen 
came over often and we had quite some old time 
fiddling sessions.” 

“The neighbors got together and built their 
own local telephone in 1949 - a convenience and a lot 
of company.” 

“We built two more rooms onto the house and 
got REA - most wonderful! Could have a big tank of 
propane fuel gas - no more ashes. 

Charlie’s mother came out to live with them in 
1953. She stayed until Charlie got sick, and they found 
that he had cancer. 

Charlie had applied for Masonic membership 
at Ekalaka the winter of 1958 and was awarded the 
Master Mason’s degree in January of 1959. 

When Charlie realized he wasn’t going to 
recover, he sold the ranch the spring of 1959 and they 
moved to Ekalaka. They were together until his death 
which occurred Nov. 18, 1959. 

Madeline said they lived on the ranch for 37 
years, without any hired men. In the early days they 
would go to Baker, MT and purchase a years supply 
of groceries. If they ran out of things they would 
either go to Camp Crook or Ekalaka to stock up. 

Madeline and Charlie never took any trips 
together, they stayed pretty close to the ranch. After 
his death, Madeline got the urge to travel, and travel 
she has. 

In 1967 she and a friend, Edna Asbury of 
Ekalaka signed up for a tour. They went to Egypt, 
landing in Cairo. They went to the Valley of the 
Kings, Thebes, toured King Tut’s tomb and museum. 
As I have always been extremely interested in 
Egyptian history, we really got on common ground and 
had a delightful conversation. The tour continued 
through Beirut, Lebanon, Damascus, Arabic 
Jerusalem, Hebrew Jerusalem, Greece and Rome. 

Later Madeline and her sister Beatrice took a 
trip and toured Ireland, Scotland and England. A Year 
or so later, Madeline and Beatrice took another trip, 
this time they toured Europe by bus. 

Madeline also toured Canada with a tour 
group originating from Broadus. 

In about 1971 Madeline, Beatrice and Edna 
Asbury took another tour, this time going to Japan, 
Nationalist China, Bali and Thailand. 

Madeline and her friend Edna Asbury have 
also traveled together all over the United States. 
They’d get an idea to take off and away they would 
go. They have been to every state except 5 - North & 
South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. 
Madeline says now that she thinks her traveling days 
are over. She’s thinking about the places she’s been 
when she comes across them during her reading. 

Madeline is an avid reader. She keeps current 
on all the news and subscribes to condensed book 
clubs. She also enjoys watching soap operas. 

I really enjoyed my day with Madeline. She 
took me out to lunch at the local cafe, then we went to 
the Carter County Museum and Mr. Lambert gave us 
a tour. We then returned to her home, chatted some 
more, and had a piece of her homemade pumpkin pie. 
What a delightful day with such a charming and 
intelligent lady. 

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