Obit. of John W. Thomson 1916

 

THE SLATER RUSTLER, THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1916

John William Thomson

John William Thomson, 71 years, eight months and twenty-one days old, died at his home in Slater Wednesday, October 18, of cancer. The deceased was one of the old settlers of Saline County, moving to Missouri with his parents from Fayette County, Ky., his birth place, when only two years old. His parents first settled in Howard County and later moved to Saline. When a lad he joined the army of the Confederacy. As a member of Company E, Gordon's Regiment, Shelby's Brigade, he took part in engagements at Independence, Westport, Little Blue and Fayetteville, Ark., marching through to Texas. The army was reorganized after reaching Texas and Mr. Thomson's company was cut down and thrown into Company C, William's Regiment, Jackson's Brigade. Under this regiment Mr. Thomson surrendered at Shreveport, Louisiana, June 21, 1865.
The deceased was married October 15, 1869 to Julia Franklin Graves, daughter of Aaron Graves and wife. He was a son of the late Col. P. M. Thomson and wife and was a familiar figure in and around Slater for many years and was a staunch supporter of the Socialist Party writing many articles in different newspaper publications along the questions of labor and capital. No man was better known in the county than Mr. Thomson. He was honest, straight-forward, square in all his dealings and could always be relied upon. In early life he became a member of the Rehoboth Baptist Church, and was always a God fearing man. Up until a year or more ago he lived on his farm south of Slater but on account of ill health, moved with his family to Marshall. For a short while prior to moving to Slater he was in a sanitarium in Chicago taking treatments and came here seemingly much improved, but for several weeks he has been gradually growing worse until the end came yesterday morning.
He is survived by three brothers, Lloyd, Lucian and Pike Thomson, all of Slater, three sisters, Mrs. Ruth V. Bush of Marshall, Mrs. Lizzie Richardson of Gilliam, Mrs. S. R. Saltonstall of Slater, his wife and three children, William E. of Idaho, Claude W. of Slater and Mrs. V. L. Crawford of St. Louis.
The funeral services will be held at the Methodist Church at 2 o'clock this afternoon conducted by the Rev. P. M. Cain. Burial will be in Rehoboth Cemetery.