Mrs. Thompson is derived from Southern ancestry. Her paternal grandfather, John Edwards, was a native of South Carolina. In early manhood he went to Nelson County, Ind., and there married Mary, daughter of Theophilus Bass. They lived in the Hoosier State until quite a large family was growing up around them, and they removed to Mulenburg County, Ky., where Mr. Edwards became a large plantation owner, having large tracts of land, and a great many slaves, and raising a great deal of cotton. He and his wife passed their last days in their Kentucky home. Mrs. Thompson remembers well the many noted spots on Boone's reservation connected with the name of the great frontiersman, and her mother has often told her of the trials that the early pioneers of Kentucky had to endure far from the centres of civilization, where there were no mills for bolted flour, and other things that are now almost considered necessaries were then unprocurable luxuries.

Of the eight children born to our subject and his estimable wife, three are still living, namely: John M., William, Eugenia, the latter the wife of John B. Corrington, (of whom see sketch on another page of this volume). Four of the other children died in infancy. Our subject and his wife have spared neither pains or money in educating their sons and daughters; Eugenia and Emma were both graduated from the Methodist College at Jacksonville. Their wedded life has been overshadowed by the death of their daughter Emma, which occurred March 12, 1880. She was thrown from a horse that she rode to and from school, and received injuries from which she suffered nearly a year before her weary spirit was released, and she entered the life immortal, for which she was so well fitted. She was accomplished and talented, a fine musician, and had received a superior education. For four years she had been teaching school very successfully.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are people of sterling worth, sincere Christians, and valued members, respectively, of the Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal Churches.