Souvenir Edition, The Williamstown Courier, Williamstown, Ky, May 30, 
1901, reprinted September 19, 1981 by the Grant County KY Historical 
Society.

JAMES M. THOMPSON is one of the old line guard in Grant County.  While 
not to the "manor born" he has given the best days of his life to Grant 
County, her people and her institutions.  He was born in Nicholas 
County September 27, 1842, and was one of a family of three girls and 
four boys. Both of his parents were of Virginia extraction.  His father 
was a farmer and he was raised on a farm until his early maturity.  
When the Civil War came on in all of its hideousness and brutal reality,
Mr. Thompson cast his fortunes with the people of the South and enlisted
in June, 1861, in Company B, Tenth Kentucky Mounted Riflemen, under John
B. Halliday as captain.  He served during the entire war, taking his 
part in many a hard fought battle.  The engagements in which he was 
prominent were Cynthiana, Perryville, Salt River, Bull's Gap, Tennessee,
and Saltville, Virginia,  He was also in nearly all of the hotly 
contested battles in the Shenandoah Valley and in skirmishes without 
name.  The war over he found himself in a distance state, without money,
means or friends.  He set to work to make a living, but after two years 
concluded to return to Kentucky, which he did, and made Grant County his
home.  In 1868 he was united in marriage to Miss Julia Arnold.  Two 
children have come to gladden the Thompson home, Arthur and Carrie S.  
The daughter died some years ago.  James M. Thompson has been prominent 
in Grant County history for the last twenty-five years.  Three times he 
has been elected a magistrate to represent his end of the county in the 
Fiscal Court of the county and to decide the petty lawsuits between his 
neighbors.  He made an excellent reputation as a magistrate, and was 
always in favor of economy and fair dealing.  For more than twenty years
he was the clerk of the old Vine Run Baptist Church, of which 
organization he has been a devoted member more than a generation.  
During the last two years he has been the keeper of the County
Infirmary, retiring from office on the 10th day of March last.  He made 
a good record in that institution.  He is an Odd Fellow and a Mason, 
and a staunch Democrat, and one of the best citizens in the county.  He 
is now writing life insurance for the New York Life.

Thompson Arnold
=
Nicholas-KY VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/grant/thompson.jm.txt