Thompsonh
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
HARVEY THOMPSON, of Lakeside,
Chelan county, is a carpenter and builder, and a most estimable and popular
citizen. He was born at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1853, the son of John
and Jane (Ernest) Thompson. The father was a native of Indiana, his
parents, of Scotch ancestry, first settling in Kentucky and later removing
to Indiana. John Thompson went to California via the Isthmus, in
1849, but returned in 1852 and enlisted as an artisan in the regular army,
going to Des Moines, with his regiment. Thence he went to Omaha,
where he erected the first saw and grist mill in what is now known as South
Omaha. He was one of the earliest Pike's Peak pioneers, where he
engaged in freighting until the opening of the Civil war, when he enlisted
in Company C, Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteers, and served gallantly through
the entire war, being wounded three times. Following the close of
the war he was employed in the government arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas,
about a year. Thence he came home to his farm, north of Council Bluffs.
He still lives at Missouri Valley Junction. In earlier days he was
recognized as a noted Indian fighter. The mother is a native of Kentucky,
her family having come from Virginia. They were of Scotch ancestry,
and pioneers of the Jamestown settlement.
Harvey Thompson lived in Iowa until his thirteenth
year, going thence to Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, where he learned telegraphy
and was known as the "kid operator." He worked along the Union Pacific
and Central Pacific railroads to Utah, Nevada and California. On
his return home he attended a business college at Keokuk, Iowa, one year,
and then went to Sacramento, California. During two years he was
with the Western Union Telegraph company, in California, thence returning
to Iowa, where he entered the railroad shops at Missouri Valley Junction,
remaining several years. He passed one winter in Florida and Louisiana,
then went to Ouray, Colorado, and was engaged in mining and building four
years. Since that period he has lived in the extreme west; he has
traveled in Old Mexico, and has been to Honolulu, H. I.
In 1900 Mr. Thompson came to Lake Chelan where
he intends to remain, being favorably impressed with the climate and the
surrounding attractions. He has two brothers and two sisters, William,
a farmer of Logan, Iowa; John, a mining man at Emmett, Idaho; Martha, wife
of Marion Wakefield, Boise, Idaho; and Mary, single, of Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Thompson is a member of Ouray, Colorado,
Lodge No. 30, I. O. O. F., of which is past noble grand. He owns
some farm property in Nebraska and Iowa, which he rents. He is a
Republican.