Frank E. Thompson

Posted to Ohio Biographies Project by:
Linda Isenbarg
23 May 2001

File contributed to Ohio Biographies Project by
Tina Hursh

History of DesMoines County, Iowa 1915
Pages 322-325

FRANK E. THOMPSON

Frank E. Thompson, engaged in the general practice of law in Burlington, has since the outset of his professional career applied himself with such diligence and determination to the mastery of the principles of jurisprudence and to the conduct of his case that he is now recognized as an able, skilled and successful advocate and counsellor. Mr. Thompson was born in Grandview, Louisa County, Iowa, December 13,1873, a son of John W. and Mary(See)Thompson. The family was established in New England at an early period in the colonization of America. The great-grandparents in the Thompson line settled in Ohio about the beginning of the nineteenth century and there John Thompson, the grandfather, was born in Ross County, in 1810. In 1839, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Iowa, the family home being established near Grandview, in Louisa County, at a period when the work of development and progress were in its primitive stages. The territory had been organized only the year previously and there were no railroads connecting Iowa with other sections of the country. The Thompson family, however, did not have to endure some of the hardships of the early settlers, for they had wealth with which to secure comforts and purchased large tracts of land.

John Thompson began raising stock in this state and also did contract work. He married a Miss Nichols and to them were born four children. Following the death of his first wife he wedded Sarah Nichols, also a native of Ross County, Ohio, and their children were five in number. John Thompson, continued an honored resident of this state for forty-seven years, passing away in 1886, while his wife died in 1880, when about fifty-five years of age.

Their son, John W. Thompson, made farming and stockraising his life work. He was born and reared in Iowa and became familiar with every phase of the state's development and progress. He continued his residence in Louisa County until the early '70s and then for almost thirty years lived in Henry County. In 1900 he took up his abode in Sedalia, Missouri, where he became the owner of large landed holdings and thereon engaged extensively in dealing in horses, mules and cattle. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary See, a daughter of Rev. Michael See, and a representative of one of the old colonial families of Virginia. Her father came to the west in 1838, settling in Burlington with his parents, who entered land from the government in what is now known as the Miller settlement of Des Moines County. Of the ancestry of Frank E. Thompson in the maternal line the following has been written by a contemporary biographer: "Michael See was a man of powerful and vigorous constitution. He became a circuit rider of the Methodist church, and from the age of twenty-one years devoted his life entirely to the work of the ministry. He was a very successful preacher, being gifted with eloquence and with that quality which for want of a better term we have called personal magnetism. He was logical in argument, persaudive and earnest, and his labors led to the substantial upbuilding of the church. He was an intimate friend of H. Clay Dean and Rev. Frank Evans, and was one of the notable figures in the early history of Iowa. He was twiced married, his first wife being a Miss Miller, whose mother belonged to the Hanks family and was a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. He departed this life in 1899, full of years and honors, having passed the eighty-second milestone of life's journey. He had never been ill until just prior to his death, and he continued in the active work of the ministry almost to the last."

At the usual age Frank E. Thompson began his education in the district schools and when thirteen had mastered the preliminary branches to a sufficuent degree to enable him to take up high-school work in Columbus City, Iowa. He was afterward a student in the high school at Muscatine and pursued a course in a business college there. He next entered Iowa State University for a classical training and eventually entered upon the study of law in that institution, completing his law course with the class of 1896. Mr. Thompson began his practice in Burlington, where he has since remained. As the years have gone on his practice has become extensive and of important character. He is constantly inspired by an innate love of justice and a delicate sense of personal honor. His fidelity to the interests of his clients is proverbial, yet he never forgets that he owes a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. His diligence and energy in the preparation of his cases as well as the earnestness, tenacity and courage with which he defends the right challenges the highest admiration of his associates, and he invariably seeks to present his argument in the strong, clear light of common reason and sound logical principles. He had practiced at the bar of Burlington for about eight years, when, in 1904, the Republican party made him nominee for the office of county attorney and such was his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him that he led the county ticket, receiving a majority of none hundred notwithstanding his opponent was reguarded as one of the strongest members of the county bar. He filled the position most acceptably for two years, and in 1906, resumed the private practice of law, in which he has since engaged.

When age conferred upon him the right of franchise, Mr. Thompson strongly indorsed republican principles, believing in the value of the party platform as an element in good government. He was the Republican nominee for representative in the state legislature in 1901 and though he ran ahead of his ticket met defeat with the other Republican candidates. He has always kept abreast of the political situation of the country and his knowledge of the questions and issues of the day is by no means superficial but delves to the root of the matter. In 1902, he was made chairman of the Republican County Central Committee and in different campaigns has delivered many public addresses in Des Moines and adjoining counties in support of party principles. In 1914, he was elected state senator from the ninth senatorial district of Iowa.

Mr. Thompson was married in 1894, to Miss Lillian Russell, a daughter of John J. Russell, a retired merchant of Columbus Junction, Iowa. Their friends in Burlington and through this section of the state are many and Mr. Thompson is recognized as a valued member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Modern Woodsmen of America. He is a representative of some of the old pioneer families of the state and is the fourth generation here residing. The work instituted by his great-grandfather for the upbuilding and development of the territory was continued by his grandfather and father, and the same spirit finds expression in the public activities of Frank E. Thompson, who while meeting the strenuous demands of a growing law practice, has always found time to perform every public duty in relation to his citizenship in his native state.

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