My Genealogy Hound

A. J. Thompson, Jr., M D., is one of the most successful of the professional men of this county, and is a leader in whatever he undertakes to do, no less than as a physician. He is the second child of A. J. and P. F. (Edwards) Thompson, and was born in Columbia County, July 30, 1865. His father was the eighth child of James and Mary (Johnson) Thompson, and was born in Lancaster District, S. C, in 1827. James Thompson was a soldier in the War of 1812. He moved with his family from South Carolina to Alabama in 1832, and, after remaining there a year, to Marshall County, Miss., where he died a year later, at the age of fifty years. A few years later the widow moved to De Soto County, Miss., where she lived until her children were grown. James and Mary Thompson had ten children, of whom seven were boys and three were girls. Of the seven boys, three became physicians, three farmers, and one a merchant. The latter was killed accidentally during the war, by a comrade, just after the battle of Shiloh. All of the ten children are dead except one of the girls, who is now the wife of G. W. Walker, living near McNeil, Ark. A. J. Thompson, Sr., took a course of lectures at the Memphis Hospital Medical College in 1848-40, and after practicing his profession a year in Mississippi, came to Columbia County, Ark. A year later his mother moved from Mississippi, and lived with him until she died, in 1856, at the age of sixty eight years. In 1855-56 he graduated in the school in which he had taken his first course of lectures. He lived in Columbia County until his death, and was one of the leading physicians in the county. He was drafted into artillery service during the war, but the people petitioned the enrolling officer to let him remain at home, as there was no other physician in the community, and after some delay their petition was granted. He was one of the three commissioners that located the county seat of Columbia County at Magnolia. He was always greatly interested, but took no active part, in politics. He was a man greatly admired and respected for his sterling worth, both socially and in a professional capacity. He died in 1886. His wife was born in Arkansas in 1837, was a consistent member of the Baptist Church from her girlhood, and a good wife and mother. She died in 1889, at the age of fifty-two years. Of the four children born to them two are now living—Mary J. and Dr. A. J. Dr. A. J. Thompson, Jr., spent his early life in a little village— College Hill—ten miles north of Magnolia. He received an ordinary education in the common schools of the village. His educational facilities were poor; during the last three or four years of his youth, his father’s health failing, he was forced to leave school and assist in the arrangement of the farm and his father’s business generally. At the age of twenty-two years he entered the Louisville Medical College, Louisville, Ky., attending the session of 1888-89. He took the fourth honor—a gold medal—in the class of first-course students. During the spring and summer of 1888 he attended the Kentucky School of Medicine in the same city, and besides the regular course, took special courses in the branches of chemistry and minor surgery and bandaging, receiving diplomas for the same. He attended the medical department of Tulane University, of Louisiana, at New Orleans, during the session of 1888-89, and graduated in all the branches taught in that institution. He then came home, and after practicing eight months at his father’s old stand, came to Magnolia. He is now in the enjoyment of a paying practice, and is meeting with exceptional success. He has qualified himself for his profession better than young men usually do, and a bright and successful future is before him. He is strictly temperate, honorable, and, like his father, a stanch Democrat in his political views.