My Genealogy Hound

NORMAN R. THOMPSON, a veteran soldier of the Army of the Potomac, who served his country well and honorably in the trying times of war and equally as well in the piping times of peace, is a son of Milliard C. and Samantha (Bailey) Thompson, and was born in Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York, September 10, 1837. His paternal grandfather, Abel Thompson, emigrated from the eastern part of New York to Stockton and erected the first house in that town, where he resided until his death. By occupation he was a farmer. The maternal grandfather of Norman K. Thompson, was a native of the central part of New York State, but removed to and settled in Stockton where he resided until his death. The father of Norman R. Thompson was born in 1811, in the central part of the State of New York, and was about eight years of age when his parents removed to Stockton. After receiving such education as the common schools of that day afforded, he learned the tailor’s trade, continuing in that business during his active life. In politics he was a stanch republican, and was honored with the several offices within the gift of his townsmen, conscientiously discharging the duties of each. In his early youth and manhood, he was a Presbyterian, but later became a believer in the tenets of the Methodist church. He married Samantha Bailey, and she bore him the following children: Harriet C., who married W. W. Seeley, a carpenter and joiner, residing in Delanti, N. Y.; Byron W., who married Louisa Bisell, and resides in Spartansburg, Pa. He served three years in the army during the Rebellion, enlisting in 1862, in Co. I, 112th New York Volunteers, and took part in the battles of Cold Harbor, siege of Suffolk and through the campaign in Florida. He was wounded in battle, but recovered; Frederick, a clerk in a dry goods store in Cleveland, Ohio; Almedia R. (dead); Sarah J. (died young); Ella M., married to Samuel Riddle, who lives in Bradford, Pa., where he is superintendent of an oil lease; Mary F., married to Hiram Hart, a painter in Delanti, N. Y.; George M., married to Hattie Miller, and living in Jamestown, where he is a night-watchman; Eva (dead); and Norman R.

Norman R. Thompson acquired his education, mainly at Westfield academy, this county. After graduating there from, he worked by the month on a farm, for a season, and then engaged in the more congenial vocation of teaching school, in which he continued for forty consecutive terms. He was appointed superintendent of schools of Warren county. Pa., by State superintendent J. P. Wickersham, in March, 1876, to fill a vacancy for two years, at the end of which time the people were sufficiently appreciative of his indefatigable efforts in promoting the interests of the hundreds of school districts, to elect him for the succeeding full term. After serving successfully the entire term, he removed to Jamestown in 1883, and engaged in book-keeping until the spring of 1890, when he was appointed city treasurer of Jamestown. He never aspired to political office, believing the office should seek the man, not the man the office, and his belief has been strengthened by the popular vote in each case where he has been an office holder at the request of his constituents. In religion he is an Independent Congregationalist. His record as a soldier is commensurate to that of his life as a citizen. He obeyed the summons of his country when she was in peril, and enlisted in Co. G, 49th regt., New York Volunteers, in August, 1861, Col. D. D. Bidwell commanding, and served three years. He entered as a private soldier and was soon promoted to sergeant and when honorably discharged, was regimental and commissary sergeant. He participated in every battle from the time of his enlistment, in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged, until his discharge. Three times he was wounded, but he declined to leave his post of duty. He several times narrowly escaped being captured by the enemy. He is an enthusiastic secret society man, being an active member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R., Jamestown Lodge, No. 34, A. O. U. W., Chaut. Lake Lodge, No. 46, Knights of Honor, Eureka Lodge, No. 20, Royal Templars of Temperance; all in Jamestown. Thus the record of his life offers the best evidence of his usefulness as a citizen, of his worth as a man, and of the esteem which is justly his.

He married, August 18, 1868, Kate Swift, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Swift, natives of New England, but residents of Carroll and Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., at the time of their death.