My Genealogy Hound

JOHN CROCKETT THOMPSON, merchant, Allegheny, was born June 14, 1844, in Donegal, Ireland, son of Rev. Samuel and Fannie (Huston) Thompson. Mrs. Thompson’s father, Rev. William Huston, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Donegal for forty years, and at his death Rev. Samuel Thompson took charge of that church and one at Ballyshannon for several years, afterward occupying the pulpit at Donegal for forty-four years. He was also superintendent of the national schools of the district, having spent seven years at Glasgow University, where he received the degree of B. A. The grandparents of J. C. Thompson were reared at Belfast, and his grandfather was a stock-broker. Mr. Thompson received his education at home under private tutors, and then served an apprenticeship to the grocery business at Londonderry. At the age of seventeen he went to Wales, and was two years engaged in railroad-building. He then spent five years at the same employment in Belgium and France. In 1868 he came to Allegheny, and carried on a grain and flour business for eight years. He was next in the coal business for nine years. In 1886 he entered the firm of Edward Klotz & Co., manufacturers and wholesale jobbers in confectionery. Mr. Thompson was married in September, 1875, to Sarah E. McIlwain, of Saltsburg, Pa., daughter of William and Nancy (Kerr) McIlwain, and three children, Samuel K., William H. and Mary Helen, have blessed this union. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are members of Emsworth Presbyterian Church, of which he is a trustee. In 1885 he purchased his present fine residence at Emsworth. He is a member of Tancred Commandery, No. 48, K. T., also of the A. O. U. W. His brother, Rev. Samuel H. Thompson, is a Presbyterian minister at St. Paul, Minn.