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PICTORIAL & BIOGRAPHICAL
HISTORY OF
INDIANAPOLIS & MARION CO.,
INDIANA
Published:
Chicago
Goodspeed Brothers, Publishers,
1893
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HON.
RICHARD W. THOMPSON was a native of Culpeper County,
Va., born in June, 1809, and was descended from one of "the
first families of Virginia." When twenty-two years old
he emigrated to Indiana, taught a private school at Bedford,
and later opened the Lawrence County Seminary.
Subsequently he read law, was admitted to the bar in 1834,
and the same year was elected to the State Legislature, and
e-elected in 1838. In 1839 he was elected to the State
Senate, and during his career as a State legislator not only
displayed great ability and foresight, but was instrumental
in effecting very important legislation. Upon the
resignation of Lieut. Gov. Wallace, Mr. Thompson was
president of the Senate pro tempore, and held the office of
acting governor during the administration of Hon. Noah
Noble. As a Whig he was nominated and elected to
Congress in 1841 from the Second district and declining a
renomination moved to Terre Haute in 1843, where for nearly
a half century he was engaged in the practice of the law.
In 1847 he was again nominated for Congress by the Whig
party, and, accepting the nomination, was re-elected and
became a national character because of his prominence in
legislation matters. Although tendered the Austrian
mission by Pres. Taylor in 1849, he declined the
appointment, preferring to remain in his native country.
During the war of the Rebellion he rendered the Union active
and valuable services, was commandant of Camp Dick Thompson,
near Terre Haute, and also served as provost marshal of the
district. In 1867 he was elected judge of the
Eighteenth Judicial District, but declined the candidature
of a second term. For a number of years he lived in
retirement, steadily refusing political preferment, and
turning his attention to literary and educational pursuits,
his large and valuable library affording him an ample field
for study. In March, 1877, President Hayes
appointed him to his cabinet as secretary of the Navy, and
so ably did he fill the duties of that position that he
brought order out of chaos, simplified the duties of his
subordinates, dismissed unnecessary employes, established
his department on a sound basis and saved several million
dollars to the Government that had previously been frittered
away. Mr. Thompson is one of the men whose name
bears an imperishable imprint on the page of Indiana
history. He is now in his eighty-fifty year, hale and
hearty; he has been a participant in sixteen presidential
campaigns, and on Sept. 3, 1893, made one of the ablest
political speeches of his life, comprising six columns of
newspaper print.
Source: Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs - Indianapolis
and Marion County, Indiana - Publ. Chicago - Goodspeed
Brothers, Publishers - 1893 - Page 98 |
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