John Martin Thompson
Encyclopedia
John Martin Thompson Lumberman, civic leader, was born in the old Cherokee Nation
prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scottish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee
. She being the daughter of Judge John Martin, the first Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation
.
Ridge Party, who supported the removal treaty known as the Treaty of New Echota
. In 1844, Thompson's family left the Cherokee Nation
in Indian Territory
along with other Ridge Party supporters to settle in Rusk County, Texas
. B.F. Thompson initially purchased 10000 acres (40.5 km²) near present day Laird Hill, Texas on which the family made its home. The community later became known as the Mount Tabor Indian Community, the name given the area by John Adair Bell as recorded in the book Cherokee Cavaliers, (pg 80).
, J.M. Thompson became one of the largest lumbermen in Texas
. During the reconstruction era and into the early twentieth centuries Thompson along with his sons built their vast holdings in timber through a series of sound business decisions. In 1881 they left the Rusk County area, moving operations into Trinity County in order to market their product via the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. They facilitated their marketing campaigns by developing connections to retail lumberyards. Further, they organized a series of companies to expedite and manage their ever growing timber empire. Thus were formed the Thompson and Tucker Lumber Company followed by the J. M. Thompson Lumber Company, the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company, and finally the Thompson and Ford Lumber Company. By 1907 the various companies owned over 149000 acres (603 km²) of land while operating mills in communities such as Willard, Doucette, and Grayburg. In 1906, the company relocated all corporate interests to Houston.
in 1880, until his own death in 1907. He was succeeded as Executive Committee Chairman of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands by Claude Muskrat.
for $12.50 an acre. These lands would eventually form the largest part of the Davy Crockett National Forest
. By 1960 Hoxie Thompson had sold nealy all the Thompson lands, but maintained most of the mineral rights.
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scottish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
. She being the daughter of Judge John Martin, the first Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
.
The Cherokees and The Mount Tabor Indian Community
Thompson's family had ties to the CherokeeCherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
Ridge Party, who supported the removal treaty known as the Treaty of New Echota
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, known as the Treaty Party...
. In 1844, Thompson's family left the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
in Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
along with other Ridge Party supporters to settle in Rusk County, Texas
Rusk County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,372 people, 17,364 households, and 12,727 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 19,867 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile...
. B.F. Thompson initially purchased 10000 acres (40.5 km²) near present day Laird Hill, Texas on which the family made its home. The community later became known as the Mount Tabor Indian Community, the name given the area by John Adair Bell as recorded in the book Cherokee Cavaliers, (pg 80).
Reconstruction
Following the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, J.M. Thompson became one of the largest lumbermen in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. During the reconstruction era and into the early twentieth centuries Thompson along with his sons built their vast holdings in timber through a series of sound business decisions. In 1881 they left the Rusk County area, moving operations into Trinity County in order to market their product via the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. They facilitated their marketing campaigns by developing connections to retail lumberyards. Further, they organized a series of companies to expedite and manage their ever growing timber empire. Thus were formed the Thompson and Tucker Lumber Company followed by the J. M. Thompson Lumber Company, the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company, and finally the Thompson and Ford Lumber Company. By 1907 the various companies owned over 149000 acres (603 km²) of land while operating mills in communities such as Willard, Doucette, and Grayburg. In 1906, the company relocated all corporate interests to Houston.
Later life
Although as busy as he was, John Martin thompson, was first a family man and community leader. He led the Mount Tabor Indian Community (and by extension the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands), following the death of William Penn AdairWilliam Penn Adair
William Penn Adair was a Cherokee leader and Confederate colonel.-Background:William Penn Adair was born on April 15, 1830 in the old Cherokee Nation in New Echota, Georgia. His parents were George Washington Adair and Martha Adair. He attended Cherokee schools in Indian Territory, studying law....
in 1880, until his own death in 1907. He was succeeded as Executive Committee Chairman of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands by Claude Muskrat.
His Successor and son Hoxie Harry Thompson
His business successor was his son Hoxie Harry Thompson. It was H.H. Thompson who sold 94126 acres (380.9 km²) to the United States Forest ServiceUnited States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
for $12.50 an acre. These lands would eventually form the largest part of the Davy Crockett National Forest
Davy Crockett National Forest
Davy Crockett National Forest is off U.S. Highway 69 lying west of Lufkin, Texas and east of Crockett. It is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture National Forest Service local headquarters in Lufkin...
. By 1960 Hoxie Thompson had sold nealy all the Thompson lands, but maintained most of the mineral rights.
See also
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery
- William Clyde ThompsonWilliam Clyde ThompsonCaptain William Clyde Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader who rallied against the Dawes Commission for Choctaw enrollment. He was born in 1839 near Fort Towson in the Choctaw Nation.-Background:...
- Martin Luther ThompsonMartin Luther ThompsonMartin Luther Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader and rancher who along with his relatives, William Clyde Thompson , Robert E. Lee Thompson and John Thurston Thompson , led several families of Choctaws from the Mount Tabor Indian Community in Rusk County, Texas to Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation,...
- Charles Collins ThompsonCharles Collins ThompsonCharles Collins Thompson was a Texas judge, attorney, banker and rancher. He was a native of Erath County, Texas. He was the son of Charles Madison Thompson and Annie Margaret Jane Altman .-Background:...
- Yowani ChoctawsYowani ChoctawsYowani is a branch of the Choctaw tribe which became part of the Caddo Confederacy. The Yowani were named for their village, the reason for the founding of a trading post and what became the European-American town of Shubuta, Mississippi nearby...
Sources
- Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History As Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family, 1939 By Edward Everett Dale and Gaston Litton, University of Oklahoma Press; ISBN 080612721X, 13: 978-0806127217
- Lone Star: The Thompson Timber Interests of Texas, Red River Valley Historical Review #7, 1981, By Thomas D. Isern and Raymond Wilson
- Thompson Collection, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas
- Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson, By Thomas D. Isern http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth43.html
- Republic of Texas Treaties; Treaty of Bowles Village February 23, 1836, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
- Treaty of Birds Fort September 29, 1843, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
- Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr
- The Old Mount Tabor Community, Genealogy of Old and New Cherokee Families, by George Morrison Bell Sr.
- Some East Texas Native Families: Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Genealogy Project: Rootsweb Global Search: Familyties http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=familyties
- Chief Bowles and Texas Cherokees, Chapter XI, Cherokee Claims to Land, By Mary Whatley Clarke, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806134364 13:978-0806134369
- Texas-Cherokees vs United States Docket 26, 26 Ind Cl Comm. 78 (1971)
External links
- Thompson Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas; Information related to Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas
- Asbury Cemetery, Smith County, Texas, Information related to Choctaw and Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005
- The Handbook of Texas Online: Indians by George Klos
- Mt. Tabor Cemetery, Rusk County TxGenWeb
- A Starr Studded Event, April 9, 2005 by Paul Ridenour
- The George Harlan Starr and Nancy (Bell) Starr Home, Located near Leveretts Chapel, Texas (Mt. Tabor Indian Community), by Paul Ridenour 2005
- Ridenour's Major Ridge Home Page, by Paul Ridenour 2008
- The Thompson Choctaw Indians Photo Gallery, Thompson Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001, edited by Jesse Thompson
- Mt. Tabor Indian Community Ancestral Roll, Sponsored by the Thompson-Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001, edited by Jesse Thompson
- Gregg County Historical Markers
- Lou Della (Thompson) Crim Home
- More Oil-Time Magazine
- Kilgore College-History
- Texas Ranger Dispatch Magazine 2003
- American Lumberman Biographies 2006
- The Thompson Collection, Stephen F. Austin State University
- "The House of Thompson" Texas Forestry Museum
- Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson, by Thomas D. Isern
- Handbook of Texas Online: THOMPSON TIMBER INTERESTS, by Thomas D. Isern