John Thompson was a registrar of lands in the Western District of the Territory of Orleans and judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans.

Thompson came to Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 from Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 in 1805 and was charged with opening the Western District land office in Opelousas, Louisiana

Opelousas, Louisiana

Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...

. On September 17, 1808, Thompson was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 to be a judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans in place of William Sprigg

William Sprigg

William Sprigg was a Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, the Superior Court of the Orleans Territory and the highest court of the Illinois Territory.-Early life:...

 who had returned to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Thompson died in February 1810 in New Orleans.