Thompson Family papers, 1862-1892, 1998

Henry Elliot Thompson was born on March 13, 1841, in Cooperstown, Pennsylvania. He was the fifth child of Hugh G. Thompson And Martha E. Nevin (or Nevins) Thompson, and had a twin brother named Joseph. Hugh Thompson was a tailor by trade, and he moved his family from Pennsylvania to Ohio and back before settling in Vernon County, Wisconsin, sometime prior to 1850. Henry and his twin Joseph grew up in the area of Springville, Wisconsin, and worked as farmers before enlisting in the Wisconsin volunteers when the Civil War broke out. Henry joined the 20th Wisconsin Infantry in the summer of 1862 and was assigned to Capt. Augustus H. Pettibone's Company A. Thompson saw service in Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. Henry survived the war and returned to Wisconsin briefly. He married Janice Mina "Jennie" Odell Thompson (1851-1916). He pursued a career as a carpenter and surveyor in Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, and finally South Dakota where he died on November 17, 1912.

John Nevin Thompson was the oldest son of Henry Elliot Thompson and Janice Mina "Jennie" Odell Thompson, born on February 10, 1869, at Hebron, Indiana. In the summer of 1891, John and his brother William, drove a herd of horses with John T. "Buckskin Johnny" Spaulding through Yellowstone National Park and kept a diary of their experiences. He later lived in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and in 1901 married Lola M. Clay Thompson in Deadwood, South Dakota. The couple had three children: John Nevin Thompson II (1902-1991), H. Elliot Thompson (1905-1976), and Margaret T. Thompson Cousins (1908-2000). In 1904, Thompson took up a homestead claim thirty-five miles south of Ekalaka, Montana. Thompson moved from Carter County, Montana, to Bozeman, Montana, in the 1920s where he worked as a building contractor. John Nevin Thompson, Sr. died on March 15, 1943, in Bozeman, Montana.