Thompson, N.E. (Norman Eugene) family

Norman Eugene Thompson
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)



 

Julia Bennet Stetson Thompson and Norman E. Thompson
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)
 

 

 



Norman Eugene Thompson
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)



 

 

Norman E. Thompson and Julie Stetson Thompson house in Somers, Wisconsin
This house is located on Highway E, north side of the road, two houses west of Neumiller Park
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

 



 

 N.E. (Norman E.) Thompson

N.E. Thompson, Station Agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Somers, Kenosha  County, has been connected with that road since 1875 and since 1877 has been its representative here.  He owns land in the county and has been called to public office a number of times, his fellow citizens thus expressing their confidence in his ability and public spirit.
He was born in Paynes Point, Ogle County, Illinois, on the 24th of October, 1857, and is a son of John and Sarah (Hardy) Thompson, both of whom were natives of Canada but who passed their later years in Paynes Point where they died and were buried.  Although his parents were born in Canada, previous generations of the family lived in the United States, and his great-great-grandmother was the first white child born in Stafford, Connecticut.
N.E. Thompson was reared under the parental roof and until fifteen years of age attended the common schools, thus acquiring his early education.  Later he was for two years a student in the Mount Morrie Seminary and after leaving that institution he learned telegraphy and entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.  For two years he has located at Deerfield, Illinois, but on the 1st of January, 1877, was transferred to Somers, Wisconsin, where he has since remained as Station Agent.  He is accurate and systematic in his work, carefully safeguards the interests of the company and at the same time seeks to accommodate the patrons of the road.  He holds title to one hundred and sixty acres of excellent land in Somers township and also to a comfortable residence in the town of Somers, and his success is doubly creditable in that it is the direct result of his own energy and good management.
Mr. Thompson was united in marriage in 1886 to Miss Julia B. Stetson, a daughter of William R. Stetson of Somers Township, and they have two sons:  William and Harry, who are operating the old Stetson homestead now owned by our subject.  The latter married Edna Barrows and they have two daughters, Harriet and Ruth.  William graduated from the University of Wisconsin with the Class of 1911 and Harry is an alumnus of the Racine High school and the Trenary Business College of Kenosha.
Mr. Thompson believes in the politics of the Republican party.  For nineteen years he held the office of Post Master at Somers; for twelve years was Justice of he Peace; for six years was school district Clerk; and was also for some time a member of the School Board.  In religious faith he is a Presbyterian and fraternally he is connected with the Masons at Kenosha, with the Knights of Pythias at Kenosha and with the Modern Woodmen of America at Somers, of which Camp he has been clerk for twenty years.
(Source:  The City and County of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Vol. II, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916).





1927 partial map of Somers Township and the Thompson William (W.E.)  and Harry (H.C.)  parcels located on Highway E and Highway JR
Thompson Apple Orchard
Norman Eugene (N.E.) Thompson 123 acres are located across the street on the south side of Highway E
The 51 acre parcel north of Highway is now University of Wisconsin Parkside.

 

 

Children of Norman Eugene (N.E.) Thompson and Julia Bennet Stetson Thompson

William Eugene Thompson, born August 13, 1886 in Somers, Wisconsin.
He died December 30, 1962 in Somers, Wisconsin.
William Eugene married Laura Jensen March 25, 1920.
Children include Jean Elaine, born September 4, 1921in Chicago, Illinois; Charles William Thompson born December 11, 1922 in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Margaret Lucille Thompson born April 8, 1925 in Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Richard Lewis Charles Thompson born February 7, 1927 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Harry Charles Thompson, born July 18, 1890 in Somers, Wisconsin.
He died September 13, 1964 in Somers, Wisconsin
Harry Charles married Edna Barrow in 1910.
Children include Harriet, Ruth Carolyn, Norman, and Mary Ellen.

 

 



Summer of 1909 or 1910
Norman Eugene Thompson - 52 years old
Julia B. Stetson Thompson - 53 years old
Wendell Rhodes standing in front row - 4 or 5 years old
Seated at left - Ned Ozanne, Jim Spencer, Norman E. Thompson, Jay W. Rhodes.
Back row standing at left Mollie Rhodes Spencer (2nd wife), Julia Stetson Thompson, Mabel Cook Rhodes
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)
Click on photo for larger view.



John Thompson
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

John Thompson, father of Norman E. Thompson
John Thompson was born in Hamilton Township, Northumberland Co., Canada West, October 12, 1833.  His mother died when he was only six months old.  He lived in Canada until twenty-one years of age, when he and his father removed to Ogle Co., Illinois, and purchased a farm.  He lived in Ogle County until September 1862, when he enlisted in the 8th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry.  He served through the War.  In 1863 he was out with a scouting party, and was severely wounded by his horse falling down a stone quarry and falling upon him.  He received his discharge in St. Louis in August, 1865.  He participated in many hard fought battles, his company or regiment being a part of the arm of the Potomac.  Among the hardest battles were:  Williamstown, seven days fight on the peninsula, Battle of the Wilderness, Antietam, Gettysburg, Manassas, second battle of Bull Run, and Beverly Ford, a strictly cavalry battle, which lasted one whole day.  He return to Ogle County after the War, and followed farming.  In 1867 he helped get up a map of Ogle County.  In April 1876 he came to Iowa located in Algona, this county.  Before coming west, however, he had traded some property for 240 acres of land in this county, 160 acres in Wesley township, and 80 acres in Lott's Creek Township.  In 1878 he removed from Algona to the village of Wesley and engaged in carpenter work.  Mr. Thompson has been married three times.  In 1854 he was married to Sarah M. Hardy of Canada.  They had four children - Teresa J., Norman E., Everett W. and Charles W.  After she died he was again married, but his second wife died in the summer of 1875, and was buried in Byron, Ogle Co., Illinois.  In 1876 he was married to Mrs. Mary (Clemens) Artz of Ogle Co., Illinois.  Mrs. Thompson had two children by her first husband - Ozzy and Ella.  Mr. Thompson is a Republican.  He owns a nice residence property, also a good carpenter ship, which, by the way, is the building erected by Comstock & Baker, and the first one built in Wesley village.
(Source:  History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago Counties, Iowa, page 547(1884)

Children of John and Sarah Hardy Thompson
Teresa Josephine was born October 10, 1855 in Cold Springs, Ont.
Norman Eugene was born October 24, 1857 in Paynes Point, IL
William Everett was born in 1860 in Paynes Point, IL
Charles Winfield was born June 4, 1869 in Paynes Point, IL

Memories
"My grandmother Sarah died in 1874 at age 38 and is buried in Paynes Point, Illinois.  John Thompson lived another twenty-one years and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 18, 1895.  He is buried in the Old Soldier's Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.  Grandfather John remarried soon after Sarah's death and moved with his family to Wesley, Iowa.  Aunt Josie married Wm. P. Scoville on September 29, 1875 and lived near Byron and Paynes Point until her death on March 19, 1887.  My father was very unhappy in Iowa and his sister took him in the Scoville home soon after she was married.  He was there when Luella was born June 4, 1882 and Hiram was born Feb. 22, 1885.  He was more of a big brother than an uncle to them although he was always "Uncle Charles".  After Josie's death, he left to make his own way.  Her other two brothers were sent from Iowa to live with various relations in the Chicago area according to letters written my Bill Thompson in 1961.  Because of Daddy's close relationship with the Scoville's we have always maintained ties with them.  We had cottages next to each other at Twin Lakes, Michigan for many years.

Uncle Gene (Norman) was instrumental in getting Charles a job with the railroad.  Those passes were very convenient for the families. One of my earliest memories is a visit we made to Uncle Gene's and Aunt Julia's in Somers, Wisconsin.  I was three years old and had never seen a pump at a kitchen sink.  On another visit I tasted my first fresh asparagus served on toast with oodles of butter.  Uncle Gene came to visit us quite often in Laurence, Michigan where I was born November 30, 1908.  Uncle Will would come sometimes and stay a week or month or two.  He married two or three times.

Norman, my brother, was born in 1897.  I was 12 when he was born.  He graduated from Michigan Tech as a mining engineer.  His first job was with Republic State Corp in Bessemer, Ala.  His various positions took him from assistant engineer at one of the mines to general superintendent of ore mine and furnaces in the entire Birmingham area.  His only child, Eleanor Jean was born July 26, 1923, is married to Gerard E. Murray.  Eleanor graduated from the University of Illinois.  Norman and his wife Irene lived a very interesting life in many foreign countries after he resigned from Republic Steel, 1941 and then he worked at the AID State Department.  He died of cancer February 18, 1961 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in Birmingham, Ala.

My mother Jennie Williams and father were married on Sept 30, 1896 in Thomaston, Michigan.  Daddy had been the Station Agent at Sault St. Marie, Michigan and was transferred to Mestoria when they married.  Nestoria, Michigan was then the junction for several railroads running from Duluth, Minnesota, to the "sauet" or the Chicago to Haughton and Calument, Michigan routes.  After transfers to Marquette and Lauruim, Michigan, he decided in 1905 to leave the Rrand work for Marshall Wells Co. of Duluth, Minnesota as their western Upper Peninsula Michigan representative.  He was a happy outgoing man with a hearty laugh and many friends.  He died August 18, 1925 at the age of 56 after a two year battle with Bright's Disease.  Norman's cancer started in the bladder.  Grandfather John had bladder and color trouble according to his war records.  I have had bladder complications with several operations in the last years. 

I started Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin the fall of 1925 and Uncle Gene wrote to me quite regularly.  I loved him dearly.  I graduated in 1929 and then taught piano and organ.  I was going to Europe to continue studying piano for a year after graduation.  James Bryant Morgan and I were married December 26, 1932 I Birmingham, Alabama.  We have three children.
(Source:  Elizabeth Jean Thompson Morgan , daughter of Charles Winfield Thompson, from old letters and conversations with her father)


Norman E. Thompson Obituary
Death Claims N. Thompson, Station Agent.  Resident at Somers Mourn Death of Outstanding Figure
"Residents in the village of Somers today mourned the death of Normal E. Thompson, outstanding figure in the civic, political, religious and educational affairs of his community since 1877.  He succumbed at his home this morning, after being in ill health for the past two months.
Since 1877, Thompson has served as Station Agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company at Somers, and he was widely known throughout Kenosha and Racine counties.
Thompson served as Somers Postmaster for nearly 20 years, and was justice of the peace for 12 years, being a staunch Republican and notably active in political movements as well as church and athletic enterprises.
Normal E. Thompson was born in Paynes Point, Olge County, Illinois, October 24, 1857, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Thompson.  Following his education in the public schools there, he attended Mount Morris Seminary.
The deceased studied telegraphy and entered the employment of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway company in 1875, locating at Deerfield, Illinois.  On January 1, 1877, he was transferred to Somers, where he has since remained as Station Agent.  For nearly twenty years Thompson served as Postmaster, and he was the justice of the peace for twelve years, distinguished by the fact that many of his decisions were upheld by the higher court.
Thompson was frequently sent as a Republican delegate to Kenosha County and State conventions.  He was also a member of the School Board in Somers for a score of years.
Thompson also played baseball many years with the Somers team and was always a chief booster for that organization.
The body is at the Hansen Funeral Home where it will remain until noon Sunday, when it will be taken to the congregational Church at somers to lie in state until the time of services at 2 o'clock.
The Rev. George C. Flett, and Rev. O.A. Johnson will officiate at the last rites,  Burial will be in the Oakwood Cemetery, Somers."
(Source:  Racine Journal December 2, 1932)


About William Eugene Thompson

(Source:  Original courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

William E. and Laura Jensen Thompson children:
Jean E. Thompson, age 8 in 1930
Charles W. Thompson, age 7 in 1930
Margaret L. Thompson, age 4 in 1930
Richard L. Thompson, age 3 in 1930
(Source:  1930 U.S. Federal Census)




Laura Jensen Thompson, wife of William E. Thompson (N.E. Thompson, father in law)
Oakwood Cemetery
(Source:  Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson.  Copyright October 2011)



William E. Thompson, son of N.E. Thompson of Somers
Oakwood Cemetery
(Source:  Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson.  Copyright October 2011)




William E. Thompson
(Source:  original photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)
 



(Source:  copy of article and original announcement courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)
Click or double click on image for larger viewing.

William and Laura Jensen Thompson
1930's sawing wood from wood lot for winter heat
(Source:  photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

Richard L. Thompson
son of William E. and Laura Jensen Thompson

Richard L. Thompson
(Source:  photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

(Source:  original Kenosha News Sept. 4, 2011 obituary, clipping courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

Margaret Lucille Thompson
daughter of William E. and Laura Jensen Thompson

Margaret Lucille Thompson
(Source:  photo courtesy of Lynn Thompson Powell)

Harry C. Thompson
Harry C. Thompson and Harriot J. Thompson children:
Ruth C. Thompson, age 14 in 1930
Norman W. Thompson, age 12 in 1930
Mary E. Thompson, age 6 in 1930
(Source:  1930 U.S. Federal Census)


Harry Charles Thompson is an enterprising young agriculturist of Kenosha County who for the past three years has been busily engaged in the cultivation of his father's farm of one hundred and sixty acres on Section 12, Somers Township.  he is a native son of the county, having been born in the Town of Somers on the 18th of July. 1890, of the marriage of N.E. and Julia (Stetson) Thompson.
Harry Charles Thompson supplemented his early education, obtained in the common schools, by a high school course at Racine and subsequently attended a business college in Kenosha.  After putting aside his textbooks he entered the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, being for four years employed as telegrapher at Somers and other points.  Three years ago, however, he located on his father's farm on Section 12, Somers Township, and has since devoted his time and energies to its cultivation, his well directed labors being attended with most gratifying results.
On the 18th of December, 1913, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Edna Barrows, her father being J.J. Barrows, the first settler of Berryville, this county.  They now have two children, Harriet Julia and Ruth Caroline.
Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his political views.  At present he is ably discharging the duties of Somers Town Treasurer.  He is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Somers and is fraternally identified with the Woodmen at that place.
(Source:  The City and County of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Vol. II, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916).

Stetson

William R. Stetson
Oakwood Cemetery
(Source:  Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson.  Copyright October 2011)

William R. Stetson
William R. Stetson, who is engaged in general farming on Section 13, Somers Township, Kenosha County, is a native of the Empire State. He was born on the 11th of March, 1817, in Westfield, N.Y. and is the son of William A. Stetson, who was born in Maine. Oliver Stetson, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of New England, and served his country in the War of the Revolution. His father and three brothers were of English birth and emigrated from their native land to America in early colonial days.

Family Notes:  "Cap't Oliver Stetson was born November 12, 1756, Hanover, Plymouth Co., Mass. and died in Westfield, Chautauqua Co., New York on November 10, 1839.  He is buried in East Ripley Cemetery.  The D.A.R. have placed a marker on the grave which reads: "Bailey's Mass. Mil. Rev. War.".  Oliver was  a private in Capt. Amos Turner's company of "Minute Men" from Mass. which marched on Lexington alarm April 19, 1775.  There were seven Stetson in this company Col. John Bailey's Regiment, the "North Company of Minute Men".  Battles engaged in White Plains and both battles of Stillwater.  After finishing his service, he went to Hebron Maine where he married in the year 1780 in Paris, Maine, Miss Jeanette Anderson who was born in Scotland in 1757.  She died in Ripley, N.Y. December 23, 1825 in her 69th year and is also buried in East Ripley Cemetery.  Accordingly to family records, Oliver and Jeanette settled in the "wilds of Maine" far from civilization.  Here their first child was born, Oliver.  The 1790 U.S. Census has Oliver at "Canajoharietown" Montgomery Co.  He next appears in Middlefield, N.Y. where land records bear the signature of his wife, Jeanette.  When John, the youngest child was age 13, the family traveled to Westfield, Chaut Co., N.Y.  They traveled with ox teams thru Buffalo as it lay in ruins after being burned by the British.  In 1819 Oliver bought 109-1/2 acres in Ripley, N.Y. overlooking Lake Erie.  he paid $546.96 for it.  Here he built a brick house and ran a tavern.  They were active in the Presbyterian Church.  On the neighboring farm of James McMahan is a large stone on which has been carved the name of Oliver Stetson and his neighbors as the "first settlers of Chaut. So. N.Y.  He and his neighbor made a long sled a drew their grain by hand to the mill in Buffalo, sixty miles away, on the ice of Lake Erie.
Ten children were born to Oliver and Jeanette Anderson Stetson.  William A. (this story) was born Feb. 1, 1788 and died January 20, 1868. "

The father of our subject was reared to manhood in the Pine Tree State and on removing to New York, settled in Cooperstown, where he later married Jane Anderson, who was born at the place and was the daughter of Samuel Anderson, another of the Revolutionary heroes. After his marriage Mr. Stetson continued to make his home in New York until 1841, when he emigrated with his family to Wisconsin, locating in the village of Southport, now Kenosha, where he resided for a number of years. He died at the home of his daughter in that city. In the Stetson family were three sons and five daughters, the eldest of whom, Oliver, was a railroad contractor, and died in Lima, Ohio; Almira married Sheldon Fisk and is now deceased; Dorliska is also deceased; William R., of this sketch, is the next younger; Janette is the deceased wife of E.M. Kinney, one of the early settlers of Kenosha; Mary Ann has also passed away; Carl G. served in the late war as Captain of Company I, Thirty-Third Wisconsin Infantry. Carl was killed at Spanish Fort, located on the Gulf; and Jerusha, is the wife of J.R. Payson, a manufacturer of Chicago. She and our subject are now the only surviving members of the family.

(Note:  William Eugene Thompson had always thought the Stetson arrival date in Kenosha county was 1835.  They moved from Chautauqua County (previously Norwalk, Conn.) in 1833, through Ohio to Chicago, leaving two daughters at school in Oberlin, Ohio.  Moved from Chicago to Wisconsin as cholera broke out.  Traveled by oxcart.  Immigrant cholera victims buried in cemetery north of Racine, Wisconsin.  Kenosha County Historical Society has travel trunk dated 1833 used during the travels of the Stetsons to Wisconsin.)
(Source:  Thompson family records)

William R. Stetson has for half a century made his home in Kenosha County. The days of his boyhood and youth were passed in Chautauqua County, New York, where he acquired an education. He then went on the river as a pilot, running rafts on the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, to which business he continued to devote his time and attention for a number of years. He first came to Wisconsin in 1837, joining an older brother in Kenosha but returned to the East in the fall of the same year. The following spring he again went on the river as a pilot but in 1842 made a permanent location. He took up his residence upon the claim which his father had purchased and where he now resides. Clearing it of the timber and brush with which nature had clothed it, he plowed the fields, planted crops, and in course of time had a fine farm. It was no easy task to develop land which was hitherto in its primitive condition but his unceasing labors soon worked a great transformation in the place.
Mr. Stetson was married in Kenosha in 1846, to Eliza Melville, who was born in Ireland, but spent the days of her maidenhood in this country. Unto them was born one son, Charles, who is now a railroad engineer and resides in Alton, Illinois. About 1852 Mr. Stetson was again married, his second union being with Ellen Maely, who was also born on the Emerald Isle and came to the United States when fifteen years old. They became the parents of two children: Julia Bennet, the elder, is now the wife of N.E. Thompson, who is Station Agent at Somers, and until them have been born two sons, William and Harry. Grosvenor A. now carries on the home farm. He was married but his wife died leaving one son, William Sanford."
(Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin, Chicago, Lake City Publishing Co., 1892).

More About William R. Stetson
"Mr. William R. Stetson one of the oldest residents of the Town of Somers, and one of the earliest pioneer settlers of Kenosha County, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. (Julia Stetson Thompson) N.E. Thompson, Thursday morning, October 8, 1903. Mr. Stetson had been in failing health for several years. The deceased was born in Westfield, New York on March 11, 1817. He came to Wisconsin in 1837. In 1842 he took up his residence upon the farm where he lived almost to the time of his death. In 1840 he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Melville. One son was born unto them, Charles Stetson, now of Chicago. In 1852 Mr. Stetson was again married, his second union being with Miss Ellen Maely. Two children were born unto them - Julia, the wife of N.E. Thompson and Grosvenor A. Stetson, both of Somers.
The death of Mr. Stetson marks the passing of one of the best known men in the county. He was a Republican in politics. He was connected with the School Board for nearly a quarter of a century and was a warm friend to the cause of education.
The funeral services conducted by Rev. McNary, were held from the home of his daughter Saturday afternoon. A large concourse of friends followed his remains to their last resting place in Oakwood Cemetery."
(Source: Racine Weekly Journal, October 16, 1903)

More about William R. Stetson
"William R. Stetson was a farmer, owning 163 acres in Section 13 of Somers Township. He was born in Westfield, New York and came West in 1840. His father, William A. Stetson, kept a hotel for a number of years. He married Miss Ellen Omealy, a native of New York. The Stetson's have two children: Grosvenor A. and Julia B.
(The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin, Chicago, Western Historical Company, 1879).

More About Ellen Stetson, wife of William R. Stetson
"Mrs. Ellen Stetson departed this life on Friday evening at her late home of heart trouble, The deceased was born in Ireland, May 17th 1831 came to this country when 15 years of age and resided in New York State until 1850, when she came to Kenosha. She was united in marriage to William R. Stetson in 1853. Two children, a son and a daughter, were born to them, Julia, the wife of N.E. Thompson, and Grosvenor. They, with their aged and feeble father, survive. Mrs. Stetson possessed rare traits of character which endeared her to all who knew her. She was a true, gentle devoted Christan. The funeral services were held from her late home Monday afternoon, conducted by Rev. O.D. Dale.
(Source: Racine Daily Journal, publication date February 20, 1901)





1861 Partial Map of Somers Township, Kenosha County
Stetson parcels
Section 13
W.R. Stetson - 20 acres
W.A. Stetson - 60 acres
W.A. Stetson - 80 acres
Section 14
W.A. Stetson - 83 acres
W.R. Stetson 17-1/2 acres
W.A. Stetson - 5 acres
Section 23
W.A. Stetson - 50 acres
Click on map for closer view

G.A. (Grosvenor) Stetson
Oakwood Cemetery
(Source:  Photo by Larry & Linda Kopet, USGenWEb Archiv Wisconsin)

Grosvenor Stetson
Grosvenor Stetson will hold an auction sale tomorrow to dispose of his stock and farm implements after which he will move to Kenosha.
(Source:  Racine Journal Mar 21, 1904)


Carlton G. Stetson
Captain Carlton G. Stetson served in the 33rd Wis. Reg, Company "I" in the Civil War
Residence:  Somers
Enlisted:  August 6, 1862.  Lieut. September 3, 1862.
Killed in action April 2, 1865 at Spanish Fort, Alabama
(Source:  Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion 1861-1865, Vol. II)

Carl Stetson
Carl Stetson owned a parcel (value of real estate $3,000) near William R. Stetson.
Name:  Carl Stetson (Stetson)
Age in 1860:  31
Birth Year:  About 1829
Birthplace:  New York
Home in 1860:  Somers, Kenosha County
Members of Household:   Jennie born about 1819 and Myra born about 1857
(Source:  1860 U.S. Fed Census)