| Prof. R. S. Thompson was born April 1, 1844, in Rutherford County, Tenn. His father, John H. Thompson, was also born in Rutherford County, January, 1816, and is still living. His mother, Margaret D’ll Sharp, was born in Tennessee in 1816, and his grandparents were all natives of Virginia. They were of French and English extraction. Our subject was reared on a farm and worked on the same till he was about seventeen years of age, when he enlisted in the Confederate service in Company G, Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry, and was elected orderly sergeant and so continued till September 25, 1864, when he received a severe wound in the left leg, at Sulphur Trestle, Ala., which disabled him from active service through the remainder of the war. At its close he resumed his education, entering Washington College, Virginia, February, 1866, from which institution he graduated in 1868. He was instructor in English literature and pupil also more than two years of the time that he was there. After his return home he chose teaching as his profession and engaged in this till 1876, when he was elected to the office of superintendent of public instruction, which position he held till 1885. He began teaching in the building that he had caused to be erected, limiting the number of matriculates to thirty pupils. Prof. Thompson was married November 10, 1868, to Callie S. Simmons, who bore him two children: Roberta A. and James A. Our subject is one of the county’s best citizens. He is a member in good standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity at this place. |
