Title: J.H. Thompson Family Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1851-1945

Creators:

• Thompson, J. H. (James Henry), 1835-1891
• Montgomery, Edith Thompson, 1894-1978

Call Number: Mss 1083; PH 6700

Quantity: 1.8 cubic feet (5 archives boxes) and 0.2 cubic feet of photographs (1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of the J.H. Thompson family consist of materials from J.H. Thompson, from his granddaughter Edith Thompson Montgomery, and from the Wisconsin Cranberry Company. The papers of J.H. Thompson consist of documents relating to his service during and after the Civil War as a surgeon, including his service in the 12th Maine Infantry unit. The papers of Edith Thompson Montgomery mostly consist of correspondence relating to her service in the ambulance corps during World War I, including many letters from her admirers. The records of the Wisconsin Cranberry Company which the J.H. Thompson family had a strong involvement in, contain documents relating to the purchasing of land and cranberries, insurance documents, stock certificates, receipts and other documents relating to the cranberry business. The collection also includes a few family papers and photographs.

Language: English, French

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01083

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James Henry Thompson was born in Foxcroft, Maine, on September 14, 1835, to Whitefield G. Thompson and Eunice Thompson. Graduating in 1859 from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, he joined the 12th Maine Volunteer Infantry unit as an assistant surgeon in 1861. That same year he also married Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Mayo of Dover, Maine.

While serving with the 12th Maine Volunteers Thompson's regiment was stationed in Louisiana including Baton Rouge and New Orleans. After a short furlough because of ill health Thompson eventually became the Surgeon-in-Chief of the Union Prison Camp at Point Lookout, Maryland in 1864. He continued to work for the Army as a surgeon after the Civil War serving as a surgeon at the National Soldiers home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1867 until his retirement from the Army in 1870, when he went into private practice.

Thompson also served as one of the directors of the Wisconsin Cranberry Company, which began sometime in the early 1870s. He was also the director of the Plankinton Bank, as well as involved with the timber industry in Wisconsin. J.H. Thompson died in 1891 following a trip to California.

One of his sons, Henry M. Thompson, became President of the Wisconsin Cranberry Company until its dissolution and sale of lands in 1907. Henry M. Thompson's daughter, Edith "Edie" Thompson, served in the volunteer ambulance corps during World War I where she met many admirers.

The papers of the J.H. Thompson family, 1851-1945, contain materials from J.H. Thompson, from his granddaughter Edith Thompson Montgomery, and from the Wisconsin Cranberry Company, as well as some family papers and photographs.

The J.H. THOMPSON PAPERS, 1851-1907 (bulk 1861-1870), series is arranged hierarchically, containing correspondence, military orders and other miscellaneous documents relating to his career as a Civil War Union Army Surgeon and later his investment interests. Most of the materials from his time in the Union Army contain his regimental orders, official military orders, and some documents while his unit served in Louisiana during the beginning of the war, and later reports from the Prisoners of War Camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. Some of his investment interests are represented in correspondence. Any materials pertaining to his interest in the Wisconsin Cranberry Company are in the separate series for the cranberry company. Also included is his medical license from the state of Wisconsin, a memorial from Plankinton Bank following his death and obituaries for himself and his wife Mary Elizabeth Thompson.

The EDITH THOMPSON MONTGOMERY PAPERS, 1913-1945, series is arranged into two parts: correspondence and miscellaneous papers. The correspondence, arranged chronologically, is mostly from her time serving in the ambulance corps during World War I and prior to her marriage in 1925. Many of these letters are from her many male admirers and come from all over the world including France, Italy, and Cairo. The miscellaneous papers include a newspaper clipping of her motor squad, her marriage service, and some cards listing some of her suitors with each of their pros and cons.

The THOMPSON FAMILY PAPERS, 1859-1914, series is arranged hierarchically, containing miscellaneous family correspondence, family genealogies, a scrapbook, and a few miscellaneous writings. The miscellaneous family correspondence includes several letters addressed to “Lizzie,” presumably Mary Elizabeth Mayo Thompson, wife of J.H. Thompson, from her family, mostly from 1865. The family genealogies include a printed volume listing the ancestors of Mary Thompson, a sister of J.H. Thompson. The scrapbook is for the Joseph Dessert Public Library, for which Henry M. Thompson, son of J.H. Thompson, and Henry's wife, served on the Board of Directors.

The WISCONSIN CRANBERRY COMPANY RECORDS, 1872-1907, series is arranged chronologically, containing stock certificates, insurance documents, correspondence relating to the purchasing of land and cranberries, maps showing plots of cranberry marshes, and other business related documents. J.H. Thompson was one of the founding owners and directors of the company, and his son Henry M. Thompson was president of the company following the death of his father.

The PHOTOGRAPHS, circa 1870s-circa 1940s, series is arranged hierarchically by J.H. Thompson, Edith Thompson Montgomery, Thompson family, and miscellaneous. The J.H. Thompson photographs include several portraits from around the 1870s until around 1890. They also include professional photographs from a trip to Hotel del Monte in Monterey, California, as well as photographs of his gravesite in Maine. The Edith Thompson Montgomery photographs include pictures of her in her World War I uniform, a portrait as a young woman, and several vacation photographs, as well as a portrait of her young son Andrew Thompson Montgomery. The Thompson family photographs include several unidentified individuals including a few children. The miscellaneous photographs contain several of a lumber site in Wisconsin, including one with a picture of 5 unidentified business men. There are also several photographs of mostly unidentified houses that the family may have visited or lived in over the years, including one on Hillegass Ave in Berkeley, California.

The J.H. Thompson family papers have been arranged into 5 series: J.H. Thompson papers, Edith Thompson Montgomery papers, Thompson family papers, Wisconsin Cranberry Company records, and Photographs.

Dessert Family Business Records (Stevens Point Mss AO)

Frederick T. Day Business Papers (Milwaukee Mss M)
Day was the loan officer and then President of the Plankinton Bank.

Plankinton Bank Records (Milwaukee Mss K)

J.H. Thompson Diary. Milwaukee County Historical Society.
Papers include a journal with watercolor and pen drawings by a Confederate Soldier imprisoned at the Union Prisoner of War Camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, and given to J.H. Thompson.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Silverman Galleries in December 2010. Accession Number: M2012-095

Processing Information

Processed by: Alison E. Bridger and UW-Madison SLIS class in July 2012.

Mss 1083	Series: J.H. Thompson Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Miscellaneous family correspondence, 1851, 1865
Box   1 Folder   2	References, 1852-1856
Box   1 Folder   3	Regimental orders, 1861
Box   1 Folder   4	Military orders, 1861-1866
Box   1 Folder   5	Reports from Prisoners of War Camp, Point Lookout, Maryland, 1863-1864
Box   1 Folder   6	Military correspondence, 1863
Box   1 Folder   7	Patient's appreciation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1863 June 21
Box   1 Folder   8	Notes on Small Pox vaccination, between 1861 and 1865?
Box   1 Folder   9	Surgeon General's Office letter and expenditures, 1869
Box   1 Folder   10	Correspondence from Easton, Maryland, 1867-1869
Box   1 Folder   11	Correspondence from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1868, 1870
Box   1 Folder   12	Legal documents, 1870
Box   1 Folder   13	Medical license, Wisconsin, 1871 June 22
Box   1 Folder   14	Mason certificate, 1866
Box   1 Folder   15	The Plankinton Bank memorial regarding death of Thompson, 1891
Box   1 Folder   16	Obituaries of Thompson and wife Mary Elizabeth Thompson, 1891, 1907
Box   1 Folder   17	Miscellaneous envelopes
	Series: Edith Thompson Montgomery Papers	⇧
	Correspondence
Box   2 Folder   1	1913
Box   2 Folder   2-9	1914 January-August
Box   2 Folder   10-12	1915-1917
Box   2 Folder   13-15	1918 January-September, December
Box   3 Folder   1	1919
Box   3 Folder   2	1920-1921
Box   3 Folder   3	1922
Box   3 Folder   4	1923-1925
Box   3 Folder   5	1931-1938
Box   3 Folder   6	1940, 1944-1945
Box   3 Folder   7	From Cairo, Egypt, undated
Box   3 Folder   8	From Rome, Italy, undated
Box   3 Folder   9	undated
Box   3 Folder   10	Outgoing, 1914, undated
Box   3 Folder   11	Miscellaneous letter, undated Note: In French.
Box   3 Folder   12	Miscellaneous envelopes
	Miscellaneous papers
Box   4 Folder   1	Motor squad clipping, 1918
Box   4 Folder   2	Marriage service and other materials
Box   4 Folder   3	Journal entries: fragments, undated
Box   4 Folder   4	Will: draft, circa 1943
Box   4 Folder   5	Receipts
Box   4 Folder   6	Ledger, 1924-1938
Box   4 Folder   7-8	Classroom notes Physical Description: 2 volumes  Note: "Stella Dessert, Class '86." written on an endpaper of volume 1. Stella Dessert was Edith's mother and these two volumes may have belonged to her.
Box   4 Folder   9	Miscellaneous
	Series: Thompson Family Papers	⇧
Box   1 Folder   18	Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Mayo Thompson correspondence, 1859, 1865
Box   1 Folder   19-20	Miscellaneous family correspondence, circa 1864-1941 Scope and Content Note: Includes 5 letters dated 1864, 1927, 1939, 1941, and one undated letter from around the time of the Civil War.
Box   1 Folder   21	Hall family correspondence, circa 1863
Box   1 Folder   24	Thompson family genealogy
Box   1 Folder   25	Elbridge Augustus Thompson: Address on His Life and Character, 1911
Box   1 Folder   26	Ancestors of Mary Thompson: Part Two, 1914
Box   1 Folder   27	Joseph Dessert Public Library scrapbook, 1899-1900 Note: Henry M. Thompson and his wife were on the Board of Trustees for the library.
Box   1 Folder   22	"A Fools Experince [sic] for the Benefit of Other Fools," circa 1880s
Box   1 Folder   23	"Spring songs:" copy fragment of poem / by Isa Craig, 1860
	Series: Wisconsin Cranberry Company Records	⇧
Box   5 Folder   1	1872-1874
Box   5 Folder   2	Stock certificates, 1875
Box   5 Folder   3-8	1875-1880
Box   5 Folder   9	Maps and related materials, circa 1880
Box   5 Folder   10	circa 1880s
Box   5 Folder   11-15	1881-1885
Box   5 Folder   16	1886-1889
Box   5 Folder   17	1890-1895
Box   5 Folder   18	1896-1899
Box   5 Folder   19	1900-1907
PH 6700	Series: Photographs	⇧
	J.H. Thompson
Box   1 Folder   1-3	Portraits
Box   1 Folder   4	Hotel del Monte, Monterey, California
Box   1 Folder   5	Gravesite, Maine
	Edith Thompson Montgomery
Box   1 Folder   6	In uniform, between 1914 and 1918?
Box   1 Folder   7	Portrait, after 1918?
Box   1 Folder   8	Andrew Thompson Montgomery, son, with teddy bear
Box   1 Folder   9	Caribbean vacation snapshots, circa 1940s
Box   1 Folder   10	Family vacation: negatives
	Thompson family
Box   1 Folder   11	Eleven unidentified women, late 19th century
Box   1 Folder   12	Unidentified children, 1905, 1917
Box   1 Folder   13	Unidentified male relative
	Miscellaneous
Box   1 Folder   14	Lumber site, Wisconsin?
Box   1 Folder   15-16	Houses