J. F. Thomson

J. F. Thomson, son of William and Sarah A. (Ganson) Thomson, was born in Fairfield township, Franklin county, Vt., June 21,1831. His father was a native of Edinburg, Scotland, and was educated there. J. F. Thomson obtained a good common school education in Vermont, traveled west in 1841, and resided in Kane county. Ill., until September, 1847, when he moved to Lafayette. In 1853 he joined the California stampede, returned via the Isthmus, in 1855-6, and followed the carpenter's trade at Lafayette until his enlistment in the One-hundred-and-fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which command he was a non-commissioned officer of Company I. In 1859 he married Miss Margaret A., daughter of Alexander Todd, of this county. Of their seven children, six are living, namely: Cora A., Ethel, aged six years; John C, Susan E., Mary Edna, Kate and Maud. In 1868 Mr. Thomson was elected justice of the peace, and has served continuously since that time. In 1871 he was commissioned notary public and in 1885 elected collector of the township. After the war he established his grocery business at Lafayette, which he now carries on.