212 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the partners ever practiced law to any great extent, as might naturally be in- 

 ferred from the immediate surroundings in which they found themselves placed. 

 Mr. Chapman turned his attention more particularly to real estate operations, 

 and Mr. Thompson devoted himself to journalism. 



About the year 1852, Mr. Thompson became editor of the Lansing State 

 Journal, then owned by Peck & Harmon. He remained connected with the 

 Journal until 1856, when it had acquired a position as a democratic paper of 

 national weight and importance. Mr. Thompson attended the national con- 

 vention in Cincinnati in that year, and through the influence of General Rich- 

 mond, of Grand Rapids, he shortly afterwards assumed the editorial charge of 

 the Grand Rapids Daily Herald and Enquirer, upon the retirement of the Hon. 

 Thomas B. Church from the position. The Herald and Enquirer was published 

 and owned by Messrs. Barnes & Taylor, who subsequently became publishers of 

 the Detroit Free Press. 



Mr. Thompson followed Stephen A. Douglas in his course in regard to the 

 territorial question, which led to the disruption of the democratic party, the 

 formation of the republican party, and the precipitation of the rebellion. He 

 also sought to enter the ranks of the army, but owing to the condition of his 

 health, he was not permitted to enlist, and he turned with renewed ardor to his 

 duties in the field of journalism. 



In 1860-61 he directed special interest to the study of practical agriculture 

 and horticulture. He assisted in establishing the Michigan State Pomological 

 Society, now known as the Michigan Horticultural Society, and other societies 

 with kindred aims and objects. While associate editor of the Grand Rapids 

 Eagle, the republican journal of that section, Mr. Thompson gave the widest 

 possible encouragement to the development of the agricultural interests of the 

 State, and the lasting good which he effected at that period, in the promotion 

 and extension of practical agriculture is felt to the present time, and has been 

 universally acknowledged. 



For two years, 1876-7 and 1877-8, Mr. Thompson was secretary of the 

 Michigan State Agricultural Society, and for the last three years has held 

 editorial charge of the agricultural department of the Post and Tribune, and 

 the popularity and esteem in which he was held cannot be better attested than 

 by the favor and acceptance with which his labors in this special department 

 were regarded. Its readers, in his untimely death, will mourn the loss of a 

 near and intimate friend. To a rare courtesy and grace of manner, Mr. 

 Thompson united many admirable social qualities. He was at all times a wel- 

 come and conspicuous participant in the various conventions and organizations 

 which had the promotion and development of agricultural science for their 

 special aim, and his absence will be seriously felt in future gatherings of this 

 character, not alone for the personal esteem in which he is held, but for the 

 valuable impetus which he gave to their advancement and progress. 



Mr. Thompson belonged to the masonic fraterity, having been one of the 

 original charter members of the first lodge which was established in Lansing. 



To sum up this in brief would read something like this : July, 1826, born 

 in Bloomfield, Connecticut; 1832, an orphan; 1840, a student in Orange Co., 

 New York; 1847, a graduate of the Harvard Law School; 1848, a lawyer in 

 Lansing, Michigan; 1852, editor of the Lansing State Journal; 1856, editor of 

 the Herald and Enquirer, Grand Rapids ; 1860, associate editor of the Grand 

 Rapids Eagle, making a specialty of the development of the agricultural inter- 

 ests of Michigan; 1872, President of the Michigan Pomological Society; 1873 



