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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BIOGRAPHY OF J. S. B. THOMPSON. 



On the 30th of May last passed one of the pioneer fruk grow- 

 ers of the West, in the person of J. S. B. Thompson, for many years 

 a resident of Grundy Center, Iowa, where now his remains lie buried. 

 Mr. Thompson is known in this region as the originator of the 

 Thompson Seedlings, though it is probable that this honor should be 

 equally divided with his wife, as she procured on a visit to her fath- 

 er's home in New York in 1861 the seeds from which the orchard 

 was grown. Her father owned a valuable seedling orchard, and it 

 was seed from selected fruit from this orchard that was afterward 

 planted in Iowa with such notable results. 



J. S. B. THOMPSON. 



During the first few years of the growth of these trees Mr. 

 Thompson was serving his country in the First Iowa Cavalry, from 

 1862 to 1865. The year following his return home the most valu- 

 able of these trees were transplanted to the site where they now 

 stand, many of them being fifteen inches and upwards in diameter. 

 These trees have been very generally planted in this state, and it 

 will not be necessary to refer to them specifically by name. 



Mr. Thompson at the time of his death was seventy-four years 

 of age, having been born in Madison county, New York, in 1828. 

 The year i860 found him a resident of the state of Iowa, after hav- 

 ing lived a few years en route in Illinois. His life was passed as a 



