frURM. 
PRICE SIX CENTS 
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VOL. XXXI. No. 5 
WHOLE No. 1305. 
[Entered accordlnK to Act of Congress. tn tbe yeur 1875. by tho ftural publishing Company, m tho office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
tained the charge of tho school until lie hud 
firmly established it, and another teacher 
could be procured competent to carry on his 
work. Upon relinquishing it his fellow- 
citizens, grateful for what he had done for 
them, elected him Superintendent of Public 
Schools for the county, and ho retained the 
position for six years, resigning it only to 
devote himself entirely to the interests of 
the Grange. 
When the Order of Patrons of Husbandry 
was instituted and offered to the farmers of 
the country, Mr. Thompson was quick to 
recognize >'t as a great boon to tho agricul¬ 
tural class und ns the best remedy for their 
grievances that could bo suggested, and 
promptly identified himself with it. In Feb¬ 
ruary, 1870, he became a member and Mast er 
of Greenwood Prairie Grange, Mo. It, of 
MimW 'ita, and thus became one of the pio¬ 
neers of the movement in that .State. The 
Order was an experiment then, and a 
Granger’s position was not altogether a pleas¬ 
ant one. The Order had to fight it3 way to 
popularity and, thanks to its early adher¬ 
ents, it did so. 
Tn February, 1871, upon the organization 
of the State Grange of M innesota—the first 
State Grange " tbe United States—he was 
unanimously chosen it W. Master, He held 
this position for two year-, laboring actively 
in the interest of tllC Ol der, and in 1873 wan 
chosen Lecturer of the National Grange. 
The choice was a wise one, and gave great 
satisfaction to the Order, The post of Lec¬ 
turer is one of great importance and rospon- 
gibiliiy. He is charged with introducing it 
into communities whore it is yet a stronger, 
and with the delicate task of popularizing it 
und overcoming the opposition of those who 
are unacquainted with its nature and princi¬ 
ples. Tn this work Mr. Tho - pson has been 
eminently successful. He has traveled 
through twenty-four States of the Union in 
behalf of the Order, deliver! ig lectures and 
public speeches nearly every day — some¬ 
times as often aa six times a week—and has 
successfully planted the organization in 
scores of communities where it. is now thriv¬ 
ing and growing rapidly. Moon after enter¬ 
ing upon the duties of tote oiflce he organized 
the State Granges of Ohio and Michigan, 
and hnsperformed a similar duty for several 
others -ince t hen, llis personal popularity 
has done much to win friends for the Order 
wherever he has gone ; and his eloquent and 
unanswerable appeals in Its behalf have 
made its success assured wherever he has 
spoken. 
But these labors do not constitute Mr. 
Thompson’s only services to the Order. To 
him it owes its beautiful and impressive un¬ 
written work. In January, 1871, Mr. O. H. 
IvKCLF.Y, appreciating Mr. Thompson's pecu¬ 
liar fitness for the task, applied to him to 
devise an unwritten work fur the Order. 
Mr. Thompson at once applied himself to 
the matter, and called to his a I an Intimate 
friend, Ur. D. H, RobeP.ts, win assisted him 
materially in perfecting the work. When 
completed, Mr. Thompson pr< ented it to 
Greenwood Prairie Grange, No. 81, where it 
was tried and found success-fid. On the 
20th of May, 1871, the work was exemplified 
to the North Star Grange, No. 1, at St. Paul, 
Minnesota, now the oldest Subordinate 
Grange In the country, and on the 13th of 
September, 1871, it was subjected to a still 
more searching tost, by an exemplification to 
tho Iowa State Grange. It, was received 
with delight by the Patrons ; and, after the 
tests mentioned, was presented to the Execu¬ 
tive Committee of the Order, by which it 
was formally adopted, on the Oth of August, 
1871. Up to the time that Mr. THOMPSON 
took it in hand, the work had been crude 
and unsatisfactory to the Order ; but since 
1871, It has remained a perfect and harmoni¬ 
ous system, which, by its beauty and impres¬ 
sive grandeur, has been one of the chief 
causes of the remarkable success of the 
Grange movement. 
Mr. Thompson is now in his 54th year, but 
is hale and vigorous, and us enthusiastic as 
ever. He lias won for himself, by his own 
unaided efforts, an enviable position in his 
State, and in the Order. He resides at 
Plainview, Wabasha County, Minnesota, 
where he possesses one of the most delight¬ 
ful and attractive homes in the West, and 
where he hopes to enjoy a peaceful and 
happy old age, surrounded by the love of his 
family and tho admiring esteem of the 
people lie has served so well. 
The preceding sketch of Mr. Thompson is 
mainly taken from advance sheets of “ His¬ 
tory of the Grange Movement,; or, The 
Farmer’s War Against Monopolies,” and is 
presumed to be reliable in its statements. 
Bub it does not do its subject justice in all 
respects. Personally Mr. Thompson is a 
most pleasant and agreeable man— possessing 
that rare, magnetic power which makes 
friends on sight, or very brief acquaintance, 
He is a man of fine presence, admirably cal¬ 
culated to win the favor of strangers, and 
hence we are not surprised at his remarkable 
success, as Lectur 
he chosen to continue in political life, there 
was a clear field before him ; but such a life 
was not to his taste; and in Octobor, 1847, he 
made a final settlement in life by marrying 
and embarking in farming on his own ac¬ 
count in the place of his birth. 
Mr. Thompson pursued the calling of a 
farmer in Vernon with success for about 
nine years, engaging, also, in the raising of 
cattle, slicep and horses, His temporal af¬ 
fairs prospered steadily, and he was regarded 
as one of the most prominent and influential 
farmers of Trumbull County. But to a man 
of Ids largo vieivs, Ohio soon became “too 
far Fast.” lie Raw, at. an early day, the 
great advantages offered by the country 
further West, and in the winter of 1855-50 
ho sold his k funn in Ohio, and in June, 1856, 
removed to Wabasha County, Minnesota, 
where he took up a quarter section of fine 
land, and began farming on a larger scale 
than in his old home. 
Minnesota was in its infancy then, and 
men of large ideas and well-stored minds 
were sure of prompt, recognition. Mr. 
Thompson at once took the place in the com¬ 
munity to which his abilities entitled him ; 
and his neighbors the next year (1857) testi¬ 
fied their appreciation of hi Mi by sending him 
to represent Wabasha in the Legislature, in 
which body he served two terms. There 
was no school in Plainview, the township in 
which his home lay, and one was liadly 
needed. Above all, a schoolmaster was 
wanted. Mr. Thompson solved the difficult 
problem of finding a competent instructor 
by at once assuming the duties of that posi¬ 
tion, and for five years conducted a capital 
school in Plainview, for the benefit of his 
own and his neighbors’ children. He re- 
T. A THOMPSON, 
LECTURER OF THE NATIONAL GRANGE, P. Of H 
Whatever may be said in criticism of the 
Patrons of Husbandry, one thing is certain, 
that the Order has developed, and brought, 
to the front, many men of superior ability— 
men of mark, who have made their way 
against adverse circumstances, and become 
popular and prominent in community and 
honored by their fellow citizens. Witness 
the portrait and history, or biographical 
sketch, of William Saunders, (In Rural 
of Nov. 7, 1874,) the founder of the Order, 
whose life is, like an open book, as epwikablc 
(to coin a word) os his benevolent counte¬ 
nance. Then take, if you please, the portrait 
und biographical sketch of the Hon. .Dudley 
W. Adams, Master of the National Grange, 
P. of H., whose portrait was given, with a 
sketch of his life, in the RURAL of April 18, 
1874. He, also, is a man of mark—" a notable 
example of the Industrial Men of this conn- 
wholiu ve worthily achieved distinction. 
The subject of our present sketch, the 
Hon.T. A. Thompson, Grand Lecturer of the 
National [Grange, Is one of the most meri¬ 
torious and notable men brought forward by 
the Patron* of Husbandry. He is of New 
England origin, his parents having moved 
from Farmington, Conn., and settled In Ver¬ 
non, Trumbull Co., Oliio, in 1802, where he 
was born on the 19th of May, 1822. He was 
the youngest son of eight children, six of 
whom w ere boys. His father was a farmer, 
one of those clear-headed, independent und 
Industrious workers who laid the founda¬ 
tions of the greatness which the West lias 
since achieved ; and, being devoted to his 
own calling, brought up his sons as farmers. 
He added to his agricultural pursuits the 
business of a dairy farmer and stock raiser ; 
and his sons had ample opportunities for 
teaming these important, branches of their 
business under his training. 
Young Thompson received as good a com¬ 
mon-school education as could be obtained 
in Ohio forty years ago. When old enough 
to be of use on the farm, his school days 
were confined to the winter months, and the 
remainder cf the year was given to farm 
work. Of a naturally intelligent mind, he 
teamed rapidly, and soon exhausted the store 
of knowledge the schoolmaster had to furn¬ 
ish. He was an indefatiguble reader, and 
eagerly devoured everything in the shape of 
a book or newspaper that came within his 
reach. He has carried this habit of study 
through life with him, and even now might 
shame many a younger student by his con¬ 
stant and untiring Industry in this respect. 
He is also an excellent example to the fanner- 
boys of the land of what may be accom¬ 
plished in the way of self-cult ure by a young 
man determined to keep himself abreast of 
the age. Upon approaching manhood, Mr. 
Thompson attended an Academy for three 
terms, and distinguished himself by his elose 
application and good scholarship. 
At the age of twenty-one he commenced 
lifo as a teacher of the common school of his 
native town, giving such satisfaction to his 
fellow townsmen that he was continued in 
his position for seven terms. 
He was very popular with the people of 
Vernon, who were proud of his intellectual 
promise; and as he took an active part in the 
political questions of the day, was elected, in 
succession, to all the various public offices 
within the gift of his fellow citizens. Had 
cr of the Order, in all sec¬ 
tions of the country. Our portrait, of him, 
taken from a photograph, is excellent—not 
flattering or overdrawn, but a life-like repre 
mentation. In fact he evidently Is, physically, 
mentally and morally, a worthy exponent of 
the Order and Its Principles. 
v 
