John Martin Thompson

John Martin Thompson (1829-1907) [Some East Texas Native Families: Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Genealogy Project: Rootsweb Global Search: Familyties http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=familyties] , Lumberman, civic leader, was born in the old Cherokee Nation prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia [Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr, Grant Family] . He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scotish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee. She being the daughter of Judge John Martin [Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr, Grant Family] , the first Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokees and The Mount Tabor Indian Community

Thompson's family had ties to the Cherokee Ridge Party, who supported the removal treaty known as the Treaty of New Echota [Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History As Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family, 1939 By Edward Everett Dale and Gaston Litton, University of Oklahoma Press] . In 1844, Thompson's family left the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory along with other Ridge Party supporters to settle in Rusk County, Texas. B.F. Thompson initially purchased 10,000 acres near present day Laird Hill, Texas on which the family made it's home. The community later became known as the Mount Tabor Indian Community, the name given the area by John Adair Bell as recorded in the book Cherokee Cavaliers, (pg 80) [Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History As Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family, 1939 By Edward Everett Dale and Gaston Litton, University of Oklahoma Press] .

Reconstruction

Following the Civil War, J.M. Thompson became one of the largst lumbermen in Texas [The Thompson Collection, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas] . During the reconstruction era and into the early twentieth centuries Thompson alongg with his sons built their vast holdings in timber through a series of sound business decisions. In 1881 they left the Rusk County area, moving operations into Trinity County in order to market their product via the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. They facilitated their marketing campaigns by developing connections to retail lumberyards. Further, they organized a series of companies to expedite and manage their ever growing timber empire. Thus were formed the Thompson and Tucker Lumber Company followed by the J. M. Thompson Lumber Company, the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company, and finally the Thompson and Ford Lumber Company. By 1907 the various companies owned over 149,000 acres of land while operating mills in communities such as Willard, Doucette, and Grayburg. In 1906, the company relocated all corporate interests to Houston [American Lumberman Biographies 1908 http://www.ttarchive.com/library/Biographies/Thompson-JM_AL.html] .

Later Life

Although as busy as he was, John Martin thompson, was first a family man and community leader. He led the Mount Tabor Indian Community (and by extension the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands), following the death of William Penn Adair in 1880 [The Old Mount Tabor Community, Genealogy of Old and New Cherokee Families, by George Morrison Bell Sr.] , until his own death in 1907. He was succeeded as Executive Committee Chairman of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands by Claude Muskrat [George Fields Collection, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma] .

His Successor and son Hoxie Harry Thompson

His business successor was his son Hoxie Harry Thompson ["The House of Thompson" Texas Forestry Museum, http://www.dibollfreepress.com/news/2008/0326/history/039.html] . It was H.H. Thompson who sold 94,126 acres to the United States Forest Service for $12.50 an acre. These lands would evetually form the largest part of the Davy Crockett National Forest [Handbook of Texas Online: THOMPSON TIMBER INTERESTS, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/drt7.html] . By 1960 Hoxie Thompson had sold nealy all the Thompson lands, but maintained most of the mineral rights [Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth43_print.html] .

See also

* Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery
* William Clyde Thompson
* Martin Luther Thompson
* Yowani Choctaws

Notes

References

Sources

* Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History As Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family, 1939 By Edward Everett Dale and Gaston Litton, University of Oklahoma Press; ISBN-10: 080612721X, 13: 978-0806127217
* Lone Star: The Thompson Timber Interests of Texas, Red River Valley Historical Review #7, 1981, By Thomas D. Isern and Raymond Wilson
* Thompson Collection, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas
* Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson, By Thomas D. Isern http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth43.html
* Republic of Texas Treaties; Treaty of Bowles Village February 23, 1836, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
* Treaty of Birds Fort September 29, 1843, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
* Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr
* The Old Mount Tabor Community, Genealogy of Old and New Cherokee Families, by George Morrison Bell Sr.
* Some East Texas Native Families: Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Genealogy Project: Rootsweb Global Search: Familyties http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=familyties
* Chief Bowles and Texas Cherokees, Chapter XI, Cherokee Claims to Land, By Mary Whatley Clarke, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN-10:0806134364 13:978-0806134369
* Texas-Cherokees vs United States Docket 26, 26 Ind Cl Comm. 78 (1971)

External links

* [http://www.paulridenour.com/thompson.htm,Thompson Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas; Information related to Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/mttabor.htm, Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/tabor.htm, Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/asbury.htm, Asbury Cemetery, Smith County, Texas, Information related to Choctaw and Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005]
* [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/II/bzi4.html, The Handbook of Texas Online: Indians by George Klos]
* [http://www.txrusk.com/cemetery/cemmtabo.htm, Mt. Tabor Cemetery, Rusk County TxGenWeb]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/taborstarr.htm, A Starr Studded Event, April 9, 2005 by Paul Ridenour]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/starr.htm, The George Harlan Starr and Nancy (Bell) Starr Home, Located near Leveretts Chapel, Texas (Mt. Tabor Indian Community), by Paul Ridenour 2005]
* [http://www.paulridenour.com/mrmain.htm, Ridenour's Major Ridge Home Page, by Paul Ridenour 2008]
* [http://www.redeaglejw.net/oldchahtaorg/thompsonchoctawphoto.htm, The Thompson Choctaw Indians Photo Gallery, Thompson Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001, edited by Jesse Thompson]
* [http://www.redeaglejw.net/oldchahtaorg/ancestralroll.htm, Mt. Tabor Indian Community Ancestral Roll, Sponsored by the Thompson-Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001, edited by Jesse Thompson]
* [http://www.forttours.com/pages/hmgregg.asp, Gregg County Historical Markers]
* [http://www.forttours.com/pages/hmgregg.asp#lou, Lou Della (Thompson) Crim Home]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740962,00.html?iid=chix-sphere, More Oil-Time Magazine]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740962,00.html?iid=chix-sphere, Kilgore College-History]
* [http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/3/Bucket.htm, Texas Ranger Dispatch Magazine 2003]
* [http://www.ttarchive.com/library/Biographies/Thompson-JM_AL.html, American Lumberman Biographies 2006]
* [http://www.cets.sfasu.edu/TFMRiggs1.html, The Thompson Collection, Stephen F. Austin State University]
* [http://www.dibollfreepress.com/news/2008/0326/history/039.html, "The House of Thompson" Texas Forestry Museum]
* [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth43_print.html Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson, by Thomas D. Isern]
* [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/drt7.html Handbook of Texas Online: THOMPSON TIMBER INTERESTS, by Thomas D. Isern]