Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/309

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THOMAS
THORNTON
263


years, where he became supervisor of the Utah cen- sus and special agent of the U. S. government to collect church and school statistics. In 1884 he was a member of the commission to compile and codify the laws of Utah, and he was governor of UUh from 1889 to 1893, signing the first public free-school law for Utah. During his term the prac- tice of plural marriages was formally renounced by the Mormon church. Mr. Thomas, who called the national irrigation congress at Salt Lake City in 1890, is president of the Idaho irrigating and colo- nization company, and in 1898 was appointed by President Mckinley postmaster of Salt Lake City.

THOMAS. John Rochester, architect, b, in Rochester, N. Y., 18 June, 1848. He studied in the common schools of his native city, and then entered upon his professional career, in which he has been successful. Several hundred churches have been erected from his designs, and he was appointed by Gov. John A. Dix sole commissioner, as well as architect, for the erection of the state reformatory at Klmira. This group of buildings has attained a wide celebrity and has served as the model for many similar institutions. Of the 8th regiment armorv, Madison avenue. New York, de- signed by him, <fanvier, " In Old New York," says : "It is so noble a strncture that only its accessi- bility saves it from becoming a place of pilgrimage." He receives the first prize over more than one hun- dred competitors in the New York municifial build- ing or city hall com[>etilion. This was one of the most important architectural competitions held in j this count rv. the strict ami liberal terms, prei>ared bv a committee of architects, of which Kichard M. Hunt was chainnan, leading to the submission of thi.s unusual number of designs from the leading architects of this country and of Europe. Mr. Thomas is the architect of the New York hall of records, seen in the accomnanving illustration.

THOMPSON, Daniel Greenleof, lawyer. b. in Montpeller. Vt.. 9 Feb., 18.50; d. in New York city, 10 July, 1897. He studied at Amherst, where he was graduated in 18(59. In the autumn of the same year he removed to New York city to give private instruction and to study law. He became teacher of classics in the high-schfK)l at Springfield, .Mass.. in April, 18T0, and held the position until 1872. when he returned to New York, and was admitted to the bar in December. From that time until his death he was an active member of the legal profession. In 1894 Amherst gave him the degree of Ph. D. His publications include "A First Book in Latin" (1872); "A Svstem of Psychology " (2 vols.. New York, 1884) ; "The Problem of Evil " (1886) ; " Religious Senti- ments of the Human Mind" (1888); "Social Progress "(1889); "The Philosophy of Fiction in Literature" (1892); "Politics in "a Democracy" (1893), which has been translated into Dutch.

THOMPSON, Ernest Evan Seton, artist, b. in .South Shields, England, 14 Aug., 1860, and spent his early years in Canada and on the west- ern plains. He was educated in the Toronto in- stitute, and studied art in the London royal acade- my. He was appointed in 1892 the official natu- ralist to the Manitoba government, still retaining the position. In 1890 he went to Paris to continue his art studies, remaining there for six years, be- coming known in the French salon as an animal painter, and was occasionally called " Wolf Thomp- son," from the number of his paintings and writings with wolf subjects. One of his best pictures, pro- duced in 1894, is entitled "Waiting in Vain." He is an assfwiate of the Royal Canadian academy. Mr. Thompson was among the chief illustrators of the " Century Dictionary," has contributed illustrated articles to American magazines, and is the author of "The Mammals of Manitoba" (Winnepeg, 1887); "The Birds of Manitoba" (Smithsonian In- stitution, Washington, 1891); "Studies in the Art of Anatomy of Animals " (London, 1896); "Wild Animals I have known " (New York, 1898) ; and "The Trail of the .Sandhill Stag" (1899).

THOMPSON. Hugh Smith, governor of South Carolina, b. in Charleston, 24 Jan., 1836, and was graduated at the South Carolina military academy, becoming professor of French and belles-lettres in the arsenal academy of ColumViin, and retaining the position until 1861. He served through the civil war as captain of a battalion of South Caro- lina cadets, and from 1866 to 1876 was principal of the Columbia acatlemy, when he was appointed state superintendent of education for six years. In 1882 Mr. Thompson was elected governor of South Carolina, being re-elected for a second terra. In 1886 he became assistant secretary, U. S. treas- ury, three years later was appointed U.S. civil ser- vice commissioner, and in 1892 accfpteil the comp- troUership of the New York Life insurance com- pany. Gov. Thompson has been president of the Southron society of New York, where he resides. THO.MPSON. William, soldier, b. in Pennsyl- vania in 1H13: d. in Taconia, Wash., 7 Oct., 1897. He was appointed captain in the 1st Iowa cavalry, 31 July, 1861, was made major, 18 May, 1863, and colonel. 20 June, 1864. On 13 March. '186.5, he re- ceived the brevet of brigadier-general of volun- teers. He was mustered out, 15 March, 1866, but entered the regular army, 28 July following, as captain of the 7th cavalry, being brevetted major, 2 March, 1867, for gallant service in action at Prairie Grove, and colonel, 2 .March, 1867, for ser- vices in the action at Bayou Metoe. He was retired, 15 Dec, 1875, and in 1896 was made brigadier- general. U. S. A., by act of congress.

THORNTON. Jessy Quinn. jurist, b. near Point Pleasant. W. Va.. 24 Aug., 1810; d. in Salem, Ore., 5 Feb., 1888. He was admitted to the bar, and afterward attended law lectures at the University of Virginia, in 1835 he opened an office in Palmyra, Mo., in 1836 edited a pajier in the interest of Mar- tin Van Hiiren, and in 1841 removed to Quincy. 111. In 1846 he emigrated to Oregon, and early in 1847 was appointed chief justice of the proyisi<mal gov- ernment. In the autumn of the same year he re- signed and went to Washington, where he exerted his influence in forwarding the organization of the territorial government, and in incorporating the