Robert Thompson, a farmer of Lake County, was the son of Robert and Sallie (Tharp) Thompson. His father was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1792, his mother in Rockingham County, North Carolina in 1790; they were married in Guilford County in 1814, and had eight children, five boys and three girls. They moved to Maury County, and lived there until 1847, when they moved to Lake County, which was then called Obion, and his mother died in 1858 and his father March 28, 1860. They were not connected with any church, though Mrs. Thompson was raised a Quaker. Mr. Thompson was a Democrat.
Our subject, Robert Thompson, was of Irish descent on his father’s side, and Scotch on the mother’s. He was born in Maury County, Tennessee, July 5, 1827, was raised on the farm, and when twenty two years of age married Miss Martha Boyd, who was born in Calloway County, Kentucky, in 1826, and she only lived seven months after her marriage. Mr. Thompson then returned to his parents and remained with them until 1857, when he married Miss Eleanor J. Davis, who was born in Hickman County, Kentucky, October 17,1837. They had eight children, five boys and three girls, all living except Robert T., who died March 19, 1886, at the age of twenty six.
Mrs. Thompson died December 31, 1884, and he married July 5, 1885, Mrs. Martha J. Wood, who was born in North Carolina, in 1836, was raised in middle Tennessee, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Thompson has been a resident of Lake County since 1847 and in connection with farming has engaged in fishing, making from the latter over $3,000 in one year. He is a stanch democrat, casting his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 1861, when only two others in the county did the same. Mr. Thompson is not a member of any church; he is a clever, agreeable gentleman, and has many friends.