Thomas Larkin THOMPSON, Congress, CA (1838-1898)
THOMPSON, Thomas Larkin, (son of Robert Augustine Thompson), a Representative from California; born in Charleston, Va. (now West Virginia), May 31, 1838; attended the common schools and Buffalo Academy, Virginia (now West Virginia); moved to California in 1855 and settled in Sonoma County; established the Petaluma Journal the same year; purchased the Sonoma Democrat in 1860, and was the editor of that paper; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880 and 1892; secretary of state of California 1882-1886; declined to be a candidate for renomination; elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888 to the Fifty-first Congress; appointed on April 4, 1891, commissioner from California to the Worldâs Fair at Chicago; Minister to Brazil from April 24, 1893, to May 27, 1897; died in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Calif., February 1, 1898; interment in the Rural Cemetery.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
