William George THOMPSON, Congress, IA (1830-1911)

THOMPSON, William George, (brother of John McCandless Thompson), a Representative from Iowa; born near Butler, Butler County, Pa., January 17, 1830; attended the common schools and the Witherspoon Institute in Butler, Pa.; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853; moved to Iowa the same year and settled in Marion, Linn County, where he commenced the practice of law; prosecuting attorney of Linn County 1854-1856; member of the State senate 1856-1860; served during the Civil War as major of the Twentieth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in 1862; district attorney for the eighth judicial district for six years; appointed chief justice of the Territory of Idaho and served from January 13, 1879, until his resignation in April of that year; elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rush Clark; reelected to the Forty-seventh Congress and served from October 14, 1879, to March 3, 1883; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1882; served on the city council of Marion; member of the State house of representatives 1885-1887; judge of the eighteenth judicial district of Iowa 1894-1906; moved to Kenwood Park, Linn County, Iowa, in 1896 and died there April 2, 1911; interment in Oak Shade Cemetery, Marion, Iowa.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present