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JAMES P. THOMPSON
Vol. 5, p. 1836-1837

The wild, untamed, romantic West of the old pioneer Indian Territory
meets and merges into the modern Oklahoma with its progressive and
bettered civilization in the life of Col. James P. THOMPSON of
Woodville. Colonel Thompson has lived in that section of the present
state, in what was old Pickens County of Indian Territory, for the
past thirty years. Born in the strenuous days before the Civil war,
at historic Preston Bend, just south of Red River in Grayson County,
Texas, and reared amid the thrilling scenes enacted on a frontier
unfettered by the restrictions of law, his life has contained enough
incidents to make material for an intensely interesting romance.

Not only by residence but by family relationships and early
experiences he has been in many ways identified with old Indian
Territory as well as with Oklahoma. He was born November 26, 1850.
His father was James G. Thompson, who was born in 1802 in North
Carolina, moved to Tennessee and then to Alabama, and in the latter
state became acquainted with and married Miss Mary MCNARY, member of
a prominent Cherokee Indian family, and herself a quarterblood. In
1831 they accompanied the first emigration of that people to the
Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory, locating at Webber's Falls,
where James G. Thompson established a general mercantile store which
he conducted for about twelve years. At the death of his wife, in
1843, having sold his business in Indian Territory, he moved to the
south side of Red River in Grayson County, Texas. There he spent the
rest of his life until his death in 1879.

He was a member of the Legislature of Texas, when that state seceded
from the Union and in the early '50s was county judge of Grayson
County. He always had the high esteem and unqualified confidence of
the Indians, to whom he was a good and faithful friend, and people of
the of the Cherokee Nation often solicited him to return and live
among them. After his removal to Texas he married Miss Martha J.
CARUTHERS, who was born in Georgia in 1820 and who was of white
family, the Caruthers having been among the pioneers of Grayson
County, Texas. At one time she owned the townsite of Denison. Her
death occurred in 1894. By the second marriage there were eight
children, namely: Elizabeth, who married Capt. Tom RANDOLPH, a
merchant and very prominent citizen of Sherman, Texas; James P.;
Virginia, who married James POTTS, a stockman; Arizona, who became
the wife of Judge David E. BRYANT, formerly a United States district
judge, and one of the distinguished citizens of Sherman; Frank P.,
who is a retired merchant and farmer; Josephine who was drowned when
a little girl; Breckenridge, who died in infancy; and Alice, who
married Joe MEADOWS, a farmer and stockman of Grayson County.

Reared on the old farm in Grayson County, Col. James P. Thompson
from early boyhood felt the fascination of the wild and free life of
the frontier. He attended the common schools of Preston Bend, also
Sherman High School and for a time was a student in Burleson College.
It was with difficulty he kept his mind on his studies, since he was
by nature too closely akin to the free untrammeled life of the
country and scenes among which he had been reared. As a boy before
the war he had helped his father haul corn to the United States
military post at Fort Washita, Arbuckle, and Cobb. This corn sold at
a price as high as $2.25 per bushel. In the years following the war
he became an expert in all branches of ranch life. His father had a
large horse ranch at Pottsboro, and his cattle ranch, on which
frequently ranged 3,500, head, was five miles west of Sherman. Before
coming to Indian Territory Colonel Thompson became well known as a
stock man all over Northern Texas and after the building of the
railroad across Indian Territory he used Denison, Texas, as a
shipping point for his stock to the markers at St. Louis and Chicago.

In 1877 Mr. Thompson married Miss Maggie E. MASSEY, a member of an
old Kentucky family that emigrated to Texas in 1848. Mrs. Thompson
died in 1883, being survived by two children: Myrtle Lillian and
Henry M. The daughter Myrtle is now the wife of Claude R. HOWARD. His
son Henry M. married Miss C. F. TAYLOR, and their two children are
named Ollie Lee and Maggie May.

After the death of his first wife Colonel Thompson married Lucy
JUZAN, she was a resident of Indian Territory and a descendant of the
Chickasaw lineage, being a fourth blood Chickasaw. Her parents were
Jackson and Mississippi Juzan. Jackson Juzan belonged to the Choctaw
tribe and was born in Tennessee but came to Indian Territory during
the '40s, and for many years followed farming in the vicinity of
Atoka. He was one of the Choctaw volunteers in the Confederate army
during the Civil war, and afterwards was active in the affairs of his
nation until his death in 1866. Jackson Juzan married Mississippi
ALLAN, who was of Chickasaw blood. She was born in Mississippi, and
came to Indian Territory in 1835. She died in December, 1865.

After their marriage Colonel and Mrs. Thompson took up their
residence at the present beautiful homestead adjoining the Town of
Woodville in July, 1886. No children were born to their union, and
Mrs. Thompson died there in April, 1898. It is noteworthy that she
was a cousin of Charles LEFLORE, who was the father-in-law of former
Governor Lee CRUCE of the State of Oklahoma.

After locating in Pickens County, Colonel Thompson soon had
extensive holdings. His cattle covered many hills and his brand
became well and widely known. In one season he marked 1,200 calves.
In Woodville he provided for his family the finest house in the town,
with all the comforts and furnishings that wealth and culture can
suggest. He has now reached the age of sixty-five, but still retains
his interest in all that affects his community, and is a partner with
his son Henry M. in the cattle business. In many ways his business
judgment has been almost infallible, and his prosperity is only an
adequate return for his abilities and energy. Colonel Thompson
possesses many fine personal qualities, is whole souled (sic) and
genial and as he knows everybody in his section of the county so
everybody knows and honors "Uncle Jim." His loyalty to friends and
neighbors has often been tested, and one case in point will
illustrate the quality of his friendship. He spent much of his
valuable time and $16,000 of his money a few years ago to prove the
innocence of Steve BUSSELL. He belongs to no secret organizations or
fraternal societies and finds his greatest enjoyment in the
management of his farm and in association with his old and tried
friends.

Transcribed by Jeanne M. Misleh, 23 July 1999.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).