Fred Thompson

Exactly two years after the death of his father, Alexander, Fred Thompson followed him out of this world.

Fred had grown up on the Thompson farm south of Ainsworth, brought there so young that he probably had little memory of his first home in Illinois. But as a young man he left the farm and never looked back. It was in 1886, when he was just 23 years of age, that he moved to Hobart and married the 19-year-old Estella White.

I do not have many details about Fred's life in Hobart. Stella died in 1905; three years later Fred married Amelia Triebess. For the most part, he earned his living working for other people, but twice he went into business for himself: once operating a livery service, and once, in partnership with his father, starting a grocery store that they sold in 1913 to Sauter and Mackeldey. (On that occasion, Fred said he intended to take his first vacation in 18 years.)

In 1917 he successfully ran for election as a town trustee. The Gazette later remarked that he "took a decided interest in the welfare of the town and was a faithful attendant at all Board meetings." He also sat on the board of directors of the First State Bank. I don't know what his day job had been since the sale of the grocery, but in 1918 he hired on at Paul Newman's hardware store.

Like many others in Hobart, Fred came down with Spanish influenza that autumn, but after a couple of weeks off, he returned to his job, apparently in good health again. So it came as a shock when, on the afternoon of January 20, 1919, he collapsed, unconscious, in the hardware store.

He was carried home and put to bed. Though he continued unconscious, in the first few days of his illness his doctor and family were hopeful that he would recover, as he had from a previous mild stroke some 14 years earlier. But as the days went by and Fred remained in a coma, unable to take nourishment, hope faded. After ten days, he quietly passed away, never having regained consciousness. He was just 55 years of age.

Surviving him were Amelia (neither marriage had produced any children) and a brother, William, who lived in Crown Point. His younger brother, Hugh, had preceded him in death.

The News eulogized him as "a straightforward, conscientious citizen who was an American through and through,* who believed in equal rights to all and special privileges to none. He had the respect of all who knew him."

Fred was laid to rest in Hobart Cemetery, beside his first wife.


(Click on images to enlarge)



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*I suppose it's indicative of the spirit of the times that hyper-patriotism would seep even into an obituary.


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ "Fred Thompson Suffers a Stroke of Paralysis, Monday." Hobart News 23 Jan. 1919.
♦ "Frederick G. Thompson." Hobart Gazette 7 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Funeral of Trustee Frederick Thompson Held Last Sunday." Hobart News 6 Feb. 1919.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 30 Jan. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 31 Jan. 1919.