William George Thompson

William George Thompson (January 17, 1830 – April 2, 1911) was a Civil War officer, trial-court judge, territorial justice, and Republican Representative in the United States House of Iowa's 5th congressional district.

Biography

Thompson was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania, the younger brother of future Pennsylvania Congressman John McCandless Thompson. In 1853, he was admitted to the bar and moved to Marion, Iowa. He became the prosecuting attorney for Linn County, Iowa in 1854, then left in 1856 to serve in the Iowa Senate, serving until 1860. When the Civil War broke out he became a major in the 20th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

After the War, he served as district attorney for Iowa's eighth judicial district for six years. He then served briefly as Chief Justice of the Territory of Idaho, from January to April 1879.

In April 1879, Thompson resigned as Chief Justice to run as a Republican to represent Iowa's fifth district in the Forty-sixth Congress, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rush Clark. Thompson won the special election, and served in most of the Forty-sixth Congress. In 1882, he was re-elected, serving in the Forty-seventh Congress, but chose not to run in 1884 for the Forty-eighth.

On his return to Iowa, Thompson served on the Marion City Council, and ran for the Iowa General Assembly. He served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1885 to 1887. Returning to the bench, he was elected as judge of Iowa's eighteenth judicial district, serving from 1894 to 1906. He retired to Kenwood Park, Iowa where he died April 2, 1911. He is interred at Oak Shade Cemetery in Marion.

References

• United States Congress. "William George Thompson (id: T000224)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.  Retrieved on 2008-02-15
• "William George Thompson". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge