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Prof. R. S. Thompson was born April 1, 1844, in Rutherford County, Tenn.
His father, John H. Thompson, was also born in Rutherford County, January,
1816, and is still living. His mother, Margaret D�ll Sharp, was born in
Tennessee in 1816, and his grandparents were all natives of Virginia. They
were of French and English extraction. Our subject was reared on a farm
and worked on the same till he was about seventeen years of age, when he
enlisted in the Confederate service in Company G, Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry,
and was elected orderly sergeant and so continued till September 25, 1864,
when he received a severe wound in the left leg, at Sulphur Trestle, Ala.,
which disabled him from active service through the remainder of the war.
At its close he resumed his education, entering Washington College, Virginia,
February, 1866, from which institution he graduated in 1868. He was instructor
in English literature and pupil also more than two years of the time that
he was there. After his return home he chose teaching as his profession
and engaged in this till 1876, when he was elected to the office of superintendent
of public instruction, which position he held till 1885. He began teaching
in the building that he had caused to be erected, limiting the number of
matriculates to thirty pupils. Prof. Thompson was married November 10,
1868, to Callie S. Simmons, who bore him two children: Roberta A. and James
A. Our subject is one of the county�s best citizens. He is a member in
good standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and is also a member
of the Masonic fraternity at this place.
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