The Thompson Family Album

In the very early 1800’s, Harmon  Thompson, having secured a land grant, moved  from his home in Robeson County, North Carolina, to Marion County, Mississippi. Harmon and his wife, Jane Ward Thompson, settled on their newly-acquired land, about nine miles north of the small town of Columbia, on Williamsburg Road. Harmon and Jane brought ten children into this world, one of them my great-great-grandfather, William James Thompson.

Life was generally quiet in the southlands where the Thompsons lived, but there were those occasions when the calamities of the world intruded – including the tumultuous times of the American Civil War – often referred to by genteel Southern folks as the “Time of the Late Unpleasantness.” Later years saw peace return to the Thompson homesteads, and the family continued to grow and prosper.

As it turned out, even in the sparsely-settled lands of deep south Mississippi, there were often encounters with photographers, some in their established big-city studios and others who apparently traveled about, stopping at homes, farms, churches, country fairs and schools to “capture the likenesses” of the simple folks whose paths they crossed. These enterprising photographers made use of  the earliest forms of photography - ferrotypes and ambrotypes [glass-plate negatives], images captured with large and bulky cameras perched atop sturdy wooden tripods.

Many of these photographs were carefully preserved, and eventually, a goodly number of them made their way into a family album. This treasured book of images was passed down from father to son and mother to daughter over the years. Eventually, it came into possession of one Henry Edgar Thompson, my grandfather. In his later years, Mr. Eddie bequeathed the album to his third daughter, my aunt, Rachel Thompson Rowley. By this time, the old album was showing its age. The book’s binding had literally fallen apart, and the Thompson family’s memories had come to reside in a box of loose images. This is how I first encountered the Thompson Family Album.

So that these priceless images might be preserved, Rachel graciously allowed me to take possession of the loosely-packed album long enough to scan the images.

The now-carefully restored images from the Thompson Family Album, along with others from the family’s collection and a selection of my own images, are presented herein. 

(Author’s Note) - This book was originally prepared for the author’s own family. Similar publications can be prepared for other families. Contact the author for details and pricing.