HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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members. On the 28th of June, 1898, the certificate of incorporation was received from James R. B. VanCleave, Insurance Commissioner of the State of Illinois, and the first policy was written August 16 of that year. For a time the work of "The Yeomen of America" was confined to the State of Illinois; but on May 9, 1902, the society extended its business to the State of Wisconsin and, in August of the same year, to the State of Minnesota. Aug. 1, 1903, the association had written 13,365 policies. The plan of this progressive and fast-growing society is new to the insurance world, inasmuch as each member is compelled to pay the cost price of his insurance, regardless of the date of death. The past five years' work of the society lias afforded evidence that, in the coming years, "The Yeomen of America" will rank with the foremost insurance institutions of the land.
WILLIAM T. THOMAS, farmer, Big Rock, Ill., born in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, in 1833; removed to Canada in 1851, and in the fall of the same year came to Chicago, where he learned the carpenter's trade; located in Big Rock Township in 1858, where he devoted his attention to farming until 1882, when he retired from active business, and in the same year he and Mrs. Thomas visited England and Wales; has long been one of the leaders of the Baptist church in Big Rock; married in 1857 Miss Mary Morris, who died May 31, 1903.
BURT H. THOMPSON, farmer and manufacturer; born in the town of Sugar Grove, Kane County, Sept. 25, 1858, and grew to years of maturity on his father's farm; educated in the public schools of Sugar Grove; trained to farming in his boyhood, and followed that occupation from the time he engaged in business for himself until 1901, when he retired and has since resided in Aurora, but still owns the old farm in Sugar Grove Township, which has been in the family since 1845. He was married in 1880 to Miss Arville H. Van Arsdale.
EDWIN W. THOMPSON, Aurora, Ill., born at East Dorset, Vt, June 7, 1845; came to Illinois with his father's family in infancy, and grew to manhood on the farm in Sugar Grove Township', Kane County, and received his educational training in the public schools and Bryant & Stratton's Business College (Chicago) ; was engaged in farming and stock-raising in Sugar Grove Township until 1885, when he removed to the village of Sugar Grove, where he engaged in the coal and lumber trade for five years; came to Aurora in 1890, and has since been a resident of that city. He was married in 1866 to Miss Mary E. Paull, and they have one child, Clarence S.; another son, J. Paull, died in 1893.
GEORGE R. THOMPSON, Justice of the Peace, Elgin, Ill.; born in Warren County, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1850; came to Elgin in 1890, when he opened the Elgin City electric street car lines, having in charge the electrical construction and repairs of the lines and cars. Mr. Thompson now has charge of the construction of the lines of the Inter-State Telephone Company, of Dundee, Ill. He was married in 1875 to Miss Matilda Stoughton, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
JOHN THOMPSON (deceased), pioneer settler; born in the town of Graf ton, Vt., Sept. 8, 1814; reared and educated in his native State, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1845; came to Illinois in 1848, establishing his home in Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1892. Mr. Thompson was a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and was highly esteemed by his acquaintances for his many good qualities. He was married to Julia A. Colson, who died Sept. 4, 1891. The only living members of this pioneer family are Edwin W. and Burt H. Thompson, both of Aurora.
JOSEPH WALKER THOMPSON, Sugar Grove, farmer, and veteran of the Civil War, was born Feb. 20, 1846, in Sugar Grove, Kane County, Ill., son of Edward and Sarah (Fargue) Thompson. His parents came from New York City into Illinois in 1836 and made their home in Ottawa. Three years later they removed to Kane County and settled on a tract of government land near what is now the village of Sugar Grove. The elder Thompson conducted a store in Aurora six years, and spent the remainder of his life in Sugar Grove. When he first passed through Aurora it had but eleven houses, and building lots were then worth a dollar and a half each. His residence in Kane County covered a period of sixty years, his death occurring in Hinckley, Ill., where he
