Mike Thompson (1858)

Born 23 Sep 1858 in Honey Grove, Fannin, Texas, United States

Husband of Harriet (Mayo) Thompson — married about 1895 in Arkansas, United States [uncertain]

Died [date unknown] in Arkansas, United States

Biography

Mike Thompson is a part of US Black heritage.

Mike Thompson was interviewed in Widener, Arkansas in 1938 about his life and his time as an enslaved person.

"I was born near Honey Grove, Texas. I remember my grandparents on both sides -- they were all Thompsons. They were cotton and corn farmers. I don't know where they come from. I was so small and as soon as the War was done a whole gang of us come from Texas to Dardanelle, Arkansas."

"Clem Thompson, my owner, died. He had a family. I don't know what become of none but Ed Thompson. We was the same age and growed up together. I worked for him at Dardanelle but I don't know how he come from Texas. He butchered and peddled meat and had a shop too. I don't think Ed owned land over at Dardanelle but my father owned eighty acres over there when he died. My father was Cubit Thompson. His father was Plato Thompson. My mother was Harriett Thompson."

"I come to Widener in 1908. I made a good living. I own this house. Now I got to quit working in bad weather. My rheumatism gets so bad. I'll be eighty years old 23rd September of this year (1938)."

Slave Owners

1. Clem Thompson

Interview: Mike Thompson was interviewed in Widener, Arkansas by Miss Irene Robertson as part of the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The results are made available by the Library of Congress. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ [1] Library of Congress - WPA - Slave Narrative - Mike Thompson - Vol. 2, Arkansas, part 6; pages 320-321 images 325-326 of 376.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKVB-2WV : accessed 26 August 2022), Hattie Thompson in household of Thomas Thompson, Griggs, St Francis, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 121, sheet 19A, family 196, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 63; FHL microfilm 1,374,076.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDFF-3XS : 31 January 2021), Hattie Thompson, 1920.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMG6-SC2 : accessed 26 August 2022), Hattie Thomson in household of Mike Thomson, Griggs, St Francis, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 8, sheet 3A, line 16, family 55, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 93; FHL microfilm 2,339,828.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ2W-SGZ : 8 January 2021), Mike Thompson, Widener, St. Francis, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 62-9, sheet 3A, line 20, family 58, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 171.

Research Notes

This may be a conflation of two men. Though Hattie Thompson and Mike Thompson were each interviewed in Widener, Arkansas by the WPA, neither names the other in the interview. But, rheumatism!