The Hartford Day Spring, August 20, 1941
NATHAN IRVING THOMPSON
Nathan Irving Thompson, an almost lifelong actual or legal resident of Keeler, Mich., died at Fort Banks, near Boston, Mass., August 12, 1941, aged 91 years and 12 days. He realized more than he admitted to members of the family that the last sands in the hour-glass were running out for him. Yet the day before he accepted the surgeon's advice to enter the Army hospital he was especially pleased with a 5-mile drive about Brookline in the car of his grandson, Capt. Maurice Thompson Ireland, U. S. Marine Corps. He told a Hospital Corps sergeant attending him: "I have had a long, full and interesting life with no regrets and I am not afraid to die."
His remains were buried beside his wife, the former Ellen A. Tuttle, and daughter, Nellie L., in the Keeler cemetery after arrival at 1:47 p.m., August 13, in Hartford. The body was accompanied by his son-in-law, Col. Mark L. Ireland, Quartermaster Corps, U. S. Army. Local services were held at the cemetery.
Mr. Thompson was born August 1, 1850, at Orangeville, Wyoming county, N. Y. He came to Keeler in the fall of 1856 with his parents, Nathan and Clarissa Elmer (Hutchinson) Thompson, four brothers, Charles Hutchinson, Albert Cyrus, Edwin Arthur, and Frank Zenas, and a sister, Sarah Cornelia, who died in Kinderhook, Mich., just before their arrival in Keeler. All have preceded Mr. Thompson into the next life, except his youngest sister, Mrs. Clara Gertrude Bass, who now resides with her daughter, Irma Thompson Ireland, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Thompson spent most of his life as a farmer near Keeler. The family lived in Lansing from 1892 to 1901 when Mr. Thompson was an instructor in the Michigan Reform School for Boys and while his daughter, Irma, attended high school and Michigan State college, graduating in 1900. From 1903-7 Mr. Thompson was superintendent of the Van Buren county poor farm near Hartford. While the late Nathan F. Simpson was warden of Jackson prison, Mr. Thompson was in charge of the prison farm. Since Mrs. Thompson died in 1912, Mr. Thompson has made his home with Mrs. Ireland. This included service in the Phillipines from 1913-'35 and 1937-'39 and near Honolulu from 1928-'30, also on the Rio Grande at Brownsville and El Paso, Texas four years in New Orleans, also at Jeffersonville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Philadelphia, Pa., Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Boston, Mass. His decline began after pneumonia between Panama Canal Zone and New York City in 1939.
His rugged health had long been commented upon by his many army and navy friends when they saw him swimming vigorously into the breakwaters at 65 almost daily at the American Gibralter, Fort Mills, Corregidor, Manila Bay, and at 80 at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii.
The experience which pleased him most was passing the Army enlistment examination in 1917 at 67, when the surgeon said: "With that dark hair I could have enlisted you if you had said you were less than 56." He had to be content to serve his country as a civilian in 1916 Mexican Border mobilization at Brownsville and in 1917-'18 with Quartermaster Mechanical Repair Shop 304, as a motor transport spare parts expert at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, a unit having many other Michigan men. One of his proudest possessions was his Quartermaster Association membership button and his chief disappointment was that he could not go with the officers and men to France in 1918.
Several years ago he wrote and his daughter illustrated The Breaking Team, a story of his early life in Van Buren county, when the first effort of pioneers was to clear their land of forests, next stump and grub it, and then get in the first crop after the breaking team had plowed the land in spite of many hidden roots and stones. Future local historians of Hartford, Keeler and vicinity would give much for his many interesting reminisces of pioneer, Civil War and later days there, which he retained vividly to the end. None were more loyal to their old home and neighbors. - Contributed by Mark L. Ireland.
NATHAN IRVING THOMPSON
Nathan Irving Thompson, an almost lifelong actual or legal resident of Keeler, Mich., died at Fort Banks, near Boston, Mass., August 12, 1941, aged 91 years and 12 days. He realized more than he admitted to members of the family that the last sands in the hour-glass were running out for him. Yet the day before he accepted the surgeon's advice to enter the Army hospital he was especially pleased with a 5-mile drive about Brookline in the car of his grandson, Capt. Maurice Thompson Ireland, U. S. Marine Corps. He told a Hospital Corps sergeant attending him: "I have had a long, full and interesting life with no regrets and I am not afraid to die."
His remains were buried beside his wife, the former Ellen A. Tuttle, and daughter, Nellie L., in the Keeler cemetery after arrival at 1:47 p.m., August 13, in Hartford. The body was accompanied by his son-in-law, Col. Mark L. Ireland, Quartermaster Corps, U. S. Army. Local services were held at the cemetery.
Mr. Thompson was born August 1, 1850, at Orangeville, Wyoming county, N. Y. He came to Keeler in the fall of 1856 with his parents, Nathan and Clarissa Elmer (Hutchinson) Thompson, four brothers, Charles Hutchinson, Albert Cyrus, Edwin Arthur, and Frank Zenas, and a sister, Sarah Cornelia, who died in Kinderhook, Mich., just before their arrival in Keeler. All have preceded Mr. Thompson into the next life, except his youngest sister, Mrs. Clara Gertrude Bass, who now resides with her daughter, Irma Thompson Ireland, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Thompson spent most of his life as a farmer near Keeler. The family lived in Lansing from 1892 to 1901 when Mr. Thompson was an instructor in the Michigan Reform School for Boys and while his daughter, Irma, attended high school and Michigan State college, graduating in 1900. From 1903-7 Mr. Thompson was superintendent of the Van Buren county poor farm near Hartford. While the late Nathan F. Simpson was warden of Jackson prison, Mr. Thompson was in charge of the prison farm. Since Mrs. Thompson died in 1912, Mr. Thompson has made his home with Mrs. Ireland. This included service in the Phillipines from 1913-'35 and 1937-'39 and near Honolulu from 1928-'30, also on the Rio Grande at Brownsville and El Paso, Texas four years in New Orleans, also at Jeffersonville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Philadelphia, Pa., Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Boston, Mass. His decline began after pneumonia between Panama Canal Zone and New York City in 1939.
His rugged health had long been commented upon by his many army and navy friends when they saw him swimming vigorously into the breakwaters at 65 almost daily at the American Gibralter, Fort Mills, Corregidor, Manila Bay, and at 80 at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii.
The experience which pleased him most was passing the Army enlistment examination in 1917 at 67, when the surgeon said: "With that dark hair I could have enlisted you if you had said you were less than 56." He had to be content to serve his country as a civilian in 1916 Mexican Border mobilization at Brownsville and in 1917-'18 with Quartermaster Mechanical Repair Shop 304, as a motor transport spare parts expert at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, a unit having many other Michigan men. One of his proudest possessions was his Quartermaster Association membership button and his chief disappointment was that he could not go with the officers and men to France in 1918.
Several years ago he wrote and his daughter illustrated The Breaking Team, a story of his early life in Van Buren county, when the first effort of pioneers was to clear their land of forests, next stump and grub it, and then get in the first crop after the breaking team had plowed the land in spite of many hidden roots and stones. Future local historians of Hartford, Keeler and vicinity would give much for his many interesting reminisces of pioneer, Civil War and later days there, which he retained vividly to the end. None were more loyal to their old home and neighbors. - Contributed by Mark L. Ireland.
The Hartford Day Spring, August 20, 1941
NATHAN IRVING THOMPSON
Nathan Irving Thompson, an almost lifelong actual or legal resident of Keeler, Mich., died at Fort Banks, near Boston, Mass., August 12, 1941, aged 91 years and 12 days. He realized more than he admitted to members of the family that the last sands in the hour-glass were running out for him. Yet the day before he accepted the surgeon's advice to enter the Army hospital he was especially pleased with a 5-mile drive about Brookline in the car of his grandson, Capt. Maurice Thompson Ireland, U. S. Marine Corps. He told a Hospital Corps sergeant attending him: "I have had a long, full and interesting life with no regrets and I am not afraid to die."
His remains were buried beside his wife, the former Ellen A. Tuttle, and daughter, Nellie L., in the Keeler cemetery after arrival at 1:47 p.m., August 13, in Hartford. The body was accompanied by his son-in-law, Col. Mark L. Ireland, Quartermaster Corps, U. S. Army. Local services were held at the cemetery.
Mr. Thompson was born August 1, 1850, at Orangeville, Wyoming county, N. Y. He came to Keeler in the fall of 1856 with his parents, Nathan and Clarissa Elmer (Hutchinson) Thompson, four brothers, Charles Hutchinson, Albert Cyrus, Edwin Arthur, and Frank Zenas, and a sister, Sarah Cornelia, who died in Kinderhook, Mich., just before their arrival in Keeler. All have preceded Mr. Thompson into the next life, except his youngest sister, Mrs. Clara Gertrude Bass, who now resides with her daughter, Irma Thompson Ireland, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Thompson spent most of his life as a farmer near Keeler. The family lived in Lansing from 1892 to 1901 when Mr. Thompson was an instructor in the Michigan Reform School for Boys and while his daughter, Irma, attended high school and Michigan State college, graduating in 1900. From 1903-7 Mr. Thompson was superintendent of the Van Buren county poor farm near Hartford. While the late Nathan F. Simpson was warden of Jackson prison, Mr. Thompson was in charge of the prison farm. Since Mrs. Thompson died in 1912, Mr. Thompson has made his home with Mrs. Ireland. This included service in the Phillipines from 1913-'35 and 1937-'39 and near Honolulu from 1928-'30, also on the Rio Grande at Brownsville and El Paso, Texas four years in New Orleans, also at Jeffersonville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Philadelphia, Pa., Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Boston, Mass. His decline began after pneumonia between Panama Canal Zone and New York City in 1939.
His rugged health had long been commented upon by his many army and navy friends when they saw him swimming vigorously into the breakwaters at 65 almost daily at the American Gibralter, Fort Mills, Corregidor, Manila Bay, and at 80 at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii.
The experience which pleased him most was passing the Army enlistment examination in 1917 at 67, when the surgeon said: "With that dark hair I could have enlisted you if you had said you were less than 56." He had to be content to serve his country as a civilian in 1916 Mexican Border mobilization at Brownsville and in 1917-'18 with Quartermaster Mechanical Repair Shop 304, as a motor transport spare parts expert at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, a unit having many other Michigan men. One of his proudest possessions was his Quartermaster Association membership button and his chief disappointment was that he could not go with the officers and men to France in 1918.
Several years ago he wrote and his daughter illustrated The Breaking Team, a story of his early life in Van Buren county, when the first effort of pioneers was to clear their land of forests, next stump and grub it, and then get in the first crop after the breaking team had plowed the land in spite of many hidden roots and stones. Future local historians of Hartford, Keeler and vicinity would give much for his many interesting reminisces of pioneer, Civil War and later days there, which he retained vividly to the end. None were more loyal to their old home and neighbors. - Contributed by Mark L. Ireland.
NATHAN IRVING THOMPSON
Nathan Irving Thompson, an almost lifelong actual or legal resident of Keeler, Mich., died at Fort Banks, near Boston, Mass., August 12, 1941, aged 91 years and 12 days. He realized more than he admitted to members of the family that the last sands in the hour-glass were running out for him. Yet the day before he accepted the surgeon's advice to enter the Army hospital he was especially pleased with a 5-mile drive about Brookline in the car of his grandson, Capt. Maurice Thompson Ireland, U. S. Marine Corps. He told a Hospital Corps sergeant attending him: "I have had a long, full and interesting life with no regrets and I am not afraid to die."
His remains were buried beside his wife, the former Ellen A. Tuttle, and daughter, Nellie L., in the Keeler cemetery after arrival at 1:47 p.m., August 13, in Hartford. The body was accompanied by his son-in-law, Col. Mark L. Ireland, Quartermaster Corps, U. S. Army. Local services were held at the cemetery.
Mr. Thompson was born August 1, 1850, at Orangeville, Wyoming county, N. Y. He came to Keeler in the fall of 1856 with his parents, Nathan and Clarissa Elmer (Hutchinson) Thompson, four brothers, Charles Hutchinson, Albert Cyrus, Edwin Arthur, and Frank Zenas, and a sister, Sarah Cornelia, who died in Kinderhook, Mich., just before their arrival in Keeler. All have preceded Mr. Thompson into the next life, except his youngest sister, Mrs. Clara Gertrude Bass, who now resides with her daughter, Irma Thompson Ireland, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Thompson spent most of his life as a farmer near Keeler. The family lived in Lansing from 1892 to 1901 when Mr. Thompson was an instructor in the Michigan Reform School for Boys and while his daughter, Irma, attended high school and Michigan State college, graduating in 1900. From 1903-7 Mr. Thompson was superintendent of the Van Buren county poor farm near Hartford. While the late Nathan F. Simpson was warden of Jackson prison, Mr. Thompson was in charge of the prison farm. Since Mrs. Thompson died in 1912, Mr. Thompson has made his home with Mrs. Ireland. This included service in the Phillipines from 1913-'35 and 1937-'39 and near Honolulu from 1928-'30, also on the Rio Grande at Brownsville and El Paso, Texas four years in New Orleans, also at Jeffersonville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Philadelphia, Pa., Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Boston, Mass. His decline began after pneumonia between Panama Canal Zone and New York City in 1939.
His rugged health had long been commented upon by his many army and navy friends when they saw him swimming vigorously into the breakwaters at 65 almost daily at the American Gibralter, Fort Mills, Corregidor, Manila Bay, and at 80 at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii.
The experience which pleased him most was passing the Army enlistment examination in 1917 at 67, when the surgeon said: "With that dark hair I could have enlisted you if you had said you were less than 56." He had to be content to serve his country as a civilian in 1916 Mexican Border mobilization at Brownsville and in 1917-'18 with Quartermaster Mechanical Repair Shop 304, as a motor transport spare parts expert at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, a unit having many other Michigan men. One of his proudest possessions was his Quartermaster Association membership button and his chief disappointment was that he could not go with the officers and men to France in 1918.
Several years ago he wrote and his daughter illustrated The Breaking Team, a story of his early life in Van Buren county, when the first effort of pioneers was to clear their land of forests, next stump and grub it, and then get in the first crop after the breaking team had plowed the land in spite of many hidden roots and stones. Future local historians of Hartford, Keeler and vicinity would give much for his many interesting reminisces of pioneer, Civil War and later days there, which he retained vividly to the end. None were more loyal to their old home and neighbors. - Contributed by Mark L. Ireland.
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