Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Middle School in Hartford. During the
presidential campaign of 1888, he was in
command of the Harrison and Morton
battalion of Hartford. Lieutenant-Colonel
Thompson originated the present signal
for calling out the city companies in case
of emergency by means of the alarm fire
bell. At the time of the Park Central
Hotel disaster the signal was sounded for
the first time, being ordered by Governor
Bulkeley, and within twenty minutes one
hundred men were en route from the arm-
ory in uniform and armed for the scene
of the calamity. The service rendered
by the Guard at that time under the command
of Colonel Cone and his associate
field officers was invaluable.
Colonel Thompson for many years has
taken a deep interest in religious work,
both in the church and societies working
along philanthropic lines. For several
years he was assistant superintendent of
the Center Congregational Church Sunday
School. He has served as treas-
urer of the Asylum Hill Congregational
Church for twenty-seven years, from 1881
to 1908, and since 1879 has been a member
of the board of deacons. For one
year he was treasurer of the Connecticut
Temperance Union, of which Governor
Buckingham was the first president. Although
Colonel Thompson's heart was in
the work, the increasing weight of his
business responsibilities caused him to
decline reelection. From 1894 to 1898, he
was president of the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association of Hartford, and has
served twenty-five years on its board of
directors. He was for several years president
of the City Missionary Society, and
is auditor of the Connecticut Humane So-
ciety. As chairman of the High School
Committee for four years, ending June,
1900, he was connected with the building
and equipment of the manual training
school addition and previously, in 1895,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
186
had been treasurer of the High School,
this service indicating the keen interest
he has always taken in the advancement
of the school. He has never taken active
part in political affairs, his interest being
confined to the institutions named.
Colonel Thompson married, September
14, 1868, Abby Frances Allen, daughter of
Charles and Harriet R. (Sharpe) Allen,
of Hartford. They are the parents of a
son and two daughters: 1. Arthur R.,
the class poet, and graduate of Yale Uni-
versity in the class of 1896; he is also
connected with the Connecticut Mutual
Life Insurance Company ; he accompanied
Dr. Cook's expedition to Green-
land in 1894, and his works "Gold Seek-
ers along the Dalton Trail" and "Shipwrecked
in Greenland," are from the
press of Little, Brown & Company, of
Boston. 2. Harriet M., a graduate of the
Hartford High School; married, July 17,
1900, Professor Alfred M. Hitchcock,
English instructor in the Hartford Lligh
School. 3. Emma J., a graduate of the
October 7, 1916, Mr.
high school ; married
E. Sidney Berry, assistant secretary and
counsel of the Hartford Steam Boiler and
Inspection Company ;
Harvard University.
he graduated from
Colonel Thompson has been elected
annually since May 24, 1910, to the office
of major commanding the Robert O.
Tyler Post, Citizens Corps, and was
chosen grand marshal of the parade held
in Hartford, October 4, 191 1, by the sur-
viving members of the Grand Army of
the Republic, then in Connecticut. He is
a member of the Connecticut Society Sons
of the American Revolution, and of Gov-
ernor Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch of
the same society. Colonel Thompson is
a charter member of the "League to En-
force Peace," which was organized in
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, June
17, 1915, and was present at all the meet-