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Obit For Sherman Dunbar Thompson
Headline Prominent Citizen Passes Away
Text S. D. Thompson, one of the best known and most influential men of the county, died at his home on North Main Street in this city Monday night, Feb. 27, 1911, of kidney and complication of other troubles, age 76 years.

For months he had been on a general decline but did not take his bed until a few days before his death. He had been bothered with asthma for a number of years. It seemed to grow worse with age and together with other physical aliments conquered his once vigorous body. Only a few days ago was there any indication of immediate dissolution as he continued to take a good interest in current public affairs.

He was born in Illinois, March 9, 1835. When fourteen years of age he in company with a widowed mother and six children drove from Illinois across the plains to what is now the state of Oregon seeking a home in the West. The trip was made in 1849 the year made famous by the discovery of gold in California. At the age of sixteen years he began to do for himself and engaged in the stock business.

For several years he drove sheep from Oregon to California and drove cattle back on the return trip. During the exciting gold mining days of early California he also did some mining of the precious ore. In 1872, he came to Barry County and first settled on White River but soon after moved to Washburn where he lived until 1900 when he moved to Cassville which has since been his home. While living at Washburn, he was engaged in the stock business and farming. At Cassville he engaged in the hardware and and later in the dry goods business, which he sold a few years ago, investing in other property and retiring.

S. D. Thompson was married in 1872 to Rachel F. Oakley. To them were born three children all of whom are living, Mrs. J. C. Henry of this city, Mrs. J. D. McCary of Holtsville, California, and Mrs. Thos. Mason of Afton, Okla.

Funeral services were held at the residence Wednesday afternoon and the body laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery.

S. D. Thompson was an excellent example of the study manhood, force of character and aggressive personality of our fore-fathers who blazed the way in making out of the West the great dominion of state it is today. Dueled many of the advantages of an education he educated himself by symptomatic reading and study. By nature he was a student and for years had been an omnivorous reader. Few men were better informed, not only upon the current affairs of the day but also upon historical and scientific subjects.

He was very much devoted to his family, his home and to the general progress of the community in which he lived. He was independent in thought, kind of disposition and a friend to everybody.
Newspaper Cassville Republican
Date Mar. 2, 1911
Death Cert Link Death Certificate
Resource State Historical Society of MO Microfilm
Submitted by Donna Cooper