Henry Adams Thompson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 6th president ofOtterbein University | |
| In office 1872–1886 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel Eberly |
| Succeeded by | Henry Garst |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1837-03-23)March 23, 1837 Stormstown, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 8, 1920(1920-07-08) (aged 83) Dayton, Ohio |
| Alma mater | Washington & Jefferson College (BA) |
Henry Adams Thompson (March 23, 1837 – July 8, 1920) was an American prohibitionist and professor who was the vice-presidential nominee of theProhibition Party in 1880.
Thompson was a native of Pennsylvania, but he spent much of his career in Ohio. He became a member of theUnited Brethren church and taught mathematics at several United Brethren colleges in the Midwest. Thompson served as president ofOtterbein University from 1872 to 1886. Much of his time as college president was devoted to improving the financial standing of the school during the economic depression that followed thePanic of 1873.
Initially aRepublican, he became an early member of the Prohibition Party. His attempt at election to the vice presidency in1880, running on a ticket withNeal Dow of Maine, was the party's best showing to date, but they still placed a distant fourth to the eventual winners,James A. Garfield andChester A. Arthur. He ran for office under the Prohibition banner several other times before and after 1880, all without success.
Henry Thompson was born inStormstown, Pennsylvania on March 23, 1837, the son of John Thompson and Lydia Blake Thompson.[1] John Thompson was the manager of an ironworks in Centre County, and later owned a general mercantile business in Stormstown.[2] Lydia Blake was aQuaker fromKennett Square, Pennsylvania, who was disinherited when she married Thompson, aPresbyterian.[2] John Thompson was politically active and served two terms as county sheriff.[3] He was active inanti-slavery andtemperance causes, in both of which his son Henry followed him.[4]
Thompson graduated from Jefferson College (nowWashington & Jefferson College) in 1858 with a bachelor's degree, and studied for two years at the Western Theological seminary (nowPittsburgh Theological Seminary).[3][5] In 1861, he was appointed professor of mathematics at Western College (nowLeander Clark College), aUnited Brethren-affiliated college inShueyville, Iowa, and taught there for one year.[5] The United Brethren, apietist church that arose first amongPennsylvania Germans during theGreat Awakening, was one of the earliest churches in the United States to embrace abolitionism.[6] By Thompson's time, they had also joined the fight for the prohibition of alcohol, though most did so from within the Republican Party and did not join the small single-issue Prohibition Party.[7]
The next year, 1862, Thompson began teaching mathematics and natural science at another United Brethren school,Otterbein University inWesterville, Ohio.[1][8] That same year, he married Harriet Copeland, an artist who also taught at Otterbein.[1][9] They had three children: Jessie, Clara, and Louis; two of the three became medical doctors.[10] In 1867, Thompson left Otterbein to become superintendent of schools inTroy, Ohio.[5] After four years in that position, he returned to teaching, serving again as a mathematics professor in Westfield College, a United Brethren school inWestfield, Illinois.[a][5]
In 1872, Thompson was elected president of Otterbein University, and remained in that position until 1886.[12] He received adoctorate in divinity from Otterbein the following year.[3] As president, Thompson continued to teach and delivered speeches around the country on school or church business.[12] Thompson took office shortly before the financialPanic of 1873, with the result that his primary concern as president was keeping the college funded.[13] In this he was successful, although the college had to borrow money to stay afloat until the economy recovered.[14] After the initial debt was incurred, Thompson worked to raise donations to pay it off more quickly.[15] He also worked to attract new professors to teach at Otterbein, improving both the quality of education and the school's reputation among scholars.[16] Thompson was involved in organizing the General Board of Education of the United Brethren Church, which served as a coordinating body for the schools affiliated with the church.[17]
Thompson had identified with theRepublican Party since its founding in the 1850s, but in 1874 he left it to join the newProhibition Party. The Prohibitionists, more of a movement than a party, focused their efforts onbanning alcohol.[7] Like Thompson, most party members came frompietist churches, and most were former Republicans.[7] He was the party's nominee for the federalHouse of Representatives fromOhio's 12th district at a special election held that year because of the resignation ofDemocratHugh J. Jewett, as well as for the full term that would follow.[1] Thompson lost both, receiving only a few hundred votes and losing to Democratic candidateWilliam E. Finck.[18] He served as chairman of the Prohibition National Convention in 1876 in Cleveland, but the young party's nominees fared poorly, winning fewer than 7000 votes nationwide.[3]
In 1880, the party nominated Thompson for vice president, joining a ticket headed byNeal Dow ofPortland, Maine, the author of one of the nation's first municipal prohibition laws.[19] Only twelve states sent delegates to the convention, and the platform they agreed on was silent on most issues of the day, focusing instead on the evils of alcohol.[20] The Prohibitionists increased their vote total in theelection that year, but still received just over 10,000 votes out of more than nine million cast.[21] Thompson made another bid for elected office in 1887, when the Prohibition Party nominated him forGovernor of Ohio.[3] He was again unsuccessful, netting less than one percent of the vote and finishing in a distant fifth place behind the winner, DemocratRichard M. Bishop.[22] Thompson's vote total was also surpassed by the Republican candidate,William H. West, and the candidates of two other minor parties, theWorkingman Party and theGreenback Party.[22]
Thompson ran for Congress several more times. In 1900, he ran inOhio's 3rd congressional district as the nominee of the Union Reform Party, which was made up of Prohibition Party members who split from the main party. He received just 0.32% of the vote, and RepublicanRobert M. Nevin won the election.[23] In 1908, he ran for the same seat for the re-united Prohibition Party, but won just 0.4% of the vote, losing the election to DemocratJames M. Cox.[24] In 1910, Thompson ran for governor of Ohio. Despite the growing popularity of the idea of prohibition, the Prohibition Party candidate got just 0.77% of the vote as DemocratJudson Harmon carried the state.[25] His final attempt at election came inIndiana's 4th congressional district, just over the Ohio border. With 2.24% of the vote, it was Thompson's best performance, but he still fell far short of victory.[26]
After retiring as college president in 1886, Thompson remained active in school, party, and church affairs.[17] He became a director of theOhio State Archaeological and Historical Society in 1885 and prepared their exhibit at theWorld's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.[10][17] He wrote several books on church topics, includingOur Bishops: A Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, published in 1889.[27] In 1901, he was elected editor of theUnited Brethren Review.[17] He died inDayton, Ohio on July 8, 1920, and was buried atWesterville, Ohio's Otterbein Cemetery.
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