Moline - Confederate Veteran . . .

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Solon Francis Thompson

Birth:  Jun. 27, 1840
Raywick
Marion County
Kentucky, USA

Death:  Feb. 22, 1922
Moline
Elk County
Kansas, USA

Col. Solon Francis Thompson was born near Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky, June 27, 1840, and departed this life in Moline, Kansas, February 22. Funeral services were held at St. Mary's Catholic Church on Saturday, February 25, with mass and sermon pronounced by Rev. P. J. Maloney. Interment was in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
Col. Thompson was married to Miss Cassie Hill April 29, 1873, and to this union one child was born, now Mrs. O. S. Myers of this city. Mrs. Thompson died June 9, 1885, and Col. Thompson was married to Miss Nellie Miller of Longton, Kansas, who still survives.
In the Civil War Thompson was a Confederate soldier serving in General Morgan's band. He was captured and taken to a federal prison at Chicago. He bribed a guard and escaped to Kentucky where he raised more money and came back to buy some of his comrades out, but the guard had been caught and killed as a traitor and Col. Thompson was recaptured and put in a dungeon. After six months a number of the prisoners tunneled their way out and he and a few others made good their escape. He returned to Kentucky and as Morgan's band was broken up he organized a band of his own and in a skirmish with the Yankees a man was killed. Col. Thompson was wrongfully accused of murder and sentenced to be hung. His mother's pleading with the governor of the state brought a reprieve just in time to save his life. As a soldier he was brave and daring almost to the point of recklessness. These are only a few of his adventures in his career during the war.
Leaving Kentucky about 1884, Col. Thompson came to Kansas City and later to Elk County. He engaged in the hotel business in Moline and was landlord of the Metropolitan at Howard for sixteen years, then was in the same business in Kansas City until he returned to Moline in October 1920 where he lived until his death.
Col. Thompson was a man of large physical proportions, dignified and commanding in appearance. He was a generous friend and sociable and congenial as a companion. He had many ups and downs in life but met them all with fortitude and cheerfulness. He had many friends and the bereaved ones he leaves have the deepest sympathy in their irreparable loss.

Burial:
Mount Olivet Cemetery
Moline
Elk County
Kansas, USA

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