Burt J. Thompson

THOMPSON, KING, SATTERLEE BENNETT

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/7/2010 at 04:53:16

BURT J. THOMPSON

Burt J. Thompson is a well known representative of the Winnebago county bar, practicing at Forest City, but this does not by any means cover the scope of his activities, for he is an equally forceful and resourceful man in banking circles and is a prominent representative of the agricultural interests of the state. He combines persistency of purpose with keen sagacity and the ability to discriminate between the essential and the nonessential in all business affairs.

Mr. Thompson was born May 19, 1872, in the city which is still his home, his parents being Jasper and Clara (King) Thompson, who are mentioned elsewhere in this work. Following the completion of his public school course Burt J. Thompson entered Grinnell College at Grinnell, Iowa, and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1894. With thorough preparatory training he then entered the Harvard Law School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and won his professional degree with the class of 1904. Through the intervening period he was prominently connected with the professional and business interests of Winnebago county. For six years before entering the law school he was cashier of the Winnebago County State Bank and in 1898 and 1899 he was traveling around the world, being in the Philippines at the time of the Spanish-American war and there witnessing several engagements. While upon this trip he contributed several articles concerning his travels to the Midland Magazine. Following his return he began preparation for the bar and has since been actively engaged in the practice of law in Winnebago county, making for himself a most creditable position at the bar by reason of his comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and his accuracy in applying these principles to the points of litigation. His reasoning is clear, his deductions sound and his arguments forceful. Associated with him in practice are Alan Loth and Byron L. Sifford, both young men of notable ability. Mr. Loth completed the liberal arts course in the Chicago University and won his degree in the Chicago Law School before he was twenty-two years of age. He at once entered into his present partnership relation and is regarded as one of the most brilliant young trial lawyers in northern Iowa. Mr. Sifford is a graduate of the State University of Iowa in both the academic and law departments and is now in charge of the Buffalo Center branch of the firm's practice. He was the most brilliant honor student in the law department of the university in many years and in his practice is carrying out the promise of his student days.

The success which Mr. Thompson has won as a lawyer would satisfy many a man, but with him the recognition of opportunity is always a call to action and in various other fields he has won notable distinction and success, equaling the prominence which he has attained as a distinguished member of the Iowa bar. In financial circles he is well known, for he is the vice president of the Winnebago County State Bank of Forest City, is the president of the State Bank of Thompson, was formerly vice president of the First National Bank of Buffalo Center for many years, is secretary of the Iowa Northern Land Company of Fort Dodge and president of the Thompson Land Company, of Thompson, Iowa. He is also deeply interested in agriculture and the development and improvement of farm lands. He has become the owner of large land interests in Iowa and in Texas, taking all of his farms in the raw and improving them. His methods bring quick results, as he converts the wild prairie into richly productive fields. Formerly he made a specialty of the raising of high bred shorthorn cattle but is now confining his attention more largely to crop cultivation, operating his farms through tenants. He has purchased tract after tract which he has tiled and improved and has thus contributed largely to the progress of the state along agricultural lines.

In February, 1910, Mr. Thompson was married to Ethel (Satterlee) Bennett, of Los Angeles, California, a daughter of Dr. Dwight Satterlee, who was born in Connecticut and represented a family prominent in textile manufacturing. Dr. Satterlee served for five years with the Federal army in the Civil war as a surgeon with the rank of major. He had charge of a hospital in Richmond. Following the cessation of hostilities Dr. Satterlee located at Dunlap, Iowa, where he engaged in the practice of medicine for forty years. He was also the owner of a drug store there and was president of the Dunlap Bank. He also served as county supervisor and filled other offices and was prominently connected with many projects of importance to the community. Later he became a resident of Des Moines, Iowa, and later went to Denver, Colorado, and on to California, where he took up his abode about 1901. He is a man of much more than ordinary ability and his activities constitute a valuable contribution to the world's work. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are the parents of the following children: Wilma Charlotte, Bruce and Janice.

In politics Mr. Thompson has always been a stalwart republican, believing firmly in the principles of the party yet never seeking nor accepting nomination for office. Fraternally he is connected with Truth Lodge, No. 213, A. F. & A. M., and also with the Knights of Pythias. He is happy in having back of him an honorable ancestry and fortunate in that his lines of life have been cast in harmony therewith. He has made his life one of broad usefulness, directing his efforts not alone along lines bringing individual success but also into fields which constitute a source of public service. In June, 1915, he was elected a trustee of Grinnell College at Grinnell, Iowa, and was elected a director of the Grinnell Foundation, which is the business corporation of the college, in June, 1916. In the winter of 1915-16 he was sent by the school to be its representative at meetings held by its local alumni associations in Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Kansas City. The high purposes of his life have ever found fulfillment in the attainment of practical results, for he has ever been a man of action rather than of theory.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 307-309.