J.F & F. T. Tompkins

TOMPKINS, BROOKER, SHEPARD

Posted By: Debbie Clough Gerischer (email)
Date: 7/17/2005 at 17:28:17

In two distinctly different lines of activity Fred T. Tompkins has been
engaged with distinctive success, his record as an educator having been one that
reflected very creditably on his ability, while in the field of life
insurance, in which he is now actively engaged, he has been equally successful, having
ably managed the operations of his company in the district over which he has
control.

Fred T. Tompkins, general agent at Spirit Lake for the Equitable
Life Insurance Company of Iowa, was born in Marseilles, Illinois, on February
6, 1878, and is a son of John F. and Sarah E. (Brooker) Tompkins, both of whom
were natives of Illinois. His father was engaged in farming there until
1890, when he came to Iowa and bought a farm in Winnebago county, where he
devoted himself closely to agricultural pursuits until 1919, when he sold his
farm, retired from active affairs and now lives in Forest City, Iowa.

Fred T. Tompkins attended the public schools, the Thompson high school and
the State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls, Iowa. He then took up educational
work, teaching rural schools for four years before becoming superintendent
of the consolidated schools of Terril, Dickinson county, where he remained
three years, followed by a similar period as superintendent of the schools at
Milford in the same county. He was then elected county superintendent of
schools of Dickinson county, serving four years with success and distinction. On
leaving that office he became superintendent of schools at Fonda, Iowa, but
at the end of a year he quit the educational field and turned his attention to
life insurance, becoming general agent for the Equitable Life Insurance
Company of Iowa, with headquarters at Spirit Lake, where he exercises supervision
over several counties. During the fourteen years that he has held this
position he has made an enviable record, being numbered among the most successful
insurance men of the state.

In 1901 Mr. Tompkins was married to Miss Grace L. Shepard, of Janesville,
Iowa, and to their union have been born two children, namely: Dorthy E. and
Charles J., both of whom are students in the Spirit Lake high school.

Mr. Tompkins is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is
deeply interested in Sunday school work, having served as superintendent for
twelve years, and is also a member of the board of trustees of the church. For
the past eight years he has been chairman of the Spirit Lake public library
board. He is very fond of outdoor recreation, his favorite diversions being
hunting, fishing, golf and tennis. His effective interest in these things is
evidenced by the fact that he is a charter member of the Spirit Lake Golf and
Tennis Clubs. Everything relating in any way to the progress and welfare of
his community receives his hearty support and he is regarded as one of the
enterprising and progressive citizens of Dickinson county.

-source: NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION; VOLUME III, 1804-1926
-transcribed by Debbie Gerischer