L. O. Thompson

Mr. & Mrs. L. O. Thompson

L. O. Thompson is junior partner in the firm of O. J. Thompson & Son, grain dealers of Northwood, and in this connection has won a place among the representative business men of Worth county. He was born in Barton town­ship, this county, on the 17th of February, 1892, a son of Ove J. and Jennie (Stiley) Thompson, the former a native of Winneshiek county, Iowa, while the latter was born in Carpenter, Mitchell county. Their parents were natives of Norway and on coming to the new world settled in Iowa in the '50s, being among the early pioneers of this section of the state. Since that time the Thompson family has been prominently connected with the further growth and development of Worth and Winneshiek counties. O. J. Thompson was reared in Winneshiek county and in his boyhood days early became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops, thus contributing to the agricultural development of that section. After his marriage he located on a farm in Barton township, Worth county, where he later gave particular attention, to the breeding and raising of stock. He studied closely the question of improving his herds and became well known as a prominent breeder among the stockmen of northern Iowa. In 1893, however, he left the farm and removed to Carpenter, Mitchell county, where he established ousiness as a dealer in live stock, and his previous experience enabled him to correctly judge of the value of the animals which he handled. In 1895 he removed to Meltonville, Worth county, where he engaged in the grain business and also continued his activities as a dealer in live stock. In 1914 he came to Northwood and established his present business at this place as a dealer in coal, grain, live stock and agricultural implements. His operations along this line have put him in the front rank among the well known, enterprising and successful grain and live stock dealers in northern Iowa.

His prominent business associate, L. O. Thompson, whose name introduces this review, was born upon the old homestead farm, but was reared in Melton­ville, where the father had removed with his family during the early childhood of the son. He became a pupil in the schools of Meltonville and afterward had the benefit of further instruction in the Southern Minnesota Normal College at Austin, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1912. Follow­ing the completion of his studies he entered the Bank of Carpenter, where he served for one year in the capacity of bookkeeper and assistant cashier. He then took charge of and operated his father's farm near Meltonville for a year, and during that period was also associated with his father in the buying of live stock. On his father's removal to Northwood in 1914, L. O. Thompson remained in Meltonville, continuing the live stock operations of the firm there for a year. In 1915, however, he, too, came to Northwood and joined his father, forming the firm of O. J. Thompson & Son for the conduct of a grain and live stock business. Their interests have become very extensive and the enterprise of the young man, combined with the experience of the father, make a very strong business combination and one that is resulting in the attainment of a very gratify­ing measure of success.

In 1913 L. O. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Nettie Dahl, a daugh­ter of Gilbert Dahl, a prominent farmer of Silver Lake township, now making his home with a daughter in Emmons, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have one child, Genevieve Barbara.

Politically Mr. Thompson is a republican and he is well known in fraternal circles, having membership in Northern Light Lodge, No. 266, A. F. & A. M.; Worth Lodge, No. 378, I. O. O. F.; Albert Lea Lodge, No. 313, B. P. O. E.; and Rukjan Lodge, No. 172, of the Sons of Norway. He and his wife are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church and they are representatives of that class of enterprising citizens who have had their nativity in or trace their ancestry to Norway, whence has come most substantial aid in the upbuilding and development of this section of the country. Opportunity has ever been to Mr. Thompson a call to action and his activities have been so wisely and ener­getically directed that he has gained a place among the foremost business men of Worth county, contributing in substantial measure to its material development.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 546-549.

Transcribed by Gordon Felland, August 14, 2006