The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-04-21
HARDEMAN'S HISTORY.
BY HISTORIAN.

We give our readers on this page
of ''Hardeman's History" the life
and character of a man who once
honored this county, Henry Thomp-
son. He was born on the pictures
que banks of Fishing Creek, Dor
chester County, Maryland, 100
miles from Baltimore, March 18th,
1897. His father was the Rev.
Thomas Thompson, Revolutionary
hero of f77G to 1884. He was g
clergyman of the NJ. +. Church, and
according to the laws of the Church
be set his negro slaves free. In the
year 1894 he moved with his family
to Rockingham County, n. c.,
when his son Henry was seven
years old. After Henry became a
man, he married Miss Elizabeth Lee
in the year 1906 or 1907. She was
born on Chesapeake Bay near Bal
timore. The Lee family moved to
Rockingham, n. c., where Mr..
Henry Thompson married her. In
1924 or 1925 he moved to Tennes-
see, settling in Hardeman County,
on Cub Greek, at the place where
Mr.. J. Madison Jacobs now lives,
in the same house, in civil district
No. II. He then moved to Bolivar.
1t is said that he taught the first
school in the brick Academy, in the
south side of Bolivar.
He was an intellectual man and
so was his wife an intellectual wo-
man. The Thompsons and Lees
were wealthy families once. The
Rev. VIM. Lee Thompson, of the
18th civil district Of this county,
was his son, and the present Chair
man of the County Court, a son of
William Lee Thompson, is the grand
son of the said Henry Thompson.
The said Henry Thompson was a
natural born poet. He wrote poetry
from his earliest youth to his old
age. His manuscripts are in the
hands of Hon. Dan. Thompson, of
Jefferson City, Mo, who says he
will publish them.
Henry Thompson removed from
Bolivar TO Indiana, where he lived
short while, and then went to
Missouri. He lived the latter years
of his life in Cole County, Mo-, on
Clarke's Fork, II miles southwest
of Jefferson City, where he died in
the year 1862, his wife having pre-
coded him in the year 1851. He
was a breckenridge Democrat"
The following poem was written
by him aud published in the "Bol-
ivar Free Press" about the yearl634:
TASTING THE BARREL.
Burns had a true poetic muse
That finest feelings could infuse;
But yet mu- reject his views
In tasting of the barrel !
Behold what numbers are oppressed
With loss Of property and res.,
And in ten thousand ways distressed
By tasting Of the barrel
What makes the people disagree.
And pay so large lawyers fee?''
Il is the wicked barley bee''
That flies about the barrel
What makes intoxication roll
Its frantic vapOurs Ger the soul,
In every CLINE, from pole to pole?
It's tasting of the barrel.
Whist makes men so abuse their wives,
And madIy take each others lives
With ugly guns and long dirk-knives?
lis tastingof the barrel
What even makes some ladies run
The race by which they are undOne,
Despised by every decent one?
lis tasting of the barrel
And what made Burns himself a slave
To streams that moved with turbid wave,
And dug him untimely grave?
Twas tasting of the barrel.
scotch Drink'' Scottish bard may sing,
And call John Barley corn" a king;
But I'll not worship such thing
AS Whiskey, in the barrel
(TO BE CONTINUED.