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{{short description|American poet}}
[[File:Maurice Thompson.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Maurice Thompson]]


:''For the English politician, see [[Maurice Thompson, 2nd Baron Haversham]].''
{{for multi|the English politician|Maurice Thompson, 2nd Baron Haversham|the American lawyer|Maurice A. Thompson}}
{{Infobox writer
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'''James Maurice Thompson''' (September 9, 1844 – February 15, 1901) was an [[United States|American]] novelist.
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'''James Maurice Thompson''' (September 9, 1844 – February 15, 1901) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, archer and naturalist.


==Biography==
==Biography==
Thompson was born in [[Fairfield, Indiana]]. Raised on a [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] plantation, Thompson first pursued a career as a lawyer. In 1871 he opened a law practice with his brother, William Henry Thompson. He was drawn away from the field of law by the success of articles and short stories published in the ''[[New York Tribune]]'', ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]'', and ''[[Harper's Monthly]]''.
James Maurice Thompson was born in 1844 in the former town of [[Fairfield, Indiana]], located in [[Union County, Indiana|Union County]] to a Baptist minister and his wife. Near the end of the decade, the family moved to northern Georgia. He was educated by tutors in the classical languages, literature, French and mathematics; he used his mathematical training to advantage by becoming a [[civil engineer]].


During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Maurice Thompson and his brother [[William Thompson (archer)|Will Henry Thompson]] (born 1848) fought as privates in the Confederate Army.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.confederatevets.com/documents/thompson_wa_cv_10_18_ob.shtml|title = Genealogy - Will H. Thompson - Ida Lee - Maurice Thompson - 4th Georgia Infantry - Calhoun, Georgia - Georgia Military Institute - Wilderness, Virginia - Cold Harbor, Virginia - Crawfordsville, Indiana}}</ref>
⚫
As a writer, Thompson became well known as a [[local color (literature)|local colorist]], his works ranging from local history to articles about archery. His first book, ''Hoosier Mosaics'', published in 1875, was a collection of short stories illustrating the people and atmosphere of small [[Indiana]] towns. He followed it with a successful compilation of his published essays, ''[[The Witchery of Archery]]'', which was well received for its wit and use of common language. At this same time, Thompson also published several collections of naturalistic poetry, though they weren't well received at the time.


After the war, Thompson took up residence in [[Calhoun, Georgia]], where he studied surveying, engineering, and the law. He lived in Calhoun for two years, and began publishing the first of his articles while living there.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Joslyn|first1=Mauriel P.|title=The Archer from the Cherokee Hills|journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly|date=2002|volume=86|issue=1|page=84|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=6861195&site=eds-live&scope=site|accessdate=19 February 2018}}</ref>
⚫
Thompson wrote the poem "To the South" that was reprinted in [[George Washington Cable]]'s influential and controversial essay, "The Freedmen's Case in Equity" in 1885. This poem expressed Thompson's reaction to the freeing of the slaves, and implied that some other Southerners were not as angry about the overturning of that institution as Northerners presumed.<ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hfequity.html The Freedman's Case in Equity<!-- bot-generated title -->] at etext.virginia.edu</ref>


In 1867 Thompson began a botanical and ornithological survey of [[Lake Okeechobee]] in Florida. After finishing this work, Thompson and his brother moved to [[Crawfordsville, Indiana]]. Maurice began working as an engineer on a railroad being built in the area, and the Thompson brothers married sisters.
⚫
Through the 1880s, Thompson moved into the realm of fiction. His early works featured the common thread of simple southern life, taken mostly from Thompson's childhood. With his 1886 semi-autobiographical novel, ''A Banker of Bankersville'', he returned to his [[Indiana]] roots. Arguably his most successful and well-known novel was ''Alice of Old Vincennes''. The novel vividly depicted Indiana during the [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]].


In 1871 the brothers opened a law office together. In 1873 Maurice resumed submitting articles for publication ([[The Atlantic|Atlantic Monthly]] published his first), after which he undertook a series of articles on [[archery]]. He was published in ''[[New York Tribune]]'', ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]'', and ''[[Harper's Monthly]]''. His first book appeared in 1875 and over the ensuing years he wrote in different genres, including novels and poetry.
⚫
Thompson died shortly after its publication, on February 15, 1901, of pneumonia, aged 56.<ref name="nytobit">(16 February 1901). [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F12F73E5911738DDDAF0994DA405B818CF1D3 Maurice Thompson Is Dead; The Novelist Had Been Kept Alive Several Days by Stimulants - His Literary Career], ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref><ref name="bio2">Alderman, Edwin Anderson, et al., eds. [http://books.google.com/books?id=0UorAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA5255#v=onepage&q&f=false Library of Southern Literature, Volume XII], pp. 5254-58 (1907, 1910)</ref>

Thompson was elected to the Indiana State Legislature in 1879. His brother Will moved to [[Seattle, Washington]] and became Western Counsel for the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railroad]], and remained active in Confederate affairs, as well as publishing a poem, "High Tide at Gettysburg".

==Writing==
[[File:THOMPSON(1892) Poems.jpg|left|thumb|Poems, 1892]]
⚫
Thompson became well known as a [[American literary regionalism|local colorist]], with works ranging from local history to archery. His first book, ''Hoosier Mosaics'', published in 1875, was a collection of short stories illustrating the people and atmosphere of small [[Indiana]] towns. He followed it with a successful compilation of his published essays, ''[[The Witchery of Archery]]'', which was well received for its wit and use of common language. At this same time, Thompson also published several collections of naturalistic poetry, though they weren't well received at the time.

⚫
Thompson wrote the poem "To the South" that was reprinted in [[George Washington Cable]]'s influential and controversial essay, "The Freedmen's Case in Equity" in 1885. This poem expressed Thompson's reaction to the freeing of the slaves, and implied that some other Southerners were not as angry about the overturning of that institution as Northerners presumed.<ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hfequity.html The Freedman's Case in Equity]</ref> [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], in 1892, read eight lines from Thompson's "An Address by an Ex-Confederate Soldier to the Grand Army of the Republic", calling him "the finest poet of the Confederacy".<ref>{{cite book |title=Roster and Proceedings of the ... Annual Encampment of the Department of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic |publisher=F.J. Heer |year=1892 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaGnUjfNoAsC&pg=PA40 |page=40}}</ref>

⚫
Through the 1880s, Thompson moved into the realm of fiction. His early works featured the common thread of simple southern life, taken mostly from Thompson's childhood. With his 1886 semi-autobiographical novel, ''A Banker of Bankersville'', he returned to his [[Indiana]] roots. Arguably his most successful and well-known novel was ''[[Alice of Old Vincennes]]''. The novel vividly depicted Indiana during the [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]].

==Death==
⚫
Thompson died shortly after publication of ''Alice of Old Vincennes'', on February 15, 1901, of pneumonia, aged 56.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F12F73E5911738DDDAF0994DA405B818CF1D3 Maurice Thompson Is Dead; The Novelist Had Been Kept Alive Several Days by Stimulants - His Literary Career], ''[[The New York Times]]'' (16 February 1901)</ref><ref>Alderman, Edwin Anderson, et al., eds. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0UorAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA5255 Library of Southern Literature, Volume XII], pp. 5254-58 (1907, 1910)</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
This bibliography may not be complete.
This bibliography may not be complete.
* ''Poems'' (1872-1892)
* ''Poems'' (1872–1892)
* ''Hoosier Mosiacs'' (1875)
* ''Hoosier Mosiacs'' (1875)
* ''[[The Witchery of Archery]]'' (1878)
* ''[[The Witchery of Archery]]'' (1878)
* ''[https://archive.org/stream/howtotraininarc00thomgoog#page/n10/mode/2up How to train in Archery]'' (With brother [[Will H Thompson]])(1879)
* ''[https://archive.org/stream/howtotraininarc00thomgoog#page/n10/mode/2up How to train in Archery]'' (With Will Henry Thompson)(1879)
* ''A Tallahassee Girl'' (1882)
* ''A Tallahassee Girl'' (1882)
* ''Songs of Fair Weather'' (1883)
* ''Songs of Fair Weather'' (1883)
Line 34: Line 90:
* ''Sweetheart Manette'' (1894)
* ''Sweetheart Manette'' (1894)
* ''The Ocala Boy'' (1895)
* ''The Ocala Boy'' (1895)
* ''[[Alice of Old Vincennes]]'' (1900)<ref name="bio2"/>
* ''Stories of the Cherokee Hills'' (1898)
* ''Stories of Indiana'' (1898)
* ''[[Alice of Old Vincennes]]'' (1900)
* ''My Winter Garden'' (1900)
* ''Rosalynde's Lovers'' (1901)


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


== External links ==
==External links==
{{Commons category|Maurice Thompson}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://myweb.wvnet.edu/~jelkins/lp-2001/thompson.html James Maurice Thompson - (1844-1901) - Indiana & Georgia - Civil engineer, surveyor, naturalist, geologist, lawyer, politician, novelist, poet, sportsman]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Maurice+Thompson | name=Maurice Thompson}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=1388|name=Maurice Thompson}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12524}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Maurice Thompson|sopt=t}}
*[https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zzcm Maurice Thompson papers, 1865-1940]

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{{Authority control}}


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{{Authority control|VIAF=5106439}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
⚫
| NAME = Thompson, Maurice
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American writer
| DATE OF BIRTH = September 9, 1844
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = February 15, 1901
| PLACE OF DEATH =
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}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Maurice}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Maurice}}
[[Category:1844 births]]
[[Category:1844 births]]
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[[Category:American lawyers]]
[[Category:American lawyers]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
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[[Category:American poets]]
[[Category:People from Howard County, Indiana]]
[[Category:People from Howard County, Indiana]]
[[Category:Writers from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
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[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:19th-century American poets]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]

Latest revision as of 22:37, 19 October 2023

For the English politician, see Maurice Thompson, 2nd Baron Haversham. For the American lawyer, see Maurice A. Thompson.
Maurice Thompson
BornJames Maurice Thompson
(1844-09-09)September 9, 1844
Fairfield, Indiana, U.S.
DiedFebruary 15, 1901(1901-02-15) (aged 56)
NationalityAmerican

James Maurice Thompson (September 9, 1844 – February 15, 1901) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, archer and naturalist.

Biography[edit]

James Maurice Thompson was born in 1844 in the former town of Fairfield, Indiana, located in Union County to a Baptist minister and his wife. Near the end of the decade, the family moved to northern Georgia. He was educated by tutors in the classical languages, literature, French and mathematics; he used his mathematical training to advantage by becoming a civil engineer.

During the Civil War, Maurice Thompson and his brother Will Henry Thompson (born 1848) fought as privates in the Confederate Army.[1]

After the war, Thompson took up residence in Calhoun, Georgia, where he studied surveying, engineering, and the law. He lived in Calhoun for two years, and began publishing the first of his articles while living there.[2]

In 1867 Thompson began a botanical and ornithological survey of Lake Okeechobee in Florida. After finishing this work, Thompson and his brother moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. Maurice began working as an engineer on a railroad being built in the area, and the Thompson brothers married sisters.

In 1871 the brothers opened a law office together. In 1873 Maurice resumed submitting articles for publication (Atlantic Monthly published his first), after which he undertook a series of articles on archery. He was published in New York Tribune, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Monthly. His first book appeared in 1875 and over the ensuing years he wrote in different genres, including novels and poetry.

Thompson was elected to the Indiana State Legislature in 1879. His brother Will moved to Seattle, Washington and became Western Counsel for the Great Northern Railroad, and remained active in Confederate affairs, as well as publishing a poem, "High Tide at Gettysburg".

Writing[edit]

Poems, 1892

Thompson became well known as a local colorist, with works ranging from local history to archery. His first book, Hoosier Mosaics, published in 1875, was a collection of short stories illustrating the people and atmosphere of small Indiana towns. He followed it with a successful compilation of his published essays, The Witchery of Archery, which was well received for its wit and use of common language. At this same time, Thompson also published several collections of naturalistic poetry, though they weren't well received at the time.

Thompson wrote the poem "To the South" that was reprinted in George Washington Cable's influential and controversial essay, "The Freedmen's Case in Equity" in 1885. This poem expressed Thompson's reaction to the freeing of the slaves, and implied that some other Southerners were not as angry about the overturning of that institution as Northerners presumed.[3] Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1892, read eight lines from Thompson's "An Address by an Ex-Confederate Soldier to the Grand Army of the Republic", calling him "the finest poet of the Confederacy".[4]

Through the 1880s, Thompson moved into the realm of fiction. His early works featured the common thread of simple southern life, taken mostly from Thompson's childhood. With his 1886 semi-autobiographical novel, A Banker of Bankersville, he returned to his Indiana roots. Arguably his most successful and well-known novel was Alice of Old Vincennes. The novel vividly depicted Indiana during the Revolutionary War.

Death[edit]

Thompson died shortly after publication of Alice of Old Vincennes, on February 15, 1901, of pneumonia, aged 56.[5][6]

Bibliography[edit]

This bibliography may not be complete.

  • Poems (1872–1892)
  • Hoosier Mosiacs (1875)
  • The Witchery of Archery (1878)
  • How to train in Archery (With Will Henry Thompson)(1879)
  • A Tallahassee Girl (1882)
  • Songs of Fair Weather (1883)
  • His Second Campaign (1883)
  • Byways and Bird Notes (1885)
  • At Love's Extremes (1885) (reissued as Milly: At Love's Extremes in 1901)
  • A Banker of Bankersville (1886)
  • Sylvan Secrets in Bird-Songs and Brooks (1887)
  • The Story of Louisiana (1888)
  • A Fortnight of Folly (1888)
  • The King of Honey Island (1892)
  • Ethics of Literary Art (1893)
  • Sweetheart Manette (1894)
  • The Ocala Boy (1895)
  • Stories of the Cherokee Hills (1898)
  • Stories of Indiana (1898)
  • Alice of Old Vincennes (1900)
  • My Winter Garden (1900)
  • Rosalynde's Lovers (1901)

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Genealogy - Will H. Thompson - Ida Lee - Maurice Thompson - 4th Georgia Infantry - Calhoun, Georgia - Georgia Military Institute - Wilderness, Virginia - Cold Harbor, Virginia - Crawfordsville, Indiana".
  2. ^ Joslyn, Mauriel P. (2002). "The Archer from the Cherokee Hills". Georgia Historical Quarterly. 86 (1): 84. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  3. ^ The Freedman's Case in Equity
  4. ^ Roster and Proceedings of the ... Annual Encampment of the Department of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic. F.J. Heer. 1892. p. 40.
  5. ^ Maurice Thompson Is Dead; The Novelist Had Been Kept Alive Several Days by Stimulants - His Literary Career, The New York Times (16 February 1901)
  6. ^ Alderman, Edwin Anderson, et al., eds. Library of Southern Literature, Volume XII, pp. 5254-58 (1907, 1910)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maurice Thompson.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Maurice Thompson.
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