Thomson - William M (Rev) - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

On the afternoon of April 8th Mr. Alexander Thomson received a telegram from Denver, Colorado, announcing the death of his brother, the Rev. William M. Thomson, D. D., at that city.

He was the fourth son of the Rev. John Thomson, for many years pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Springdale, Hamilton County, Ohio, a remarkable minister and scholar in the original languages in which the Holy Scriptures were written.

There were eight children—seven sons and one daughter. The latter became the wife of Mr. Edwin J. Peck, late of Indianapolis, and among the largest benefactors of Wabash College. The father fitted four sons for admission to Miami University—James, John S., William and Alexander. The first two were graduates in the first class that the University graduated under Dr. Robert W. Bishop in 1825, and the third one, William, in the next year. Dr. Thomson took a high rank in his class at the University as a brilliant scholar. In his senior year he was converted and became an ardent Christian man, which changed his aspirations and aims of life. It led him to Princeton for his theological education, and to the Holy Land for his life work. In 1832 he was ordained and commissioned as a missionary to Palestine. His ministry in that land of the Bible continued from 1832 to 1876, over 40 years, with the exception of two visits for a short period to the land of his birth. Sine 1876 he has resided in New York and Denver.

In matters pertaining to Bible lands, especially the Holy Land, he became a celebrated archaeological authority. He was also a high authority in the original language of the Scriptures and the language relating to them. He was a contributor to the American Biblical Repository and other religious publications of this country. His great work, published in 1859, was “the Land and the Book,” which gave him great reputation in the religious and learned world. This work in 1880-6 he recast and illustrated profusely and it was published by the Harpers in three very beautiful volumes.

His last years have been spent at Denver with his two daughters, suffering greatly but meeting affliction and the slow approaches of death with the most beautiful serenity.

The writer of this met him in his home in the autumn of 1892. From his window he looked over Denver and beyond on the snow capped Rockies. In the midst of these charming scenes he dwelt at serenely as if he had no doubt as to his own approach to a country in which is the city of God.

William M. Thomson was born at Springdale, O., December 31, 1806, and died April 8, 1894, aged 86 years, three months and eight days.

Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Thursday, 12 April 1894

The New York Tribune, of the 10th inst., thus speaks of Dr. Thomson whose death was announced in last Monday’s Journal:

The Rev. Dr. William McClure Thomson, who died suddenly yesterday in Denver, Col., at the home of his daughter, Mrs. F. K. Walker, was born in Springdale, Ohio, and was in his eighty ninth year. He was the son of the Rev. John Thomson, who as a well know Presbyterian clergyman in the early part of the century.  Dr. Thomson was a graduate of Miami University and of the Princeton theological Seminary. In 1832 he went to Syria as a missionary for the American Board of Foreign Missions, and remained there until 1878, when he retired from active work. He was the author of “The Land and the Book,” a volume illustrative of the manners and customs of Palestine. Besides having the large sale of all works of the kind in America, it was declared before the Commission of the British Parliament on International copyright to have had the largest sale in Great Britain of all American works except “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It was issued in 1858, and is still considered a standard work in the east. Dr. Thomson was married twice: his first wife was Miss Eliza Nelson Hanna, of New York. Dr. W. H. Thomson, of this city, was the only child. His second wife was Mrs. Abbott, the widow of a British Consul-General at Syria. Two daughters by that marriage survive him. Dr. Thomas was a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a member of many European and American societies. The burial will probably be in Denver.