The events in which the subject of this review has participated cannot fail to make his history one of the intense interest to the readers of this volume, especially as, to quote the words of a fellow townsman, "No man rides the streets of Coshocton in whom the people take greater pride than Archie Thomson." He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, October, 29, 1835. His father, Dr. Joseph Thomson, was a physician of national reputation. He was educated in the Edinburgh University and practiced with splendid success for fifty-three years. At his death in 1870, a large and beautiful monument was erected to his memory by his patients. He had the keenest love for sport but was strongly opposed to gambling and never allowed that feature of life to enter into his enjoyment of sports. His wife, Jean Harvey, also a native of Scotland, passed away in 1882. There were seven sons in the family, to whom the father left a handsome patrimony.

This number included A. H. Thomson, of Coshocton, who reared under the parental roof, pursued his early education in a private school at Dalmeny, about four miles from Edinburgh. Subsequently he attended the Merkison Academy, and in 1855 he joined the British troops engaged in Crimean war, going to the front with a cousin who was adjutant of the Forty-second Regiment. Mr. Thomson acted as adjutant's clerk without pay, prompted to this step by a desire to see the world, and while at the front he witnessed most of the engagements in which the British troops participated.

Following his return to Scotland in 1856, Mr. Thomson became a student in veterinary college at Edinburgh, which is the finest in the world. He did not complete his course there, however, but returned to Merkison Academy, where he remained as a student for a year and a half. He made his initial step in the business world as a junior partner in the wholesale tea house of R. H. Thomson & Company of Edinburgh, there continuing until twenty-four years of age. This proved a successful venture and while he was thus engaged he found pleasure and recreation in indulging his love of horses, owning a number of fine jumpers and other good steeds. In 1859 he decided to come to the United States and located in Akron, Ohio, where he obtained a position as clerk in the Empire Hotel. He had been a resident of the new world for only a brief period, however, when in the spring on 1861 he espoused the Union cause and enlisted as a member of Company G, Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, in response to the call for ninety-day men. Over one-half of the company reenlisted as a member of the Second Ohio Cavalry ten days prior to the expiration of their first term. Mr. Thompson was among the number who reenlisted for three years and did active duty at the front and elsewhere. In the summer of 1863 seven of the regiment were sent home to recruit enough men to fill up the regiment. It was during that time that he was made a sergeant of his company and soon afterward was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. He and his comrades were so successful in recruiting service that they enlisted a new regiment known as the Twelfth Cavalry, and in this Mr. Thomson was made a captain. He participated in thirty-seven battles and was slightly wounded three times, on one occasion his left hand being injured in a hand to hand conflict. He participated in the last fight of the war in August, 1865, and was honorably discharge on the 29th of November following. Aside from the usual experience of the soldier and officer, Captain Thomson was the participant in a number of events which he recalls with great interest and which are worthy of mention here. About the 18th of April, 1865, he was sent under a flag of truce to Charlotte, North Carolina, with E. M. Clark, a member of his company, as an escort. They were conducted to headquarters, where the guard pointed out General Echols, who sat at one end of a long table and to him Captain Thomson gave his dispatches. While waiting for a reply he glanced around the room, where he saw sixteen or eighteen gentlemen, all in military uniform with one or two exceptions. Colonel Cal Morgan, who had been a Union prisoner a few months before, approached Captain Thomson and said, extending his hand, "I believe you and I are not altogether strangers." As they chatted, a gentleman in a civilian suit addressed General Echols. As he did so Captain Thomson recognized Jeff Davis and says that he saw " a much pleasanter faced man than the northern papers had pictured--a soul of kindly impulses beaming from every feature." On reading the dispatch General Echols handed it to Mr. Davis, who read it slowly and handed it back with the remark, "Well, we have lost a generous enemy." It was with these words that Mr. Davis received the news of the assassination of President Lincoln, for the dispatch which Captain Thomson bore read as follow: "Greensboro, North Carolina. Lincoln was assassinated the night of the 14th in Ford's theater. Seward was assassinated about the same time in his own house. Grant has marched his army back to Washington to declare himself military dictator. (Signed) J. E. Johnson. "Thus it is that there comes to the public from Captain Thomson the knowledge of the way in which the Confederate president received the news of the death of the man whom he regarded as the greatest enemy of his (Davis) newly created country. While still at headquarters Captain Thomson was asked by General Echols, "Where is Burbridge?" "Just back of Lincolnton," came the answer but, somewhat incensed at the question, he retaliated with, "I seen you have President Davis with you, General." General Echols then said, "Mr. Thomson, I am surprised at your asking any such questions while here under a flag of truce," whereon Captain Thomson rejoined, "Oh, I beg pardon, General, you broke down that bar by asking about Burbridge." General Echols then smilingly said: "Yes, President Davis is with us." After a hasty repast furnished by Mrs. General Echols, Captain Thomson and his comrade were ready to leave the post, when they were approached by General Ed Johnson, who asked as a special favor that Captain Thomson solicit General Gillem to allow and escort to accompany Mrs. General Johnson, who was then living with a relative in Lincolnton and had not met her husband for years. Their honeymoon, he said, had not well begun when the south demanded his services and he had since been separated from his wife. Captain Thomson promised to do what he could and when he had once more arrived at General Gillem's headquarters he started to present his request as to the escort of Mrs. Johnson in a very eloquent appeal but broke down in the middles of the first sentence of his prepared speech. Gillem, looking at him a moment, said, "Come down to us, young man, and say in plain words what you want." After Captain Thomson had done so the General replied: "Oh, there's a lady in the case. All right, go see the lady, and when she is ready an ambulance will be furnished, and take what men you want from your own company and escort her to her husband, and if you meet him this side of the Catawba at a safe distance, see them across the river." When Captain Thomson presented himself at the residence where Mrs. Johnson was staying and she saw his Yankee uniform, he was greeted with a supercilious curl of the lip, but he mustered up courage to say, "Madam, I am not here on any military duty, for I left my side arms in honor of the wife of General Johnson at General Gillem's quarters, but am on a mission of love from your husband." The expression of her face changed instantly and she shook hands with Captain Thomson, who, on delivering the message, told her that the mode of transportation was ready if she wished to go. In an hour they were on their way with an escort of eight men. After riding about twenty miles Captain Thomson, looking through the ambulance which was in front of them saw about a mile ahead some horsemen coming. He believed it to be General Johnson's escort and so discovered on looking through his field glass. At the rear of the ambulance he engaged Mrs. Johnson's attention and she did not know anything about the approach of her husband until he rode to the rear of the conveyance and dismounted. With a little scream the wife jumped unaided to the ground and the Confederate officer and his wife were happy in their reunion. Sometime later, when Captain Thomson parted with them, Mrs. Johnson said, "You have changed my opinion of the whole north. How prejudiced and bitter I was against the north--but that is finished now;" while the General added, "This is the oasis of the desert in the military life."

When the war was over Captain Thomson returned to Scotland on a visit, remaining there a few months. His father offered to put him in business if he would continue in that country but he decided that the United States was better for him and in 1866 took up his adobe at Lancaster, Ohio. The following year he engaged in the livery business at Roscoe, Coshocton county, meeting with success there until 1870, when he established his present business in the city of Coshocton as a dealer in feed and builders' supplies. This enterprise has grown to be one of the considerable magnitude. In the meantime, in 1882, Captain Thomson leased his building and warehouse and, leaving his family in Ohio, went into the cattle business near Raton, New Mexico. He was interested in this undertaking for nine years and drove the largest herd of cattle that ever went from Texas into New Mexico, numbering ten thousand four hundred and eighty head, all of which, with the exception of four hundred cows, were the property of Delano & Dweyer, who recognized his business ability and therefore placed the cattle in his hands, he carefully managing the large herd on the eleven hundred mile ride. His cattle venture on the whole, however, terminated badly because of the hard winters. In 1886, therefore, he resumed his former business in Coshocton as a dealer in grain and builders' supplies and in 1898 admitted his son, Joseph W., to a partnership in the business, which is still being successfully conducted, although in 1900 Captain Thomson practically retired from the management. He it was who introduced the first delivery wagon in Coshocton, and from 1895 to the present he has been agent for the Standard Oil Company, his business in this connection being a considerable source of revenue.

On the 21s of October, 1868, occurred the marriage of A. H. Thomson to Miss Maria Romaine Hutchins, whose mother was a cousin of Benjamin Harrison. Mrs. Thomson is a native of Lancaster, Ohio, and their only son is Joseph Thomson, who was born in 1869. He is now his fathers partner in business. The latter is a member of the various Masonic bodies, including Coshocton Lodge, No. 97, A. F. & A. M., Samaritan Chapter, No. 50, R. A. M., and Coshocton Commandery, No 63, K. T., he is a member and adjutant of Richard Lanning Post, No. 69, G. A. R., a member of the Loyal Legion and the Wranglers' Club. In the winter of 1902 he visited his old home in Scotland. There many years before he had found great delight in riding over the hills and plains after the hounds, and recently he has become a member of the Central Ohio Club, a hunting club, which has awakened his old enthusiasm for a sport which was to him of deepest interest in his youth and early manhood. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and in all relations of citizenship he has been as loyal and faithful to his adopted country as when he followed the old flag on the battlefields of the south. His life has been varied in its experiences, covering his boyhood and youth in Scotland, his sojourn on the Crimean battlefields, his active service in the Union army in the Civil war, his cattle interests in the southwest and his business ventures in Coshocton. He possesses a retentive memory and his mind is stored with many interesting incidents, some of which he has written up for different papers and publications. He has now passed the seventy-third milestone of life’s journey but in spirit and interests seems yet in his prime, and young and old find no more congenial and interesting companion that A. H. Thomson.