Joseph Richard Thomson

Joseph Richard Thomson was born July 18, 1870 in Richmond to George and Alice Tomlinson Thomson. Joseph is a Pioneer of Richmond.

History

"We had a nice orchard of fruit trees and currant bushes east of where the house stood. Mother used to pick currants and sell them. We had a large garden south of the house and down by the creek, where we raised five or six loads of squash every year to feed to the cows....

"What a happy life we had there. My two youngest sisters, Isabell and Mary Ann, and I played along City Creek. Along its banks grew willow and cottonwood trees. In the month of June, the wild roses would bloom, making it a lovely sight and a wonderful place to play....

"While I was still a young boy I built a canal, taking the water out of the creek to water the garden. Down stream, where the water dropped back into the creek I constructed a water wheel, and connected it by a string to a cow bell a quarter of a block away so it would ring the bell all night. The neighbors thought we had a very restless cow. My first labor was herding sheep on the hills up City Creek with a neighbor lad. One day a savage dog frightened the sheep. They ran home ahead of us, and the folks came looking for us to see what was the trouble. 

"My early life was spent on the farm."

Joseph was able to receive an early education in Richmond's District Schools. In 1884, he started attending a private school by former Brigham Young College Principal Ida I. Cook. From her teaching, Joseph had the inspiration to attend higher education. He attended two years at B.Y.C. for bookkeeping, then four years at Utah State Agriculture College (USU) for Mechanical Engineering.

"The first I remember of my association with my dear wife was June 16, 1894, when she was passing our place with some friends. We used to raise lots of flowers, and they stopped to look at them. I plucked a beautiful red peony—she blushed like the flower I gave to her. I guess our courtship started from that small beginning....

"I used to read to her, books and poems. She was always very modest and lady like for which I respected her very much. However, she did let me have a good night kiss after August fifth. We became engaged as I proposed to her December 22, 1894. I was accepted. It was Ella that suggested that we get married so I would not have to live alone, as I was batching it while going to college."

Joseph married Ella Jane Shepard on Spe 11, 1895 in Richmond. 

After his graduation, Joseph began a teaching career from 1896-1906 for eight different schools in Cache Valley. During this time, he also worked on his farm.

Member of the City Council (1910 - 1912)

Epilogue