Judge Francis M. Thompson

Next up is Judge Francis M. Thompson of Greenfield, MA. This post continues our review of editors and contributors to The Massachusetts Magazine (started by Dr. Frank). Earlier, we looked at R.A. Douglas-Litghow, MD, LLD, F. B. Sanborn, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Thomas brought troops and supplies to Kansas in 1854 from New England, among other things).

Among other accomplishments, Francis was author of The History of Greenfield (Vol I - google.com, Vol II - archive.org). We will look at that.

For now, we want to list the articles published in the TMM, in order of their appearance. Both Thomas and Francis were out west prior to the Civil War. Francis spent more time and was a pioneer in Montana. So, there is a lot to cover.

The articles were titled "Reminiscences of Four-Score Years" and started to appear with Volume V.

• TMM, Vol. V, No. 4 (pg 123-167) - born in October of 1833. Got an opportunity to move west. Visited several places as a banker. Met Abe Lincoln in Springfield. Heard of gold found near the headwaters of the Missouri. So, headed west. Up the river. 
• TMM, Vol. VI, No. 1 -  On Fort Denton. With John W. Powell as a guide, did some exploration. Then, headed further west. 
• TMM, Vol. VI, No. 2 - Blackfoot country. Spokane. Down to Portland. 
• TMM, Vol. VI, No. 3 - Down to California. Spent three months in San Francisco from Nov. 8, 1862. 
• TMM, Vol. VI, No. 4 - Nevada City. Salt Lake. On vigilantes. 
• TMM, Vol, VII, No. 1 - on the beginning of a new state. 
• TMM, Vol. VII, No. 2 - notes on Montana. 
• TMM, Vol. VII, No. 3 - on Montana and its founders. 
• TMM, Vol. VIII, No. 1 - on Montana and its founders. 

We will go through these in more detail as they pertain to the westward expansion. The Montana Historical Society Press published Francis' story (2004): A Tenderfoot in Montana. The reprint mentions that the text came out of The Massachusetts Magazine.

Remarks: Modified: 07/08/2022

06/17/2018 -- F. M. will be featured in The Gardner Annals, Vol. IV, No. 1. 

03/07/2019 -- Added image from this post to the index on our portal to truth.

10/28/2019 -- Mentioned the Judge in a comment at this post: Seeking refuge in the valley

07/08/2022 -- We're adding new material to another post and will link in here. The WikiTree of his father, John Thompson (Thompson-35810). F.M. is the 8th generation.