Cyrus Thompson - Richlands, NC
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 52.077 W 077° 32.853
18S E 267132 N 3861360
"Cyrus Thompson, secretary of state, legislator, physician, teacher, agriculturist, and orator, was born at Gregory Forks near Richlands, the son of Franklin, Sr., and Leah Brown Thompson." ~ NCpedia
Waymark Code: WM100K3
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 02/03/2019
Views: 0
County of memorial: Onslow County
Location of marker: Gregory Fork Rd. & Richlands Hwy (US-258), ½ S. of Richlands
Erected by: North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Date erected: 2004
Plaque Text:
C 72
CYRUS THOMPSON
1855~1930
Physician and orator. Secretary of State of N.C., 1897-1901.
Farmers' Alliance and Populist leader. Grave 4 mi. W.
"Young Thompson's parents sent him to a preparatory school in Raleigh, and from there he went to Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va., and was graduated in 1876. He studied medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School and at the University of Louisiana (now the School of Medicine of Tulane University), where he received a medical degree in 1878. He established a medical practice first in Richlands but after 1881 in Jacksonville, the county seat. Recognizing in 1893 that his income was insufficient to support his family, he taught school for several years and for a time afterwards he farmed extensively. Throughout his life he retained an interest in farming, and as a prominent agriculturist he took a leadership role in the Farmers Alliance, serving as its state lecturer.
"Interested in politics, Thompson represented Onslow County as a Democrat in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1883 and in the North Carolina Senate in 1885. From 1895 to 1897 he was a trustee of The University of North Carolina. In 1896 he was elected secretary of state on the Republican ticket and served under Governor Daniel L. Russell from 1897 to 1901. Although not elected, he received the Populist vote for U.S. senator in 1897 and the Republican and Progressive vote in 1913. He was a presidential elector in the balloting of President Herbert Hoover in 1928.
"Resuming his medical practice in Jacksonville in 1904, Thompson was a Fellow of the Medical Society of North Carolina from that time until his death. He was the Onslow County superintendent of health during the years 1905–8 and 1911–12 and the county medical examiner during World War I. Thompson was named to the North Carolina Medical Corps by the surgeon general of the United States, and from 1913 to 1930 he was a member of the State Board of Health (president, 1918). He served several terms as president of the Medical Society of North Carolina and held the same position in the Tri-State Medical Association and the Seaboard Medical Society." ~ NCpedia