Edward Warren Thompson of Topeka, manager of the National Life Insurance Company of Vermont for the State of Kansas, was born on a farm near Berlin, Vt., Aug. 28, 1855. He is a son of Joseph Warren Thompson, a farmer who was born in Vermont, in 1802, and spent his whole life in that state. He died in 1870. He was a son of Daniel Thompson, born in Massachusetts, whose father, Daniel Thompson, was a Revolutionary hero who was killed at the battle of Lexington, and a monument erected to his memory stands on the Concord and Lexington road. Daniel Thompson, the Revolutionary hero, was a descendant of James Thompson, who immigrated to America from England early in the Seventeenth Century and settled at Charlestown, Mass. Edward W. Thompson belongs to the ninth generation descended from James Thompson mentioned above. In England the Thompson family possessed a coat-of-arms and their genealogy has been traced back to William the Conqueror. The mother of Edward W. Thompson was Arvilla Jane Ralph, who was born in Vermont, in 1813, and died there in 1870.

Edward Warren Thompson was chiefly reared in Montpelier, Vt., and received his education at the Washington County Grammar School in which he graduated. In all of his earlier manhood Mr. Thompson was a railroad man. In 1875 he entered the employ of the Central of Vermont Railroad as an engine wiper. He was in its employ seven years and in that time he was successively freight clerk, ticket clerk, spare station agent, traveling passenger agent, and finally White Mountain passenger agent. In 1882 he became New England passenger agent for the Canadian Pacific railroad; from 1883 to 1891 he was New England passenger agent of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad, with headquarters at Boston; from 1891 to 1895 he was division superintendent of the Central of Vermont railroad at Montpelier, Vt.: and from 1895 to 1897 he was traffic manager of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, with headquarters at Baltimore. He was general excursion agent of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad, from 1897 to 1898, with headquarters at Chicago, and for the following five years he was assistant general passenger agent for that road, with headquarters at Topeka, Kan. From 1903 to the present time he has been manager of the National Life Insurance Company of Vermont for the State of Kansas, with headquarters at Topeka. In July, 1910, he was elected president of the Kansas Association of Underwriters and reëlected in July, 1911, which position he now holds.

He was married June 3, 1886, to Miss Caroline Bailey of St. Albans, Vt., and they have three daughters: Marion Bailey, born Feb. 23, 1887; Marjorie Sears, born Oct. 14, 1890; and Doris Caroline, born May 23, 1902. Marion Thompson, the eldest daughter, is a graduate of Washburn College, at Topeka, and is now assistant librarian of the Topeka City Library. She is a fine French scholar, having studied in schools in Kansas City, Boston, Baltimore and Paris. Marjorie Thompson is a junior in Washburn College, and both Marion and Marjorie are graduates of the Topeka High School. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his political views. He is a member and junior warden of Grace Episcopal Cathedral and has been a vestryman of that church for several years. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar. Mr. Thompson is also a member of the Topeka Commercial Club and of the Saturday Night Club, and is vice-president of the Vermont Granite Company of Topeka.