James W. Thompson, cashier of the Citizens State Bank, Waterville, Kan., and a prominent figure in the banking industry of the State, is a native son of Kansas. He was born at Waterville, January 5, 1878, and is a son of N. B. and Mary (Maycroft) Thompson, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of England. N. B. Thompson was engaged in farming in Illinois, and in 1876 came to Kansas and settled at Waterville, where he engaged in the music business. Later he engaged in the loan and real estate business, which he carried on very successfully until the time of his death, which occurred in 1895. His wife survives him and now resides at Waterville. James W. Thompson, the subject of this review, attended the public schools of Waterville and graduated from the high school. He then entered the University of Kansas at Lawrence, where he remained two years, taking special work, including law and a business course. At the expiration of this time he engaged in the banking business at Barnes, Kan., where he bought the controlling interest in the State Exchange Bank and became its cashier. In 1908, about ten years later, he disposed of the controlling interest in this bank, but is still a stockholder and one of the directors. From 1908 to 1910 he spent his time in Oklahoma, where he has large banking and real estate loan interests in and around Custer City and Taloga. In 1910 he bought the controlling interest of the Citizens State Bank, of Waterville, an institution with a capital and surplus of $15,000 and deposits which exceed $100,000.00. Mr. Thompson became cashier of this bank in 1910 and has since devoted himself to the management of this institution. He is also a stockholder in six other State and National banks. Thus he is interested directly at this time in seven different banking institutions. Mr. Thompson is also extensively engaged in the farm loans business in Kansas and Oklahoma, handling farm mortgage securities and selling the same to investors. This business has reached large proportions, he having the personal supervision of all its details. This business has a tendency to draw Eastern capital west, which has a healthy and invigorating effect on the business interests of Kansas and Oklahoma. He has also been very successfully interested in the organization and management of several financial institutions, among which might be mentioned the Bank of Homestead, Oklahoma; the Citizens Bank, of Axtell, Kan.; the Belleville State Bank, Belleville, Kan.; and the Farmers and Merchants State Bank at Greenleaf, Kan., all of which he helped to organize, but in which he is not now interested.

He was married, November 29, 1905, to Miss Marion, daughter of A. P. and Lucie (Ingalls) Hampton, of Frankfort, Kan., where Mrs. Thompson was born and reared. She was educated in the public schools of Frankfort, and after graduating from the high school attended the Monticello Seminary, a young lady's boarding school near St. Louis, Mo. A. P. Hampton and his wife are natives of Illinois. They came to Kansas at an early date, settling at Frankfort, where the father was engaged in the hardware business over thirty-five years, during which time he amassed a fortune and is one of the large land owners of that section. He is now living retired at Frankfort. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have one child, James Augustus, born November 12, 1912. Mrs. Thompson is a member of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Thompson is a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his bank of the Kansas Bankers' Association, the Kansas State Bankers' Association and the American Bankers' Association.

Mr. Thompson, while still a young man, has much to his credit as a capable financier and successful banker. He ranks with the ablest of the country bankers in the mastery of the intricate problems of banking. He possesses what might be termed that progressive conservatism, so essential to the character of him who would be a successful banker,—always safe and sane, yet able to see an opportunity, and profit thereby.