W. B. Thompson, a representative Butler county farmer, of El Dorado township, is a native of Clinton county, Indiana. He was born November 3, 1848, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Byers) Thompson, natives of Ohio. W. B. Thompson's mother died when he was a child, and his father died a few years later. The boy was reared in Howard county, Indiana, and in early life, followed the occupation of stationary engineer, but in recent years has followed farming. He came to Kansas in 1883, and since that time, has been a resident of Butler county.

Mr. Thompson was married, August 12, 1880, to Miss Sarah Harshman, a daughter of Moses and Elizabeth (Everding) Harshman, the former a native of Green county, Ohio, and the latter of Frederick, Md. The Harshman family are of German descent. Peter Harshman, Moses Harshman's great-grandfather, was born in Germany in 1742, and came to the United States in 1769, and fought in the Revolutionary war under General Washington. His son, Peter Harshman, served in the War of 1812. Moses Harshman and his wife were the parents of the following surviving children: J. N. Harshman, Mrs. B. C. Gamble, Mrs. C. E. Tillotson, and Mrs. W. B. Thompson, the subject of this sketch. In early life they resided in northern Indiana and Michigan, where the father followed his trade, which was that of a miller. The Harshman family came to Kansas in 1880, and the father bought the place where Mr. Thompson now lives, in El Dorado township. Here he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until his death, Nov-

ember 11, 1902. His wife survived him a few years, and died March 24, 1907.

To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have been born the following children: Earl, born in Clinton county, Indiana, married Anna Leedon of Butler county, and they have four children: Eldon, Elwood, Effie and Esther; Everett Virgil, born in Butler county, married Clara Arnold, a Butler county girl, and they have three children: Vadna Ruth, Virgil Pauldine and Albert Wayne. The Harshman and Thompson families are among the representative pioneers of Butler county, and are well known and highly respected.

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