Thompson family

Thomas G. (Thomas Gordon) Thompson was born November 28, 1888 on Staten Island, New York, son of John Haslam Thompson and Mary Elizabeth Langdon Thompson. The Thompson family moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1894. After graduating high school in 1906, Thomas moved to Torrington, Connecticut, where he was employed in the chemistry lab of a manufacturing plant. The rest of his family followed him to Torrington where his brother, Jack, came to work for the Torrington Register . Thomas remained at the manufacturing plant until 1911, at which time he was given a Carnegie scholarship. The award allowed him to attend Clark University, a three-year college in Worchester, Massachusetts.

In 1914, Thomas moved to Seattle to pursue graduate studies in the Chemistry Department at the University of Washington. He received a Master’s of Science in 1915 and the university awarded him a Doctorate in Chemistry in 1918. He continued to teach chemistry at the university and, as time progressed, he became more exclusively concerned with oceanographic issues. In 1930, Thomas coordinated the formal establishment of the University of Washington Oceanographic Laboratories.

Thomas G. Thompson served twice in the United States Army. During World War I, he was engaged in chemical warfare research for the United States Army. At the beginning of World War II, he worked at Stanford University's Edgewood Arsenal, and also headed a War Department Civilian Defense School in Seattle. From 1943-1945, Thompson served as a lieutenant colonel in the Chemical Warfare Service.

Harriet G. (Harriet Galbraith) Thompson was born on February 3, 1893, in Winnipeg, Canada, daughter of Edward Galbraith and Mary Moore Galbraith. While Harriet was a little girl, the Galbraith family homesteaded on Bowen Island, British Columbia. Harriet received her nursing certificate from the Royal Columbia Teaching Hospital in 1911. In addition to continuing work at the hospital, she traveled to Alaska and other northwest regions to practice nursing. In 1919 Harriet enrolled in the University of Washington, graduating in 1923.

Thomas and Harriet met at the University of Washington where Harriet was a student and Thomas was a professor of chemistry. The two married on June 27, 1922. During World War II, while Thomas was active with the War Department in the Civilian Defense Corps, Harriet worked for the American National Red Cross as head instructor for the Nurses' Aides program in Seattle.

Thomas and Harriet had three children: Thomas Jr., Jack, and Harriet. Thomas Jr. and Jack followed their father into the army, having been drafted in 1943. For the duration of the war Thomas Jr. was stationed in Iran while Jack was in France and Germany. During the war, young Harriet remained with her mother in Seattle, and occasionally visited June Burn at the Burn family cabin on Waldron Island. During the last years of the war the Thompson family purchased McConnell Island, part of the San Juan Islands in Washington State.

Harriet G. Thompson died in 1951 and Thomas retired from the University of Washington the same year. He remarried Isabelle Costigan in 1954 and, in the first year of their marriage, legally adopted her two small sons, Charles and Gary. Thomas G. Thompson passed away on August 12, 1961.

From the guide to the Thompson family papers, 1797-2007, 1900-1968, (Western Washington University Heritage Resources)