Thomas Larkin Thompson

Who was Thomas Larkin Thompson?

Thomas Larkin Thompson was a U.S. Representative from California, son of Robert Augustine Thompson.

Born in Charleston, Virginia, Thompson attended the common schools and Buffalo Academy, Virginia. He moved to California in 1855 and settled in Sonoma County. He established the Petaluma Journal the same year. Purchased the Sonoma Democrat in 1860, and was the editor of that paper. He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880 and 1892. Secretary of state of California 1882-1886. He declined to be a candidate for renomination.

Thompson was elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888 to the Fifty-first Congress. He was appointed on April 4, 1891, commissioner from California to the World's Fair at Chicago. Minister to Brazil from April 24, 1893, to May 27, 1897. He died in Santa Rosa, California, February 1, 1898. He was interred in the Rural Cemetery.