James was born the son of John E. and Ellen (Bolton) Thompson. He was born July 21, 1896, in Barbour County, West Virginia. He was married to Iris Daugherty in December, 1916. Members of the family have been mentioned in Iris’s writing. In his younger days and sometime after his marriage, he was a coal miner during the time when they used mules to haul coal from the mines in coal cars. He had an open carbide lamp attached to his cap. They were paid by the amount of tonnage they loaded. He carried a tag with a number on it. When he loaded a car he would hang the tag on the car. The tags were made of a brasslike metal. He had to drill holes with an oger to tamp the powder sticks into, then shoot the coal down from the rib for loading. He got hurt working on the WPA, which was Workers Progress Administration which began during the depression, around 1935 or 1936. He never was able to work on public works after that. He never received any benefits or compensation for injuries.

This threw a hardship on the family. Junior, the oldest son, took over his work order in 1938 and worked the job until he got married in 1939.

He died the 28^th day of January, 1964 at age 68 years. He was laid to rest in the Fraternal Cemetery near Belington. He was a member of the Church of Christ.

By Robert Thompson, son