Robert Augustine Thompson (1805-1876)

U.S. Congressman. He attended a private school at Gallipolis, Ohio, the University of Virginia, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1826 and commenced to practice law in Charleston, Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia State Senate, (1839-46). In 1847, he was elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth Congress, serving until 1849. Declining to be a candidate for reelection, he was member of the board of visitors to the University of Virginia in 1852. Moving to San Francisco, California, he was appointed a member of a commission to settle private land claims in California, in 1853, appointed by the Governor a reporter of the California Supreme Court in 1870 and was a member of the justices’ Court of San Francisco from 1870 until his death at age 71.

Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith