William J. Thompson
William Thompson was born February 28, 1857 in Harrison County, Missouri. After his marriage to Sarah Close in 1875, the couple settled on a farm in Missouri. Three years later they moved to a ranch in Kansas where they spent the next four years. They moved to the Durango, Colorado area in 1882 where Thompson ranched and had a cattle business for eleven years. He then moved into the City of Durango where he served as deputy for various sheriffs until he was elected to the top post in 1904.
The Thompsons had ten children several of whom died in childhood. The surviving Thompson children were George, born in Colorado in 1877 (married Annie Hurley); Charles Herbert, born in Colorado in 1882 (married Helen Wyatt); William Loat, born in Colorado in 1885 (married Nellie Scott); Pearl Beatrice, born in Colorado in 1887 (married Charles Stilwell); and daughter Ruby, born in 1896 (originally married J.S. Adams and later Vernon Helton).
William Thompson was a very large man standing 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing about 260 pounds. His size, and by some accounts his personality, were intimidating. According to the Durango Weekly Herald, Thompson's funeral at the Red Men Hall was one of the largest in Durango's history. Thompson's brother, George W. Thompson, was appointed sheriff by the county commissioners after William Thompson was killed, but stayed in office less than three years.