Cyrus Thompson

Cyrus Thompson was a politician and leader of the Populist Party in North Carolina. He served as North Carolina Secretary of State for one term, from 1897 to 1901.

Life

Thompson studied medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School and Tulane University School of Medicine where he received a degree in 1878. Thompson, a medical doctor and farmer, represented Onslow County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1883, and in the North Carolina Senate in 1885. Both times, he was elected as a Democrat. Thompson became a leader in the Farmers Alliance and bolted from the Democrats to become a Populist.

Personal life

He married his wife, Florence Garland Kent, in 1882. They had ten children.