Personal life Thompson moved to
Kirtland, Ohio, where the majority of Latter Day Saints were gathering, in May 1837. Later that month, the couple traveled to
Upper Canada as missionaries for the church. They returned to Kirtland in March 1838. They had one child, Mary Jane Thompson. In March 1839, Thompson was the clerk to the
disciplinary council convened by
Brigham Young that excommunicated a number of prominent Latter Day Saints, including
George M. Hinkle,
Sampson Avard,
John Corrill,
W. W. Phelps,
Frederick G. Williams,
Thomas B. Marsh, and others. At a conference of the church in May 1839, Thompson,
Almon W. Babbitt and
Erastus Snow were appointed to be a traveling committee that was charged with "gather[ing] up and obtain[ing] all the libelous reports and publications which had been circulated against the Church." When the Latter Day Saints were forced to leave Missouri, Thompson moved to
Quincy, Illinois. In October 1840, Thompson succeeded
Elias Higbee as official
Church Historian, and in November of that year, Thompson and Higbee together drafted a petition to the
United States Congress for redress of the grievances of the Latter Day Saints from their experiences in Missouri. Thompson was a
colonel and an
aide-de-camp in the
Nauvoo Legion.
Death He became Associate Editor of the
Times and Seasons newspaper in Nauvoo. Thompson wrote the words to a hymn called "See, the Mighty Angel Flying", which is included in the
1985 English-language LDS Church hymnal as hymn number 330. == See also==