Thompson was born in Great Driffield, England on October 1, 1811.[2] He joined the Methodists at an early age and participated in preaching in Yorkshire. In 1834, Thompson emigrated to Upper Canada and settled in Toronto.[3] In May 1836, he was baptized a member of the Church of the Latter-day Saints by Parley P. Pratt. On July 22, 1836, Thompson was ordained an elder in the church by John Taylor.[1]
Thompson moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where the majority of Latter Day Saints were gathering, in May 1837.[2] He married Mercy Rachel Fielding in Kirtland on June 4, 1837.[4] Later that month, the couple traveled to Upper Canada as missionaries for the church. They returned to Kirtland in March 1838.[citation needed] They had one child, Mary Jane Thompson.[1] The Thompsons traveled to Far West, Missouri with the family of Hyrum Smith in May 1838.[2]
On September 15, 1840, Thompson delivered the funeral oration at the funeral of Joseph Smith Sr., the presiding patriarch of the church.[8] 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.[9]
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.
^ abIn 1837 the callings of Church Historian and Church Recorder were separated, but in 1842 these callings were again merged.
^Starting in 1978, the duties of Church Historians fell to the Executive director of the historical department.
^While Larsen was still technically Church Historian until 1997, others succeeded him as Executive Director of the Historical Department, and those men were sometimes referred to as the Official Church Historians.
^In 2005 the callings of Church Historian and Church Recorder was restored.