The Thompson Family: Founders and Stewards of Glen Leven

Though the Thompson family owned the Glen Leven property from 1783, when it was granted to Thomas Thompson for his service in the Revolutionary War, the farm and house we see today is very much the product of his son and grandson, John Thompson and John M. Thompson. Thomas Thompsons life was colored by financial difficulties, and his son John took over many of the responsibilities of managing the farm early in life. John Thompsons hard work transformed Glen Leven into a prosperous and valuable farm, adding back acreage his father had lost. By 1860, John Thompson owned 875 acres and owned 62 slaves at a time when fewer than five percent of Tennessee farmers owned more than twenty slaves. At the onset of the Civil War, the cash value of the farm was $97,500. Johns personal life, however, was marked by tragedy. His first two wives died in childbirth, his third wife succumbed to illness, and he buried a son and two daughters at young ages. He married for a final time at the age of 58. He and Mary Hamilton House had two sons -- John M. Thompson, Jr. (1852) and Joseph Hamilton Thompson (1854). The Glen Leven house of today is was built in 1856 and replaced an earlier one, designed by Mary which burned shortly after completion. The current house is slightly less elaborate in design than the previous Thompson residence.
John Thompson, c. 1860

John M. Thompson was active in his community, and in addition to running a successful farm, held several state positions including Commissioner of Agriculture. Beginning in the late 1920s, John had an active interest in the transportation challenges facing Nashville. He invested in the Franklin Turnpike and was on the initial board of commissioners for the Nashville and Alabama Railroad (later the Nashville and Decatur). The investment paid off, and Glen Leven prospered in no small part due to its easy access to the road and railroad, which allowed goods and produce to be shipped quickly and easily. During the Civil War, John Thompson was imprisoned, taxes and confiscations took a heavy toll, and the Battle of Nashville spilled onto the property. After the battle, Mary Hamilton House found herself acting as an impromptu field hospital director. In keeping with his meticulous financial practices, John and Mary both asked all soldiers who foraged on the property to sign receipts for what they had taken so they could later attempt to use the losses as credit when the tax assessments came due. Though this strategy met with mixed success, Glen Leven did comparatively well after the war thanks to John Thompsonss railroad and transportation investments. When John Thompson died in 1878, he left Glen Leven to his older son, John M. Thompson, Jr. Some family squabbles commenced regarding the distribution of the estate, but John, Jr. was able to settle these disputes and help Glen Leven regain traction as a stock and produce farm. He was a leading investor in the Hermitage Stud, a successful breeding operation for trotters. The success of the horse breeding and farm operations allowed John M. to renovate the house at Glen Leven by introducing modern conveniences including flush toilets, electricity, and a telephone line, in addition to aesthetic changes. His wife, Mary McConnell White Overton (known as Conn), helped repair the gardens that had been destroyed during the war years.

The 1890s also saw an increase in politics by John M. Thompson, Jr. He held a law degree from Vanderbilt, and served in the Tennessee General Assembly, State Senate, and speaker of the State Senate during his life. When the Hermitage Stud was forced to close due to financial difficulties, John, Jr. looked elsewhere to support the farm. Following in his fathers footsteps, he encouraged the expansion of an interurban rail line on either side of the Franklin Pike, which bisected the Glen Leven property. In 1907, Thompson was appointed Commissioner of Agriculture. He worked hard to bring the progressive farming techniques that had made Glen Leven so successful to farmers across the state by helping to create the University of Tennessee Extension Service. He left the position in 1911 and, after a brief hiatus from state affairs, returned to the state senate in 1917 where he served until his death in 1919.

Following the death of John M. Thompson, Jr.s, the Glen Leven farm was divided. The daughter of John M. and Conn, Conn T. Harris, took up residence in the main house where she lived from 1925-46. She and her husband updated the house to include a bathroom in the upstairs cross hall, electric stoves to replace those burning coal, and an opening from the first bathroom to the servants room over the kitchen. During her tenure, Davidson County widened the Franklin Pike, bringing it closer to the main house, but also allowing Glen Leven access to the city water line. Conn T. Harris left the property to her brother Overton Thompson in 1946 when her health declined and she moved in with her daughter, Georgia. For the next twenty years, Overton Thompson farmed the acreage, raising cattle, hay and other crops until his death in 1968. The financial difficulties of maintaining Glen Leven took their toll on the family, and the property was sold out of the family in 1969. The house sat vacant and suffered from vandalism for about three years. Then, in 1971, Susan West, the granddaughter of Conn T. Harris, bought the property and began the process of restoring it. The construction of Interstate 65 and suburban sprawl threatened the property repeatedly as Susan West worked to find ways to continue farming and to protect the acreage. The survival of Glen Leven is due to Susan Wests commitment to protect the house and the remaining acreage and working farm land which her family had lived on for more than two centuries.

Family Reunion for 100 Anniversary of Glen Leven

Courtesy of Travellers Rest Museum.

th