Image (detail), courtesy of the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives

THOMPSON, Joseph Bryan, a Representative from Oklahoma; born near Sherman, Grayson County, Tex., April 29, 1871; attended the public schools, and was graduated from Savoy College in Fannin County, Tex., in 1890; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1892 and commenced practice in Purcell, Indian Territory; moved to Ardmore, Indian Territory; appointed commissioner for the United States court in 1893 and returned to Purcell, Indian Territory; resigned in 1897; moved to Pauls Valley and resumed the practice of law; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1900, 1904, and 1908; member of the Democratic Territorial committee 1896-1904; chairman of the Democratic State committee in 1906 and 1908; served in the State senate 1910-1914; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1913, until his death on a train near Martinsburg, W.Va., while en route to his home at Pauls Valley, Okla., September 18, 1919; interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Pauls Valley, Okla.