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Capt. Nels Thompson
This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
As I continue my quest to research and tell the stories of the captains of the Ludington railroad shipping fleet, I find myself going down side roads from time to time. While the car ferries and their predecessors are certainly a key component of Mason County’s maritime history, they aren’t the entire story.
To date, I have gathered more than 70 names of men who commanded the rail fleet. Some have been well documented and others, not so much. Such has been the case with Captain Charles Thompson. To date, I have found only one reference to him. His name appears as a Pere Marquette Railway vessel captain in an article published in the Ludington Enterprise in 1904. The article states he had previously commanded Pere Marquette 3.
There were two other PM captains with the surname Thompson: George L. Thompson (born 1857) and Roy D. Thompson (1911-1990). Roy lived in Ludington and is buried at South Victory Cemetery. Though there is quite a bit of biographical information on George, I have not completed my research.
However, Charles Thompson is elusive. I thought I had found his grave at Lakeview Cemetery in Ludington, or at least I found a Charles Thompson there. In my attempt to find the gravesite, there was no marker. However, there were other Thompsons. Among them was Nels Thompson, whose grave identified him as a “captain.” Thus, I began researching Nels C. Thompson. Unfortunately, I found no evidence of him being a PM captain, nor did I find any evidence of him being related to a Charles Thompson, which I found odd since there is a gravesite under that name.
If you are a descendant of either man, or have any knowledge, please reach out to me at editor@mediagroup31.com.
In the meantime, here is the story of Capt. Nels Thompson:
Nels Thompson’s grave at Lakeview Cemetery
Capt. Nels Charel “Carl” Thompson (1863-1939) spent more than half a century on the Great Lakes, part of a Norwegian immigrant family whose history reflected the rise of Ludington as one of Michigan’s major maritime communities. From lumber schooners and longshore crews to steam-powered freighters and shipyards, the Thompsons were tied closely to the waterfront economy that shaped Mason County during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thompson was born Feb. 9, 1863, in Skien, Norway, to Thomas Thomsen (1837-1916) and Nelia Karin “Karen” Stevenson Thompson (1838-1915). His father came to the United States in 1866, followed by the rest of the family four years later. The name was changed to Thompson, most likely during immigration. The Thompson family first settled in Victory Township before moving into Ludington as the city’s lumber and shipping industries rapidly expanded around Pere Marquette Lake and the harbor.
The Schooner Arendal
Thomas and Karen Thompson’s children included Nels Charel “Carl” Thompson (1863-1939), Henry Thompson (1865-1942), Thomas Thompson Jr. (1868-1931), Carrie Thompson Lundberg (1871-1954), Hedwige “Hattie” Thompson (1878-1910) and Hendry “Henry” Martinus Thompson (1880-1940). The family lived for many years at 409 E. Loomis St., only a short distance from Pere Marquette Lake and Ludington’s busy waterfront docks, shipyards and lumber mills. Thomas Thompson later operated his steamship agency office from the family home. Earlier records also place members of the family near the Danaher and Ward dock districts, areas heavily connected to the city’s maritime trade.
Thomas Thompson brought extensive maritime experience with him from Norway. According to his 1916 obituary, he had been a saltwater sailor in his younger years before continuing maritime work in America. In Ludington, he worked for many years as a ship carpenter and shipbuilder for Ward’s, one of the city’s major lumber and dock operations during the peak of the lumber era. The obituary also noted that he later served as an agent for foreign steamship lines, operating an office from his East Loomis Street home.
Thomas Thompson became well known within Ludington’s Scandinavian and maritime communities. His obituary described him as a pioneer resident who maintained a strong interest in international affairs and closely followed developments in Europe during World War I. He died June 3, 1916, at age 78.
The Steamer Maggie Marshall
Growing up in that environment, Nels Thompson naturally entered waterfront work himself. Census records show that by 1880 he was employed in a sawmill, one of the industries directly connected to Ludington’s busy shipping trade. By 1900, he was working as a longshoreman, loading and unloading cargo along the waterfront docks that lined Pere Marquette Lake and the harbor. Like many waterfront laborers of the period, Thompson lived within walking distance of the docks and shipyards where he worked.
As Great Lakes transportation evolved from sail to steam, Thompson advanced with it. By 1910, he was employed aboard steam-powered vessels, and family records state that he sailed the Great Lakes for 55 years, including 30 years as captain on both sailing vessels and steamers. His career spanned one of the most transformative periods in Great Lakes maritime history, when wooden schooners and windjammers gradually gave way to steam-powered freighters and industrial transportation networks.
The schooner A.W. Luckey
Records from Bowling Green State University’s Great Lakes Red Books document several of the vessels Thompson commanded during his career. He served as captain of the schooner Arendal from 1904 to 1906, the A.W. Luckey from 1907 to 1908, and the Maggie Marshall from 1910 to 1911.
The Arendal was a 123-foot-long, three-masted wooden schooner built in Sheboygan, Wis., by William Johnson in 1873. With a gross tonnage of 210, it was originally built for the Louis Sands Salt & Lumber Co., owned by Manistee lumber baron Louis Sands, hauling lumber from Manistee to ports such as Milwaukee.
The A.W. Luckey was a 138-foot-long wooden schooner, and the Maggie Marshall was a steamship. Both also were operated by Sands.
These vessels operated in the lumber and bulk cargo trades that connected Ludington, Manistee and other Lake Michigan ports with industrial centers throughout the Great Lakes region.
Like many Great Lakes captains of his era, Thompson’s work required long stretches away from home and constant exposure to dangerous weather conditions. Navigation on the lakes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries remained hazardous, particularly during the fall and spring seasons when storms developed rapidly and vessels often sailed heavily loaded with lumber, salt or other cargo.
Nels and Elizabeth Thompson
On Oct. 27, 1888, Thompson married Elizabeth Sophia Brown Thompson (1867-1949) in Ludington. Together they raised eight children: Walter Thompson (1889-1971), Harry Thompson (1891-1968), Henry Thompson (1893-1975), Nellie Thompson (1895-1912), Esther Thompson (1897-1984), Olive Thompson (1900-1987), Marion Thompson (1903-1991) and Dorothy Thompson (1908-1998). Various city directories place the family on East Loomis Street and later on nearby east-side residential streets overlooking or bordering the Pere Marquette Lake waterfront district, where maritime workers, captains and shipyard employees commonly lived.
Even after decades on the lakes, Thompson continued working in maritime trades. The 1920 federal census listed him as a shipyard shop carpenter, reflecting both his lifelong connection to vessels and the influence of his father’s shipbuilding background. Like many experienced sailors of the period, he appears to have transitioned between sailing and shore-based maritime work as the industry changed.
Thompson died Oct. 5, 1939, in Saginaw at age 75.
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Filer Credit Union with offices in Manistee, Ludington, East Lake, and Bear Lake; filercu.com; 800.595.6630
The Mason County Historical Society is a non-profit charitable organization that was founded in 1937 that does not receive any governmental funding. It owns and operates the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, Historic White Pine Village in Pere Marquette Township, and The Rose Hawley Archives and the Mason County Emporium and Sweet Shop in downtown Ludington.
For more information about donating to and/or joining the Mason County Historical Society, visit masoncountymihistory.org.
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