Mary Bucher ¹

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Book: History of Butte County, California, 1918. ¹
Mrs. Mary Thompson
Comparatively few of the many emigrants from the east in the early days of California's history have had the unique experience of taking a bridal trip across the plains in a train drawn by horse and ox teams. This was the unique experience of Mrs. Mary Thompson, a native of the Buckeye state, who was born October 11, 1836, near Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio. Her father, Jacob Bucher, and her mother, who in maidenhood was Annie Coons, were natives of Switzerland, the land which has produced so many hardy, frugal people of thrift who have come to the shores of America to add to its wealth by their industrious habits. Jacob Bucher came to America with his wife and two children and settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where he owned a fine farm. In 1848 he moved to Jo Davies County, IL, where he continued the occupation of farming and where he and his wife died. Of their eight children only two are living. Mrs. Thompson was the fourth child and was brought up in Illinois after her twelfth year, receiving her education in the public and private schools of that state, and at home learning the very important art of housekeeping. She was married there, March 14, 1854, to Thomas Nelson Thompson, who was born in Springfield, IL, and who was the son of William Thompson, a farmer who was one of the forty-niners who came to California during the gold excitement. He returned to Illinois, but the liking for the Golden West was so strong that he induced some of his neighbors to return to the shores of the Pacific with him. A train was formed with William Thompson as captain, Thomas Nelson Thompson and his bride being among the number who crossed the plains safely with ox and horse teams. They started Easter Sunday, April 16, 1854, driving as far as the Mississippi River on the first day. They had a thrill of excitement once on the journey when six hundred Indians in war paint came up, but fortunately the Indians, who were on their way to fight another tribe of Indians, were friendly toward the whites. They arrived in California in September, 1854, and William Thompson, the captain of the band, after one year at Marysville, settled near Nord, where he farmed until he died. Thomas N. also settled on a farm near Nord, afterwards locating on Pine Creek where he farmed on his homestead until he died on August 1, 1868, aged forty years.
Mrs. Thompson continued to reside on the home ranch after his death, farming and raising stock. She reared her family of six children, the youngest of whom was a babe of sixteen months when she was left a widow. The children are as follows: George F., died at Vina; Charles F., died at Cana; Jacob N., lives in Chico; Thomas Harvey, died at Cana; Nettie, became Mrs. Smith and lives in the vicinity of Cana; and Annie, died at the age of sixteen.
Mrs. Thompson resides on and owns the old ranch on the Pine Creek road and in its supervision she is assisted by her son, Jacob N. She has struggled successfully with the many problems that a woman left alone with a family of children to rear has to contend with. She belongs to the Christian Church and politically she is a Democrat. Mrs. Thompson is one of the oldest living settlers of north of Chico and was living here at the time of the Indian troubles in 1862. She remembers the time of the massacre of the Hickok children on the creek about nine miles above her place; she enjoys telling of the vast difference in the appearance of the country at the time she came here as a bride and at the present time; and of the wonderful development and growth of the farming sections and the building up of the towns and cities, springing up from an almost desert wilderness.

Mary married Thomas Nelson Thompson on 14 Mar 1854 in , Jo Daviess, IL.¹ (Thomas Nelson Thompson was born on 15 Nov 1828 in Springfield, Sangamon, IL and died on 1 Aug 1868 in Nord, Butte, CA ¹.)