Brother of John S. Ficklin

1830: purchased land in the current Lawrence county seat of Jackson with improvements including buildings and a grist mill.[2]

 1831, John and Thompson became partners in a mercantile business in Jackson, Arkansas[3]

On April 12, 1835 an advertisement in the Arkansas Gazette dissolves a business partnership between Thompson and Charles Rapley in Little Rock, showing the connection rural Arkansan merchants had with surrounding cities and hubs of commerce.[4] Thompson dies one month later of cholera in New Orleans, leaving one-third of his estate to John and the rest to his widow, Mariah.[5] Ficklin’s relationship with Thompson’s widow is significant because she marries Archibald Yell, the future governor of Arkansas on July 7, 1836. [6]

[2]Lawrence County Circuit Clerk, Lawrence County Land Deed Book D: 1825-1826, Lawrence County Courthouse: County Circuit Clerk Office, Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, 154.

[3]Arkansas Gazette, June 20, 1832; John S. Ficklin Probate File, Lawrence County Records: Loose Probate Records, Names: Dowell (part) – Fetcher (part). Roll MFNE 0309, Arkansas History Commission: Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, Powhatan, Arkansas.

[4]Arkansas Gazette, April 12, 1835.

[5]Thompson H. Ficklin Will, Lawrence County Records: Probate Records: Wills, Book “C” 1834-0858. Roll MFNE 0260, Arkansas History Commission: Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, Powhatan, Arkansas: 27.

[6]Arkansas Gazette, July 19, 1836; James Logan Morgan, Marriage Records of Lawrence County, Arkansas 1820-1850[Conway: Arkansas Research, 2000], 38; Melinda Meek, “The Life of Archibald Yell,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 26, No. 2 (Summer 1967): 167.