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<\/a>actually spelled. The answer has eluded some, including the very person that inscribed his headstone in Genoa, which reads \u201cJohn A. Thomson.\u201d But what is the correct spelling exactly? <\/span><\/p>\nJohn Albert Thompson\u2019s (also known as Snowshoe Thompson) birth name was actually Jon Torsteinson Rue. Torsteinson, according to the Tinn Museum in Norway, was his biological father\u2019s name, and Rue was placed in the name to delineate the farm he was from.\u00a0 <\/span>It wasn\u2019t until after he had immigrated to America that he Americanized his name to John Albert Thompson, which some historians have claimed was after his stepfather\u2019s surname.<\/span><\/p>\n Although he adopted the name of Thompson, some historians have doubts surrounding the consistency of Thompson\u2019s signatures. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOn his gravestone, there is no p,\u201d said Gail Allen, collections manager for the Douglas Historical Society. \u201cBut I think they\u2019ve seen it both ways (his signature). They\u2019ve seen him sign it (his signature) with and without the p.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although that may be the case, documents that Thompson actually signed are scarce and hard to come by. Two of such documents are letters he wrote to his wife during a visit he paid to Washington D.C. for hearings concerning his compensation. A copy of these letters is in the University of California Berkeley Bancroft Library\u2019s archives. While reproduction of the letters is prohibited by the library, pieces of the transcribed letters are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n Letter 1<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Washington D. C.<\/span><\/p>\n Feb 6 1872<\/span><\/p>\n Dear Wife,<\/span><\/p>\n I arived [sic] here last Friday the 2nd I wrote you a few lines from Ogden and allso [sic] from Larince [sic] and Telleygraphed [sic] you from Chianne [? sic] I got to Pittsburg last mon day and staid there two days with Delorma<\/span><\/p>\n My Love to all From your Affectionatge Husband J. A. Thompson<\/span><\/p>\n Letter 2<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Washington D. C.<\/span><\/p>\n March 7, 1872<\/span><\/p>\n Dear Wife<\/span><\/p>\n I am still in this City and in good health But +my bussaness gos slow I got the first hearing to day before the Committee I apeard before them myself and I had all so a man by the nam of Bee from Blacervill as witness . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Arthur you must be a good Boy and Mind what Mother and Grand Mother tels you then I wil be So Pleased when I com home and have them tell me all about how good you have bin. From your Kind Husband<\/span><\/p>\n J. A. Thompson<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n