Greene Lee Tomson
1838-1918
The Life of G. L. Tompson
Elder Greene Lee Tomson was a pioneer preacher and elder among the Disciples of Christ in central Missouri, remembered for his simple faith, steady character, and half a century of gospel work.
Early Life and Family Background
Greene Lee Tomson was born December 19, 1838, in Hardeman County, Tennessee. He was one of the older children of Thomas Arrington Thomson/Tomson (1810–1898) and Kerenhappuch (Sellers) Thomson (1816–1890). Thomas was a native of Rockingham County, North Carolina, and Kerenhappuch was born in Dublin County, North Carolina. They married in Tennessee on July 31, 1834. Greene was the second of nine siblings. His older brother Josiah Henry Dockery Thompson (1837–1913) was a gospel preacher. The younger siblings were Sarah Keziah Thompson (1840–1889); James Downing Thomson (1847–1914); Daniel Frazier Thomson (1850–1924); Frances H./Josephine Thomson (1853–1905); Amos Arrington Frank Thomas (1854–1937); Jennie Van Thomson (1857–1889); and Oliver Goldsmith Thomson (1861–1862). Most of the children were born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, before the family made its great move west.
Move to Missouri
In March 1859, when Greene was about twenty, the Thomson family left Tennessee and moved to central Missouri. They first settled near Hickory Hill in Cole County, later moving into the Spring Garden community of Miller County. In these early Missouri years, Greene worked as a merchant in Spring Garden, learning the people and the country that would be the field of his life’s work. He also developed a lifelong sideline as a bee-keeper, a vocation he is remembered as having followed for more than fifty years.
Marriage and Children
Shortly after coming to Missouri, Greene began a home of his own. On December 15, 1859, in Miller County, he married Elizabeth “Eliza” Sullens, daughter of John and Malinda Sullens, Kentucky natives who had also come west. Elizabeth was born July 19, 1839, in Kentucky. Their marriage was performed by A. K. Markis, a minister of the gospel. To Greene Lee and Elizabeth (Sullens) Tomson were born a number of children, several of whom died very young, as was sadly common in that era. Among their children were: James Pinkney Tomson, who later married Anna Earp; Lucy Augusta Tomson (1869–1925), who married Robert S. Belshe; Emma Lee Tomson (1877–1944), who married Jesse A. Hill; Daniel Frank(lin) Tomson (1872–1963), who married Mary Kallenbach; Mary B. / Dell Tomson, who married first James Hicks, later William Tracy; Cora Bell Tomson (1876–1954), who married John Kallenbach; and Leander (“Lee”) Tomson (1878–1964), who married Minnie Roark. Other children died in infancy or early childhood. Both early family sketches and his obituary note that several children “died in infancy,” a grief that left its mark on the household but did not crush their faith.
After more than three decades of marriage, Elizabeth (Sullens) Tomson died in 1893 and was buried in the Tuscumbia Cemetery in Miller County. Later that same year, in September 1893, Greene married his second wife, Emma Nellinger (1854–1942), originally of Montana. To this union was born a daughter who died in infancy. Emma survived her husband by many years.
Ministry and Work with the Disciples of Christ
Greene Lee Tomson’s family were dedicated Christians, and had been so for three generations. His grandfather, Henry Tomson, was a gospel preacher. Though his father, Thomas, was not so recognized, he served faithfully in the church where he was. Two of his sons preached. J. H. D. Tomson, preached in many different regions of the country. Greene Lee's career as a minister of the gospel was mostly in the region of his Missouri home, and extended over approximately fifty years. He began preaching at Ginger Ridge Church, north of Tuscumbia, Missouri, in the days when the countryside was still young and communities were scattered.
He labored especially in Saline and Equality townships, and for more than thirty years prior to his death he made his home near Tuscumbia, with only brief sojourns in Colorado and the far West. During these decades he was known simply as “Brother Tomson” or “Elder Tomson,” a recognized spiritual leader in the region.
In his preaching and practice, he was firmly aligned with the simple New Testament Christianity taught by churches of Christ in that, he refused human creeds and “inventions of men;” he held that the “faith once delivered to the saints” was fully sufficient for molding Christian character and securing salvation; and He resisted religious “innovations,” believing them to be unscriptural additions to the pattern given in the New Testament.
Those who wrote about him soon after his death remembered a man who warned sowers of “thistles and wild oats” that they would reap what they sowed, quoting the familiar warning that “God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” His sternness, however, was balanced by a life of personal self-sacrifice and devotion to the Master, which gave weight to his words.
Character and Influence
Contemporaries credited Elder Tomson with helping to raise the level of life and morals in the communities where he labored. By both sermon and example, he urged people to put away sin, live soberly and righteously, and ground their faith firmly in Scripture. He lived simply and consistently with his convictions, was known as conscientious and unbending where he believed Scripture spoke, and sought no great prominence, but quietly influenced the churches and neighborhoods around him.
Those who wrote of him after his passing said that, through his life and work, “the world [was] made a better place in which to live.” His name became linked with the early, formative days of the congregations in and around Tuscumbia and Spring Garden.
Final Years and Peaceful Passing
In his later life, Elder Tomson continued to live near Tuscumbia, still engaged in preaching as health and strength allowed, and continuing his work as a beekeeper. He often prayed, in the closing words of his public prayers, “Give us a peaceful hour in which to die.”
In January 1918, at the age of seventy-nine, that prayer was granted. As family and friends gathered around his bedside, he was conscious of the approaching end. He reached out his hand, bade them good-bye, and fell asleep with a smile on his face, described as a calm and peaceful passing befitting the faith he had preached for so many years.
Elder Greene Lee Tomson was buried beside his first wife, Elizabeth (Sullens) Tomson, in Tuscumbia Cemetery, Miller County, Missouri. His second wife, Emma (Nellinger) Tomson, survived him, as did many descendants through the children of his first marriage, and at her death was buried on his other side.
Legacy
The life of Greene Lee Tomson spans a crucial period in the history of the American Midwest. He was born in antebellum Tennessee, reared in a large, hard-working frontier family, migrated to Missouri just before the Civil War, and spent five decades preaching Christ in country churches.
His legacy lives on in the congregations he helped strengthen, the families shaped by his teaching and example, and the many descendants who still trace their family line back to “Elder Greene Lee.”
Though he never sought fame, his name endures in the records and memories of Miller County, Missouri, as one who “went to his reward, and his works do follow him.”
-Scott Harp, 11.11.2025
Sources: Peggy Smith Hake, The Miller County Autogram Sentinel, Thursday, December 26, 1996, p.3.; The Miller County Autogram Sentinel, Tuscumbia, Missouri, Thursday, February 21, 1918, page 1.
G.L. and Elizabeth Tomson
Source: Ancestry.com
Primitive Christian, Wichita, Kansas
Tuesday, November 11, 1898, p.8
The Primitive Christian, Panama, Nebraska
Thursday, December 13, 1894, page 6.
Primitive Christian, Wichita, Kansas
Tuesday, November 12, 1901, page 7.
Primitive Christian, Wichita, Kansas
Tuesday, January 19, 1904, pages 2.
Miller County Vindicator, Tuscumbia, Missour
Friday, April 11, 1879, page 3.
Rocky Ford Enterprise, Rocky Ford, Colorado
Thursday, June 25, 1896, page 3.
Rocky Ford Enterprise, Rocky Ford, Colorado
Thursday, May 27 1897, page 1.
G. L. Tomson Obituary
In Memorium
Brother Greene Lee Tomson was born December 19, 1838, in Hardeman county, Tennessee; came with his family to Missouri in March, 1859, residing first in the vicinity of Brazito and Hickory Hill, Cole county, later at and near Spring Garden, Miler county, but for more than thirty years prior to his death, January 26, 1918, made his home near Tuscumbia, Mo., save short sojourns in Colorado and the far West. His career as a minister of the Gospel of Christ covered a period of approximately fifty years.
In his conduct, conversation and ministry he stood firmly and unmoved for the simplicity, faith and practice of the Deciples of Christ, accepted no creed, the inventions of men, contending that the “faith once delivered to the saints” is all-sufficient, both in the moulding of Christian character here and for the salvat:on of the soul hereafter. He opposed all innovations, conscientiously regarding them as unscriptural and coming within the anathema pronounced by direct inspiration against thosewho presume to add to or take from the tenentsof the Scriptures, the modes and practices of the deciples of Christ.
It may be truly said of him that by his ilfe and work a higher order of civilization was advanced and the world made a better p’lace in which to live. With stern and unceasing effort he warned the sower of thistles, and cheat, and wild-oats, of the natural harvest which awaited them, admonishing them to “be not deceived,” assuring them that “God is not mocked; that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” and he set the example by a life of self-sacrifice and exemplary devotion tothe cause of the Master.
His petition, “Give us a peaceful h,ur in which to die,” so often uttered by him in the concludng words of his prayers, was granted to him literaly. Conscious of the end, as it approached, he reached forth his hand and bade good-bye to those around him, a smile playing over his features, as he fell asleep.
“Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep;
A calm, and undisturbed repose,
Unbroken by the last of foes.”
Brother Tomson has gone to his reward and his works indeed do follow him.
He was married; first to Ellizabeth Sullens of the Spring Garden vicinity, who died, leaving three sons and four daughters, namely: James Pinkney Tomson, Daniel Franklin Tomson, and Lee Tomson, Mrs. R. S. Belshe, Mrs. J. A. Hill Mrs. Joseph Hicks, later Tracy, and Mrs. W. M. Kallenbach. To his lsat wife who survives him (prior to her marriage, Miss Emma Nellinger, of Montana) was born a daughter who died in infancy. Other children by his first wife also died in infancy.
-The Miller County Autogram Sentinel, Tuscumbia, Missouri, Thursday, February 21, 1918, page 1.
Directions To Grave
Green Lee Tomson is buried in the City Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Miller County, Missouri. Several family members including G.L.'s parents. Directions from Jefferson City are easy. Head south on 54 and at Spring Garden turn left on Hwy. 17, or continue to Aurora Springs and turn left on Hwy. 52. Either way the cemetery is located in downtown Tuscumbia. The GPS location below is the actual location of the grave of G.L Tomson. He was married twice and both his wives are buried on either side of him.
GPS Location
38°14'19.2"N 92°27'42.8"W
or D.d. 38.238655,-92.461875
Thomas A. Thomson, father of G. L. Tomson, monument in the foreground
Thomas Addison Thomson, Son of Henry Tomson
Cora Elizabeth
Wife of
G. L. Tomson
Born
July 16, 1839
Died
April 4, 1893
Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God
Emma Nellington Tomson
Wife Of Greene Lee Tomson
August 1854 - January 1945
TOMSON
G. L. Tomson
Born
December 19, 1838
Died
January 26, 1918
Blessed are the Dead which Died
in the Lord, that they rest from
their Labours, and their Works
do follow them
Photos Taken 05.04.2025
Webpage Produced 11.10.2025
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: Special thanks to Scott and Lisa Carr, descendants of the Henry Tomson family for taking me to Tuscumbia, Missouri to visit the graves of G. L. Tomson and his extended family, May 4, 2025. Lisa's father Warren Pemberton, who passed away in 2023, was my first contact with Tomson family back in 2019. Many thanks to this wonderful family for their assistance in locating information on this faithful family to New Testament Christianity through the American Restoration Movement.