Seattle cJun 1907

Roy Thompson is mentioned in this article about the preparation of voyages to Alaska. The schooner John G. North carried him to Diomede but was unable to unload all of his supplies for the year.

John G. North (schooner)
John G. North, a three - masted schooner of 336 tons and 465 M capacity, was built at Marshfield Ore., in 1881 by H. R. Reed in the Deane yard. Her ownership included in turn Charles I. Moore, Charles Nelson, Williams, Dimond & Co., and Hind, Rolph & Co., all of San Francisco. She made a passage from Mahukona to San Francisco in 11 days in 1893. About 1912 she went to the boneyard, but was recommissioned in 1916 and fitted as a floating tuna canner to operate off Cape San Lucas. She was burned there on May 14, 1919, the canning crew being rescued without mishap. John Lyman Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905,The Marine Digest. May 31, 1941, p. 2.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library

The ship was named for John G. North (1823-1872) Norwegian emigrant to California in 1849, a shipbuilder who built first three masted schooner on West Coast, the "Susan and Kate Denin" 1860.

Review of Reviews Feb 1908

Roy Thompson and the Diomede school are mentioned starting in the last paragraph of the next to last page of this article from the winter of 1907-08.

Thetis (steamer)
The bark-rigged steamer Thetis was added to the Northwest revenue cutter fleet in 1900. Built at Dundee, Scotland as a whaler in 1881, she had been purchased by the United States government from Alexander Stephen & Son of Dundee for the relief of the Franklin polar expedition. Gordon Newell, Maritime events of 1899, H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: Superior, 1966, p. 57.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library

Seattle c May 1908

The Volante carried the supplies used to build the school house on Diomede in the fall of 1908.

Volante (schooner)
Volante, two-masted schooner of 125 tons and 160 M capacity, was built at North Bend, Ore., in 1891 by G. L. Hobbs. On December 18, 1892, she left San Pedro for Eureka in ballast, and in February 1893 was sighted bottom up. The schooner was valued at $20,000, there being no insurance. The wreck was located off Point Gorda by the Spreckels tug Fearless and towed to San Francisco. When righted the master's body as found in the cabin. The schooner was repaired and put back into served and was owned in 1906 and 1907 by Captain Backland and associates in Seattle. She was sold in 1917 to the Pacific Mild Cure Company and later to Karl Hansen, Seattle dropping from the registry in 1935. John Lyman, Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905, The Marine Digest. Sept. 13, 1941, p.2
Citation: Tacoma Public Library

Star c Jul 1908

This letter was written by Lois to her father, Jesse Thompson, in July of 1908 during her honeymoon voyage to Little Diomede. The note at the top mentions Jesse as being "of Fairview." There is a Fairview, Iowa northeast of Cedar Rapids but that is quite a way from Hardin county where he appears in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. I have not been able locate the "Star" newspaper. The Ballard aunt mentioned in Monrovia, Indiana is Katherine Elizabeth Thompson, sister of Jesse, who married Charles W. Ballard. They had six children, among them a daughter Edith.

Seattle c 6 Jul 1908

The SS Northwestern sailed on 6 July 1908, the evening that Roy & Lois were married. The ship participated in the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1916. The Northwestern was destroyed in the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor in 1942.

W. T. Lopp, an early teacher at Wales, had extensive involvement with reindeer herding.

Seattle 6 Jul 1908

Alaska Yukon Magazine Aug 1908

Ladies Home Journal 25 Dec 1908

Anacortes American 4 Nov 1909

Anacortes American 11 Nov 1909

Anacortes American 16 Dec 1909

Anacortes American Jan 1910

Anacortes American 20 Jan 1910

Wide World Magazine 1915

The Youth's Evangelist 16 Mar 1919

Saturday Evening Post 12 Feb 1938

Saturday Evening Post 2 Jul 1938

c1943 Anchorage

c1943 Little Diomede

c1948 Big Diomede

Little Diomede c1943

Roy W. Thompson Obituary 1943

Lots of error in this obituary. Roy was not quite 63 years old when he died. He may have been the second teacher on the island. Versions of the story of a previous white man on the island having been killed differ as to whether that man was also a teacher. It's not clear to me just what Roy did build that first school and house from, but it almost certainly wasn't logs. There are no trees on the island and only minimal drift wood. That was in 1907 not 1908.

Seattle P-I c1948