Dead end in 1836. Help?

[William J. Thompson]

Hi, guys! I'm in the process of looking into the murky past. Since my family doesn't have a lot of information on the Thompson side of my family, after picking my parents' brains, I tried Ancestry. I was able to go back a couple more generations, and found out I have a lot of aunts and uncles! Here's what I have so far. Do any names ring a bell with y'all?

Most of the Thompsons in my immediate past seem to be based in or around what is now Tazewell County, VA, and Bluefield, WV. (I'm from Charleston, WV, but aside from a few others, there don't seem to be that many that settled that deep in the state.)

Not much history so far...my g-grandfather was Andrew Jackson Thompson: (b may 1890 in Tazewell, d 1968 in Bluefield.) Married Effie, (b 1889). In 1900 he was living in Jeffersonville, Tazewell Co.

Andrew Jackson Thompson had 7 siblings:
Missouri Thompson (b apr 1882),
James William Thompson (b oct 4, 1884, married Ella),
Mary E. Thompson (b apr 1887),
Ballard S. Thompson (b jun 1891, lived in Charleston, married Luta Gertrude Morton),
Sasia N. Thompson (b mar 1893),
Posy P. Thompson (b may 1896, married Martha J. Finley),
and Allie M. Thompson (b sept 1899).

Their parents, my gg-grandfather, was Fountain M. Thompson (b oct 1850, married 1881), married to Louisa Dairs Thompson (b may 1863). He had 3 siblings:
Polly A. Thompson (b 1853),
Eliza J. Thompson (b 1856),
and James C. Thompson (b 1859).

My ggg-grandfather was John Thompson. (1836-1870) He was married to Martha E. Thompson (b 1838). In the 1860 census he was living in the Eastern district of Tazewell, VA. And there the trail goes cold. Hopefully some aunts and uncles will cross with someone else, who can take me further back!

Thanks,
--Bill

<edit!> -- 1/8/11: changed the origin counties, as I've gone further into Ancestry and found not a tremendous Charleston connection.

[Mary]

hi Bill -----

Did a quick look ...came up empty handed.  Don't give up - I'm only ONE and Cathy will probably take a look when she gets back online.

Actually, you have more info than some! 

Mary

[William J. Thompson]

Thanks, Mary; I appreciate you looking. Actually, I did some Ancestry-ing today, and found out I have Thompsons on BOTH sides of my family!

The short version: My mother is a Fink, and her grandfather married Rachel Crockett. Six generations further back, and Robert Watkins Crockett married Esther Thompson* in 1734. Three generations previous, Roger Thompson came to Virginia--in 1619! Five more generations, (some born in Ulster,) and John Thompson is born in Yorkshire in 1475; then the trail goes cold. So, in a roundabout kind of way, there would seem to be a definate eventual border connection on that side. It would be neat if I could nail down a paternal connection too.

The paternal side seems rooted in Bluefield and Tazewell (and, not surprisingly, Thompson Valley), while the maternal side floats more in VA and NC.

If the maternal side rings any bells for anyone, I can put up more information on them too. This genealogy stuff is addictive!

--Bill

<edit!> *Nope -- that's turned out to be wrong. Esther Thompson married Samuel Crockett, John Watkins Crockett's brother. A geneaology book on the history of the Crocketts bears this out. Esther's father, Rev. John Thompson, was a Colonial Presbyterian minister. Esther and Samuel met on the same ship coming to the Colonies, and later got married. (It's a sweet story.)

[Cathy McTavish]

Can you send me your family tree, starting with you going up??  It is much easier for me to work that way, sometimes you find a tie in, in an earlier generation..

my e-mail address is

mctavish @ zimbrick.com

I put the spaces in so spamers don't pick them up!

Cathy

[William J. Thompson]

Here's some more results from my ancestry-ing for your perusal. I've already emailed a copy to Cathy The Warrior Genealogist. Maybe someone will spot a name they recall.

I have some more blanks filled in on my 3rd great grandfather, John Thompson, (b. 1836 d. 1870) father of Fountain M. Thompson, (apparently b. closer to 1855 than 1850) against which I ran aground.

Fountain Thompson had more siblings than I first thought!

Mary "Polly" A. Thompson (b. 1853),
(Fount was #2 at 1855),
Eliza J. Thompson (b. 1856/1857),
James C. Thompson (b. 1859),
Margaret Thompson (b. 1862), and
Nancy E. Thompson (b. 1866) More on Nancy in a bit...!

They were all born in Tazewell County, VA.

In July 1860, John and Martha E. Thompson lived in the Eastern District of Tazewell County, with Polly, Fountain, Eliza, and James. John was a farm laborer. Both he and Martha were illiterate. [On the census record, there's a word in parenthesis after John's name that I can't make out. Lazy? Logy? Larry?]

In August 1870, Martha (36) lived in Clear Fork township in Tazewell county. John is not listed in the census as living with her. In the house are Mary (17), Fount (15), Eliza (13), James (11), Margaret (8 ), and Nancy (4). Martha is listed as "Keeping house," and the children are listed as "at home." All are illiterate.

Interestingly, several houses away with Delilah Curr (53) and William F. Curr (19--grandson?) are shown Louisa Thompson (14) and Nancy Thompson (4). Fount's wife's name was Louisa...That would have put them at 15 and 14. Both households have a 4-year-old Nancy Thompson...Perhaps a young shotgun wedding, Fount's mother adopting the kid, and Louisa living with her grandmother until Fount could support her? Backwoods soap opera, eh? Or maybe a coincidence--I have Fountain marrying a Louisa Dairs in 1881. Or maybe that's just when they made it "official"...

<edit!> Removed a caveat about the Thompson-through-Crockett maternal connection being shaky. Further research seems to have proved the connection. Yay!

[uneven]

The short version: My mother is a Fink,

Hey  William, my great grandmother on my father's side is a Finks their family is from Virginia, which is when I lose track of them. They move to Tazewell Illinois (after the civil war where several of the Finks fought for the confederacy) along with some McQueens and Hibbards who are also in my family on my father's side. Ina Orvetta Finks was hard to track for me, but once I got past the barrier of her several names, her family was actually quite prominent in Tazewell Illinois.

These may be coincidences worth looking into. My family tree on ancestry.com is "Michael James Thompson" family tree. I've let my account lapse but it's still there and it's public.

mike

[William J. Thompson]

There may well be something there. Fink, Finks, Finck, Fintz; it's all the same German root (Finch). The last Fink I can trace is Andrew Etchison Fink, who was born in 1761. Don't know where, but Tazewell Co./Bland Co. VA is a good guess. That would be cool if there was a connection somewhere along that line.

--Bill

[uneven]

Here's what I have Bill.

I've seen my Finks listed as Fink in census records so I'm sure it's a common enough spelling change.

Reliably, I can get back to John Finks my 4th great grandfather born 1793 in Rappahannock County, Virginia. He died in 1871 in Tazewell Illinois. They were one of the early families in Tazewell and well to do enough to get into one of the local histories of the area. John was married to Winifred McQueen.  His son John Finks fought and died for the confederacy. So that officially balances my family out, with Levi Thompson fighting for the Union.

I have his other children as Robert Sanford Finks, James Finks, Julian Finks, Amy Finks, Lucy Catherine Finks and William Jackson Finks (my 3rd great grandfather) born in Culpeper Virginia 1837 - 1922.

In 1853, William Jackson Finks moved with John to Tazewell Ill. and set up a farm. William was married to a Tabitha McQueen and had two children then he married Telitha Hibbard in Macinaw Illinois who is my 3rd great grandmother and had several more children.

Ancestry.com always wants me to assign Mark Fink or Finks as John Finks (1793) father. There is a Mark Finks hole in time though at Ancestry.

There are so many Fink(s) in the area with similar names, it's hard to tell whats going on so I've left my tree at John who is documented in that written history of Tazewell Ill.

The family story from the Finks is that they're German, which fits the name as you've pointed out. Is Fink(s) the German equivalent of Thompson, in that it's a really common name?
 

[rustycan]

G'day Bill ,

Have you had a look at the Archibald Thompson Diaries.

The Name Andrew Jackson T rings a bell with me and I have recently perused these documents.  If you can't get a result E/Mail me at rustycan@bigpond.net.au

I will try and put you on to a lady I have been in contact recently who has been researching the Tomo's for over 50 years. I have recently been able to help her confirm an Irish link to Archibald T

Kind Regards

rus t

[William J. Thompson]

G'day, Rus!

It would be great if I was related to ol' Archie. He was a big name in Tazewell, but so far I haven't been able to trace anything directly back to him. My line inhabited a much different social strata; I have a feeling they came over in the boat much later. I read thru his Diary, and the only name that looked familiar to me is John Thompson, mentioned in p.95 as being born in 1815. That's about 20 years too early for Andy Jackson Thompson's grandfather, though. AJ himself was way after Archibald's time.

Cheers,
--bill

[rustycan]

G'day Bill,

Some of the references you make I am also hearing in my travels amongst the information I have recieved from my now four 67 marker DNA matches. There are several more Cousins with a more distant DNA match.

Each of these Cousins are descendents of the John and Mary Thompson who left Ireland circa 1749/50 and moved through Virginia. John and Mary being the parents of Archibald (Diary) Thompson lines.  My line being somewhat of a missing link as my forebears came from Ireland to Australia in 1843/4.

Your reference to intermarriage with the Crocket family I have heard before and the above John was, in his latter life, a preacher.  Both of these comments suggest to me we are barking up the same or similar tree. Your reference to Andrew Jackson Thompson also rings a bell.

I am no expert on the Archibald (Diary) Thompson lines. Most of my focus is in Ireland (where I am also no expert). From memory there was Archibald and his brother George and a Skaggs who married one of their sisters.

Suggest you have a look at the above and if you think it worth your while I can give you some contacts who have a far better handle of this than I.

Kind Regards

rus t