Author Topic: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.  (Read 53476 times)

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #30 on: December 21, 2010, 06:20:38 AM »
Well, I poked at it enough that I got an answer! Although I used Ancestry.com for my dna test, I've put my results out there almost anywhere it's free. One of those is Genetree. I put a question in to them about my results (with the odd 16.2 ad DYS458 which shows as 17 for Familytree DNA) and they came back that if I'm R1b1b2 with 16.2 then they predict that I'm U106 or S21 which puts me on a different branch of the DNA tree than the Northwest Irish or even many Scots.

I found it a relief to have some official statement and it goes a long way toward explaining why my DNA matches are all over the place but few and far between. Of course, I'd have to pay for real testing to verify it, but I don't like paying for things.

As far as family history goes, it doesn't mean much unless you're going back 1500 years or so. What it does mean is that I can whittle my search down to about 20% of the population of Britain and 6% of Ireland.

Many people call it "Frisian" so I thought I'd look up Frisian and Scots and came up with a Scots language site with this information on it:

Quote
The Fryske or Frisian language has a special significance for Scots speakers as Frisian, English and Scots all derive from a common origin. It is often stated that Frisian is the West Germanic language most closely related to English, though, in fact, it is Scots that is the West Germanic language most closely related to English. Few studies have been made of the relationship between Frisian and Scots (researchers concentrating on English only) though both have much in common linguistically and historically. As well as belonging to the same language group, both language communities came under the increasing influence (and political control) of neighbouring languages. By the end of the 16th century Frisian had come under Dutch control and Scots came to be influenced by English. The Fryske Akademy was founded in 1938 as a centre for research and in order to promote education in the Frisian language and culture. It serves as a model for what might also be possible for the Scots language community.


So, Ironically, although it makes me less "Celtic" in the eyes of some, it actually may serve to cement my ties to Scotland and the British Isles in general and would be good supporting evidence for being an Ulster Scot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Scots
« Last Edit: December 21, 2010, 06:46:22 AM by uneven »
Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #31 on: January 08, 2011, 02:05:02 PM »
Well it's still a wall, but it's got more bricks now.

I took Tom's advice not to discount that 1894 death record for Levi and went ahead and reinstated my ancestry.com account. I found several people who had that record in their tree and asked one of them for more about it. It turns out that the Levi Thompson in that record moved from Virginia in the 1870s and was married to Elizabeth who also has a death record around the same time in the same county. I could verify what my contact was saying by looking through the records myself.

Then I took a step back and decided not to discount 1890 or records from outside the county and I found him again through his military record. He's listed in an 1890 veterans schedule in Hopewell Ohio with a postal address of Tamah Ohio..(which is really Tama I think). He's there with a disability of "Stiff Ankle". He's also listed on the same page with two names one Levi Thompson and another less readable first name with the last name Thomson.

So Thanks Tom for the good advice!

This means he's alive in 1880 which is when you list where you're parents are from. Unfortunately I still haven't been able to find him there. I imagine his name is misspelled. Only because he's listed as Lean Thampson in 1870 and Levi Thompon in 1860 (I know it's him because the family is with him).

Now that he's separate from the wife and kids he'll be harder to find if there's any error in his name.

I also think he may have been going through the process to try and admit himself to the Home for Volunteer Veterans in Dayton Ohio. I don't find him among the Thompson listed in the Veterans home records, but again it could be a spelling issue with whoever is adding these entries.

So now my revised family tree looks like this:

Levi Thompson 1835/6 - bef 1900 b: Pennsylvania or Indiana possibly died in Ohio.
Married abt 1855 to Rosa or Rosanna (unknown) 1837 - bef 1910 b: Indiana

    * Mary Thompson 1856
    * James Thompson 1857
    * Emily J Thompson Silcott 1859

          o Nina Silcott.

    * Rena Frances Thompson 1868
    * Albert Thompson 1870 - 1909 b: Indiana Married Ida Williamson.
          o Eva Thompson Hetzel McCann 1893 - 1968
          o Vivian Leo Thompson 1896
          o Ray Bishop Thompson 1898 - 1970 married? Orvetta Finks
                + Charles Thompson 1925
          o Cuba Thompson 1902 - 1978
          o Francis Thompson - 1904 - 1973
          o Marjorie M Thompson Sturm 1907 - 1997
          o Harry Thompson 1910
    * Mattie Thompson 1872
Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

Mary

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #32 on: January 08, 2011, 02:16:32 PM »
Keep battering at that wall, Mike........it's about all we can do!

When we lived in Germany, we went to the part of Holland still raising Frisian horses and considering themselves "Frisian."  If you look at a map, the Netherlands isn't very far from the coast of England!  So, what you found makes perfect sense.

M

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #33 on: January 08, 2011, 03:20:12 PM »
Thanks for all the encouragement Mary. I really appreciate it. What I think has been really interesting with all of this is that sometimes a few words from someone outside your head can really make a difference. I never would have found that record if Tom hadn't given me an example from his family.

Likewise it was someone who wasn't even a Thompson that made me go back and take a 1909 death record into consideration. That led to me finding the gravesite and that changed everything.

That's one of the reasons I keep posting things as I learn them. I run the risk of being wrong and looking foolish, most of the time I do both, but if someone else can take that struggle and move another rung up the ladder then it's worth the risk.

Another Irony of this Journey, that person that helped me with the 1909 death record for Albert Thompson was a Coen. It's a very popular Irish name from Northwest Ireland, her family was from Ohio and so was mine (at the time) and our DNA was a decent enough match so I thought I'd contact her. When she told me her DNA was "Frisian" my jaw hit the floor. At the time I was kind of offended because I'm obviously "Irish"! So after that, I think I really set about proving that I'm not Frisian. I really intended to lay out a body of evidence for my own Irishness.

Frisian sounds like something you spray in the bathroom so it doesn't stink anymore. Or, one of those hypo-allergenic dogs.

It's been really hard to come to this. It took months of raking over these numbers and maps and languages. You know, the harder I fought the more apparent it became that I'm fighting myself (as usual). So instead of proving my point, I proved I'm probably some kind of hideous Germanic Dutch Viking Northman thing, which is also what my wife has said all along.

And you should see the smug look on her face!

Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #34 on: January 17, 2011, 03:33:30 PM »
Other Thompsons descending from Levi in 1834 just contacted me. They are from a different branch and at my father's level but verified my family tree and the connection to Levi. Levi is this man's great great grandfather. My grandfather was his father's cousin. I'm kind of in shock.

Now I think we're supposed to begin some kind of blood ritual or dance around and scream threats at each other. I'm not sure really because this has never happened before.
Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

Mary

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #35 on: January 18, 2011, 07:16:32 PM »
Now Mike......

Calm down-------no blood rituals until AFTER you're sure your new contact doesn't have a significant number of LARGE cousins/brothers!  :)

Seriously, how great that you have found someone to corroborate your family data! Woo  hoo!!

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #36 on: January 18, 2011, 07:30:42 PM »
It's pretty exciting to know there are other Thompsons from my family alive and still in Indiana! We've traded a few pictures in e-mail and I sent him some of the documents I've collected on Levi. I guess he found me in a Thompson Gen forum. Pretty darn cool. Unless he's a serial killer.

Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

Dusevoir

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #37 on: January 21, 2011, 09:22:04 AM »
Quote
So in a totally self serving way, I want every male Thompson to test because it will help me find them and they may know more than me...or we could connect the dots until we meet up in the middle.

Me too.........I want every female Thompson to test.    :)

Old Genealogists never die - they just lose their census.

Dusevoir

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #38 on: January 21, 2011, 09:33:15 AM »
uneven........congratulations!  What a great feeling!

My known Thompsons are from Jeffersonville, Indiana (Clarke County).  They moved to Louisville, Kentucky and then to Paducah, Kentucky. 
   
Old Genealogists never die - they just lose their census.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #39 on: January 21, 2011, 04:46:47 PM »
Thanks for the congrats Mary and Dusevoir. I saw a picture of my great grandfather for the first time. That was powerful.

It is a picture from 1926/27 and it contained many of the people I've only just found out about. One of them appears to almost crack a smile, but for the most part it looks like they were attending a "stern-off" to see who could look meanest.

My great grandfather looks pretty mean, but by far his uncle James Thompson takes the cake. He actually looks like the eagle from the muppet show.

From this picture, I do have a bunch of other  surnames with relatives for those people with family finder results. Clifford, Tyler, Swindell, McCann, Cunningham, Sturm and Fennimore. I can account for everyone except Cunningham and Swindell, not sure where they came from.

Dusevoir, what is your last known Thompson in Indiana name and date. My Thompsons are farther north around Monroe, Anderson and Alexandria, but I'm stuck effectively at the 1860 census with Levi born 1834 (Indexed as Lean Thampson by ancestry.com and familysearch.org). I read in an obituary I ordered that Levi Thompson and Mrs (not real helpful) were early residents of Monroe...so they moved in from somewhere. For all I know it could have been southern Indiana.

mike

Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #40 on: January 21, 2011, 04:58:04 PM »
Dusevoir, I went back and re-read one of your old posts and saw a path:

Quote
Andrew Thomson b. 1839  Dundonald, Ayr, Scotland,
Archibald Thompson  B:  22 June 1677  Abbotshall, Scotland, United Kingdom,
Robert Thompson  B:1707  Antrim, County of Antrim, Province of Ulster, Ireland,
Archibald Thompson  B:1740  Pennsylvania, United States,
Benjamin Thompson  B:25 Mar 1777  Norriton, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, US

Now, there is this gap we are still trying to figure out.

Our known ancestors...

Jacob B Thompson married to Nancy Fuller in  Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana.                                 

Orlando "Ollie" Lynch Thompson  B. May 1842 in Jeffersonville, Indiana  married to Wilhanetta Y Martin.  In 1850 they lived Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky.

Alonzo "Lon" B Thompson B. 8 August 1868 married Darthula Green.

Maurice "Morris" L. Thompson B. 1903 in Rankin, Illinois, USA married Alice Paull in Oregon. (my grandparents)

These Thompsons moved to Paducah, Kentucky.



The gap you have is really interesting to me because Levi Thompson 1834 in my tree says he is from Indiana in one census and then Pennsylvania in the others. I've been trying to find him in both places before 1860 with no luck.

mike

Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

Dusevoir

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #41 on: January 24, 2011, 07:54:14 AM »
Quote
The gap you have is really interesting to me because Levi Thompson 1834 in my tree says he is from Indiana in one census and then Pennsylvania in the others. I've been trying to find him in both places before 1860 with no luck.

mike

I think Benjamin Thompson is Jacob B. Thompson's father in my tree.

I attached an 1850 Indiana census with all the Levi Thompsons going back to 1777.





[attachment deleted by admin]
Old Genealogists never die - they just lose their census.

Dusevoir

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #42 on: January 24, 2011, 08:08:59 AM »
Quote
From this picture, I do have a bunch of other  surnames with relatives for those people with family finder results.

Family Finder DNA results?   What name do you use? 
Old Genealogists never die - they just lose their census.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #43 on: January 24, 2011, 09:15:25 PM »
I haven't done the test, but these are all people that would be genetically related to me within 6 generations so for people who have the test and Thompson and see Finks, Fennimore, Clifford, Williamson..etc maybe there would be a connection.
Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.

uneven

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Re: Levi Thompson b. 1834ish lived in Alexandria Indiana..brick wall.
« Reply #44 on: January 24, 2011, 09:25:30 PM »
Wow, thanks for that concise census list! I've long suspected the Levi Thompson from Washington Indiana 1831 because I've already had census records in the Thompson family with birth dates up to 8 years off and it would be a very convenient Levi. I disregarded it because there is a consistent Levi Thompson presence in Washington with a marriage record to a different woman.

Now I see that there are several Levi Thompsons in Washington Indiana at the same time and that opens up new possibilities for me. If I follow them both and one disappears from Washington by 1860 then he would be a person of interest.
Mike Thompson from Michigan..then Indiana..then Pennsylvania and further...probably somewhere there are sheep. Call me Legion for I am many.