Thompson's Island, Boston, Massachusetts |
It is hard to summarize David Thompson in a short blog post. He was an agent of Sir Ferndinando Gorges, and he first visited New Hampshire in 1616. By 1621 he had established a trading post at Odiorne Point on the New Hampshire seacoast. It was the first year round station, although the coast had been visited in the summer for many years. I blogged about Odiorne Point at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html with some photos of the early settlement sites. Thompson’s fort was known as Pannaway, and he had a fur trading business with the Indians as well as a salt cod fishing enterprise for the fishermen working out at the Isles of Shoals. The exact location of Fort Pannaway is unknown since the area was disturbed for the construction of both Route 1 and Fort Dearborn during World War II.
An early sea captain, Christopher Leavitt, visited Pannaway in the summer and fall of 1623 and describes David Thompson as a scholar who entertained visitors and strangers with graciousness and hospitality.
He also had a station in Boston Harbor now known as Thompson’s
Island, where he removed from Pannaway around 1626. This island is now the Thompson Island
Outward Bound Education Center, and part of the Boston Harbor Islands National
Recreation Area. This is where David Thompson disappeared in
1628. His widow married Samuel Maverick,
who lived on Maverick’s Island, another island in Boston Harbor that is now
located under filled land for Logan Airport.
There is a monument to David Thomson at the cemetery in Odiorne Point,
New Hampshire.
Many people have written about David Thompson over the
years, from Edward Winslow and William Bradford of the Mayflower, to Charles W. Brewster the 1800’s
newspaper columnist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to present day
historians. There are many tales of his adventures, and
my personal favorite is one where Miles Standish appeared at Pannaway to beg
for salt cod in 1623 to keep the Pilgrims at Plymouth alive. It was the cause of the second day of
Thanksgiving at the Plymouth colony! See the link below for more on this story...
Thompson/Thomson Genealogy
Generation 1. David
Thompson, born 1592, son of Richard Thompson and Florence Cromlen of
Clarkenwell, England, and he is presumed to have drowned or disappeared off
Thompson’s Island in Boston harbor in December 1628; married on 18 July 1613 in
St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, Devonshire, England to Amyes Colle, daughter of William
Colle and Agnes Bryant. She was born
about 1592 and died in 1649 in Massachusetts, and was married second to Samuel
Maverick, brother to my 10 x great grandfather, Moses Maverick (1578 – 1636). Five children:
1. Ann
Thompson, died young
2. Priscilla
Thompson, born before 1616, died about 1635
3. John
Thompson, born 5 January 1619 in Plymouth, England; married Sarah Woodman
4. Ann
Thompson, died young
5. Miles
Thompson (see below)
Generation
2: Miles Thompson was born about 1626 in
New Hampshire and died before 30 June 1708 in Berwick, Maine; married about
1652 to Anne Tetherly, daughter of William Tetherley and Christian Thorne. She was born about 1632 and died after 1717
in Berwick. Seven children:
1. Ann
Thompson, married Israel Hodson
2.
Bartholomew Thompson, died unmarried
3. Mary
Thompson, born about 1659 and married Thomas Rhodes
4. John
Thompson, (see below)
5. Sarah
Thompson, married James Goodwin
6. Amy
Thompson, married Daniel Goodwin
7. Thomas
Thompson, married Sarah Furbush
Generation 3: John Thompson, born about 1662, died about 1702; married about 1683 to Sarah Emery, daughter
of James Emery and Elizabeth Unknown.
Three children.
1. Mercy
Thompson, married Philip Stackpole
2. Elizabeth
Thompson, married Mainwaring Hilton
3. John
Thompson (see below)
Generation 4. John
Thompson, born about 1684 in Kittery, Maine, died about 1753; married on 22
June 1709 to Mary Stacy, daughter of William Stacy and Mehitable Weymouth. She was born on 6 April 1690 in South
Berwick, Maine and died 13 January 1753 in Kittery. Three children:
1. John
Thompson, born 10 November 1711, married Mary Unknown
2. Mary
Thompson (see below)
3. Noah
Thompson, born 15 March 1713 in Berwick, married Susannah Place
Generation
5. Mary Thompson married Richard Nason
Generation
6. Mercy Nason married William Wilkinson
Generation
7. Aaron Wilkinson married Mercy F.
Wilson
Generation
8. Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe
Cross Munroe
Generation
9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson married
Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation
10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson married
Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)
A book about David Thompson is First Yankee: David Thomson 1592-
1628, by Ralph E. and Matthew R. Thompson, originally printed in 1979,
reprinted by the Piscataqua Pioneers. There are sketches of David Thomson in the Great
Migration Begins, Volume III, pages 1807-1809, and in the New England
Historic Genealogical Society Register,
Volume 9, pages 110 – 116. You can find
sketches of the Pannaway settlement in any good New Hampshire history.
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A great website for Thompson genealogy, with links to other websites http://www.wellswooster.com/tommies/
The Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center website http://www.thompsonisland.org/
Charles W. Brewster’s excerpt about “Old Pannaway” http://seacoastnh.com/brewster/85.html
How David Thompson “saved” the Pilgrims, by present day Portsmouth
Historian J. Dennis Robinson: http://www.seacoastnh.com/Today/Editor-at-Large/Turkeygate-The-Thanksgiving-Scandal/
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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Sigh! Not my any of my Thompson family. One married into my Westerly family.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising. The DIctionary of ME and NH rated Thompson the 16th most common name in New England. I have a host of Thompsons--none from this family.
ReplyDeleteOh man-- I have a Thompson in my family, but sadly, appears to be no relation...
ReplyDeleteMartin, I have several NH Thompsons that appear to be no relation to this one, but I'm still working on those lines...
ReplyDeleteI too have a Thompson line, but at first glance don't see a connection.
ReplyDeleteJust curious...Have you changed your thoughts at all about who David Thomson's parents are? It seems there are two schools of thought, with some folks believing he has a Scottish heritage. I haven't seen original documents, just summaries on the internet, and it seems that there may be a good case for the Corstorphine connection, too? I'd be interested in learning your thoughts about this.
ReplyDeleteJanice in Indiana
Yes, that is a good case, but not good enough to make me go with it yet.
DeleteHeather--Hope this will get to you....I may be able to work on one of my late husbands line on the Thompson side....Gen 4 under Noah Thompson.....because of your post here.....Many thanks to You and to Google for sending your wonderful blog my way! Karen Parsons March 6, 2016
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comment, Karen!
DeleteAccording to Robert Charles Anderson, FASG in The Great Migration Begins p 1807-1809 the immigrant David Thompson had only four children baptized at St. Andrews: Ann, Priscilla, John and Ann (again). Both daughters named Ann died young. Priscilla is last mentioned in the Trelawny Papers p 76-78 as "her fatherless children" but no further record of her exists. John was called "John Thompson of London" in 1651 in Massachusetts May Colony Records 3:130; Suffolk Deeds 1:117, 3:103-4. Douglas Richardson, FASG states in New Hampshire Genealogical Record 9:110-16 that the son John Thompson returned to England and is not the John of Weymouth and Mendon who had decedents in New England. If this be the case David Thompson left no known descendants beyond his immediate children in New England. He had no son named Miles Thompson in any baptism record, deed or probate record. Mile appears to be from a separate family - most likely an later immigrant per The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
His X Mark
Hello, since this blog post was written six years ago I have come to doubt that Miles is a descendant of David Thompson. I hope to write up a new post on this line in the future.
Delete