Our Thompson Family in Maine, New Hampshire, and the West
By Rev. Charles N. Sinnett

Preface

This is the story of a sturdy, honest, witty, patriotic, and talented family. It is like that of many others of the name who have starred the history of Great Britain and America with noble achievements along many lines. And hosts of other Thompsons, as sturdy and gifted as these, have devoted their time and talents to the possession of lands–of which they have taken the best of care. Hence this book is largely the story of family migrations to the shaggy forests of Maine, to the fair fields of the West, and the sunny slopes of the Pacific, that broad acres might be theirs. It is a magnificent record that, though the author of this book has carefully studied the history of many of these acquisitions, he has found no slightest trace of any Thompson using unfair means in his quest. And at his country’s call these precious acres and the homes upon them have always been left behind. When James Thompson moved to New meadows, near Brunswick, Me., he made that whole region glow with patriotism when the news of the battle of Bunker Hill reached him in the field by the river. This is the story of all neighborhoods where these Thompsons have lived. Not till the last note of war had died away did they go back to the fields and forests which had such a charm for them. Find any Thompson who is a brilliant scholar, successful in the law, or along any line of work, and he is holding firmly to some island, or plot of God’s green earth. Let his country need him tomorrow and in the gray dawn his steps will ring down the pathway of duty. An old Thompson coat-of-arms lies before me. It shows that through long generations the family has been what it is today.

This book holds much about the noble Thompson women and of those who wisely chose Thompsons for husbands. Read the chapter on the descendants of Lieut. Hugh Mulloy and his wife and you have a picture of what these women have ever been, and what a precious heritage they gave to all the generations after them; and where a Thompson woman has not chosen to marry, the neighborhood where she has dwelt has arisen to call her blessed because of her unfailing charity. The brilliant career of Emma Eames is sketched as showing the talents of this race from which she sprang.

The author of this book has carefully examined every Thompson record and legend and has given the story of the ancestry as clearly as he could. He is still searching in Great Britain for more light on this matter. The results will be given in due time. He has gathered many other Thompson records, which may be printed later on.

This book, on which so much time has been spent in the last eight years, is now…

Windham Press is committed to bringing the lost cultural heritage of ages past into the 21st century through high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices.

This book has been carefully crafted to utilize the original images of antique books rather than error-prone OCR text. This also preserves the work of the original typesetters of these classics, unknown craftsmen who laid out the text, often by hand, of each and every page you will read. Their subtle art involving judgment and interaction with the text is in many ways superior and more human than the mechanical methods utilized today, and gave each book a unique, hand-crafted feel in its text that connected the reader organically to the art of bindery and book-making.

We think these benefits are worth the occasional imperfection resulting from the age of these books at the time of scanning, and their vintage feel provides a connection to the past that goes beyond the mere words of the text.