Thompson Theory

My recent Friday Finds post was about an apprenticeship record for a John Thompson in Ohio county, Kentucky. Hoping to find the name of John’s father, I recently scanned the court order books up to the entry for the apprenticeship. Unfortunately, my scanning of these court orders did not uncover any mention of a Thompson estate.

However, I did find two more mentions of the apprenticeship of John Thompson. That makes three entries all in book 3.

Book 3 page 39 (image 304)
September Court 1810 [12 day of Sept 1810]
On the motion of George Brown It is ordered
that the clerk of this Court do bind out to him according to
law John Thompson infant orphan aged thirteen years four
months and six days. It appearing to the court
that the said Orphans Estate is not sufficient
to maintain him.

image 310
book 3 page 50
November Court 1810
On Motion of Walker Greenwood Sr
For reasons appearing to the Court it orders that
John Thompson who was ordered to be bound an apprentice to George
Brown at the last court [be & he] is hereby released
from from said order & it is further
ordered that the deed of apprentice
ship entered into by the Clerk of this
Court to said Brown agreeable to
said order be considered of no affect

Image 326
page 82
May County Court 1811

On the motion of John Taylor It
is Ordered that the Clerk of this Court
do bind out to him according to law
John Thompson infant orphan aged
fourteen years two months and four days
It appearing to the court that the said
Orphans Estate is not sufficient to
maintain him to learn the art &
mastery of a blacksmith

Even though I didn’t find a mention of a Thompson estate, I did find references to two Thompson men during the 1800-1810 time frame. Both of these entries were on page 199 of Book 1.

Image 120
Book 1
page 199
February Term 1805
William Thompson Esquire is appointed constable
in the first district of Ohio County. Whereupon he took
the Oaths required by Law to qualify him to act as Consta
ble and Together with Daniel Barry and Stephen Stat
ler his securities entered into and acknowledged bond in
the penalty of five hundred dollars Conditioned as the Law
directs

Ordered that Anthony Thompson & John Davis
be recommended to his Excellency Christopher Greenup Es
quire Soverein of Kentucky, as proper persons to fill the of
fice of Justice of the peace in the county in the neighborhood
of Vienna any additional justice being need to in this
county and [a majority] of Justices of the Court being pre
sent and [Con?] in the recommendation

Having struck out with the court order books, I decided to see what I could find in Ancestry trees. My search criteria were as follows:

• Thompson
• Died 1806 +/- 5 years
• Died in Ohio County, Kentucky or adjacent counties

That search turned up only FOUR possibilities:

• Benjamin Thompson – resided Ohio County, KY in 1800 and died 1810 in Ohio County, KY – ONE tree
• George Thompson – died 1803 in Davies County, KY (even though Davies county wasn’t formed in 1803) – 72 Trees
• Raphael Francis Thompson – died 1815 Nelson County, KY – 1892 trees
• Athenius Thompson – died 1810 Nelson County, Ky – ONE tree

Even though George Thompson and Raphael Thompson have a lot of trees, I’m eliminating them as possibilities. The first 10 trees for George Thompson did not show any children. Raphael Thompson died too late to be the father of the apprenticed John Thompson. In addition, his sons named John had birth dates making them too old to be the apprenticed John Thompson.

That leaves Benjamin Thompson and Athenius Thompson as possiblities. The tree for Athenius Thompson does not show a spouse, children or parents. For now, I’m eliminating Athenius as a possibility.

That leaves the lone Benjamin Thompson tree. This tree has a son named, John B. Thompson who happens to have a family structure matching my John B Thompson. In addition, that tree has a source for Benjamin Thompson placing him in Ohio county, Kentucky in 1800. And, the owner of that tree is a DNA match to my mother.

So, it is possible that Benjamin Thompson is the father of John Thompson. However, much more research is needed!