University of Virginia Library

THOMPSON.

Joseph Thompson was one of the original magistrates of
the county, and its first Sheriff. He resided in the bounds
of Fluvanna, not far from Palmyra. He died in 1765. His
wife's name was Sarah, and his children were Roger,
George, Leonard, John, and Frances, the wife of a Woodson.
The family was well represented in the Revolutionary army.
Roger was a Captain in the Second Virginia, and John, First
Lieutenant in the Seventh, while George and Leonard were
Lieutenants in the State militia. In 1737 Roger Thompson
Jr., patented nearly three hundred acres on Foster's Creek in
the Stony Point neighborhood; it is probable he was the
same as Captain Roger. The same year John Thompson
entered more than five hundred acres on the south fork of the

Rivanna, and in 1759 one hundred and twenty more a short
distance above on Moorman's. It is believed he was the
brother of Roger, and the father, or more likely the grandfather,
of Roger and Nathaniel, who lived on or near the
land which he entered. The last mentioned Roger died in
1838. He married — and his children were William,
Nicholas, Nathaniel, Mary, the wife of Richard Franklin,
Elizabeth, the wife of a Ballard, Sarah, the wife of Samuel
Ward, and Susan, the wife of William Ward. His son
Nathaniel married Temperance, daughter of William Crenshaw,
gave the land on which Wesley Chapel was built, and
died about 1835. Nathaniel Sr. married Lucy, daughter of
Bernard Brown, and died in 1874. His children were
Edmund I., who died in 1868, Bernard, and Mary, the wife
of James E. Chapman.

In 1766 Waddy Thompson, of Louisa, came to the county,
and married Mary, daughter of Robert Lewis, and widow of
Samuel Cobb. He had previously married Elizabeth, daughter
of Nelson Anderson, of Hanover. His children by the
first marriage were Nelson, Anderson, David, who removed
to Woodford County, Kentucky, Waddy, who removed to
Rockingham, Susan, the second wife of David Rodes, and
afterwards of James Kerr, and Lucy. Nelson received from
his father two hundred and fifty acres southwest of Still House
Mountain, which he sold in 1794 to Thomas Garth Sr. He
then bought on Beaverdam of Hardware, where he died in
1798. The children by the second marriage were Ann, the wife
first of John Slaughter, and secondly of Philip Grafton, Mary,
the wife of James Poindexter, Susan, the wife of Jesse Davenport,
Mildred, the wife of James Scott, and Judith, the wife
of William Poindexter. John Slaughter was Surveyor of the
county, and died in 1797. His children were Mary L.,
Waddy T., and Robert L. Waddy T. married Frances
Ballard, and in 1823 was living in New York, where he was
Postmaster, and owner of the tanyard, the most lasting
monument of the place, which he bought from Nathaniel
Landcraft, and sold to James Lobban. Waddy Thomson
died in 1801, and his wife in 1813. All their children appear

to have removed from the county except Susan and her husband.
For a time he kept the Swan Tavern. He died in
1822, and she in 1847.