Abel and Andrew Thompson
The Thompsons of Union City, Pennsylvania- Abel and Andrew
Abel Thompson
Abel Thompson was born in Great Egg Harbor, Burlington County, New Jersey on March 2, 1756. He was the son of Henry and Mary (Shin) Thompson who were married in 1754. According to the obituary written by his son Joel, Abel Thompson “took part in the Revolutionary struggle, and lived long to enjoy the blessings of liberty and independence so gloriously achieved by the contemporaries of his age and arms.”
He married Jemima Kemp, who was also born in Great Egg Harbor, in 1778. They moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania and settled in Fayette County, near Redstone Creek. Here he was listed in the 1790 census with one male over 16, 4 under 16, and 2 females in his family.
Abel and Jemima and their children came to Union Township in 1801 and Abel bought forty acres of land from William Miles. He set up a blacksmith shop within a half a mile of the site where Miles had his mill. Abel’s five sons and two daughters helped their father and mother establish a home in the woods. His sons, Job, Abel, Joel, Caleb, and Charles K. were mechanics and very ingenious. Two daughters, Mary and Sarah were hardy pioneers.
Abel and his son Joel were blacksmiths and stonecutters. They found boulders in the woods and from them fashioned grinders for the new mills. Joel made all of the tombstones in the vicinity from native stone. He and his father also made all of the farming and household utensils for the community out of iron or steel. They made hoes, hay and manure forks, harrow pins and plow irons, which they had to sharpen frequently and add on steel when they needed it. They also made shovels and tongs that were used at every fire place.
Job, another of Abel’s sons, liked to work in the woods. He began to clear a farm in several places and built a shop at the mouth of Carroll’s run and put in a turning lathe to be run by water. He made wooden bowls, wheels for spinning flax and wool, and many other useful items.
Another son, Caleb, became a farmer. He was also a carpenter and joiner and finished many of the older houses in Union City.
Charles Kemp, Abel’s fifth son, was a shoemaker. He had plenty of work to do in Union Township. He also delighted in hunting deer and telling stories about his hunting adventures.
Jemima Thompson died on November 15, 1816 at Union City. After his wife’s death, Abel took his youngest son, Charles Kemp with him on a horseback trip back to New Jersey through the wilderness. Abel decided to have his son Caleb come to live on his little farm with him. Abel thought that he and Caleb could carry on their trades and find time to work the farm.
About 1821 or 1822, and old man from New York State by the name of Jeduthan Gray, came to northwestern Pennsylvania and bought the old Oil Creek farm . He was an elder in the Baptist Church and very influential. Many others soon followed him and built a prosperous settlement and flourishing Baptist Church. Jeduthan had a widowed sister, Tamar Ames, who had come with the family. She had been married young and had a family of five or six children. Abel saw her on occasion and fell in love with her at first sight. Abel and Tamar were married in 1821 and had a son. They named him Robert Gray Thompson. When he grew up he was small in stature, exceedingly cross, and somewhat comical in his actions. Everyone called him “Wicker Bob.” He lived in Union City until he was 25 years old, then he went west.
Abel Thompson died on July 3, 1840 at age 84. He left 80 grandchildren and 42 great grandchildren. From him and Jemima, two orphans, came 165 direct descendants. They and Tamar and some of their children are all buried at the Thompson Burying ground outside of Union City.
Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson came to America from Ireland as a young man and settled in Washington County, Pa. The Pennsylvania Archives, 3 Series, Vol. 23, p.200, lists Andrew among the Stockley Rangers, from Washington County, guarding the frontiers between 1778‑1783. Also a copy of a certificate signed by Zadock Wright, under the date of June 14, 1782, Washington County, Penna. is included. It says: “This is to certify that Andrew Thompson served in my company as a soldier, commencing May 16, ending June 14. Certified by me. “Zadock Wright.” (Also in Pension Records for 1820 a private Andrew Thompson of the Washington County Militia is listed.)
He married Martha_________, and the family moved from Washington County. Andrew came to Erie County in 1798. David Wilson writes that Andrew came to Union with his wife and four children in 1798 when he was “past the meridian of life.” Andrew purchased 200 acres of the Holland Land Company land, which remained a homestead to his descendants. He engaged in milling. Three of their children were married, and their oldest son William, was one of the first settlers in Union Township. John, Thomas, and Hannah were too young to go into society. Andrew was very religious. He conducted family worship in his house three times a day and would have no fellowship with those who sang Watt’s version of the Psalms.
The three years of war with Great Britain came to an end(1812‑1815), but the effects still lingered. Asiatic cholera spread over much of the country in 1815, and was known by the doctors as the Black Rock Fever. It took hold of Andrew and Martha Thompson and carried them to their graves. It also took the wife of Joel Thompson who was young and left but one child.
Shortly after the death of Andrew and Martha, their daughter Hannah was taken by the illness. Medical wisdom said a change would be good for her in her illness, so she went to her sister’s residence in Washington County. After resting for several months and getting no better, she longed to come back home. Her brother John went to Washington County and brought her home, but she did not live long after returning and was buried beside her parents.
William Thompson did not stay long in Washington County, but went to the Missouri Territory, and wrote back flattering accounts of the soil and climate to his brother John. John Thompson and the Reverend John Matthews and a family by the name of Watson decided to immigrate to Missouri. They selected St. Charles, which was situated on the bottom land between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In the spring of 1816, John Thompson and Watson built a boat at Waterford, and taking their families aboard with their goods, they floated down LeBoeuf and French Creeks and the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. They pushed their way up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to St. Charles. They found the soil and climate all they had hoped for, but unhealthy .An old deserted channel of the Missouri would fill with water when the river was high. When the river fell the water would remain there and stagnate and send off a malaria which caused much sickness.
The Thompson family had the fever every summer while they remained in St. Charles. John Thompson died in 1823, leaving his wife Sarah, with six children. Sarah struggled four years longer with disease, trying all of the time to sell the land. She couldn’t sell the land. She was determined to get back to a more healthy climate, but could not raise enough money to bring the family back to Northwestern Pennsylvania on the steamboat. Instead, she loaded her goods in a two horse covered wagons and started back to Pennsylvania over land. At night, she and her two little girls would get into a house with some family and her four boys would sleep in the wagon. Their large dog slept under the wagon. Sarah would not travel on Sunday, and when their clothes needed washing she would lay by a day for that purpose, buying provisions and feed when she needed them. In this way, she reached her brothers and sisters in Washington County, Pa., where she remained for two years.
Finally after two years, Sarah came back to her old farm in Union which she, her husband John, their children, and the dog had left so many years before. Here she lived and kept her children together until they were grown up. Then she allowed her sons to divide the old farm and the homestead part was sold. Two of her sons went to the far west, and she lived around among her remaining children until she died in May 1854.
David Wilson, who tells her story in his Reminiscences of Erie County, sums up her life. “She talked but little, and was never known to say a word that she did not believe to be strictly true. Her example of Christian piety will shine far down the line of her posterity.”
Sarah was one of the founding members of the Presbyterian Church in Union City which was established in 1811 . David Wilson also was a pioneer member of the Presbyterian Church and the Thompson and the Wilson families had a long and close association with each other. He and many of his family members are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Abel Thompson
Abel Thompson was born in Great Egg Harbor, Burlington County, New Jersey on March 2, 1756. He was the son of Henry and Mary (Shin) Thompson who were married in 1754. According to the obituary written by his son Joel, Abel Thompson “took part in the Revolutionary struggle, and lived long to enjoy the blessings of liberty and independence so gloriously achieved by the contemporaries of his age and arms.”
He married Jemima Kemp, who was also born in Great Egg Harbor, in 1778. They moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania and settled in Fayette County, near Redstone Creek. Here he was listed in the 1790 census with one male over 16, 4 under 16, and 2 females in his family.
Abel and Jemima and their children came to Union Township in 1801 and Abel bought forty acres of land from William Miles. He set up a blacksmith shop within a half a mile of the site where Miles had his mill. Abel’s five sons and two daughters helped their father and mother establish a home in the woods. His sons, Job, Abel, Joel, Caleb, and Charles K. were mechanics and very ingenious. Two daughters, Mary and Sarah were hardy pioneers.
Abel and his son Joel were blacksmiths and stonecutters. They found boulders in the woods and from them fashioned grinders for the new mills. Joel made all of the tombstones in the vicinity from native stone. He and his father also made all of the farming and household utensils for the community out of iron or steel. They made hoes, hay and manure forks, harrow pins and plow irons, which they had to sharpen frequently and add on steel when they needed it. They also made shovels and tongs that were used at every fire place.
Job, another of Abel’s sons, liked to work in the woods. He began to clear a farm in several places and built a shop at the mouth of Carroll’s run and put in a turning lathe to be run by water. He made wooden bowls, wheels for spinning flax and wool, and many other useful items.
Another son, Caleb, became a farmer. He was also a carpenter and joiner and finished many of the older houses in Union City.
Charles Kemp, Abel’s fifth son, was a shoemaker. He had plenty of work to do in Union Township. He also delighted in hunting deer and telling stories about his hunting adventures.
Jemima Thompson died on November 15, 1816 at Union City. After his wife’s death, Abel took his youngest son, Charles Kemp with him on a horseback trip back to New Jersey through the wilderness. Abel decided to have his son Caleb come to live on his little farm with him. Abel thought that he and Caleb could carry on their trades and find time to work the farm.
About 1821 or 1822, and old man from New York State by the name of Jeduthan Gray, came to northwestern Pennsylvania and bought the old Oil Creek farm . He was an elder in the Baptist Church and very influential. Many others soon followed him and built a prosperous settlement and flourishing Baptist Church. Jeduthan had a widowed sister, Tamar Ames, who had come with the family. She had been married young and had a family of five or six children. Abel saw her on occasion and fell in love with her at first sight. Abel and Tamar were married in 1821 and had a son. They named him Robert Gray Thompson. When he grew up he was small in stature, exceedingly cross, and somewhat comical in his actions. Everyone called him “Wicker Bob.” He lived in Union City until he was 25 years old, then he went west.
Abel Thompson died on July 3, 1840 at age 84. He left 80 grandchildren and 42 great grandchildren. From him and Jemima, two orphans, came 165 direct descendants. They and Tamar and some of their children are all buried at the Thompson Burying ground outside of Union City.
Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson came to America from Ireland as a young man and settled in Washington County, Pa. The Pennsylvania Archives, 3 Series, Vol. 23, p.200, lists Andrew among the Stockley Rangers, from Washington County, guarding the frontiers between 1778‑1783. Also a copy of a certificate signed by Zadock Wright, under the date of June 14, 1782, Washington County, Penna. is included. It says: “This is to certify that Andrew Thompson served in my company as a soldier, commencing May 16, ending June 14. Certified by me. “Zadock Wright.” (Also in Pension Records for 1820 a private Andrew Thompson of the Washington County Militia is listed.)
He married Martha_________, and the family moved from Washington County. Andrew came to Erie County in 1798. David Wilson writes that Andrew came to Union with his wife and four children in 1798 when he was “past the meridian of life.” Andrew purchased 200 acres of the Holland Land Company land, which remained a homestead to his descendants. He engaged in milling. Three of their children were married, and their oldest son William, was one of the first settlers in Union Township. John, Thomas, and Hannah were too young to go into society. Andrew was very religious. He conducted family worship in his house three times a day and would have no fellowship with those who sang Watt’s version of the Psalms.
The three years of war with Great Britain came to an end(1812‑1815), but the effects still lingered. Asiatic cholera spread over much of the country in 1815, and was known by the doctors as the Black Rock Fever. It took hold of Andrew and Martha Thompson and carried them to their graves. It also took the wife of Joel Thompson who was young and left but one child.
Shortly after the death of Andrew and Martha, their daughter Hannah was taken by the illness. Medical wisdom said a change would be good for her in her illness, so she went to her sister’s residence in Washington County. After resting for several months and getting no better, she longed to come back home. Her brother John went to Washington County and brought her home, but she did not live long after returning and was buried beside her parents.
William Thompson did not stay long in Washington County, but went to the Missouri Territory, and wrote back flattering accounts of the soil and climate to his brother John. John Thompson and the Reverend John Matthews and a family by the name of Watson decided to immigrate to Missouri. They selected St. Charles, which was situated on the bottom land between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In the spring of 1816, John Thompson and Watson built a boat at Waterford, and taking their families aboard with their goods, they floated down LeBoeuf and French Creeks and the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. They pushed their way up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to St. Charles. They found the soil and climate all they had hoped for, but unhealthy .An old deserted channel of the Missouri would fill with water when the river was high. When the river fell the water would remain there and stagnate and send off a malaria which caused much sickness.
The Thompson family had the fever every summer while they remained in St. Charles. John Thompson died in 1823, leaving his wife Sarah, with six children. Sarah struggled four years longer with disease, trying all of the time to sell the land. She couldn’t sell the land. She was determined to get back to a more healthy climate, but could not raise enough money to bring the family back to Northwestern Pennsylvania on the steamboat. Instead, she loaded her goods in a two horse covered wagons and started back to Pennsylvania over land. At night, she and her two little girls would get into a house with some family and her four boys would sleep in the wagon. Their large dog slept under the wagon. Sarah would not travel on Sunday, and when their clothes needed washing she would lay by a day for that purpose, buying provisions and feed when she needed them. In this way, she reached her brothers and sisters in Washington County, Pa., where she remained for two years.
Finally after two years, Sarah came back to her old farm in Union which she, her husband John, their children, and the dog had left so many years before. Here she lived and kept her children together until they were grown up. Then she allowed her sons to divide the old farm and the homestead part was sold. Two of her sons went to the far west, and she lived around among her remaining children until she died in May 1854.
David Wilson, who tells her story in his Reminiscences of Erie County, sums up her life. “She talked but little, and was never known to say a word that she did not believe to be strictly true. Her example of Christian piety will shine far down the line of her posterity.”
Sarah was one of the founding members of the Presbyterian Church in Union City which was established in 1811 . David Wilson also was a pioneer member of the Presbyterian Church and the Thompson and the Wilson families had a long and close association with each other. He and many of his family members are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.