Can You Help Thomas Posey, the Notables Project and Collaborative Profile of the Week?

Question

The Notable Project and the Collaborative Profile of the Week Present

Thomas Posey (1750-1818)

The Notables Project thought it would be a great idea to select not only an historical figure but one with references to a celebration going on all year. 2016 is the bicentennial celebration of the founding of the state of Indiana, and as such our choice is one of Indiana's founding fathers, Thomas Posey.

Thomas Posey was born in Virginia and at a key point became the 2nd and Final Governor of the Indiana Territory, in the years 1813 to 1816. He was the man who carried the governance of the state from territory into statehood. He had previously been a US Senator and a Lieutenant Governor, so he had a rich political history. He was also instrumental in the Revolutionary War, so he is a great choice for collaboration.

His profile is a bit blank at the moment - no family members - no biography. So this is a great opportunity to step in and add to a great historical figure's profile and to celebrate a historical moment with the state of Indiana.

Some possible items to add:

• Did Thomas marry and have children?
• Can we connect him to the global tree?
• There has been an ongoing discussion about the parentage of Thomas. It has been claimed that he was the son of George Washington. I don't think we're going to solve this, but a couple of paragraphs discussing the topic would be in order. There's a detailed article on the topic in the Indiana Magazine of History.
• Thomas's political accomplishments (maybe in a timeline).
• His Revolutionary War service.

It’s helpful to the collaboration and to save duplication of work if you post an answer here before working on some aspect of the profile. But please feel free to simply add to the profile whatever you’ve found out with its source.

Notables Project

Not surprisingly, the goal of the Notables Project is to add notable figures from world history and current events to our WikiTree global family tree. If you'd like to join the great team of project members working on these profiles, the Notables Project would love to have you.

Thank you.

Comments

Thanks, Anne! This is now featured on the home page.

Answer 1

I added his 3 children as best I could find for his first marriage - only 1 child from that marriage survived to adulthood. I also added a single grandchild as well with that survivor, Captain John Posey and his wife Lucy Thornton.

Comments

Thanks Scott

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Continuing to chip away at the children and grandchildren. What I'm finding harder than anything is to separate the good information from the bad when it comes to his children. The 3 born to his first wife were generally consistent, although there was a potential question on the oldest. The 10 children reputed to be from the second marriage are all over the place. Lots of name variants, kids that probably aren't theirs, some born before they were married, after he died, etc. At least one source showing 11 kids, of which several are unique... I'm still hunting for solid genealogical sources for the ones I've got so that at least they're good solid confirmed children and can be researched further.

If anyone finds a highly reputable source that cites their sources properly, please let me know and I'll go from there. Otherwise, right now I'm going to treat these as new researches and see what I can put to them one by one.

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Thanks Scott. I found Thomas' will, so from that and their gravestone photos at find a grave was able to fill in the other children. Had a little trouble with Thornton, but was finally able to add him also. I have 9 which is the number I remember reading and the full list in his will, 10 would be the survivor from the first marriage.

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Ha! I love it! Thanks, Anne! I took a look and the new improvements on the biography, the background, and the new picture all look great! Plus its so nice to see him with his family. I was sorely tempted to add parents, but I might consider adding their profiles and just linking them in the biography. There's far too much speculation on the truth of things to be certain where this is concerned.

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He was so blasé about who his parents were, never referring to them by name, that it's almost like he didn't want anyone to discover who they really were. So either it was George or someone of little account that he wasn't very proud of. What a conundrum he left for his descendants. There were about half a dozen letters in the pension folders from descendants asking if he'd applied for a pension and did the department have information on who his parents were. Of course he didn't apply (way too well off), so they didn't have anything. Apparently the bounty land applications burned sometime.

Answer 2

I'll rough in a bit in the bio before I head out the door.

Comments

Thank you.

Answer 3

I'm working on sourcing and attaching Thomas Posey to his first spouse, Martha Mathews, whose father, Sampson Matthews, is already connected.

Comments

Excellent then Thomas will also be connected.

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I have him connected : ) I definitely want to add more to Martha's profile though throughout the day.

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That's super Jayme, I love it when we get people connected.

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Thomas now has both of his wives connected to his profile : )

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Thanks Jayme, he doesn't look so lonely anymore.