James Allen Thompson was born July 4, 1795, in Abbeville, SC to Revolutionary War veteran William and Mary Johnston Thompson. The Thompsons moved to Georgia in the early 1800's [1] Jim Allen married Cherokee Patsy (Martha) Lynch on Dec. 27, 1817 probably at the home of her parents on Lynch's Mountain in the Cherokee nation in northern Georgia. [2] Jeter and Nannie Lynch soon lost their home to a Federal land taking in the Treaty of 1819 and moved in with Jim Allen and Patsy at their home in Pine Log, GA where Jim Allen was postmaster and served as a magistrate. Jeter died about 1819, and Nannie re-married and died in Georgia in 1829. William Thompson died in Cass County in 1834. His widow emigrated with her sons to Indian Territory and died there about 1844.
Jim Allen and Patsy's children were: Jeter Lynch Thompson, William Thompson, Johnson, John Martin , Matthew, Rachel Caroline, Mariah Ann , Mary Eliza, Sabra Elizabeth , Martha Nancy, and Joseph Franklin. Martin, Matthew, Ann, and Mary attended the Moravian "New Springplace" school from fall of 1840 to January, 1842 when their father removed them. The Moravians commented "father displeased" and at least one child was expelled as "incorrigible." [3] The two youngest children, born in Indian Territory, attended the Cherokee seminaries in Tahlequah in the 1850's.
Jim Allen's siblings Benjamin F., Johnson, and Rachel (Adair) also lived in Pine Log. [4] Jim Allen and his brother Frank (Benjamin Franklin) were among those arrested with the missionary Samuel Worcester in March,1831, jailed and sentenced to four years of hard labor. They were among a group of white men arrested for living in Cherokee lands and not paying proper allegiance to the state of Georgia. They did not take the oath the state demanded, but it appears they were released without serving their sentences. [5] [6] Some family stories say that Jim Allen was a circuit-riding Methodist minister in both Georgia and Indian Territory but this is not documented. [7]
According to inventories prepared at the time of Removal Jim Allen's property at Pine Log included a dwelling, millhouse, dairy and 125 acres of improved land, valued at $5545; Johnson owned land and buildings at Pine log valued at $3364 and a residence on Mill Creek valued at $856. Frank owned a plantation at Salacoa including a schoolhouse, dwelling house, acreage, orchards and farm buildings valued at $8519.50 and another property valued at $653. Since most property valuations at the time were less than $100, it's clear that they were a successful and well-off family. [8] Although not specifically listed in the valuations, family history says that they had a store in Georgia; without question they had a store in Indian Territory.[9]
Although Johnson, Frank, and Jim Allen Thompson were not Cherokee and could have chosen to stay in Georgia, their children and wives were Cherokee and they all chose to leave Georgia for Indian Territory as did their sister, Rachel (her late husband was Walter 'Black Wat' Adair). Jim Allen and Frank Thompson removed on their own with several other families in 1837, leaving at the same time as most of the Treaty Party supporters. They took their belongings, some enslaved people, and according to family legend a sack of gold so heavy that it took two men to load it on a wagon. [10]
Arriving in Indian Territory in the spring, by May of 1838 they were settled on Beattie's Prairie east of what is now Jay, OK on the Arkansas border (and very near the Missouri border). By the fall of 1838 they had completed homes and outbuildings. [11] Johnson Thompson and his family travelled in Richard Taylor's detachment which left in November, 1838. Johnson died en route (in Missouri) in March 2, 1839.
Almost as soon as Jim Allen and Frank were settled the Federal government threatened to take their land and displace them, this time for construction of Fort Wayne. The Thompson property was valued for purchase by the government and construction of the fort begun, but it was never completed. The properties of Jim Allen and his brother Frank were within the planned borders of the fort and they were ordered to move. They, along with about 200 other Cherokee, petitioned the Federal government to move the fort. It wasn't moved but they didn't move either and within a few years the fort was abandoned. [12] The appraisal of the property, completed in 1842, listed a 36 by 38 foot two-story home 'finished off in the best style,' and numerous other buildings including a kitchen, smoke house, stables, (enslaved people's) cabins, a blacksmith shop, 225 acres of land, 150 apple trees and 100 peach trees. [13] When Ethan Allen Hitchcock traveled through Indian Territory in 1842 he described the Thompsons as 'opulent.' Whether Jim Allen was a preacher or not, several visitors noted that he required all family members and enslaved people to gather in the dining room for prayers before meals. [14]As in Georgia, the Thompsons were primarily farmers; between them, Frank and Jim Allen had about 500 acres. Jim Allen also had a store in partnership with his brothers-in-law Joseph Martin Lynch and Joshua Buffington.
The Thompsons prospered during the 1840's and 1850's, although Frank
and their sister Rachel sold their property and moved to the
Cherokee community of Mount Tabor in Rusk County, Texas in 1845
after the death of their mother, Nancy Johnston Thompson. . [15]The Thompsons seem to have been aligned with the ‘Treaty Party’ and they may have either feared for their safety or just preferred to live with like-minded
neighbors. Their sister Isabella and her family had moved to Rusk County, Texas at the same time her siblings Removed to Indian Territory. Rachel returned to Indian Territory after the Civil War. Frank died in Texas in 1868.
The location of Beattie's Prairie on the border of Arkansas, very close to both Missouri and Kansas, made it a prime spot for marauders even before the start of the Civil War. Jim Allen's wife Martha died September 19, 1861. At least four of her sons and sons-in-law were fighting with the Confederate Army. After repeated raids by Union soldiers in 1863 Jim Allen decided to take his family to Bonham County, Texas, on the Red River. Many other Cherokees from the Delaware District, including Stand Watie's family, went to Texas for the duration of the war. Jim Allen, his son Johnson (who had been discharged after being wounded) and his daughters Ann (Mariah) Thompson Parks, Sabry Thompson Vann, Nancy Thompson, and their children travelled first to Fort Gibson, then to Sulpher, Arkansas. Ann's husband, Capt. Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) Parks (CSA), and a detachment of 30 soldiers took the family the rest of the way to Texas. They rented land and farmed until the war was over. Jim Allen's son Johnson took a load of goods and reestablished the family store. The family stayed in Texas until the end of the war when Jeff Parks brought captured Union wagons and mules to bring them back to Indian Territory. [16]
They returned to Indian Territory, spending about a year at Fort Gibson until they felt it was safe to return to their homes on Beattie's Prairie. The Thompson home was damaged in the war but remained standing. Times after the war were difficult. There were shortages of food and clothing and none of Jim Allen's sons returned to the farm. Nancy took over the running of the farm with her first husband, John Adair, and her second husband A. V. Edmondson. [17] Jim Allen died at the farm in 1874 at the age of 79 and is buried in the family cemetery on the farm along with many family members including his daughter Ann and her husband. [18] The farm is still owned by Nancy Thompson Edmondson's descendants; one log structure is the only remaining original building. [19]
The Thompsons enslaved people in the Cherokee Nation prior to Removal (the 1835 Cherokee census enumerated 3 male and 4 female enslaved people); at least some of these people were brought with them to Indian Territory. The 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule enumerated sixteen enslaved people, several of whom were old enough to have come from the East.
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