David T. Thompson (1800 - 1865)

Born 6 Jul 1800 in Blount, Tennessee, United States

Husband of Nancy (Rider) Thompson — married 1825 in Cherokee Nation (East)

Husband of Mary (Carr) Thompson — married 31 Jan 1837 in Blount, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Jul 1865 at age 65 in Union, Georgia, United States

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Biography

David Thompson was born about 1800 in Blount County, Tennessee, the son of Robert Thompson and Rachel Allison. He married Nancy Rider, a Cherokee on July 7, 1825 in Monroe County, Tennessee. ^[1]

Nancy and David had six children:

1. Elizabeth Thompson, born April 26, 1826, Cherokee Nation, East, died August 13, 1908, married William Meadows ^[2]
2. William Austin Thompson, born February 1828, Cherokee Nation, East, died 1847, at the age of 19, unmarried ^[3]
3. Caleb Starr Thompson, born August 9, 1829, Cherokee Nation, East, died June 3, 1917, in Gideon, Cherokee county, Oklahoma, married Matilda Cordill ^[4]
4. James Thompson, born 1831, died 1834
5. Mary Jane Thompson, born 1832, died 1834
6. Rachel Thompson, born 1833, died 1834

David, Nancy, their six children, and seven enslaved people emigrated to Indian Territory in 1834 as "Old Settlers. " They arrived on June 1, 1834; Nancy and the three youngest children died shortly after they arrived. ^[5] Nancy and her children are buried in Honey Hill Cemetery, Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma, in an unmarked grave. ^[6] David returned to the East with his three surviving children after Nancy died.

He married Mary Kerr in Tennessee in 1837 ^[7]and by 1839 the family had moved to Union County, Georgia. David and Mary were the parents of John, Claiborne, Sarah, Letitia, ^[8] Jane, Robert, and Amanda. ^[9] David died in 1864 and is buried at the Old Thompson Cemetery, Union, Georgia. ^[10]

Research Notes

Version 1

David Thompson was born circa 1798, in Blount county, Tennessee, son of Robert Thompson and Rachel (Allison) Thompson. On July 7, 1825, in Monroe county, Tennessee, David married Nancy Rider, daughter of Austin Sewell Rider and Mary Pauline Starr.

David migrated from Cherokee Nation East, in Tennessee, to Indian Territory, Oklahoma around 1830/31. He and his family began their journey on a ferryboat, which he made. He came down the Tennessee River to the Mississippi, then on steamboat to the mouth of the Arkansas, then up the Arkansas to between Little Rock and Fort Smith. The steamboat struck a snag and sank, but all on the boat were saved.

David had gold and silver in a wooden box. When the steamboat was sinking, he knocked a door off the boat, put the money on one end of the door, got on the other end, and floated down the river until he was rescued. The family escaped in rowboats to the river bank. He got an ox team and moved his family to Flint District, what is now Adair County, Oklahoma

In 1831/32 David built a two room log house in Stilwell. It was there he lost his wife and four children. They are buried at Honey Hill Cemetery about three miles southwest of the homestead. The graves are unmarked.

David returned to Blount, Tennessee in a surrey or hack drawn by horses. On January 31, 1837, David married Mary Karr. ^[11]

David died in July 1864 in Union County, Georgia and was buried on the old homestead. The cemetery he is buried in was called the David Thompson Cemetery, located in Dooley District in Union County. Mary Carr died October 7th, 1874. ^[12]

Version 2

David Thompson first married Nancy Rider 7th July 1825 in Monroe County, Tennessee.

David Thompson later married Mary Carr on the 31st January 1837 in Blount County, Tennessee.

children -

Elizabeth Thompson (1826 - 1908) who married William Meadows

Caleb Starr Thompson (1829 - 1917) who married Matilda Cordill

from the Cherokee Emigration Rolls 1817-1835 Transcribed by Jack D. Baker, page 37 we learn that David Thompson agreed to leave his lands in the East and move west of the Mississippi River and live there permanently, accepting that "We whose names are hereunto ascribed do acknowledge that we have voluntarily enrolled ourselves as emigrants for the Arkansas Country under the treaty made between the United States and the Cherokees of Arkanas on the 6th of May 1828 and do here by relinquish to the United States all right and claim to our lands on the East or lands on the West of the river Mississippi, The United States agreeing to pay us for our improvements and transport us to that country, furnish us with provisions by the way and for one year after our arrival, and give each warrior a rifle gun and the other articles agreeably to the provisions of said Treaty." ^[13] They settled in the east, at Aquohee, North Carolina.

From an article by Newell Jones for a San Diego newspaper, following an interview with John F. Thompson, a grandson of David Thompson; When he moved west in 1834 David Thompson chose to "bring himself through" instead of traveling in a convoy. My grandfather made a flat boat and put it on the Tennessee River, and he went down the Tennessee and Ohio until they struck the Mississippi. There they got on a boat a went up the Arkansas River." Disaster overtook the party on the Arkansas. The boat was wrecked and sank. After helping get the women and children safely off, his grandfather ripped a door from the craft, placed his funds (all in gold and silver in that day of course) on one end of the raft, himself on the other, and floated to safety a quarter of a mile downstream. Then they went on to the Territory to claim a farm, build a log home which still stands. ^[14]

About 1837 David Thompson settled in Georgia, where he died.

Sources

1. ↑ Hampton, David K. and Baker, Jack D., eds. Old Cherokee Families Notes of Dr. Emmet Starr. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1987. Vol. II, Note 542
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10294927/Elizabeth-Meadows
3. ↑ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:S54Z-46Y : accessed 2017-11-11), entry for William Austin /Thompson/
4. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11736385/Caleb-Starr-Thompson
5. ↑ Baker, Jack D. transcriber. Cherokee Emigration Rolls 1817-1835. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1977. Original Records: National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 1793-1999. p. 49
6. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56344703/Nancy-Thompson
7. ↑ "Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:M1H8-RN7 : 27 January 2020), Entry for David Thompson, 1837. and b
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZY8-1T3 : 19 December 2020), David Thompson, Union, Georgia, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:M46W-9GQ : 18 February 2021), Household of D Tompson, 1860.
10. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67809430/david-thompson: accessed 29 July 2022), memorial page for David Thompson (1800–1865), Find a Grave Memorial ID 67809430, citing Old Thompson Family Cemetery, Blairsville, Union County, Georgia, USA; Maintained by Kimmie Kitchens/Courtney Gilstrap and Families (contributor 49958349).
11. ↑ "Tennessee State Marriage Index, 1780-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNW1-79K : 4 December 2014), David Thompson and Mary Karr, 31 Jan 1837; from "Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2008); citing p. 180, Blount, Tennessee, United States, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
12. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67809430/David-Thompson
13. ↑ Cherokee Emigration Rolls 1817-1835 Transcribed by Jack D. Baker - Page 37 #244 David Thompson, 3 males under 10, 1 male under 50; 3 females under 10; 1 female between 10-25, 4 male slaves and 3 female slaves - Total 15
14. ↑ From an article by Newell Jones for a San Diego newspaper, following an interview with John F. Thompson, a grandson of David Thompson; reprinted in the newsletter of the Assoc. of Descendants of Nancy Ward : August 2000, Vol. 7 #2. pages 13, 14 & 15

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:S54Z-4DL : accessed 2017-11-11), entry for David /Thompson/

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