Person:William Thompson (220)

The Thompson Family of New Haven

"The New Haven family of Thompson was founded by three brothers, William, Anthony, and John. An attempt has been made to connect them with the Thompson family of Lenham, co. Kent, England. This Lenham myth has been set forth as a certainty in the History of Goshen (by A. G. Hibbard, 1897), in the Mark-Platt Ancestry (by E.J. Lines, 1902, pp. 46-50), and in several other accounts, and so far as known has never been refuted. Henry Thompson of Royton in Lenham married Dorothy Honywood, and died 20 Oct. 1648, leaving, with other issue, sons John, William, and Anthony. The coincidence of names would seem promising, and it is not strange that somebody hastily conjectured their identity with the emigrants, but investigation overthrows, the theory. According to William Berry's Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Kent (published in 1830, pp. 15-17), Anthony Thompson of Lenham was baptized 30 Aug. 1612, and died in England 13 Feb. 1682, leaving as heiress an only daughter. Moreover, John Thompson of Lenham was born in 1604, too early for John of New Haven, who was probably the youngest of the emigrant brothers. The Lenham brothers had three cousins, sons of Thomas Thompson of Pethem, co. Kent, likewise named John, William, and Anthony; but this John was a knight, and died in 1649 without issue. Furthermore, the evidence of chronology tends to show that the emigrants could not descend from Henry of Lenham or Thomas of Pethem in the following generation. At all events, the accepted pedigree must be abandoned."^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Thompson, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   7:1749.

   William (Thompson) d s.p. 24 Apr 1683 (New Haven Vital Records).

2. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines. Notes on Thompson Families of Connecticut. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul 1912)
   66:198-99.

   "William¹ Thompson died unmarried in New Haven 21 Apr. 1383. In his will of 6 Oct. 1682 he calls himself 'far stricken in year,' and mentions his, nephews Benjamin Broadly and brother Abraham Broadly; nephew John Thompson, son of brother Anthony; cousin John Thompson, Jr., son of nephew John abovesaid; cousin William Thompson, son of nephew John abovesaid: cousin Mary Lynes; sister Ellen Thompson; cousins Mary Lynes, Anna Broadlye, and Elizabeth Broadlye, daughters of sister Ellen Thompson ; Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Benjamin Broadlye; and cousins Bridgett Bowers, Anna Stanton, and Lydia Cruttenden (New Haven Probate Records, vol. 1, p. 192)."

3. ↑ Alcorn, Winifred S. Abstracts of the Early Probate Records of New Haven, Book 1, Part 1, 1647-1687. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Apr 1927)
   81:133.

   "Thompson, Wm. Will made Oct. 6, 1682. Bequeaths to nephews Benj. Broadly and Abraham Broadly, to nephew John Thompson, son of brother Anthony, to John Thompson, Jr., and Wm. Thompson, sons of nephew John Thompson, to sister Ellen Thompson, to Mary Lynes, Anne Broadley. and Elizabeth Broadly, daughters of my sister Ellen Thompson, and to cousins Bridget Bowers, Anna Stanton, and Lydia Cruttenden. Witnesses: John Chidsy and Joseph Peck."