It is a matter of record that five Presidents of the United States were Thompson descendants. These were Madison, Taylor, the two Harrisons and Tyler. This family, according to their family record, was long seated in Yorkshire and various members of it emigrated, in the seventeenth century, to Virginia. The first of these was William Thompson, son of Roger Thompson.
This William Thompson's daughter, Martha, became the wife of James Taylor, of Orange county, Virginia, and these latter were the great-grandparents of Presidents Madison and Taylor, and ancestors of many others scarcely less distinguished in their services to their country. The family of Martha (Thompson) Taylor's brother, Roger Thompson* is largely represented in and around Mercer county, Kentucky, where they have been prominent citizens since the establishment of the Commonwealth. Frances Thompson, of this Yorkshire family, married Anthony Armistead and was an ancestress of the two Harrisons and Tyler. Another native Yorkshireman, distinguished in Virginia history, was Stevens Thomson (died 1714), an elder brother of Sir William Thomson — one of the really great Englishmen of his day—and for many years Attorney-General of Virginia. Stevens Thomson's daughter, Ann, married Colonel George Mason, of Stafford county, Virginia, and these latter, were the parents of the patriots George and Thomson Mason, and ancestors of many other famous Virginians.
