Person:Joseph Thompson (4)

His parents were The Rev. William and Abigail (Collins) Thompson who emigrated from Lancaster, England to Braintree, Norfolk, Mass.

From Savage's Genealogical Dictionary

THOMPSON, TOMSON, THOMSON, or TOMPSON,JOSEPH, Billerica, s[on]. of Rev. William, m[arried]. 24 July 1662, Mary, d[aughter]. of Richard Bracket of Braintree, at B[illerica]. was sch[ool]. master, town cl[er]k. ens[ign]. 1678, and lieut[enant]. 1683, selectman, capt[ain]. deac[on]. many y[ea]rs. and rep[resentative]. 1692 under the new chart[er]. also 99, 1700, and l, and d[ied]. 13 Oct. 1732. His wid[ow]. Mary, a sec[ond]. w[ife]. d[ied]. 9 Oct. 1743, aged 91, Farmer says.

[His father] WILLIAM, Braintree, had been maric. at Brazen Nose Coll[ege]. Oxford, 28 Jan. 1620, at the age of 21, but his degree is not found in the Fasti; had been a preach[er]. in Winwick, a parish of his native Lancash[ire]. bef[ore]. he came to our side of the sea, in 1637, and was engag[ed]. first at Kittery or York, but after the ch[urch]. instit[uted]. at B[raintree]. 17 Sept. 1639, was ord[ained]. in co[mpany]. with Rev. Henry Flint 19 Nov. of that y[ea]r. if Winthrop I. 324 be foll[owed]. tho[ugh]. Hancock in his Centenn[ial]. prefers 24 Sept. Dr. Lunt, ano[ther]. success, in the same pulpit, in his fine celebr[ation]. of the sec[ond]. Centenn[ial]. decides for Nov. He brought w[ife]. Abigail and s[on]. Samuel, William, H[arvard]. C[ollege]. 1653, perhaps d[aughter]. Mary, and Elinor, wh[o]. was b[orn]. 1626; was freem[an]. 13 May 1640; had here, Joseph, b[orn]. 1 May 1640; Benjamin, 14 July 1642, H[arvard]. C[ollege]. 1662; and his w[ife]. d[ied]. 1 Jan. 1643, while he was abs[ent]. on a mission with Rev. John Knowles, and Thomas James, to Virg[inia]. begun in Oct. preced[ing]. Our governm[ent]. had in 1640 gr[anted]. him 120 acres. By sec[ond]. w[ife]. Ann, wid[ow]. of Simon Crosby of Cambridge he had Ann, b[orn]. 3 Mary. or 1 May, as the numeral for the day and month may respective[ly]. be read, in 1648 or 9. He was made freem[an]. 1656, but "fell into the Devil's bath." as the Magn. III. cap. IVII. calls his state of melancho[lia]. and gave up his pub[lic]. min[istry]. seven y[ea]rs. and d[ied]. 10 Dec. 1666 in 68th y[ea]r. The wid[ow]. d[ied]. 11 Oct. 1675, aged 68. Mary m[arried]. 3 Dec. 1641, Joseph Wise of Roxbury; and Elinor m[arried]. 1644, William Veazey, and next John French, and d[ied]. 23 Apr. 1711. Of this fam[ily]. it is obs[erved]. that they always discard the sec[ond]. letter of the name, tho[ugh]. Mather, whose biog[raphy]. is exceed[ingly]. meagre, prints it as here.

1. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   Vol. 4, p. 287, 289.
2. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Vol. 15, p. 113.

   Rev. William Thompson

3. ↑ Foster, F. Apthorp (ed.). Vital Records of Billerica, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1908)
   p. 228, .