Israel Thompson

Last updated

Israel Thompson (born New Haven County, Connecticut, March 7, 1742; died Pittstown, New York, November 25, 1805) was an American soldier, politician and an early settler of Pittstown, New York.

Contents

Family

Thompson was the son of Enos Thompson (died 1806) and his wife Sara Hitchcock Thompson. His younger brother Jesse Thompson (1749-1834) settled in Dutchess County, New York and was elected six times to the New York State Assembly. His much younger sister Abia or Abiah (1762-1846) married George Bliss Throop (1761-1794) and then George Whitefield Hatch and had a number of notable children - Enos T. Throop (1784-1874), a US Congressman and governor of New York, George B. Throop (1793-1854), a New York state senator and Michigan state representative, Israel Thompson Hatch (1808-1875), a US Congressman, and Eliza Hatch (1800-1885), the wife of first Congressman Gershom Powers and later Judge William B. Rochester.

Israel and Jesse Thompson were first cousins to Ezra Thompson (1738-1816), whose son Smith Thompson (1768-1843) served as United States Secretary of the Navy 1819-1823 and as a justice of the United States Supreme Court (1823-1843). Smith's family was among the Thompsons who migrated to Dutchess County; he was born in Amenia and his father was buried in the Thompson Family Graveyard in North East.

Life

Thompson and his brother Jesse were in Dutchess County, New York at the start of the American Revolution, in the precinct of North East. Israel Thompson was there by 1771, as he was chosen as an assessor of quit rents and as a road commissioner in April, 1771. [1] Israel and Jesse both served as officers in the Dutchess County militia. Promoted to major, Israel Thompson commanded several companies of militia fortifying Red Hook near Peekskill in August–September, 1776. [2] He was later part of the Saratoga Campaign. [3] Later in the Revolution he served as one of the Dutchess County Commissioners of Conspiracies, who were in charge of investigating and arresting Tories and in some cases sending them down-river to British-held New York City. [4]

Arriving in the early 1780s, Thompson was one of the early settlers in Pittstown, New York, to the northeast of Troy. [5] He served in the 5th New York State Legislature (1781-2) and the 8th New York State Legislature (1784). In 1788 he was elected as an Albany County delegate to the state convention which ratified the United States Constitution, where he voted in the negative. [6] He was elected supervisor at the first Pittstown town meeting in 1789. [7] When Rensselaer County was created in 1791, he was made one of the first judges. [8] In 1797 he was elected to the 21st New York State Legislature, which met in 1798, but failed to be elected to the next session. [9]

Thompson's wife's name was Millicent; she was the daughter of Enos Mead, who died about 1774 leaving substantial land claims in Dutchess County to her and his other children. [10] [11]

Legacy

Israel Thompson appears on a mural of the ratification in the United States Post Office (Poughkeepsie, New York), painted as a Works Progress Administration project during the building's construction 1937-9. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rensselaer County, New York</span> County in New York, United States

Rensselaer Countyren-sə-LEER is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the land in the area. The county is part of the Capital District region of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittstown, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Pittstown is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 5,540 at the 2020 census. It is in the northern part of the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel T. Hatch</span> American politician (1808–1875)

Israel Thompson Hatch was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1857 to 1859.

Jesse Thompson was an American politician from New York State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 16th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 6, 1792, to March 12, 1793, during the sixteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 18th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 9, 1795, during the eighteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, first in Poughkeepsie, then in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 20th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 1, 1796, to April 3, 1797, during the second year of John Jay's governorship, first in New York City, then in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">23rd New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 23rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 28 to April 8, 1800, during the fifth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">33rd New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 33rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 30 to April 6, 1810, during the third year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">38th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 38th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from September 26, 1814, to April 18, 1815, during the eighth year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">42nd New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 42nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 13, 1819, during the second year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">50th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 50th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to December 4, 1827, during the third year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">51st New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 51st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to December 10, 1828, during the fourth year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, and—after Clinton's death—while Nathaniel Pitcher was Governor, in Albany.

George Bliss Throop was an American lawyer and politician from New York and Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">52nd New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 52nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to May 5, 1829, during the short tenure of Martin Van Buren as Governor of New York, and—after Van Buren's resignation—during the first year of Enos T. Throop's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">53rd New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 53rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 20, 1830, during the second year of Enos T. Throop's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">54th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 54th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4 to April 26, 1831, during the third year of Enos T. Throop's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">55th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 55th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to July 2, 1832, during the fourth year of Enos T. Throop's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">59th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 59th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to May 26, 1836, during the fourth year of William L. Marcy's governorship, in Albany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">68th New York State Legislature</span> New York state legislative session

The 68th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to May 14, 1845, during the first year of Silas Wright's governorship, in Albany.

References

  1. ↑ History of Dutchess County, 1609-1876, Philip H. Smith, Pawling, NY, 1877, p. 299
  2. ↑ https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0201 Letter, General Clinton to George Washington, September 8, 1776 (see note 3)
  3. ↑ http://revwarpensions.com/rousejohn.pdf John Rouse Revolutionary War pension application
  4. ↑ New York in the Revolution, Supplement, Erastus C. Knight, ed. Frederic G. Mather, Oliver A. Quayle, 1901, Albany, NY, p. 229
  5. ↑ Landmarks of Rensselaer County, New York, Volume 1, George Baker Anderson, Higginson Book Co., 1897, p. 469
  6. ↑ Jonathan Elliot, The Debates in the Several State Conventions of the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 2 (Mass., Conn., NH, NY, Penn, Maryland) [1827], p. 412
  7. ↑ Landmarks..., p. 471
  8. ↑ Landmarks..., p. 70
  9. ↑ https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/9w0323659 A New Nation Votes, election returns for Rensselaer County, 1798
  10. ↑ http://dunhamwilcox.net/ny/rensselaer_will1.htm Rensselaer County wills page
  11. ↑ http://nielsenhayden.com/genealogy-tng/getperson.php?personID=I10559&tree=nh1 Transcription of Enos Mead's will
  12. ↑ https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resources/ratification/newyork/ Teaching American History page on New York's ratification
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.