Looking for John Campbell Thompson

[robertoestela]

Thanks, Annette
Could this be the family in 1851? On the assumption that William and Isabella married in her parish, I searched for Is?bel* Thom*son born in Gladsmuir and came up with this:

1851
60 Cotters House, Dirleton, Farm of East Fenton, East Lothian
Isabella Thomson, 40, Head, born Gladsmuir, Haddingtonshire, House Keeper
John Thomson, 19, Son, born Gladsmuir, Haddingtonshire, Ag Lab
William Thomson, 16, Son, born Gladsmuir, Haddingtonshire, Ag Lab
Agnes Thomson, 5, Daughter, born Gladsmuir, Haddingtonshire, At Home

All the best,
Sarah

Later: Oops, I see that Isabella was supposed to be from North Leith...

SARAH , THANKS FOR SEARCHING , JUST TO CHECK IF HEAD OF THIS HOUSEHOLD WAS A WILLIAM , I TRIED FOR 1841 BUT I COULDNT FIND A RECORD.

[robertoestela]

Hi Roberto, and a warm welcome to TalkingScot

I checked IGI http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true but did not find a birth for John Thompson around the time of William and Isabella's marriage, but there are many in Prestonpans, East Lothian. A search for children of William and Isabella did not produce any hits. Perhaps William had been married prior to Isabella and John was from a first marriage? Just a suggestion, as there are records for John born son of William in 1813 and 1815.

Read about the Parish of Gladsmuir which is west of Haddington and east of Prestonpans in East Lothian.
http://www.scottish-places.info/parishe ... st735.html

Have you had a look around here http://freeukgen.rootsweb.com/

Frances

THANK YOU PADDYSCAR !

[SarahND]

Hi Roberto,
I couldn't find the family in 1841 either and I have been looking for other clues tonight, but not coming up with much. There was a John C Thompson, 28, born in Scotland, who is an invalid in the house of John Hudson, a Rail Roader from England in the 1860 census for Cairo, Alexander county, Illinois. Also in the household is a James Thompson age 33, a laborer born Scotland

And I'm sure you know about this birth on FamilySearch.org:

name: Francesa Maria Campbell Thomson
gender: Female
baptism/christening date: 21 Sep 1873
baptism/christening place: San Nicolás, Distrito Federal, Argentina
father's name: Juan Campbell Thomson
mother's name: Ana Foley
indexing project (batch) number: G01066-3
system origin: Argentina-EASy
source film number: 1102307

Otherwise, I'm coming up empty-handed, sorry. Do you have any records that would give an approximate year of birth for John?
I'll keep looking, but there are so many John Thompsons and even very many John C Thompsons!

All the best,
Sarah

[SarahND]

A few more questions for you Roberto to clarify what you already know about John and perhaps help us find him.

1) Do you have any evidence that John's parents were actually called William and Isabella, or are you just guessing from the fact that Isabella's last name was Campbell? If he followed the Scottish naming pattern for his children, one would expect his parents to be William (first son) and Frances (second daughter).

2) Do you have any reason to believe that John was born in East Lothian, or do all the records you have found just say "Scotland"?

3) I found a tree online giving his birth year as 1836-- do you know where that information comes from? Was it from his age at death or some other source?

4) What was John's occupation?

Regards,
Sarah

[robertoestela]

Hi Roberto,
I couldn't find the family in 1841 either and I have been looking for other clues tonight, but not coming up with much. There was a John C Thompson, 28, born in Scotland, who is an invalid in the house of John Hudson, a Rail Roader from England in the 1860 census for Cairo, Alexander county, Illinois. Also in the household is a James Thompson age 33, a laborer born Scotland

And I'm sure you know about this birth on FamilySearch.org:

name: Francesa Maria Campbell Thomson
gender: Female
baptism/christening date: 21 Sep 1873
baptism/christening place: San Nicolás, Distrito Federal, Argentina
father's name: Juan Campbell Thomson
mother's name: Ana Foley
indexing project (batch) number: G01066-3
system origin: Argentina-EASy
source film number: 1102307

Otherwise, I'm coming up empty-handed, sorry. Do you have any records that would give an approximate year of birth for John?
I'll keep looking, but there are so many John Thompsons and even very many John C Thompsons!

All the best,
Sarah

HELLO SARAH , YOU'RE A GENIOUS! I TRIED TO FIND LONG AGO BUT I COUDLNT .
THIS "FRANCESA" WAS FRANCES , JCT 'S 2ND DAUGHTER , MY FATHER KNEW HER , THEY CALLED HER AUNT FANNY.
WOULD YOU MIND SENDING ME THE LINK TO THAT RECORD ? I WOULD APPRECIATE IT

[robertoestela]

A few more questions for you Roberto to clarify what you already know about John and perhaps help us find him.

1) Do you have any evidence that John's parents were actually called William and Isabella, or are you just guessing from the fact that Isabella's last name was Campbell? If he followed the Scottish naming pattern for his children, one would expect his parents to be William (first son) and Frances (second daughter).

2) Do you have any reason to believe that John was born in East Lothian, or do all the records you have found just say "Scotland"?

3) I found a tree online giving his birth year as 1836-- do you know where that information comes from? Was it from his age at death or some other source?

4) What was John's occupation?

Regards,
Sarah

SARAH , THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP , HERE IT COMES

1) I WAS TOLD ABOUT THE SCOTTISH NAMING PATTERN SO I SUPPOSED THAT ELIZABETH AND WILLIAM COULD BE JCT'S PARENTS NAME , SO I QUERIED AT IGI AND GOT THIS
COUPLE WILLIAM AND ISABELLA , THE THING WAS I COULDNT FIND ANY BIRTH.

2) NO, NO PARTICULAR REASON , JUST BECAUSE IT MENTIONED THE MARRIAGE AT GLADSMUIR PARISH.

3) WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND ME THE LINK TO THAT ONLINE TREE ? AS FAR AS I KNOW ( FAMILY LETTER ) JCT DIED AT AGE OF 41 AT MONTEVIDEO,URUGUAY, WHITHOUT KNOWING
HER YOUGEST DAUGHTER ( MY GG MOTHER , MARY THOMPSON ). SINCE SHE WAS BORN IN 1876 , I THINK HE MIGHT 'VE BEEN BORN ABT 1836.
HERE'S THE LINK FOR MARY'S BAPTISM AND ONE OF HER BROTHERS : acts #335 and 336 : http://www.argbrit.org/SanBart/bapts1874-77.htm

4) APPARENTLY , JCT EMIGRATED TO SOUTH AMERICA TO SETTLE AS A COLONIST , CALIFORNIA COLONY AND ALEXANDRA COLONY ; BOTH IN SANTA FE PROVINCE, ARGENTINA.
FROM WHAT I COULD FIND OUT WAS A HARD TIME , SOMEHOW THEY DECIDED TO MOVE TO ROSARIO,SANTA FE AND WORKED AS A CLERK FOR THE CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY.

PLEASE ANY COMMENT JUST LET ME KNOW,
BEST REGARDS,
ROBERTO

[robertoestela]

A few more questions for you Roberto to clarify what you already know about John and perhaps help us find him.

1) Do you have any evidence that John's parents were actually called William and Isabella, or are you just guessing from the fact that Isabella's last name was Campbell? If he followed the Scottish naming pattern for his children, one would expect his parents to be William (first son) and Frances (second daughter).

2) Do you have any reason to believe that John was born in East Lothian, or do all the records you have found just say "Scotland"?

3) I found a tree online giving his birth year as 1836-- do you know where that information comes from? Was it from his age at death or some other source?

4) What was John's occupation?

Regards,
Sarah

SARAH , THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP , HERE IT COMES

1) I WAS TOLD ABOUT THE SCOTTISH NAMING PATTERN SO I SUPPOSED THAT ELIZABETH AND WILLIAM COULD BE JCT'S PARENTS NAME , SO I QUERIED AT IGI AND GOT THIS
COUPLE WILLIAM AND ISABELLA , THE THING WAS I COULDNT FIND ANY BIRTH.

2) NO, NO PARTICULAR REASON , JUST BECAUSE IT MENTIONED THE MARRIAGE AT GLADSMUIR PARISH.

3) WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND ME THE LINK TO THAT ONLINE TREE ? AS FAR AS I KNOW ( FAMILY LETTER ) JCT DIED AT AGE OF 41 AT MONTEVIDEO,URUGUAY, WHITHOUT KNOWING
HER YOUGEST DAUGHTER ( MY GG MOTHER , MARY THOMPSON ). SINCE SHE WAS BORN IN 1876 , I THINK HE MIGHT 'VE BEEN BORN ABT 1836.
HERE'S THE LINK FOR MARY'S BAPTISM AND ONE OF HER BROTHERS : acts #335 and 336 : http://www.argbrit.org/SanBart/bapts1874-77.htm

4) APPARENTLY , JCT EMIGRATED TO SOUTH AMERICA TO SETTLE AS A COLONIST , CALIFORNIA COLONY AND ALEXANDRA COLONY ; BOTH IN SANTA FE PROVINCE, ARGENTINA.
FROM WHAT I COULD FIND OUT WAS A HARD TIME , SOMEHOW THEY DECIDED TO MOVE TO ROSARIO,SANTA FE AND WORKED AS A CLERK FOR THE CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY.

PLEASE ANY COMMENT JUST LET ME KNOW,
BEST REGARDS,
ROBERTO

OOPS !!! ABOUT 1) I FORGOT TO SAY THAT I CONSIDERED CAMPBELL AS MOTHERS MAIDEN NAME WHEN SEARCHING FOR POSSIBLE PARENTS , BECAUSE I ASSUMED THEY COULD HAVE FOLLOWED THIS SCOTTISH TRADITION THOSE DAYS.

[SarahND]

Hi again Roberto,
I've been working on this on and off all day, with nothing brilliant to report, but a few things to say Sorry, it's an occupational hazard since I was a university professor First some good news as requested:

The birth of Aunt Fanny is found on the Family Search site. Go to familysearch.org and put francesa as a first name and thomson as a surname, place of birth: Argentina, year 1873 and it will come right up. Of course, that's not how I found it since I didn't know any of that information. This is the only record I have seen with the Scots spelling Thomson and I am quite relieved to see it! Thompson with a "p" is more likely to be English or Irish. Either he was illiterate and so left the spelling up to others, or his family was English or Irish or American for more than one generation after leaving Scotland. That makes it confusing also! He could well have been born in England, Ireland or America of Scottish parents. Help!

The tree I saw is on Ancestry.com. so I'm not sure you can access it if you don't have a subscription, but give it a try:
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/23650634 ... 5504?ssrc=

I have sent you the name of the tree owner in a pm. She is probably a relative of yours and perhaps someone you already know.

She also has another tree that says John was born in 1832 (-1875)
Anne Foley 1839-1929 dau pf Edmond Foley & Mary Muleahy
The page for John C Thompson has all sorts of records, which may or may not be for the same person:

1) Arrival in San Francisco 1851: no middle initial, no age or origin (don't think this can be the right person)
2) Arrival in NY on the "Vigo" 16 Sep 1858:
John C Thompson, 25, Labourer, from "Great Britain"
Joseph Thompson, 18, Labourer, from "Great Britain"
This one looks more likely

3) Naturalization in the Maine, Mass, New Hamp & Vermont district (Worcester, Mass)
John Thompson
Birth date 27 Jun 1831, Ireland
Date of action: 8 Sep 1860
Possible, but doesn't fit with the passenger list, nor does it have the middle initial.

4) Census for 1860 in Cairo, Illinois (same as the one I found and mentioned in another post) Doesn't fit with the naturalization in the NorthEast.

5) Civil War record for the Confederate army for John C Thompson: Not at all obvious to me that this is your John. There are actually quite a few Civil War records for a John C Thom(p)son, so I see no reason why this should be "the one." Have you also heard that he fought in the Civil War in the United States? If so, it might be worth looking at those other records in detail. There are a number in different states and different sides of the war.

More later as I get it organized...

Regards,
Sarah

[SarahND]

Hi again,
I have been trying to follow the clue you gave in one of your lasts posts, i.e. that they saw President Lincoln lying in state after his death, so perhaps they were living in the Washington, DC area? You mentioned Philadelphia (not too far from Washington, DC)-- what is your reason for that? Sorry to keep asking questions, but there are so many John C Thom(p)sons that we have to find some way of finding out which one he was. I am beginning to think that finding the marriage record may well be the key to the whole mystery.

Oh no I had a vague memory from my school days of hearing about the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln, so googled and just read here: http://awesometalks.wordpress.com/2008/ ... m-lincoln/
That the body of Lincoln was taken by rail from Washington, DC to Springfield, Illinois for burial.

"During the 1,654 mile, 13 day trek, the train traveled through 180 towns and cities, of which only 11 were allowed to host open-casket viewings."
The eleven cities where your ancestors may have seen Lincoln are:
1.   Baltimore, Maryland
2.   Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
3.   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4.   New York City, New York
5.   Albany, New York
6.   Buffalo, New York
7.   Cleveland, Ohio
8.   Columbus, Ohio
9.   Indianapolis, Indiana
10.  Chicago, Illinois
11.  Springfield, Illinois

The train left Washington on April 21, 1865 and arrived in Springfield on May 3rd. John C Thompson and Annie Foley were married in April of that year. So… their marriage probably occurred in one of those 11 cities, or nearby to one of them. I have so far searched just about every marriage record available online and have not found them. The good news is that more records are being put online every day and perhaps, with a bit of luck, the marriage will come online soon and, with yet more luck, will make some reference to the actual birthplace of John, or his parents' names. Many later marriage records will have this information, but at that date it would be a matter of luck. We will all keep our fingers crossed and hope!

Because of the 1860 census record, I first checked Illinois. The Illinois Statewide Marriage Index is an ongoing project that is not yet completed for all counties. Can't find them there yet...
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depar ... riage.html

Regards,
Sarah

[SarahND]

A few more links that might interest you, if you haven't already seen them:

Someone has posted your family on irishgenealogy.com
http://www.irishgenealogy.com.ar/geneal ... /John7.php


Javier L. Maffucci Moore has written a paper called:
"Crisis e inmigración. Los efectos de la debacle de 1873-1876 en algunas colonias del nordeste santafesino"

http://www.historiaymemoria.com.ar/webhym/2/2a.doc

John Campbell Thompson is mentioned in footnote 91, which gives some of the same information you did, so I expect you have read the paper:

91 De los pobladores originales Thomas Moses Moore permaneció en Colonia California hasta fines del siglo XIX cuando se trasladó definitivamente a Alejandra, Josiah Carico Reeves se instaló en Romang hacia 1888, Robert Waspe retornó a Sudáfrica, y lo mismo ocurrió con Joseph J. Beckley (h) tras estar algún tiempo en Alejandra, donde quedó su padre Joseph, John Campbell Thompson que vivió cuatro años en la Colonia California, y luego en Alejandra, se radicó finalmente en Rosario, Francis Benitz volvió a los Estados Unidos pero regresó en 1874 junto con su hermano Guillermo y toda su familia para instalarse en Las Rosas, Rachel Ann Holman, la viuda de James W. Hurt y sus hijos se radicaron en Alejandra. Alexander McLean y James B. Lockett nunca abandonaron la colonia a lo sumo se trasladaron a la vecina San Javier.

(By the way, as I struggled slowly through the Spanish, I was very interested to see the name Josiah Carico Reeves, since Josiah Carico (not a common name!) is possibly one of my great great great grandfathers (or else it was his brother Charles...) Anyway, the name leapt out at me! It just goes to prove that you never know where you will find a useful clue!)

All the best,
Sarah