Thompson, Charles

CHARLES THOMPSON

His paternal grandfather was Jonathan, who settled in Orange County at an early day, and married Hannah Brooks. Their children were John I., Lewis, Oliver, Jane (married Charles Monell, of Goshen, N.Y.), and Benjamin F.

Oliver was the father of our subject, and was born in October, 1787. He married Sarah Mathers, daughter of one of the early Revolutionary families of Orange County, and their issue were Alfred, deceased; Charles M.; Cornelia A., deceased, who became the wife of George W. Stevens, of Susquehanna County, Pa.; Mary E., wife of George Pierson, of Hamptonburgh; John I., deceased; Oliver B.; Catharine A., widow of Charles W. Post, of Hamptonburgh; Sarah, deceased, became the wife of George W. Beardsley, of Brooklyn, L.I.; David H., a farmer of Hamptonburgh; Emily F., married Wm. Brett, a shipping merchant of New York; Hannah, married A. Ferd. Cross, of New York; and Carrie, married Augustus Brett, a shipping merchant of New York.

Oliver Thompson was a large and successful farmer of Hamptonburgh for many years, and owned several hundred acres of land. He was energetic in his business affairs, and was a man of temperate habits, giving his time almost wholly to his agricultural pursuits and having no desire for official position, though he always performed the full duties of the citizen in town and county matters. He died March 12, 1863. His wife died May 6, 1861, at the age of sixty-five years.

Charles M. Thompson was born in Wallkill (now Hamptonburgh), Dec. 17, 1816. His early life was one of labor upon his father’s farm, and his education was confined to the common schools. For four years, from 1840, he was connected with the flowing-mill, plastering-mill, and saw-mill at Brooks’ Mills, Hamptonburgh. In 1844 he became a partner with Jennings & Thompson, of Goshen, in a general mercantile and freighting business, which continued until 1846 when he withdrew from the firm, and in 1848 bought the James Strong farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres in Hamptonburgh. The following year he moved upon this, where he has since resided. Mr. Thompson has been a farmer by occupation, and is a fitting representative of the agricultural interests of Orange County.

In 1854 he represented the Second District of Orange County in the New York State Legislature; and in 1855 and 1856, and for fourteen consecutive years, from 1860, represented the town of Hamptonburgh in the board of supervisors, and was chairman of that body in 1865, 1869, and 1873. He is one of the trustees of the Goshen Savings-Bank, and has been a member and one of the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Hamptonburgh for many years.

Mr. Thompson is a man of active mind, and still retains an interest in the matters of the town and county of which he has formed a part. He married Lorinda, daughter of Robert D. Hunter, of Crawford, May 14, 1851, and of this union was born Robert O. Thompson. She died June 5, 1853. On Feb. 20, 1861, he married Mary A., daughter of John A. Wilbur, of Wallkill, and their children are Charles M., William M., and Mary Jennie.