Thompson is an English surname most common in northern England. In the USA it was often "Americanized" from Thomsen, Thomasson, and Thomassen immigrants. Great2 Grandfather William "Bill" Thompson's parents were from Sweden. He was born in April 1846 in Chicago, Illinois and census records note his native tongue as Swedish. Chicago served as a gateway for Swedish settlement in agricultural areas of the Midwest. Overpopulation and the comparatively late industrialization of the Swedish economy persuaded over one million Swedes to emigrate to the USA between 1845 and 1930, attracted by available agricultural land and an expanding American labor market. By 1910, one-fifth of all people born in Sweden lived in the United States.
Bill Thompson married Rebecca J. Canaday in 1877, who was born in rural Vermilion County near Danville, Illinois on August 30, 1847. There is ample information about the Canaday family on-line that extends back to England and into the 1500s, at sites like at Findagrave. and Family Puzzles. Canaday is an Irish name often spelled Canady or Cannady, but the family was mostly English and intermarried with Scots and Irish. Since websites disappear, I reposted this relevant information from Rootsweb:
Great5 Grandparents John and Margaret Canaday
| John Canaday born
4/5/1741 Prince George Co, MD; died 3/2/1830 Wayne Co, IN; burial West
Grove MM [Monthly Meeting]. He was son of Charles
and Phebe
Beals Canaday of Kent and Prince George County, Maryland. Charles
& Phebe moved to northern Virginia where Charles died
fighting Indians in 1745 at age 30. Phebe remarried to Robert
Sumner and the family moved to Rowan County, North Carolina.
There are variations of spelling of the name Canaday including Canady,
Cannaday, and Kennedy. Jefferson County, Tennessee land records are
interesting as deeds give the name as Kennedy and tax lists give
it as Canaday. Margaret Thornbrough was a daughter of Walter & Margaret Thornbrough of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Frederick County Virginia, and Rowan County, North Carolina. born abt 1844 Lancaster Co, PA died 3/12/1819 Wayne Co, In burial West Grove MM. There is much information on the Irish Thornbrough (later spelled Thornburg) family at Rea-Williams. |
| Married:
4/10/1764 New Garden Monthly Meeting, Rowan County, North Carolina Children: Phebe Canaday born 1/10/1765 Rowan Co, NC; married Mordecai Mendenhall Henry Canaday born 6/29/1766 Rowan Co, NC; married Matilda Bernard Bowater Canaday born 5/14/1768 Rowan Co, NC; married Mary Russell Charles Canaday born 4/18/1770 Rowan Co, NC; married Sarah Russell Walter Canaday born 12/19/1771 Guilford Co, NC; married Nancy Ann Unknown John Canaday, Jr. born 4/13/1774 Guilford Co, NC; married Juliatha Cox Robert Canaday born 1/13/1777 Guilford Co, NC; married (1)Amy Sumner and (2) Sarah Sumner (granddaughters of Robert & Phebe Beals Canaday Sumner) The children were born in Guilford County, which was set off from Rowan County December 5, 1770 so the name of the county simply changed. |
The Move to TennesseeJohn & Margaret Canaday joined the western migration to the Holston River and on October 29, 1796 were given certificates to leave the New Garden Monthly Meeting. The certificates were received at New Hope Monthly Meeting which was receiving certificates for the Holston River settlers until the organization of Lost Creek Monthly Meeting in Jefferson County, Tennessee. They were accompanied by their sons John, Robert, and Bowater and their families. Son-in-law Mordecai and Phebe Canaday Mendenhall followed in June 1797. The other sons arrived later, Charles in October 1797, Henry in April of 1799, and Walter in July 1804. John and Margaret settled at Panther Springs, probably on Panther Creek, and near Abraham Woodward's sons John and Aaron who bought land at Three Springs on Panther Creek in 1796.Connection to Davy Crockett
At the end of 1803, Crockett moved back in with John Canaday. Crockett was growing impatient to get a horse so that he could go courting. Instead of working for a full six months so that he could buy a horse, he traded the rifle plus some work to one of John Canaday's sons (Bowater) for a horse in August of 1806, and then went off courting. John Canaday's son then traded off the rifle. The rifle is back in the Canaday family now along with a letter written by Davy Crockett that mentions what a help the "Old Quaker's" teaching had been to him. The fact that Crockett lived with my Great5 Grandfather John Canaday can be confirmed in several books. This is from Tennessee Magazine: "The closest thing to a father figure for David Crockett appears to have been John Canaday. Canaday, a Quaker, ran a farm in what is now Hamblen County. Crockett worked and lived with him from the time he was 16 until he was about 19. It was under his tutelage that Crockett found time to learn to read and write."
The Crockett Tavern Museum (above) in Morristown, Tennessee is a replica of a "bed and breakfast" business run by Davy Crockett's father. The museum is described as Davy Crockett's boyhood home and opened in 1958 when a popular craze over the legacy of Davy Crockett was at its peak. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2013. The museum's main building is a log cabin structure built in the 1950s as a representation of the tavern established in 1794 at the approximate location on land once owned by John Canaday. The Move to IndianaWhen the Tennessee Manumission Society was started in 1814 at Lost Creek Monthly Meeting, John Canaday was one of the eight founding members. Objection to slavery in the south was one of several conditions that triggered further migration to the "west" which at that time was the Northwest Territory of future Ohio and Indiana. In 1807 Walter Canaday and family had gone to Ohio. In 1815 and 1816 Robert, Charles, and Bowater Canaday and their families went to the Whitewater Meeting area of Wayne County, Indiana. In November of 1816, 75 year old John and his 72 year old wife Margaret joined their children and other relatives in Wayne County, Indiana. Consider that in 1814 John Woodward, son of Abraham Woodward, and family had traveled by horseback to Wayne County from Tennessee. Although by 1816 wagon travel was possible it must still have been a harrowing trip for John & Margaret. In 1817 John, Jr. and Phebe (Mendenhall) joined them.The whole Canaday clan settled near the town of Economy, Indiana as did a number of other "Tennessee Quakers' including Margaret's niece and nephew Patrick and Hannah Woodward Beard. Son Robert Canaday established a saw mill in 1819 outside Economy on Martindale Creek. Robert Canaday had been disowned by the Quakers for marrying Amy Sumner, granddaughter of his mother Phebe Beals Canaday Sumner in Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1806. Apparently they were able to make some amends with the Quakers as they are listed at Springfield MM near Economy as "exhorters." Amy died in 1823 and Robert married her sister Sarah in 1827. The first school at Economy was kept in the Friends log meeting house and John Canaday was the first teacher. Given John Canaday Sr.'s constitution this may well have been him, rather than his son. |
Davy
Crockett was a famous frontiersman who served in the US Congress and
died at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. An article in "Muzzle Blasts" in October 1980 traced the
history of Davy Crockett's rifle and quoted Davy Crockett's book "A
Narrative of the Life of Davy Crockett of the State of Tennessee:
"I had by this time got to be mighty fond of the rifle, and had
bought a capital one. I most generally carried her with me wherever I
went, and though I had got back to the Old Quaker's to live, who
was a very particular man, I would sometimes slip out and attend
shooting matches where they shot for beef." According to the
"Muzzle Blast" article this "Old Quaker" was John
Canaday who lived at Panther Springs near the present town of
Morristown, Tennessee. According to the narrative, Crockett began
working for John Canaday for the first time in late 1802. He
worked for eight months through the summer of 1803. He then began his
only schooling under John Canaday with whom he lived during the
six months of schooling.
Great4 Grandparents John and Juliatha Canaday
| John Canaday, Jr.,
was son of John & Margaret
Thornburg Canaday of Rowan (later
Guilford) County , North Carolina, Jefferson County, Tennessee, and
Wayne County, Indiana. He was born 4/13/1774 Guilford Co, NC died 7/9/1843 Vermilion Co, Ill burial Elwood Cemetery east of Georgetown, Ill. Juliatha Cox was the daughter of William and Juliatha Carr Cox. born 4/26/1779 North Carolina died 1833 Vermillion Co, Ill. Her parents were involved in the Regulator Movement. This was an armed rebellion by several thousand Carolina colonists against the British just prior to the Revolutionary War. |
| Married:
Licensed to marry 3/27/1799 Jefferson County, Tennessee. Married
contrary to discipline in a civil ceremony. They made peace with the
Quakers as the children through Anna are documented at Lost Creek
Monthly Meeting. Children: Harmon Canaday born 5/12/1800 Jefferson Co, Tenn; married Charity Mills, daughter of John & Mary Davis Mills Henry Milton Canaday born 11/5/1801 Jefferson Co, Tenn; married Mary Elizabeth Evans Hannah Canaday born 2/22/1803; died 7/7/1816 Jefferson Co, Tenn Rebekah Canaday born 6/23/1806 Jefferson Co, Tenn; married (1) Seth Mills, brother of Charity, and (2) Zimri Lewis Phebe Canaday born 3/2/1808; died 7/29/1808 Jefferson Co, Tenn Elihu Canaday born 6/1/1809 near Lost Creek, Jefferson Co, Tenn; married Elizabeth McCowan Charles Canaday born 5/26/1811 Jefferson Co, Tenn; married Sarah E. Swearingen Benjamin Canaday born 4/25/1813; died 6/30/1816 Jefferson Co, Tenn Anna Canaday born 1/24/1815 Jefferson Co, Tenn; married John Howard Riley Canaday born 5/23/1819, Wayne County, Indiana; married (1) Martha Lewis and (2) Margaret Ann Woodward daughter of Samuel & Abigail Shelley Woodward |
The Move to TennesseeJohn Canaday, Jr. moved to Jefferson County, Tennessee, at the same time as his parents in June of 1797. He was a member of Lost Creek Monthly Meeting until his marriage and apparently made his peace with the Quakers after his marriage contrary to discipline. Juliatha was received as a member on December 28, 1805. She is listed as Latha in the records at Lost Creek. Their children born though 1815 are listed at Lost Creek Monthly Meeting.The Move to IndianaOn April 26, 1817 the family received certificates to go to New Garden Monthly Meeting in Wayne County, Indiana, where John's parents had gone a year earlier. They settled near the town of Economy. The family then belonged to the Springfield Monthly Meeting from the time it was established in 1820 until November 1, 1828 when they moved to Vermillion County, Illinois, and joined the Vermillion Meeting. They remained in Vermillion Grove, Illinois until their deaths. |
Great
Elihu Canaday married Elizabeth McCowan, who was born in Kentucky 11/29/1829. They married and lived in Vermilion County, Illinois. Elihu died for unknown reasons on Oct 4, 1848 at age 39. A 38-year old Elizabeth is listed in the 1850 Census with children born in Illinois: Adam, 18; Sarah, 17; Henry, 13; Ann, 12; Jemima, 7; Mema, 5; and Rebecca, 3. They had moved 100 miles south near her brother-in-law Harman Canaday's family in Clark County, Illinois.
The 1860 Census shows 48-year old Elizabeth and four of her children moved back to Vermilion County. Her 24-year old son Henry is listed as a coal miner, which was common for that county. He served with the Illinois 125th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Elizabeth died during the war in April 1963 at age 51.
Great2 Grandparents Bill and Rebecca Thompson 
William "Bill" Thompson somehow met Rebecca Canaday and they married in Edgar County, Illinois on Feb 1, 1877, just south of Vermilion County. The 1880 census notes that William and Rebecca had two children in Orange Township, Clark County, which is in eastern Illinois, across the Wabash river from the city of Terra Haute, Indiana. Melrose and Orange are noted on the map below in the southern part of the county, and Martinsville is near the center.
Family tales are that they lived in Peoria, Illinois for
several years. The 1900
Census shows William and Rebecca in Clark County with children Edwin,
Nellie, and William Jr. The oldest child Henry had married Mary and lived in
Energy. My Great Grandfather Edwin (pictured) was born on Dec 15, 1877 and married Bessie Haddix who grew up in nearby
Melrose. William Jr. "Willie" married Ethel and lived
in Tuscola. Nellie married Bill Cox and lived in
Martinsville. Carrie married
Nick Thompson of Hutsonville.
Family oral history is that after William died, Rebecca lived in Martinsville. Findgrave lists Rebecca J. Thompson Aug 30, 1847 - Nov. 24, 1919 as buried at the small St. Paul Cemetery in Orange Township. Looking up that data we find a death certificate for a Rebecka J. Thompson for Martinsville, Illinois, where her daughter Nellie Cox lived. It notes she was buried at St. Paul and her father's name misspelled as a "Conidy" with the same birth/death dates. There are only three Thompsons buried at St. Paul, and one is probable husband William Thompson. It shows no dates or a picture of William's headstone, although it shows the nice headstone of Rebecca (pictured).
Findagrave
notes William was a Sergeant, Company D, 57th Illinois on his headstone, but no
birth or death dates, as was common for government furnished headstones for Civil
War veterans.
I checked several Illinois Civil War rosters and could not find a William Thompson with
Company D, 57th Illinois, although that unit was all
Swedish immigrants
and William was 18 years old in 1864.
However, the unit information may have been misremembered by his family or
transcribed incorrectly. There were 94 William Thompson who served with
Illinois infantry regiments during the Civil War.