Bio: Tompkins, Jones (History - 1826)

Contact: Janet Schwarze

Surnames: TOMPKINS LINDSAY WESTON DELINDSAY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR RAYMOND BRIGGS LINSEY SATTERLEE TIFT

----Source: 1819 History of Clark and Jackson County, Wisconsin, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

Jones Tompkins (1826)

Jones Tompkins, of section 34, township 26, range 2 west, town of Eaton, Clark County, was born in Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York, on the Hudson River, twelve miles east of Saratoga Springs, June 2, 1826. His father, Elias Tompkins, a native of the same place, was a farmer by occupation, and a Jacksonian Democrat, politically. He was a son of Moses Tompkins, who was one of the men who helped clear the ground where Saratoga Springs now are. His employer was a Mr. Cadwell. Our subject's mother, also a native of New York, has twenty-two children, fourteen of whom reached maturity, and seven are still living. Our subject has one half-sister still living, three full sisters and three half-brothers.

Jones Tompkins left home at the age of nineteen years, and first worked several years at rafting logs from different points to New York during the summers, and in the fall would buy and ship stock and grain to New York City. He came to La Crosse in the spring of 1859, and the next winter worked on bridges in Arkansas and Mississippi. In 1860 he prospected some, and then returned to Henry County, Illinois, where during the summer he had charge of the cutting of a broom-corn field. In 1860 he went to Davenport, Iowa, and worked in the saw-mills of his brother-in-law, Edward Lindsay, and in the fall of 1862 came to this county, where he commenced work in the pineries. He next became manager of the timber land of S.F. Weston, who owned 28,000 acres in this county. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Tompkins settled on his present farm, which was then covered with timber. The county was at that time mostly tax-title land, and when he found a good forty-acre tract he would purchase, and he now owns 640 acres, where he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and also deals in real estate.

Mr. Tompkins was married January 7, 1850, to Martha E. Lindsay, a daughter of Robert D. Lindsay, whose ancestors have preserved the history of the family for hundreds of years, beginning with William de Lindsay, in 1116, who was a son of Baron Baldric de Lindsay, the Anglo-Norman, contemporary with the Conqueror, William, the Norman. Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins have had four children, only one of whom still survives, James E., who married Frances Raymond, and they have two children: Earl and Jones. Mr. Tompkins has been chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and also of the County Board three years. Politically he is a Democrat, but votes for the man rather than the party. Besides being a successful farmer and real estate dealer, he is a breeder of registered Jersey cattle and Oxford-down sheep, and is supplying this community with this excellent stock as fast as he can raise them.

Farm Residence of Jones Tompkins.

This is one of the finest farm residences in the county, although it can not be shown in a cut to a good advantage, owing to the dense foliage of the trees and shrubbery which surround the house. It is located on a beautiful farm on the main road between Neillsville and Greenwood, the farm consisting of 100 acres. He came to his present home in the town of Eaton in 1867, at which time this valuable farm was covered with a heavy growth of timber. Mr. Tompkins is a native of New York; was born in Saratoga County, in that state in 1826. He came to Clark County in 1862, and for many years was engaged in lumbering, but for the past few years has been engaged almost exclusively in farming. The farm on which he lives is worth at least $10,000, the residence cost nearly $5,000, and the farm is stocked with a large herd of blooded cattle, horses and sheep. Mr. Tompkins is one of the oldest and best known residents of the county. "Clark County Illustrated" by Saterlee, Tifft & Marsh; 1890.

Research Notes

1850 Sept Census, Schroon, Essex County, New York. (microfilm 432, roll 504 page 281)

Robert Lindsey, 44, farmer, NY
Elizabeth, 42, NY
Edwin, 24, NY
Martha Tompkins, 17, NY, married within the year
Freeman Lindsey, 14, NY
Emma J., 10, NY
Joseph Thompson, 27, Can.

Jones Tompkins, 24, NY, married within the year
Elias, 16, NY
Joseph Sabin, 16, Can.
John Tompkins, 27, NY
Margaret Tompkins, 20, NY

1855 NYS census, Stillwater, Saratoga County, NY
Jones Tompkins, 29, Rensselaer, lumberman
Martha, wife, 22, Essex
James, son, 4, Essex
Elias, son, 2, Essex
Louiza Linsey, 14, sister, Essex
Freeman Linsey, 19, brother, Essex, lumberman

1870 July census, Eaton, Clark County, Wisconsin.
Charles Burin?, 33, carpenter & joiner, Maine
Jones Tompkins, 44, farmer & lumberman, NY
Martha E., 37, keeping house, NY
James E., 18, works on farm, NY

1880 June census, Eaton, Clark County, Wisconsin
Jones Tompkins, 54, farmer, NY NY NY
E. Martha, 47, wife, NY NY NY
A. Wilson Briggs, 18, nephew, works on farm, NY VT NY
and two servants

TOMPKINS LINDSAY WESTON DELINDSAY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR RAYMOND BRIGGS LINSEY SATTERLEE TIFT