Louisa (1827-1887) — m. William H. Tucker on 11 Jan 1844; m. Ammon Knighten on 20 Feb 1861
Lucinda (~1829-187x) — m. Billy Norris on 21 Mar 1844
Minerva Jane (~1830-?1873?) — m. John Norris on 11 Jan 1844
George Washington (24 Nov 1836-23 Dec 1907) — m. Mary E. Goforth on 20 May 1855
Catherine L. (~1839-~1856) — m. William Johnson on 20 May 1855
Margaret (~1841-????) — m. William Johnson on 21 May 1857
William Robert, Jr. (~1843-1863)
Mahala (~1847-????)
Angeline (185x)
William was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, the fifth of six known children to Ephraim Thompson (23 Jun 1763-1834) and Joan Austin (1763-1810). Ephraim was born in North Carolina and raised in eastern Tennesssee; he fought in the War of 1812, and died in Davidson County, Tennessee. Joan was from Guilford County, North Carolina, and reportedly died in Knox County, Tennessee.
Elizabeth was born in North Carolina, daughter of James Briton Wells (1775-????) and an unknown mother, and grand-daughter of Revolutionary War soldier Jesse Wells (1 Oct 1749-17 May 1844) and Elizabeth Stubblefield (1750-1833).
William and Elizabeth married sometime in the 1820s in Tennessee, and their first two or three children were born there. In the 1830s, they lived in Caldwell County, Kentucky, where their son George was born. There’s a family story that they then came west by wagon train to Monroe County, Arkansas. Monroe County is over 100 miles to the south of Lawrence County. Records refer to William as Captain Thompson, probably a militia title.
They can’t have been long in Monroe County, since the 1840 census for Reed’s Creek Township in Lawrence County (an area that later became part of Sharp County) listed William R. Thompson and wife, both in their thirties, with five children: two girls age 10-14, one girl 5-9, and a boy and girl under 5. That accounts for the first five children listed above. William built his house there in a hollow that was shaded from the afternoon sun, the supposed origin of the name for the town of Evening Shade. He built a sawmill around 1845.
The three older girls all got married in Lawrence County in 1844. The 1850 census for Piney Fork Township, the area of Evening Shade, listed William R. Thompson (43) and Elizabeth (41), with children George W. (14), Catharine L. (11), Margaret (9), William R. (7), and Mahala (3). All of the children were reported born in Arkansas.
William died in 1855. I don’t know where he’s buried. On 18 Apr 1857, Elizabeth (49) married Henry G. Tucker (69), older brother of our ancestor Nancy Tucker Norris. The marriage didn’t last, since the 1860 census showed Henry with a probable daughter-in-law in Lebanon Township and Elizabeth, William, and Mahala living with Elizabeth’s married daughter Margaret and husband in Morgan Township, Lawrence County. No record of Elizabeth after that.
Louisa married William H. Tucker (~1818-~1860) on 11 Jan 1844. Known children:
Henry G. (1847-????) — poss. m. Mary K. Lawrence on 11 Jan 1866
Andrew Jackson (Sep 1848-1919) — m. Indiana Sandefer about 1871
George D. (1851-????)
Mary Ann (1857-????)
William died by 1860. The 1860 census showed Louisa in Lebanon Township with children Henry G. (13), Andrew J. (11), George D. (9), and Mary A. (3), and probable father-in-law Henry G. Tucker (71) from Tennessee. The following year, Louisa married Ammon Knighten, Sr. (~1820-~1873). Their children:
Rosa (1864-????)
Isaac (1867-????)
Louisa (1869-????) — m. James Alexander Wright on 12 Sep 1886
Ammon David, Jr. (4 Jul 1871-21 Dec 1924) — m. Ina Sticia Shippen on 21 Oct 1908
William J. K. (1873)
In 1870, Louisa was in Wyatt Township, Fulton County with husband Ammon, her Tucker children Andrew (21), George (19), and Mary (13), her Knighten children Rosa (6), Isaac (3), and Louisa (1), a daughter of Ammon’s named Sarah from his previous marriage, and two children with the last name Kissee.
Ammon seems to have died in the 1870s. In 1880, Louisa was living in Richwoods Township, Sharp County with her married son Andrew and her younger children Louisa (11), Ammon (8), and William J. K. (7). Louisa died in 1887, and is buried in Highland Cemetery, Highland, Sharp County.
Lucinda has her own entry in the family tree.
Minerva married John Norris (~1818-1846) in early 1844, a few months before her sister Lucinda married John’s brother Billy Norris. I don’t know whether they had children. John fought in the Mexican-American War and was killed in the Battle of Sabine in 1846. I can find no trace of Minerva after that, but it’s claimed that she died in 1873.
George was born in Caldwell County, Kentucky. He married Mary E. Goforth (30 Dec 1838-28 Feb 1917) from Giles County, Tennessee in 1855. They lived at first in Reed’s Creek Township, Lawrence (later Sharp) County. They had eight or nine children:
James C. (1860-????) — died in childhood
Nancy J. (1863-????)
Marcus B. (Aug 1867-1935) — m. Nancy Ellen McCutcheon on 29 Dec 1895
Ada Ann “Addie” (22 Nov 1869-7 May 1933) — m. James Monroe May in 1885
Charles W. (1871)
Samuel H. (????) — died in infancy
Minerva Jane (????) — died in childhood
William R. (????) — died in childhood
Ida Belle (????) — died in infancy
George trained as a surgeon under Dr. James Parker of Lawrence County. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in Company D, 7th Arkansas. He then joined the 10th Missouri Light Artillery, also a Confederate unit, as a surgeon. After about a year, he returned home on furlough, but then was forced to remain there due to Union control of the area. He eventually joined the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry as an assistant surgeon, and remained with them until his capture. He was imprisoned in Little Rock until the end of the war, after which he returned home.
Besides being a physician, George had a grocery and a drug business. The family moved from Lawrence County to Fulton County, Baxter County (where they were in 1880), Boone County, and finally Newton County. George died in 1907, and is buried in Western Grove Cemetery, Newton County, Arkansas. Mary died in 1917 in Cave Creek, Newton County.
Catherine married William Johnson (~1832-????) on 20 May 1855 in Lawrence County, the same day that her brother George married. She died by 1857, since in that year William married Catherine’s younger sister Margaret.
In 1857, Margaret married William Johnson (~1832-????), widower of her sister Catherine. They seem to have had at least one child, although she might equally well have been Catherine’s daughter:
Ada (~1857-????)
The 1860 census showed them sharing a house in Morgan Township, Lawrence County with Margaret’s younger siblings William and Mahala and their twice-widowed mother Elizabeth. Can’t find any of them thereafter.
William is reported to have died in 1863 at Petersburg, Fauquier County, Virginia.
In 1860, Mahala, with her last name given as Tucker, was living with her widowed mother, three siblings, and brother-in-law in Morgan Township. Nothing definite after that.
There was a Mahala Thompson of about the right age who married Ali Johnston in 1870 in Ashley County, way down in southern Arkansas, but that’s a stretch. Despite her unusual name, Mahala remains unfound.
No information. If Angeline existed, she almost certainly died in childhood.
They are thought to be Robert Thompson (1723-1771) and Ann Letitia Ferguson (1730-????), who married on 2 May 1750 in Amelia County, Virginia and who settled in Davidson County, Tennessee. Familysearch.org credits Robert and Ann with having 17 children, which is not technically impossible.
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/thompson/20319/ -- thread about Ephraim and descendants
https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.norris/1959/mb.ashx -- unanswered question about Minerva Jane
https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/thompson/20679/ -- Thompsons
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3NMQ-98S -- family tree
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHGC-ZVS -- 1820 census, William’s father Ephraim
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5S-5T7 -- 1830 census, William’s father Ephraim
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBX-XL9 -- 1840 census; go to p. 5
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M678-Z81 -- 1850 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N995-S3G -- 1855 wedding, George
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQRC-YT1 -- 1855 wedding, Catherine
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N995-75F -- 1857 marriage #2, Elizabeth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N995-44J -- 1857 wedding, Margaret
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M875-ZMB -- 1860 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M875-Z4P -- 1860 census, Louisa
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M875-4KN -- 1860 census, George W.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N995-YM5 -- 1866 wedding of poss. Louisa's son Henry
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNC3-HNQ -- 1870 census, Louisa
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCF-VMP -- 1870 census, George W.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNC3-HN2 -- 1870 census, poss. Louisa's son Henry
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNW5-JKF -- 1880 census, Louisa
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN7T-KT7 -- 1880 census, George
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N93Y-16P -- 1886 wedding of Louisa's daughter Louisa
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78465009 -- 1887 grave of Louisa
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQTW-5LH -- 1895 wedding of George’s son Marcus
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3XZ-6DB -- 1900 census, Louisa's son Andrew
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M36T-6DW -- 1900 census, George’s son Marcus
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30390019 -- 1907 grave of George W.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML7G-NG7 -- 1910 census, George’s son Marcus
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKKM-3ZT -- 1910 census, Louisa's son Andrew
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78464957 -- 1919 grave of Louisa's son Andrew
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJMX-C9Q -- 1920 census, George’s son Marcus
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC7K-WTG -- 1930 census, George’s son Marcus
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70367175 -- 1935 grave of George W.’s son Marcus
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NM1Y-V29 -- 1870 wedding, prob. not Mahala
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N93Y-R5Q -- 1881 wedding, definitely not Mahala