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Israel Thompson (born
New Haven County New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, New ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, March 7, 1742; died Pittstown, New York, November 25, 1805) was an American soldier, politician and an early settler of Pittstown, New York.


Family

Thompson was the son of Enos Thompson (died 1806) and his wife Sara Hitchcock Thompson. His younger brother Jesse Thompson (1749-1834) settled in Dutchess County, New York and was elected six times to the New York State Assembly. His much younger sister Abia or Abiah (1762-1846) married George Bliss Throop (1761-1794) and then George Whitefield Hatch and had a number of notable children -
Enos T. Throop Enos Thompson Throop ( ; August 21, 1784 – November 1, 1874) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who was the tenth Governor of New York from 1829 to 1832. Early life and career Throop was born in Johnstown, New York on August 21 ...
(1784-1874), a US Congressman and governor of New York, George B. Throop (1793-1854), a New York state senator and Michigan state representative, Israel Thompson Hatch (1808-1875), a US Congressman, and Eliza Hatch (1800-1885), the wife of first Congressman
Gershom Powers Gershom Powers (July 11, 1789 – June 25, 1831) was an American lawyer, jurist, and law enforcement officer who served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1829 to 1831. Biography Born in Croydon, New Hampshire, Powers attended ...
and later Judge William B. Rochester. Israel and Jesse Thompson were first cousins to Ezra Thompson (1738-1816), whose son
Smith Thompson Smith Thompson (January 17, 1768 – December 18, 1843) was a US Secretary of the Navy from 1819 to 1823 and a US Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1823 to his death. Early life and the law Born in Amenia, New York, Thompson graduated ...
(1768-1843) served as
United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...
1819-1823 and as a justice of the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
(1823-1843). Smith's family was among the Thompsons who migrated to Dutchess County; he was born in Amenia and his father was buried in the Thompson Family Graveyard in North East.


Life

Thompson and his brother Jesse were in Dutchess County, New York at the start of the American Revolution, in the precinct of North East. Israel Thompson was there by 1771, as he was chosen as an assessor of quit rents and as a road commissioner in April, 1771. Israel and Jesse both served as officers in the Dutchess County militia. Promoted to major, Israel Thompson commanded several companies of militia fortifying Red Hook near
Peekskill Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...
in August–September, 1776. He was later part of the
Saratoga Campaign The Saratoga campaign in 1777 was an attempt by the British high command for North America to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River valley during the American Revolutionary War. It ended in the surrender of the British ...
. Later in the Revolution he served as one of the Dutchess County Commissioners of Conspiracies, who were in charge of investigating and arresting Tories and in some cases sending them down-river to British-held New York City. Arriving in the early 1780s, Thompson was one of the early settlers in Pittstown, New York, to the northeast of
Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
. He served in the 5th New York State Legislature (1781-2) and the
8th New York State Legislature The 8th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from October 12, 1784, to April 27, 1785, during the eighth year of George Clinton's governorship, at New York City. Background ...
(1784). In 1788 he was elected as an Albany County delegate to the state convention which ratified the United States Constitution, where he voted in the negative. He was elected supervisor at the first Pittstown town meeting in 1789. When
Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...
was created in 1791, he was made one of the first judges. In 1797 he was elected to the 21st New York State Legislature, which met in 1798, but failed to be elected to the next session. Thompson's wife's name was Millicent; she was the daughter of Enos Mead, who died about 1774 leaving substantial land claims in Dutchess County to her and his other children.


Legacy

Israel Thompson appears on a mural of the ratification in the
United States Post Office (Poughkeepsie, New York) The main U.S. Post Office, Poughkeepsie, New York, is located at the intersection of Market and Mansion Streets downtown; the address is 55 Mansion Street. The New Deal post office serves the 12601 ZIP Code, which covers the city of Poughkeepsi ...
, painted as a
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
project during the building's construction 1937-9.https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resources/ratification/newyork/ Teaching American History page on New York's ratification


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Israel 1742 births 1805 deaths People from New Haven County, Connecticut Politicians from Dutchess County, New York People from Pittstown, New York Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) militiamen in the American Revolution 18th-century American judges County judges in the United States