Louisa County, VA - Obit: David Thomson, 1845

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Ann Avery Hunter <annh@erols.com>

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Obituary of David Thomson (c. 1795-1845)

The "Richmond Whig", Nov. 11, 1845; p. 4, column 2:

"It has rarely fallen to my lot to write obituary notices. Never have I
undertaken the task with so much pleasure on the one hand and so much pain
on the other. The pleasure is derived from a consciousness that the
deceased has gone to his eternal rest the pain, from a knowledge of a loss
sustained by his family and the community in which he lived. David Thompson
of Louisa is no more. He died, on Friday, the 17th ult., after an illness
of a few hours' continuance. At one o'clock on the day of his death, he was
apparently in good health, and enjoying with his amiable and interesting
family the comforts of his lovely and peace abiding home. At six o'clock
the same evening, he was a corpse. Mr. Thompson was indeed an extraordinary
man. Louisa was his native county, and his fellow citizens had often
rendered him stations of honor and trust, which he always declined,
preferring the quiet of domestic life to the inconsistency of the public
applause. His death produced in his neighborhood but
one sensation, and that was of the most poignent grief. His advice was
always regarded with the most profound recognition of its correctness, and
his voice often allayed the most angry feelings of those among whom he
resided. He was, in every sense of the term, a peace-maker -- and, as such,
we have Divine authority for saying, he was a child of God. It can be
truely said, that his word was never doubted. The writer of this, when
thinking of the deceased, has often been reminded of the language of a
celebrated cardinal who said, to the Italian poet, "As to you, Petrarch,
your word is sufficient." He left a widow and seven children to mourn after
him, and realize, that to them, his "like will never again be known." In
conclusion, I will say, that David Thompson was a christian of the most
unsullied character, a husband of the most doubtless effection [sic], a
father of the most untiring tenderness, a neighbor and citizen of the most
exemplary demeanor. In expressing thus much of him who has gone from us, I
do not speak my own sentiments alone, but the sentiments of all who knew
him. His loss is not only attested by the deep sorrow of his family, but is
bourne upon the countenance of numerous friends, as a badge of their
heartfelt sorrow. May the last days of those who survive him be like his,
is the earnest wish of the writer.
Louisa C. House, Nov. 1, 1845        M.S.W."

NOTE: David Thomson was the son of William Thomson and his wife Frances
Quarles. He married Maria Louisa Ellis, dau. of Thomas Ellis and Elizabeth
Hurt, on 24 May 1820 in Orange Co, VA. Eight children (not seven, as stated
in the obituary, survived him).

--
Ann Avery Hunter
Richmond, Virginia
mailto:annh@erols.com