From “War of 1812 Pensioners”
James, Sallie, WC-3743, srv Capt Farmer’s Co KY Mil
James, Sarah, WC-3623, srv Capt John Gilliland’s & Capt Robert Mann’s Co’s PA Mil
20th inf. [43] {farmer} b. Nelson or Amherst; enl. Nelson Courthouse on 5 or 6/20/12; dis. Pass Christian MS 6/20/17

The Thompson Book:
Went from Virginia to Logan County, KY being amoung the earliest settlers of that county; thence he moved to the town of Cadiz in Trigg County, in which he died.

James Thompson, the first child of Thomas Thompson and Nancy Waddill Carter, was born April 13, 1770 in Prince Edward County, Virginia.

James is mentioned in many of the county's public records. He is listed in his father's household on the tax lists of 1788 and 1789; in 1790 he is listed in the household of Samuel Love, who owned a store in the vicinity of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and who was the husband of Nancy Waddill Carter's sister Sarah. The signatures of James and his brother Carter are on an 1804 petition to the Virginia General Assembly for improving Prince Edward County's roads. James was also a litigant in a number of civil suits in the county.

On January 17, 1797 James married Sarah Steele Baker, the widow of Douglass Baker. Sarah was a native of Campbell County, Virginia; she was the daughter of Alexander Steele and Elizabeth Helm, both of whom were Scot-Irish Presbyterians. At least two of Sarah's siblings migrated west to Christian and Trigg counties, Kentucky: Dr. Moses Steele, a prominent physician and a trustee of Logan Academy in Russellville, died in Christian County around 1817; in 1830 Sarah's sister Elizabeth and her husband Oliver McReynolds moved to Trigg County.Oliver was a member of the same McReynolds family which produced U.S. Supreme Court Justice James Clark McReynolds, who was born in Elkton, Kentucky.

After leaving Virginia, James Thompson and Sarah Steele Baker settled in Logan County.
James' land was situated in the Little Muddy Creek watershed, in the same neighborhood as his
brothers Carter, John C., and William. In 1814 he moved to Cadiz, which was then a part of
Christian County.
James is generally acknowledged to have been one of Cadiz' first settlers. According to
Perrin's History of Trigg County (1884), "the early inhabitants of the place were the two brothers
Robert and Alexander Baker, James Thompson, their stepfather, and his sons, Frederick Holland
and his son Austin W. Holland, Wayman Crow, Spotswood Wilkinson, Richard Poston, W. P. M. Mays and Collins D. Bradley."

In 1820 Trigg County was formed from the western half of Christian County. On May 15 of
that year a five-member commission which was appointed to select the seat of justice for Trigg
County made the following report:
.
After mature and deliberate examination of the many different places proposed as sites for
the administration of justice in Trigg County, we are of the opinion that the seat of justice
be fixed on the lands of Robert Baker, where he now lives on Main Little River on the top
of the eminence above the spring, to include the lot whereon his stable now stands, it being
the most central, convenient and eligible site for that purpose." (Perrin, page 92)

The commissioners later established the boundaries of the newly incorporated town: Cadiz
consisted entirely of fifty-two acres owned by Robert Baker and deeded by him to the newly
organized county on October 17, 1820.

Early Cadiz was practically run by James Thompson's step-sons, sons, and other relatives.
According to Perrin, James "kept the first hotel in a two-story log-house situated on the lot where
John L. Street's large brick storehouse now [1884] stands." Lieutenant-Governor Gabriel
Slaughter appointed James jailer for the new county. James' son James Edward became deputy
clerk of the county court in 1824, a position he held until 1838, when he began a twelve-year
period as court clerk. Robert Baker owned Cadiz' first saw and grist-mill, and was easily the
town's most prosperous early merchant. He also kept Cadiz' second hotel, while his brother
Alexander "opened a public house for the entertainment of the traveling public in an early day also,
and followed the occupation of 'mine host' for a period of about twenty-five years." The third
merchant of the town "was one John Hill, who opened a store in a little house where the Cadiz
House now [1884] stands, and sold goods for about five years, when he disposed of his stock to
Hiram Thompson, who continued merchandising some years later." Hiram was one of James' sons, while John Hill was almost certainly the son of James' sister Elizabeth, who married John Hill in Prince Edward County in 1796. Another of Elizabeth's descendants was Thomas Hill Grinter, who came to Cadiz in 1842 from Logan County and became one of the most successful
businessmen in the town's history.

Between 1887 and 1894, a Cadiz newspaper called the Kentucky Telephone published a
number of letters about the early citizens of Trigg County. The letters were written by Cyrus Thompson, James' youngest son, from his home in Creedmoor, Texas. Unfortunately, no libraries
or other institutions appear to have copies of the Kentucky Telephone from this period. Fortunately, however, a number of Cyrus' letters were preserved in the John Mabry scrapbook,which has been microfilmed and is housed in the special collections section of the MargaretI. King Library at the University of Kentucky. Many of the biographical sketches in this chapter came from the letters that someone clipped from the Kentucky Telephone and pasted in Mabry's scrapbook.

On December 20, 1889, Cyrus wrote the following about his immediate family:
As to my own family, the Thompsons were among the first settlers of Cadiz and conspicuous citizens, noted, at least for their numbers. I trust it will not be considered in bad taste if I refer to them again, and speak of some of the family who have not before been noticed. I have before spoken of James E. and Hiram, and several times alluded to my father, James Thompson, who was a native of Prince Edward County, Virginia, and of English extraction, whilst my mother, whose maiden name was Steele, was a native of Campbell County, Virginia, and of Irish extraction. My father immigrated to Kentucky prior to 1810, and located first in Logan County. He then removed to the immediate neighborhood of the present town of Cadiz, it then being Christian County, and where the town was located and laid out; was one of the first persons to move into it, and continued to reside there until his death in 1840, preceding my mother a number of years, she having died in Cadiz in 1851.

As I have before said, my father was the first hotel keeper in Cadiz, and for a number of years the only one. He was one of the best known men in Cadiz through many years, during all the years from 1819, when the town was established, until he gave up hotel keeping in about 1832. Indeed, he had a large acquaintance throughout South-western Kentucky, Cadiz being then the only great thoroughfare leading from northern and central Kentucky to the country west of the Tennessee River.

My father and mother reared a family of nine children, seven sons and two daughters-- the four oldest sons having been born in Virginia, and your correspondent being the youngest of the family. My brothers were John C., Thomas S., William C., James, Moses, and Hiram, and my sisters were Adaline and Sarah, all aged in the order named.

The following is James Thompson's will, which was taken from Trigg County Will Book B, pages 322-323:

In the name of God, Amen, I, James Thompson of Cadiz, Ky. do make and ordain this as and for my last Will and Testament. That is to say, I give and bequeath unto my wife Sarah Thompson all of my Estate, Real and Personal, to be held and enjoyed by her during her natural life. and at the death of my Said wife, I will and bequeath unto my two Daughters Adaline Landes and Sarah B. Rothrock the proceeds arising from the tavern house and lots in Cadiz sold by me to Robert Baker which Lots my executor herein after will convey unto him on the pay out of the purchased money. I also will unto my said Daughter Sarah B. Rothrock one Saddle Horse. I also will unto my Son Cyrus Thompson the House and Lot upon which I now live. I will and desire that all of my Other Property, Real and Personal, be sold at the death of my wife and the proceeds thereof divided amongst my following children, that is to say the first One Hundred Dollars to my Son John C. Thompson and the balance equally between my Sons Thomas S. Thompson, John C. Thompson, Wm. C. Thompson, James E. Thompson, Moses Thompson, and Hiram Thompson.

I nominate and appoint Robert Baker Executor of this my last Will and Testament.
In Witness Whereof I have hereunto Let my Hand and Seal this 3rd day of June 1840.

(signed) James Thompson

I, James E. Thompson, Clerk of the County Court for the County aforesaid do Certify that the forgoing last will and Testament of James Thompson, decd. [illegible] this day proceeded unto our
said Trigg County Court and proven in Open Court according to law, by the several Oaths of Jo McAllister and W. H. McAllister, two of the Subscribing witnesses thereto. and the Same was ordered to be recorded. Whereupon Said last Will and Testament together with the foregoing Certificate hath been duly admitted to record in my office--

Given under my hand this 10th day of November 1840.

J. E. Thompson C.T.C.C. (Clerk of Trigg Circuit Court)
...
Thomas Thompson and Nancy Waddill Carter had eight children, according to a Bible
which, in the 1920s, was in the possession of Mrs. Octavia Gayden Tullis. The inside back cover
of the Bible had this inscription: "Carter Thompson's Holy Bible, August 14th 1819." Carter
Thompson was Mrs. Tullis' great-grandfather.
The Bible record also listed Carter's children and the children of his father-in-law John
Morton. In 1929 Mrs. Tullis sent three letters and a transcript of the Bible record to Dr. Joseph
D. Eggleston, who she hoped could provide information about the Thompson and Morton
families. Dr. Eggleston, a past president of Hampden-Sydney College, spent much of his life
investigating Prince Edward County's history. The letters exchanged by Mrs. Tullis and Dr.
Eggleston are preserved in the manuscripts section of the Virginia Historical Society (Genealogical
Papers of Dr. Joseph Dupuy Eggleston, Morton Family File). Their correspondence included the
following information on Thomas Thompson's family:

A James Thompson was listed in christian county court records as bein impaneled and serving as Foreman for a “Grand Jury of Inquest” on 2/17/1801. Also served as Sheriff of Christian county in 1810,1811.

A James Thompson was appointed to the office of Surveyor of Lincoln county on 4/16/1792

1830 Census Trigg:
Cadiz James Thompson 0100201100000-0011000100000-230100-301000