Thompson Family Tree

William Preston Thompson-descendant of:


Colonel James PATTON
William Preston Thompson was the Great Grandson of Colonel James Patton.


Colonel James Patton was a Scotch-Irish sea captain who was instrumental in the development of Augusta County, VA. He served as the first sheriff and tax collector in Augusta County, Virginia and as a colonel in the militia. 
He was the owner of vast tracts of land in western Virginia on which he established settlements of Scotch-Irish immigrants. He served as the representative for Virginia at the Treaties of Lancaster and of Logstown with the Iroquois Indians. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Colonel James Patton was killed by Shawnee Indians at the Draper's Meadow massacre in 1755. (The settlement was situated near the present day campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.)



General Evan SHELBY
William Preston Thompson was the grandson of General Evan Shelby.


General Evan Shelby made a gallant fight at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He received many honors there, including the appointment by Governor Caswell of North Carolina as the first Brigadier General in the western world. General Shelby was also prominent in the settlement of Kentucky.


Captain James THOMPSON
William Preston Thompson was the son of Capt. James Thompson.


James Thompson was a Captain in the Dunmore's War of 1774. He commanded troops in the Battle of Long Island Flats (19 July 1776) and served as a captain in the Battle of King's Mountain (7 Oct 1780).
Capt. James Thompson built Fort Kilmakronen (additional photo) aka Fort Thompson.



Govenor Isaac SHELBY
William Preston Thompson was the nephew of Gov. Isaac Shelby.





Jane Robertson Russell-descendant of:


Jane Robertson Russell was the first wife of William Preston Thompson.
She was the daughter of William Russell and Eliza Henry (this was the second marriage for both William and Eliza).

General William RUSSELL
William Russell was the father of Henry Russell by his first marriage to Tabitha ADAMS. 
Henry Russell was massacred with James Boone, son of Daniel, in 1773 (historical marker).


William Russell served as an army officer and was a prominent settler of the southwestern region of the Virginia Colony. He led an early attempt to settle the "Kentucky Territory" which was then part of Virginia. 


William Russell was:
a justice of Fincastle County, Virginia; 
a delegate at the Convention of Williamsburg;
aided in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence; 
a Brig. Gen. during the American Revolutionary War and fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant (1774) and Battle of Yorktown (1781);
present at Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown;
a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates.


He was noted for his stance opposing the 1785 State of Franklin petition for admittance into the United States and served in the VA House of Delegates until his death.


Elizabeth (Eliza) HENRY
Eliza Henry was the mother of Jane Robertson Russell and the sister of patriot and statesman Patrick HENRY. She was first married to Revolutionary War hero William CAMPBELL of King's Mountain fame. He died 22 August 1781 of acute camp fever.
Eliza then married General William Russell in 1783. (marriages and history of Eliza Henry)


Eliza was known for her devotion to the Methodist Faith (see conversion) and after the death of William Russell in 1793 she spent the remainder of her life fostering Methodism in southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. She was referred to as "Madam Russell" and the Madam Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, stands today as a monument to Mrs. Russell, the region's earliest religious leader, and to the pioneer Methodist Movement in the Holston Territory.