Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

section being- then called Poquonock, and
died January I, 1764. He married, September
21, 1693, Martha Thrall, who was
born May 31, 1673, daughter of Timothy
and Deborah (Gunn) Thrall. Their
youngest child, Abraham, was born in
February, 1710, in Windsor, and settled
in the locality known as "Scotland," in
Simsbury. He married Elizabeth Burton,
and died September 12, 1780. Their third
son, Captain Aaron Pinney, was born in
1743, and resided in Scotland. He died
December 26, 1812. On June 1, 1765, he
married a Miss Bidwell, who was born in
1740, and died December 20, 1772. Their
third son, Aaron, was baptized July 10,
1768, and married Susannah Holcomb,
who was born in 1769, and died January
28, 1802, at the age of thirty-four. Their
eldest child, Sophia, born July 27, 1792,
became the wife of Edmund Thompson,
as above noted.
(VIII) Edward P. Thompson, son of
Edmund (2) Thompson, was born August
25, 1819, and received an excellent
education. After attending the district
schools in the town of Granby, he went to
the Hartford schools and also Westfield
schools, and then attended the Suffield
Institute. He was always well informed
on the topics of the day, as he continued
his interest in literature and current his-
tory throughout his life. He learned car-
riage making with his father when a
young man and was very successful. He
also joined with his father in the carrying
on and the developing of the home farm
interests, building a fine residence on the
property. He was one of the first tobacco
growers in this section of the county, and
built extensive barns and tobacco sheds.
Mr. Thompson married (first) September
1, 1841, Nancy G. Holcomb, who died
January 30, 1843, and she was the mother
of a daughter, Nancy Holcomb Thomp-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
136
son, born January 30, 1843, wno became
the wife of Martin H. Smith and the
mother of two daughters : Florence, married
Charles Luther Spencer, of the Conn-
ecticut River Banking Company, a sketch
of whom is found elsewhere in this work;
Lillian, married Elmer Bailey. Mr.
Thompson married (second) Mary Jeanette,
daughter of Zelah and Jeanette (Ben-
ton) Case. He died at the old homestead,
June 22, 1880. By his second marriage
he was the father of the following children
: Josephine, born 1844, died young;
William, born 1853, died young; Katie
M., born March 26, 1849, married Marvin
H. Sanford; Delia S., born October 8,
1856, married W. M. W. Ward. Henry
Zelah, who receives extended mention be-
low. Edward P. Thompson was a thorough-going
Democrat, but never desired
political preferment. His wife died Jan-
uary 1, 1899, at the home of her son,
Henry Zelah Thompson.
(IX) Henry Zelah Thompson, son of
Edward P. Thompson, was born in East
Granby, August 2, 1862. He was educated
in the public schools of his native town,
supplementing this course with another
at the Hartford grammar schools and fin-
ishing at the Suffield Institute. As a
young man he gave great promise of being
a worthy successor to the long and
highly respected line of Thompsons which
had done so much to establish and uphold
the dignity of the town of Granby and its
later offshoot, East Granby. It is cer-
tainly no flattery to say that this promise
has been amply fulfilled. Mr. Thompson
has carried on the home farm, increasing
the acreage under cultivation, keeping up
the fine old buildings and presiding in the
house of his fathers in a fitting manner.
He raises open grown tobacco, corn and
other crops. He does not fail in his duty
to the public, having been chairman of