What wonderful 'stuff' the archives are yielding to Sue & co. Thank you so much. On the question of where/when some of these families originated .. has anyone yet found a clue to the THOMPSON origins? As far as I can ascertain they arrived from Mars circa early 1700s!!! Then we get back to 'son of Thomas' and 'tombstone' and early language variants. When I get time I'll see what I can check re army and movement after conflict but really don't have access to relevant archival material. Will keep looking. Anne Maye. Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com

Hello Anne Mars it is! They landed about 1700, shed their green skins and moved to Hawkesbury. More seriously, I have two THOMPSON lines. William THOMPSON moved into Hawkesbury about 1735 with his settlement exam in 1743. He was baptised 1703 at Acton Turville where his parents were William and Mary TOMSON. They baptised 2 other children at A. T., Mary in 1702 and John in 1706. It's possible (even likely!) that William and Mary were the pair married in Luckington in Feb 1701/2. (William TOMSON of Sherston Magna and Mary WARE) Your THOMPSON line goes back to James TOMSON who seems to have arrived in Hawkesbury just before 1740, already married to Mary. Since they arrived about the same time, it's possible William and James were brothers. James was born about 1718 so could easily have been a child of William and Mary. They may have moved from A. T. and baptised him elsewhere. But that's total speculation. There were numerous THOMPSONs in the nearby villages of Wiltshire at the time and some in Tetbury. Regards Doug Thompson