Message text written by INTERNET:[email protected] >Can anyone help me place the location of the Thompson Graveyard as described in the following message? A California cousin visited the Montgomery Co., Va., area in April, looking for the site of Archibald Thompson's homesteads in the mid-1700s. We are descendants of Archibald, b. 1736, and Mary Elswick, b. 1741, who lived at various locations in Montgomery Co. until their emigration to Kentucky in 1797. (See his diary, index and transcript by Lula Hankins Hunter at http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/archibald/ ) The Thompson's in this cemetery may be from another Thompson family line; however, many descendants of Archibald's parents, John Thompson and Mary Unknown, stayed in Montgomery and neighboring counties, and the family cemetery described by my cousin could be on the location of some of the ancestral lands of the earliest Virginia Thompsons. >"One day we did drive to Christiansburg and tried to go by Tom's directions to the Thompson gravesite. We could not find it where he said it was. He said it was on Indian Valley Rd. just to the right of the river near the bridge. We couldn't find any sign of it there. We went to a nearby farm house and asked a lady who lived there, Mrs. Cox, if she knew where it might be. She said the last Thompson (Cynthia) died about 1953 or 1954 and was buried in the graveyard near the old Thompson house, which was still standing the last she knew. That had been shortly after the death of Cynthia. She told us where to go and so we decided to try to find it. We ended up driving just over the river and down a lane to the left of the bridge. We drove about a hundred yards and parked the car at a gate which blocked the lane. . . We searched many little lanes and finally found the right one and headed up the hill. Near the top of the hill we found an old log cabin that had had some changes made to it over the years (like a tin roof and a loft inside). From there we walked to the top of the hill and found a small graveyard. The stones were of field stone and slate and only three were somewhat readable with the printing scratched on them. There were no complete names just initials and years. We estimate there may have been fifteen to eighteen graves. What we thought may have been more graves, may have been footstones on some of the graves. . . If it is part of our family, it would be awesome. The feeling I felt is hard to express but it was like finding a part of me and mine. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be not a part of our family." We have placed Mary Elswick's family at Draper's Meadows around 1750. Thanks, Jemima Gee Morse <