Benjamin Tompson

Born	1686-02-07 Billerica, MA
Died	1753-10-28 Billerica, MA
Select Board
In Office	1721 - 1740 1742 - 1748 1751 - 1752
Town Clerk
In Office	1724 - 1727
Preceded by	Oliver Whiting
Succeeded by	Joshua Abbott
Town Clerk
In Office	1730 - 1731
Preceded by	Joshua Abbott
Succeeded by	Joshua Abbott
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1731 - 1738
Preceded by	William Patten
Succeeded by	Jacob French II
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1742 - 1742
Preceded by	Jacob French II
Succeeded by	Enoch Kidder II
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1745 - 1746
Preceded by	Enoch Kidder II
Succeeded by	Thomas Kidder
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1748 - 1748
Preceded by	Thomas Kidder
Succeeded by	Thomas Kidder

Benjamin Tompson was born in Billerica on February 7, 1685-6, a son of Ensign Joseph Tompson, the town's first schoolmaster, and his second wife, Mary Denison of Roxbury. He grew up on the family homestead at the end of the lane southeast of the village, later Tufts Lane, which he inherited from his father. On November 9, 1715 he married Alice Kidder, daughter of Ephraim Kidder. Their children were Elizabeth, who married William Bowers and died in 1740; Mary; Joseph; Abigail, who married Captain Josiah Bowers; William; Rachel; Benjamin, who died in infancy in 1729; Alice, who married David Parker; and Dorothy, who married Solomon Kidder.

Tompson was among the leading townsmen of his generation and is usually styled "Esq." in the records. He was first chosen a selectman in 1721 and served twenty-three years on the board between then and 1751. He was Town Clerk in 1724 to 1726 and again in 1730, between the clerkships of Oliver Whiting and Joshua Abbott, and he represented the town in the General Court for twelve years, 1731 to 1738, 1742, 1745, 1746 and 1748 (see Representative to the General Court). In April 1725 the town made him one of the three trustees, with Joshua Abbott and Deacon William Patten, who lent out its share of the province's 60,000 pound loan, and as a magistrate he took the acknowledgments of townsmen's deeds; one of February 1748-9 is "acknowledged ... before Benjamin Tompson."

He took a large part in the affairs of the church. In November 1737 he was named to the building committee for the third meeting-house, with Deacon Samuel Hill, Joshua Abbott, Ensign Benjamin Shed and Sergeant Benjamin Frost, and when the pews were offered in order to the highest payers of the building rates, his name stood sixth on the list. In March 1746-7, when the town took up the question of a colleague for Rev. Samuel Ruggles, Benjamin Tompson, Esq. headed the committee sent to confer with the pastor, who proved "very free" and "desired that the town would proceed in that affaire"; Rev. John Chandler was ordained as his colleague that October.

In 1745 Tompson bought from John Shed, for 1,150 pounds old tenor, about sixty acres of orchard, meadow, pasture and woodland on the County road to Woburn, bounded north by his own land. His will, dated March 19, 1747, left all his buildings and lands in Billerica and Tewksbury to his only son William, the westerly end of the house to his widow, and legacies to his daughters Mary (wife of Thomas Skinner), Abigail Bowers, Rachel, Alice and Dorothy and to his granddaughter Elizabeth Bowers. He died on October 28, 1753, in his sixty-eighth year, and his gravestone stands in the Old Corner Burial Ground. Alice Tompson survived him by thirty-two years and died on October 19, 1785, in her ninety-third year.

Benjamin Tompson

Benjamin Tompson

References