Daniel Pierce Thompson (October 1, 1795 – June 6, 1868) was an American author and lawyer who served as Vermont Secretary of State and was

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

's most famous novelist prior to

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

Early life

Daniel P. Thompson was born in

Charlestown, Massachusetts Charlestown is the oldest Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Bost ...

on October 1, 1795 and moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

with his family in 1800. He was raised in

Berlin, Vermont Berlin ( ) is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States, founded in 1763. The population was 2,849 at the 2020 census. Being the town between Barre and Montpelier, the two largest cities in the region, much of the commercial busines ...

, and graduated from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in 1820. He then moved to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, where he taught school, studied law, and attained admission to the bar before returning to Vermont to become an attorney in Montpelier.

Legal and political career

Thompson was Washington County Register of

Probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

from 1825 to 1830, and Engrossing Clerk of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives a ...

from 1830 to 1833 and 1834 to 1836. Thompson was active in the Democratic Party before moving to the Liberty Party and becoming involved in the abolition movement. From 1849 to 1856 he edited the anti-slavery ''Green Mountain Freeman''

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

. He was Washington County

Probate Judge A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as orphans' courts o ...

from 1837 to 1840 and again from 1841 to 1842, and he compiled 1835's ''Laws of Vermont''. In 1838 he was a founder of the Vermont Historical Society. He served as Washington County Clerk from 1844 to 1846. From 1853 to 1855 he was Vermont Secretary of State. After having been affiliated with the Whig Party, he joined the Republican Party at its founding in the 1850s.

Career as author

Influenced by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

and

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, he wrote historical adventure and romance novels, many of which feature life in

. In 1835 he authored ''May Martin, or the Money Diggers''. Its favorable reception established his popularity, and he specialized in Vermont during the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras. His writings include a satirizing of

Anti-Masonry Anti-Masonry (alternatively called anti-Freemasonry) is "avowed opposition to Freemasonry",''Oxford English Dictionary'' (1979 ed.), p. 369. which has led to multiple forms of religious discrimination, Religious violence, violent Religious persec ...

, ''The Adventures of Timothy Peacock'' (1835); ''The Green Mountain Boys'' (1840); ''Locke Amsden, or the Schoolmaster'' (1845); ''The Shaker Lovers, and Other Tales'' (1848); ''Lucy Hosmer, or the Guardian and the Ghost'' (1849); ''The Rangers, or the Tory's Daughter'' (1850); ''The Tales of the Green Mountains'' (1852); ''Gaut Gurley, a Tale of the Umbagog'' (1857); ''The Doomed Chief, or King Philip'' (1860); and ''Centeola'' (1864). Thompson also authored 1859's ''History of the Town of Montpelier''. New England's most famous novelist of the 1840s and 1850s, Thompson's work was responsible for imprinting the story of

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, writer, military officer and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War, and wa ...

and the

Green Mountain Boys The Green Mountain Boys were a militia organization established in 1770 in the territory between the British provinces of New York and New Hampshire, known as the New Hampshire Grants and later in 1777 as the Vermont Republic (which later be ...

in the public's consciousness. His ability to tell action and adventure stories plainly and quickly made his novels popular well into the 1900s, and many of his books are still in print.

Death and burial

Thompson died in Montpelier on June 6, 1868. He was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.

Family

He and Eunice Knight Robinson of Troy, Vermont married in 1831 and they had five children—George Robinson (1834–1871); Alma (1837–1883), the wife of George B. Burrows; William P. (1839–1873); Frances (1842–1858); and Greenleaf (1850–1897); and Charles Sumner (1851–1852). Thompson was a great-grand-uncle of

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

Justice

William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975. Douglas was known for his strong progressive and civil libertari ...

References

External links

* * * , retrieved January 3, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Daniel Pierce 1795 births 1868 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors 19th-century American novelists American abolitionists American male novelists Burials at Green Mount Cemetery (Montpelier, Vermont) Lawyers from Boston Middlebury College alumni Politicians from Montpelier, Vermont Secretaries of state of Vermont Vermont lawyers Vermont Democrats Vermont Whigs Vermont Libertyites Vermont Republicans Vermont state court judges Vermont in fiction Novelists from Vermont 19th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 19th-century Vermont state court judges 19th-century American lawyers