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David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America Author:David Thompson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: lNTRODUCTlON DAVID THOMPSON, the author of this hitherto unpublished manuscript, was born in the parish of St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, England, on A... more »pril 3o, 177o, and was baptized on May 2o of the same year. The parish register gives the names of his parents as " David Thompson and Ann his wife," though it gives no information as to their antecedents or the time or place of their marriage. On subsequent pages of the register, however, it is recorded that another son, named John, was born to David Thompson and Ann his wife on January 25, 1772, and was baptized on February 16 of the same year. The next and last record that has been discovered about the family is of the death of David Thompson, doubtless the father, on February 28, 1772. Opposite his name no burial fee is entered, a fact which shows that he was buried at the expense of the parish. Mrs. Shaw, one of Thompson's daughters, informed the writer that her father's brother John, who was a sea captain, had once visited her father in Montreal. She also said that her grandparents came from Wales, and that their family name was originally Ap-Thomas, but that it had been changed to Thompson on going to London. In this connection, it is interesting to notice that late in life the speech of David Thompson the younger was remarked by an observer to betray his Welsh origin.1 On April 29, 1777, when just seven years of age, David Thompson entered the Grey Coat School, Westminster. Thisinteresting old school 1 is now, and has been since its reorganisation by the Endowed Schools Commission in 1873, a charity school for girls. It may still be seen by the visitor, some five minutes' walk from Westminster Abbey : an old red house, built in the Elizabethan manner, covered at the back with grape-vine and Virginia creeper, and...« less