By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 6, 2019
In this year occurred a tragic accident in which a toddler died when he disturbed a pile of logs.
Miscellaneous Items. A son of Mr. Richard Thompson, of Milton Mills, N.H., aged four years, attempted to climb upon a pile of logs, when the logs gave way and crushed him beneath them, causing instant death (New England Farmer (Boston, MA), October 17, 1857).
Richard Thompson had been born in Scotland, June 11, 1828, son of William and Mary (Dunce) Thompson. He died in Rochester, NH, February 23, 1901.
He married, probably in NH, circa 1850-51, Sarah I. McIlroy. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, April 15, 1827, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Kennedy) McIlroy. She died in Rochester, NH, July 29, 1907.
Richard Thompson, a spinner, aged thirty-four years (born Scotland), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Sarah I. Thompson, a lady, aged thirty-four years (born Ireland [SIC]), their children, John W. Thompson, aged eight years (born NH), Elizabeth Thompson, aged five years (born NH), Mary H. Thompson, aged three years (born, NH), and Isabell Thompson, aged one year (born ME), and [her father] John McRoy, a day laborer, aged seventy years (born Ireland). Thompson owned $250 worth of real estate, likely their Acton home, and $100 worth of personal estate.
One may note the sad gap in their listed children between John W. and Elizabeth; also, whether it was related or not, that they moved from the scene of the accident in Milton Mills to nearby Acton after 1857, i.e., after the accident.
Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1854; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1860
References:
Find a Grave. (2018, June 1). Richard Thompson. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/190239779/richard-thompson
Wikipedia. (2018, September 6). Panic of 1857. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857
Milton Observer 