Thompson.Thompson, whose work has exerledexerted a tremendous influence on Vermont scholars since the Civil War, worked alone, "without any associates engaged in like pursuil.Spursuits .... and almost wichuwwithout books."book..~."
Zadock Thompson and The Story of Vermont By]. KEVIN GRAFFAGNINO
The roll call of those who devoted large partspans of their lives to the study of Vermont history is long and impressive. From Samuel Williams to Hiland Hall to Dorothy Canfield Fisher, scores of dedicated individuals have recorded the heritage of the Green Mountain State,State. Yet for all their enthwiasmenthusiasm and hard work,work. VermontVennont historians have generally ig·ig. nored the lives and careers of their predecessors,predece!>SOrs, the men and women of earlier generations who wrote the history which each new wave of scholars used as a staningstarting point. The work of the early historians has proved useful to their counterparts of the late twentieth century. but bebe· yond thatIhat the names Nathan Hoskins. Benjamin Homer Hall, George Grenville Benedict,Benedict. Walter Hill Crockett and most of the others are mere bibliographic references. ThoseThost: with significant political or literary careers - Ira Allen, Samuel Williams,Williams. Rowland Robinson - fare better,bener, but their roles in the development of Vermont's historiography and the degree to which their state history writings reflect the Vermont in which they lived remain largely unknown. l Certainly one Vermont scholar who has suffered the neglect of his SUCCl$SOrssuccessors is Zadock Thompson'.Thompson". Historian,Historian. naturalist. geologist. geogeo· grapher.grapher, clergyman. educator and editor,edilor. Thompson was the preeminent ninelccmhnineteenth century student of Vennonr.Vermont. His wrilingswritings have exerted con siderable influence on Vermont histori.anshislori.ans since the Civil War, and Thompson ranks among the state's great antiquarians including Abby MariaMaria, Hemenway.Hemenway, Walter Hill CrockenCrockett and Henry Stevens, Sr. The man behind' the dozens of hooks.books. articles.articles, maps,maps. almanacs and monographsmonogTaphs has unfortunatelyunfonunately been forgotten. for consideration of the details of Zadock Thompson's life and writings offers worthwhile insightsil15ights intoinro both a single prolific Vermont historian and lhethe larger community of Vermont scholars.
237 Zadock Thompson, born in Bridgewater,Bridgewater. Vermont, an May 23, 1796, was very nearly a nativenalive of MassachuseusMassachusetts like his forebears. His branch of the Thompson family had lived in Halifax,Halifax. Massachusetts,Massachuscets, for more than 150 years before his birth. His father.father, Captain Barnabas Thompson,Thompson. moved to Bridgewater about 1791, {houghthough {hethe Thompson danclan did not put down pemlanenlpermanent roocsroots in Vermon!Vermont until the last ~onthsmonths of thethl:: following year. 2l As had most of their new neighbors. the Thompsons came to fannfarm despite the "rough and Slaney"stoney" soil covering much of Bridgewater. A friend lalerlater characterized ladock'sZadock's childhood as "a can· tinual[inual struggles[rugglr with\,'ith poveny,"Jpoverty, "3 though growing up on the Barnabas Thompson farm was probably notnOt especiallyI::speciall)' grim by the standards of the age. Nobody in the family of sevensew:-n wanted for food, and ladock'sZadock's fivefi\'e siblings all reacht':dreached maturitymalllrity in a timetiml" when many children did notnoc reach adulthood. Almost from the beginning ladockZadock rejected thethe' prospect of a life·life time on a farm.farm, giving lIlsteadinstead "early evidence that he likl"dliked to read better than to work." He did not get the chance 10to begin regular studies until the age of twelve, and then only by the chance of a serious mishap. He accidentally slashed his foot with an ax during the spring sugaring and almost died before the bleeding could be stopped. His brotherbrothn Salmon later recalled that[hat the accident "scemed"seemed 10to determine his futurefUlUre coursc,"course." for Zadock used the long period of confinement 10to begin serious study.' HavingHa'ling exhausted the reSourcesresources of the local schoolhouse, at seventeen Thompson enrolled in the academy at Randolph for the fall term. He suyedstayed at Randolph for only [Jneone term, however.however, leaving to teach school over the winter,wimer. ThatThai seasonal rhythm became his p3uernpauern for the next four years as he spent the summers studying and Ihethe winters teaching. He traveled coto western New York to teach in Canandaigua and Lima and stayed closedose to home when he taught in Barnard and Pomfret.Pomfrel The pattern was broken by a severesc\'ere illness which kept him bedridden the first sVr:six months of 1818 and forced him to devise some means other than teaching to make a living.' In 1818 Thompson was nmnO{ well qualified for much other than teaching, and perhaps that realilationrealiz.ation pushed him toward his eventual choicechoict: of calculating and publishing his own aimanacs.almanacs. He po~dpossessed the necessary mathematicalmathemalical skills to work out the slandardstandard astronomicalaSTronomical calculations, and he could gather the remaining filler material together easily enough from the other almanacs published each year in VermonlVermont and throughout New England,England. To eolkctcollect [hethe material for the four almanacs he issued for the years 1819 and 1820, Thompson engaged the support of a number of people,people. includinginduding banker Benjamin Swan and printer David WatsonWatsOn of Woodstock and hisohis own..... n sisters, ElizaEli1.a and Sally.6Sally.'
238 Thompson's almanacs closely resembled their contemporaries, can· sisling of astronomical data, weather predictions and "a great variety of original and selected instructive and entertaining matter. "1 Thompson, who apparently wrote a considerable amount of turgid verse in his early years on such subjects as the War of 1812. the American Indian, and the spotted fever epidemic of 1813, included his own poetry under this latter rubric.' He also presented his readers with short pieces on how to treat consumption. the evils of liquor, and scientific phenomena. along with a calendar of historic evenLS and holidays and a host of moral maxims drawn after Poor Richard. In the spring of 1820, Thompson "concluded to try to gel thro' College. "9 Bypassing both Dartmouth and Middlebury College, Thompson chose instead to go north to Burlington and enroll at the University of Vermont. His summers of schooling and winters teaching merited an advanced status, for he joined the sophomore class in August, 1820, after teaching the summer term at Burlington Academy. 10 The University of Vermont rested on shaky foundations most of the three years Thompson allended, but Thompson, who paid his college expenses (S69.25 for three years) by teaching between semesters and ringing the college bell in the morning. did well nonetheless. II He was e1ecled an officer of the Phi Sigma Nu Society l2 and graduated with honors in August. 1823. While an undergraduate, Thompson worked out an arrangement with Montpelier printer Ezekiel P. Walton and continued to supply calculations for almanacsY Beginning with the issue for 1822. for a fee of about twenty-five dollars, Thompson performed the calculations for Walton:S Vermont Register every year until his death in 1856. Although after 1820 he never again published an almanac of his own, Thompson's calculations (one set could be sold to any number of publishers) appeared in numerous Vermont, New York and Canadian almanacs, earning him a small but steady income. Thompson also started work on his first book about Vermont soon after leaving the University. In September, 1823. he began visiting Vermont towns, and the next month he printed a prospectus and query form. "Proposals for Publishing by Subscription, a Gazelleer of Vermont..... Thompson promised subscribers a 300-page volume describing in detail \ e~ery town in Vermont and pledged himself to travel the entire state in order to gather firsthand the necessary information. He advertised the book. complete with map and engravings. for one dollar to subscribers before publication, and S1.25 thereafter. Thompson worked almost exclusively on the Gazetteer for more than a year. visiting towns. editing descriptions received by mail. and constantly
259 trying to enlist more subscribers. He received advice and assistance on the project from several noted VermOnters,Vermonters, including Secretary of State Norman Williams and SUlveyorSurveyor General James Whitelaw.Whieelaw,'~ '5 Published in November.November, 1824, the Ga.l.etteerGazetteer sold quitequiee wellwdllhroughoul throughout Vermont,Vermont. but the inexperienced young scholar had fixedfIxed the subscription price too low.low, and he barelybardy recovered the costs of printing and distribution.l~distribution. 1& Despite itsiL~ failure as a financial venture,venture. the Gaz.etteerGazetteer was nonetheless a remarkableremarkahle book of 312 pages, with the promised folding map and 4 engravings. The GazetteerGa.l.etteer contained descriptiol15descriptions and histories of every town,tOwn, lake, and river inin Vermont,Vermont. as well as a large amount of olherother information about the state. Thompson included seCtionssections on Vermont geography and manufactures.manufactures, a brief historybisLory of the state,state. and chaplerschapters entitJedentitled "Political Institutions" and "State of Society,"Society." Foreshadowing his later studies, he also presented a chapter on "Natural History," with brief calaJoguescatalogues of Vermont plants.planl.~, minerals.minerals, animals, birds, and fish,fish. prefaced with the seU·prophcticself-prophetic observation that "An ample field is here opened to the man of science and enterprise.'·llenterprise. "17 VermoncVermont scholars of Thompson's own generation recognizedrecogni:o:ed the worth of his Gazetteer.Ga.l.elleer. The long list of authors who reliedrdied on Zadock's ground breaking work included Samuel Read Hall.I-Iall, Francis Smith Easunan,Eastman, Nathan HoskinsHosk.iJL~ and John Hayward.Hayward, all of whom dTCwdrew heavily on the G 240 responsible:re:;ponsible for "no small part of his success.""success. "21 The couple had !hrecthree children; their only son died in childbirth,childbirth. and their daughters only lived to the ages of SC'\'enteenseventeen and Ihiny.thirty. 22%2 . The GazetteerGaul/eer provided no income injn 1825.1825, but Thompson's alma mater did. The main collegeco[]~ge huildingbuilding had burned on May 27, 1824, but subscriptions raised enough money to rebuild and keepkC"C'p going. The UniversityUniversil~' of VennontVermont hired Thompson in February.February, 1825.1825, as a TutorTUlor in Mathematics and Science. ThcThe annual profe~rialprofessorial salary at thcthe University at Ihatthat time was about $600,$600. but Thompson, whose status apparently varied from Tutor 10to InstructorInstructOr to Interim Profc:s.sorProfessor as vacancies and rt'Signa!ionsresignations on thethc faculty dictated, probably nevcrnever receivedrecei\'cd that much. 23n He worked in thoselhost: severalM::vt:ral capacities untilumil 1827, and to live close to the univl':rsityuniversity he bought a house and !wo·acretwo-acre lot beside the UniversityUnivl':rsity Grcl't1Gret'll for $1000$1U00 in 1826.Ul26.t<2' During these years Thompson gave ample indication of where his ..academiccademie interesu·layinterests· lay by lakingtaking an aCliveactive role in the formalionformation of the University's College of Natural History in October, 1826. He held a number of offices within lhatthat colll':g('college even after he left the university faculty and cominUl':dcontinued to present papers before ilSits members on a variety of scientific IOpics.topics. u25 In his firstfirSI year on Ihcthe university staff,staff. Thompson published his second and.and, ultimalely,ultimately, his moslmost successful book. The YO!dhsYouth's AMistanJ.Assistant inz'n PractzcalPractical ArithmeticArdhmetic went through more thanlhan a doundozen printings, revisions and reiS5uingsreissuings between 1825 and 1848.1848.1~20 Only twotWO or three arithmetic texts hallhad been printed in Vermont before 1825,211825.11 but thelilt:' contentCOmetH of Thompson's lillielittle hookbook aboalso distinguished it. Beginning withwilh Warren Colburn in 1821, American educators slowly started to switch from strict memorization of rules coto instruction on thelhe inductive plan, which emphasized an underunder· standing of the principles being learned,21learned. 28 Thompson's Youthj-Youth's AssistantAssistanl followed Colburn's text and used many of the same questions and examples. The YouthYouth's'j Assistant demonslraleddemonstrated liuJclittle originality, bUIbut considering that.that Colburn's first textbook appeared only four years earlier, the effoneffort placed Thompson among (hethe firstfirSI in America to try to leachteach mathematicsmathemaTics on the inductive system. Priced alat seventy-five~venty-five cents, the Youlhj-Youth's Assistant was sold by booksellers and printers all over the state and undoubtedly helped both Thompson's reputation and his purse. Thompson left the university facuhyfaculty in 1827(827 to take charge of the Burlington Academy where he had taught during his undergradualeundergraduate years."years. 29 It was nOtnot a farsighted move,mo\·c. for within a year he presided over the dosingclosing of the Academy,Academy. which, because of the growth of Burlington, was replaced in 1828 by a new high school for boys. From July through September. 1828, the town hired him to run a summer .schoolschool for younger children,'"children,30 and in November he opened his own school,school. a priValeprivate "Bur· 24\241 lingtonlingLOn High School for Young Ladies,"Ladies." LocatedLocaled in his house beside lhethe University Green, the female seminary offered suitablesuita.ble young women "instruction in the various departmentsdeparunems of a thorough and politpolite edu·edu cation.""calion."31 Over the next winterwinler he built a large new house for his family and the school, and the following spring he advertised thatthaI he was ready to accept girls as boarders,32boarders.12 Despite its expanded quarters Thompson's school did notnm succeed financially,financially. and in 1831 he had to close the ven ture and sell the building and half his land to Professor Joseph Torrey of thelhe University.BUniversity.J3 Thompson and liishis devoted wife and their twotWO young daughters moved intoimo a small white COllagecottage set back a littleliule from the Green on the remaining acre. While he ran his school,school. Thompson signed on as editor of the semi·semi monthly IrisIris and Burlington LiteraryL/lerary Gazelle.Gazette. StarlingStarting in January, 1829,1829. he changed thelhe Iris noticeably, adding his personal stamp by introducing numerous scientificsciemific pieces where none had appeared before. The public.public, however, was not impressed with titles like "A Brief Account of the Tea Plant."Plant.·' The Iris ceased publication after only four months under Zadock's direction,direction," H It probably maneredmallered little to him in this instance, but in later years Thompson'sThomp.~on's tendency to overestimate his fellow Vermomers'Vermonters' interest in the natural sciences which he loved would lead lOto some major disappointments_disappoil1lmems. The nextneXI year Thompson joined fifty-two olhersothers in founding lhethe ProtestantPrOll'stant EpiscopalEpiscopaJ Society of Burlington on December 6, 1830.1830.'·15 Thompson became a leader in the Society,Socieey, and after severalevcral years of study,seudy, was ordained a deacon by Vermont Bishop John Henry Hopkins in 1835. Chronic poor health prevented his assuming his own parish for any !long'thlength of time, butbUl after 1835 he often preached or perfonlwdperformcd other clerical duties in Vermont and Canada.36 Apart from his religious work,work. Thompson did lillielittle of notenoee fromfrom] 1830830 to 1833. He had helped found the BurlingtonBurlingron Lyceum in December.December, 1830. and delivered occasional paid lectures to its members, but the Lyceum died out in the mid-1830'sYmid-1830's,31 He helpedh Iped Bishop Hopkins start hishi~ Episcopal Institute, and his academic reputation was good enough for him to be named to unpaid positions on both (hethe Burlington Super intending Committee of Schools and the Vermont SlateState School Commis sioners.sioners_ 38 However, in 1831 the Vermont State Legislature turned down 39 his petition for assistanassistancee in revising and reprinting his Gazetleer.Gazetteer. 3' Forced to shelve that project temporarily.temporarily, Zadock soon found himself in enough financial lroubletrouble (0to compel him coto leave Burlington in the summer of l833.1833. Among the reasons for Thompson's financial troubles may have been the failure of a second magazine he edited.edited_ This timetim he was the pub·pub- 242 , • \ 0.·0)" 'tHB1'111 " The 1833 History presented "an'~n interestinganteresting amalgama17ULlgam oforiginalorigl'nal and plagiarizedp1o.giarized 17ULterial.material. ".. . ST A TE <;)F VKRM·ON'T,· GrTUnA.. .l832. 81'BY ~A.ODC"ZA.OOCI[ ~lIvMi'SO~,~1I",1iPflO!t. A..~ J!lI!l.. "',,,",,,,,,,,_at."'nr.la".. ..,...... """'...u,..•••all.",0. 'f, ...... . ., * BOaLt"G'llOIIr,BUlILll'GT.O!II'. ED WAR\\' AR 0 'SAflTR.~ AI I T ROo laL18.... lisher. as well. Begun in January.January, 1832,l832, as a monthly,monrhly, The GrecrLGreen MounlaznMountain RepositoryRepO!'/lory acknowledged the high mortality rate among VermontVemlom periodi cals, hutUUI optimistically attributed that [0to "other causes than the want of a disposition in the people to sustain a cheap work of the kind. "'0"10 Offered lOto the publicpubli at $1.$1.25 2~ a year, or an even dollar if paid in advance.advance, the ReposiloryRepository never succeeded.succeeded, Thompson could not get many free articles andant] ended up having to write every issue almost entirely by himself,himself. emphasizing science and na(UralnaLUral history over theth more popular prevailing light Fierionfiction and poetry. He carried the magazine through to the end of the year to honor the subscriptions, then with an almost audible sigh of relief bibidd his "few,"C w, very few,f w, patrons," farewell inin thelh December issues. Two of the few selections in the RepositoryReposilory concemedconcerned with nonscientific topics previewed aoil larger,larger. more permanent project.projecl. He had begun work on a hi5loryhistory of Vermont to complement hishi Gazelleer,Gazetleer, and in the January and February issues of the ReposiloryRepository he printed twotWO excerpts. Although he described the work as "in press,"press." Thompson's History of the StateSlale of VermonL,Vermonl, from lisIts Earliest SettlementSelllement to10 thelhe Close of the Year 1832]832 243 did not appear until March of 1833.<21833.'2 His third book achieved only moclcracemoderate success, and a reissue in 1836, made up of unsold copies with a new cover and title'page, did liulelittle better.'3beuer." Thompson's HistoryHis/ory presented an interesting amalgam of original and plagiarizedplagiariled material. fhe introductoryinlroduct~r'f pages,pages. devotf'ddevoted to the topognphicaltOpographical geography amidnl! history of VennomVermom before 1760, were primarit~'primarily Thompson's own. With th.:the beginning of the account of the New Hampshire Grants land COntroversy,controversy, however, Thompson's book closely followed the second edition of Samuel Williams' NaturalNatu.ral and CiuilCil/it History of Vermont.Vermonl," H Where Williams left off. Thompson borrowed eXlf'osivc1yextensively from the original narrative in NathanN.;athan Hoskins' History of the Stall!State of Vermonl.Vermont."H In a manner reminiscent of the Gaulleer,Gazetteer, Zadock compiled his HiJ/oryHistory in large part from the writingswritin~ of others, adding the resultSresults of his own re'reo search [0to enable him 10to caillhecall the book his own. Apparently [hethe failure of his school and the ReposiloryRepository forced Thompson to seeksl"Ck greener pastures. In July of 1833, he and his family packed up and headed to Canada, where Thompson had acceptedaccepced lIlethe precepLorshippreceptorship at the new CharleslOnCharlesLOn Academy.46Aeademy,U Thompson remainedrcmainN:! in Lower Canada for the nextnel!.t four years.~'ears. tcachingteaching in Charleston and Sherbrooke and even selling his astronomical calculationscalculatiorn to a Canadian printerYprinter." He returned 10to VermontVennont everycvcry year for the annual meetings of the Episcopal~:pisc:()ral Diocese,Diocese. His interest in lhethe church continued, and he delivereddcli~'ered occasional ser·ser mons and performed marriagesmarriage:;; and baptisms in Canada andimd northern VermontVermonL after his ordination to the diaeonatediaconate in 1835,<81835." While he worked in Canada,Canada. Thompson again petitioned the Vermonl State Legislature for aid to reprinLreprint (01'the Gazelteer,Gazetleer, and once more he was rejectedYrejected." He was successful, howe\'cr,however, in publishing another book while in Canada,Canada. ,\sAs he had wilhwith his first Youlh'sYouth's Assistant in 1825, Thompson took advantage of his surroundings and what""hat he perceived as a void he could fill to his own profit and publishedpuulishcd Ihethe Geography and History of Lower Canada, DesignedDesignedfor JOT the U5CUse of Schools.&hools. a 116-pagc116-page textbooku:xllJOok complete with folding colon~dcolored map.map.'G '0 Thompson's Lowerl.olL'er Canada \,'aswas a curiously uneven book. The first seventy-six pages,page:;;, devoteddevoled 10to gco~rOlphy,geography, were very elementary, with brief lessons illuslratingillustrating differenldifferent aspects of Canadian geography and institutiorn.institutions. Thompson displayed a decided [Jro·pro British bias and referred to the majorilYmajority of French Canadians as '"gencrally"generally illltcrOlu'illiterale and ignorant.""ignoranL. ..., The fonyforty thin pages of history in LowerLo"UX'r CanadaCalwda hardly meritedIIU:rilt~d the title. Thompson simply reduced the first section of his Historylfisl0'Y of thetlw SlaleSlate of VermonlVermont and adapted it for thetil(' CallaJianCanadian texl.teXL He did IlOtnot evcneven try to fill in with details of Canadian history.history, but inSll'adinstead spliced together any sections from his Vermont work which pr:rtaim:tlpertained to Canada,Canada. As a result,re:;ult. his broken narrative wentWt'lll to10 1776 244 and the failure of the American invasion and chenthen skipped over three decades 10to a one-sided view of the War of 1812 with which he closed the book. Thompson's audacity in trying to sell such a makeshift book in Canada is truly surprising; his failure is not. He did not know enough about Canada,Canada. especiallyespcciaUy the French part of Lower Canada, to10 write well about it. By June of 1837 Thompson and his family had returned to Burlington for good.~~good. 52 They moved back near the university into the cottage on the GrecnGreen that becamebe<:ame Thompson's home for the remaining nineteen years of his life. Thompson worked at a variety of jobs in the first few years after his relumreturn to Burlington. He again taught at Bishop Hopkins' Episcopal InstituteInuilute before the Panic of '37 and the depression which followed shut it down in 1839.1839.~!53 He performedperfonned pastoral duties in and around Burlington, includingineluding a stretch of nine monthsmonth~ during 1838-391838':~9 as visiting preacher in Vergennes, the closest he ever came to assuming full responsibilities for a regularregular parish.parish.1<54 Thompson offered his services in bothhoth 1838 and 1839 to Henry Sle-vens,Stevens, Sr., as a field rcsearchcrresearcher for the newly incorporated Vermont Historical Society, 55U bUIbut Stevens could not raise the money necessaryneceii.~ary to hire him. The University of Vermont gave Thompson library privileges and in 1841 named him PresidentPresidcnt of the College of Natural History, an honorary title heslOwrobestowed in returnrerum for his work in enJargingenlarging and cataloguing the College's museum colleClions.collections. ~656 During this ~riodperiod Thompson began work on what eventually proved his most important,important. mostmOSl lasting book. As early as 1839 he had decided to useusc his GazetreerGazetteer asas' the foundation for a much more substantial work on VermontVennont in which he planned "to devote a large spac.espace on the subjects ofzoology. botany.botany, mineralogy, &c&c"Y... " He hoped to combine the Gazetteer.Gazetteer, an enlarged version of his History of the State of Vermont, and allaU the knowledge gained from years of study of natural history and .sciencescience into one great work. The result, his History of Vermont, Natural, Ciuil,Civil, and Statistical,58Statistical." commonJycommonly knownknovm. simply as "Thompson's Vermont,"Vennont,"' fully realized his ambition. Thompson spent the better pan of the three yearsyeaTs from 1839 through 1842184-2 working on his magnum opus. He had collected information on Vermont for nearly twenty years, but he still faced an enormous task in arranging, updating.updating, and editing the material he had gathered. Thompson had hoped to[0 publish the History in 1841, but his own poor health and the difficulties encountered in pulling informationinfonnation from his more dilatory sources pushed thatChat back at least a year.year.~159 When\Vhen at last he completed all the work on the book and was ready to publish, Thompson found his plans frustrated by a shortage of money. 215245 To help solve the problproblem.m, his friend and publisher,publisher. Chauncey Goodrich. agreed (0to print the work at cost and wait for income from sales to pay rhethe printingpriming bill. As George F. Houghton recalled,recalled. "This liberal offer enabled him [ThompsonJ to publish promptly.promptly, an edition of :>0005000 copiescopie:; of 656 closely printed,printed. double column.column, octavo pages, using more than five (Onslons of printing paper, and although the expenditure was more than S500055000 [Qto secure allali the profits to himself."60himself. "60 However,However. even at therhe low price of $2.50 "all the profits" could notnor have amounted to much,much. since Phebe Thomp.Thompsonon was stillstili trying to sell copies after her husband's death founeenfourteen years later,61later. 61 Intended1m nded "(0"to embrace..embrace. ,. every thing of special importanceimportan e relative to the Natural and Civil History of the State," the History of Vermont was an interesting combination of Thompson's old and new writings. 62 Predictably. the "Gazeueer""Gazetteer" section, Pan Three, was primarily a reprint of his GazelteerGazetteer of 1824, withwilh information added to bring each account up [Qto date.Uatc. PartPan Two, ehethe "Civil History" section,seCtion, also came largely from his earlier publications. With the exception of one or two elaborations on such events as theIhe BattleBailie of Bennington, the first lOS105 pages almost exactlyexa t1y duplicated his 1833 History of Vermont. The remaining 120 pages covered many of the same contemporary topics also discussed in thelhe earlier work,work. but with longer,longer. more detailed accounts.accoullls. AsA~ a result Pan Two emer~edemerged as a mixture of rehashed historyhislOry and original pieces detailing con·con, ditions and instilutionsinstitutions in Vermont in 1842.184~. In conjunction with thelhe "Gazetteer""Caz~'lleer" section, it has offered those historianshislOrians who have followed a wealth of information which cannot be foundf~und readily.readily, if at all. elsewher('.elsewhere, Ironically,Ironically. the freshest, most original section of Thompson's book was J probably alsoalsu the leaseleaSt popular. PartPan one."one, "Naturalamral History of Vermont," resulted from twenty years of research into the plants,plants. animals and minerals /. of the state. His otherOlher studies notwithstanding,notwithstanding. namralnatural history was the ) predominant interest of Thompson's life. Although in Vermont he worked ( virtuallyvinually alone in this field with no scientific libraries near at hand.hand, I Thompson still produced an exhaustive,exhaustive. book·length survey of Vermont'sVermont' ) natural history, cataloguing and describing the Stale'sstate's plantS and animals I and writing at lengthleng1.h on a variety of otherOther related LOpics.tOpics. As "'ilbwith many 0\otherher zealous scholars.scholars, however, he had little understanding Ithathat whatwhal intrigued him held no special charms for the general populace.populacl'_ and the unappreciativeunappreciati\'e disimerestdisintl'resl with which most Vermonters greeted his master,maSter' work disappoinl<'ddisappointed him greatly. As a natural historian,hislOrian. Thompson was a curious mixture of professional scholar and untrained scientist. He used withwilh some authority the Latinatin names of fish and displayed familiarity with thelh opinions of experts like Cuvier.Cuvier, Holbrook,Holbrook. Linnaeus.Linnaeus, Audubon, and Wilson. 6163 AtA[ the same time 246 he acceptedaccepled withouLwithout reservation Storiesstories of dormant frogs being revived afll"rafter centuries underground and praised the ml"dicinalmedicinal powers of VermontVl"rmom springwau~rspringwater in curing "affeetions"affections of the liver, dispepsia, urinary annand atlall cutaneousrut 247 work on theth~ surveysun'~y to fill anotheriwol.h~r gap in published mal~rialmaterial on the Slate.state, in 1848 hehe: published a textbooklextbook GeographyGeogruphy and Geology ofoj Vermont,68VeTmonl,6" which\",hich was \",dl·reccivedwell·received (although it did not matchmaLeh Zadock's Youth'sYouth:l Assistant) and won approval from local schoolboards throughout VerVer· 69 mont.mont." Written "(0"to enable the youth of Vermont toLa acquire a competent knowledge of their own stale,"state," Thompson's Geography covered a much broader range of subjects than the titl~title indicated.indicated. In addition to detailed discussions of thelh~ soil,roil, rocks,rocks. minerals, and geography of the state.state, Thompson fleshed it out with.....;th pieces from the History ojof Vermont, including sections on natural history and "Political Geography." Although he compiled the Geography largely from his earlier books,books. it was an important addition to thethc list of Vermont schoolbooks. Samuel Read Hall had published a small.small, seventy·four·pageseventy-Cour-page Vermont geography texttexl in 1827,701827, '0 butbUL it was long out of print by 1848. Even with its varied offering of materialmatcrial Thompson's Geography can legitimaldylegitimately be considered the first full-lengthfull·length textbook ofoC its kind on the state of Vermont and among the earliest Stalestate geography textstexl.~ in the enliTl~~entire country."country.71 The Geography and a 5('venty·four·pageseventy-four-page elementary version published in 1849 as FirstFint Book ojof Geography, Jorfor Vermont ChildunChildren stood alone in Vermont until thelhe 1860's,1860's. when other geography textsleXts on the state ~ganbegan [0to appear and when schoolbook histories started to include seuionssections on geography."geography. 72 As mid-centurymid·cemury approached, ThompronThompson finally began to receive recogrecog· nition beyond the borders of Vermont.Vermont, Local acclaim continued to come his way, too: in 1848 he was named to Vermont's committe~committee to investigate international exchanges, and in 1850 he became~came a vice-presidentvice·president of the Vermont HisroricalHistorical Society.'!Society.73 The discovery of a fossilized whale skeleton in Charlotte, Vermont,Vermont. in 1849 gave him the chance to go to Boston to consult with the famed Louis Agassiz and deliver a shortshon accountaCCOunt of the find before the Boston Society of Natural History.HHistory. H The discovery also ledJed to several .articlesarticles on Vermont for the Society's ProceedingsProceedingJ and Benjamin SiUiman'sSilliman's AmericanAmen'canJoumal Journal ojof Sc£enceScience and Arts, as well as numerous shonshort scientific pieces for Vermont .andand New England news· papers.papers." 75 The biggest boo5tboost to Thompson's growing reputation outside Vermont came in 1850,1850. when the Society of NaturalNaLural History invited him to return to BostOnBoston to deliver a major paper on the "Natural History of Vermont." VariousV.arious Vermont and out·of·stateout-of-state newspapers printedprimed parts of the well·well received address, and Chauncey Goodrich, acting without Thompson's knowledge, increased its circulation considerably by publishing it in its entirety in the form of a thirty-twa-pagethirty·two· page pamphlet.167' The "Natural HislOryHistory of Vermont" presented a revealing look at three 248 GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY GEOLOGY "Thompson'ThompsonsGeography can legitimately be consideredcormdered the VERMONT, first full-length texttextbookbook ofz'ts its kind on the State of Vermont and and among the earliest state geography 6T.l.T8liTJl.T6 A:""DA:-;D COlT:' BY ZAPOCK:ZADOCK THOlllP90N.THOMPSON. Darlington:Durlinglolt~ rO'LIIIHII::»PO tLI8RED liTBT" TrtlTn£ ..ADTDoaOTDoa • •••·.\,'\JI';"T.. ~."T Gl)tUUUI:H,_OOJlIlUCIlt. ra.urn"&Un'.~.. 'iiils'-ISla decades of Thompson's work,work. Ith not only included the variety of de scriplionsscriptions and accounts found in his books but also the details of the conditionsonditions in which he had studied, "without any associatassociatess engaged in like pursuits - without having access to any collections of specimens and almost without books, "71"17 a problem which held Thompson back as much as any other he encountered in his work. In addition, Thompson brought to the Boston address his understanding of the delicate relation·relation ship betweenbelween man and his em'ironmenl.environment. reminding his listeners of the subspecies of animals once plentiful in Vermont but seldom seen there in 1850. Few Otherother naturalists of the mid·nineteenth century saw as clearlydearly as Thompson the need for man to achieve a balance with nature and the living things around him, His thoughtsthought.s on these lines never coalesced into a comprehensiveomprehensive statement akin to George Perkins Marsh'Marsh's monumental Man 'andand Nature,18Nature,lI but Zadock Thompson was an early advocate of lhethe conservation of natural resources anda'nd prmeclionprotection of enen· dangered species. 249 One year after addressing the Society of Natural History, Thompson made illshis first and only trip to Europe. The Great ExhibiLionExhibition at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851 promised to be a fascinating spectacle.spectacle, and he was eager to attend. He had never been far from Vermont bebe· fore,forC', and he could not afford to travel abroad on his own resources.r~Ourccs, Friends and neighbors in Burlington tooklook a collection and gave him enough money to go. InIn a movemovC' probably intended totr> lend him Slatusstatus away from home, the University of Vermont named him (unpaid) ProfessorProfC'SSor of Natural History and ChemistryChemi~try four days before his departure,"departure. 79 Thompson, who left Burlington on May 27 and returned August 14, kept a minutely detailed journal, which he published to show his friends where he had been and what he had seen. 8~1o Following his return from Europe, Thompson scttledsettled down again to his research. He gave an occasional lecture on Vermont historyhistol)' in Burling ton,S1ton," and in the fall of 1852 wrote a hundred-page "Historic Introduction to the Census Returns of Vennont"Vermont" at the requestrequcst of the United SutesStates Bureau of the Census. He expenedexpected to be paid a reasonable amoumamount for the six·weeksix-week effort, but ilit was never published and Thompson received nothing for his work, leaving it to his widow to collect .1300$300 fromfrom Congress afterafler his death.death.8!t! As he worked on the "Historic Introduction," Thompson received a regular appointment from the University of Vermont, when in September, 1852,1852. he beeamebecame a LeerurerLecturer in Chemistry at the tutor'stutOr's annual salary S3 of $400.1400. U He was promoted the following year to Professor of Natural History and Curator of the Cabinet, but at the same time his salary was lowered to $300.5300."84 Thompson appears not to havehav~ won recognition from chethe University commensuratecommen.~urate with his scholarly accomplishments.accompl~hm~nLS. His areas of interest were not generaUy taught in American universities which still maintained a largely cllWicalclassical curriculum. Part of the problem also lay with Thompson himself, for he may have Mrnplysimply been tootoO meek and quiet to compete in the academic world for positions and salary. According to one observer, "Such a man should never have set himself down under the evesdroppingcvcsdropping [sic] of a university, where the more ambitious absolutely lorded over him and won the praise and the prize. "85".s InIn 1853 Thompson finally admitted defeat on one of his most cherished projects. Since 1842, heh~ had hoped to revise, enlarge, and reprint the History of Vermont, but eleven years later he still had enough unsold copies of the first edition on hand to make that idea impractical. The failurefallure of VermontersVennonter:s to demand a new edition must have been a major disappointment for Thompwn.Thompson. Instead of an entire book, in 1853 he published a small, sixty-three-pagesixty· three-page Appendix,86Appendix,li which he bound in with the remaining copies of the main work or sold for fifty cents to those 250 who already had the original volume. The Appendix conce.lllratcdconcentrated pripri. maril)'marily "non natural hiswl)',hi.lotory. addition.!.additions to the calaloguescatalogues of plam~plants amIand ani·ani mals.mals, !llOfCIllore mcteorologicalmeteorological statistics, and articles on therhe fossil boneshon('~ ThompsonThomp.loOn had examined. A few pages atar the end brought the eivilcivil history up 10to date.date, mostly in therhe form of figuresfigure!> from lhethe CensusCen.loUs of 1850, which Thompson had taken in Chittenden County. A yearyt'ar after publishing the Appendix, Thompson revised and reprinted 8 his successful little GwdeGuide to Lake George.George."? InIn a move which demon· strated an awareness of the changes in transportation in Vermont since 1848,1848. Thompson shifted the focus of the pamphlet from waterwatcor tra'nsIra·ns· portationponation to the railroad. The railroads had crisscrossed partspans of Vermont and upstateupstatc New York by 1854, .and Thompson recognized that travelers' guides needcodneeded to be altered accordingly. As a result,result. he enlarged his map.map, c1langedchanged the text to include new areas.areas, distant from the lakes and rivers but[JUt easily visitedvi~ited by train. In a move which foreshadowed the growth of tourist publicilYpublicity in Vermont and New Hampshire.Hampshire, he began lOto praise thetile beauty of the great outdoors; Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump,I-lump, Lake Willoughby,Willoughhy, and the White Mountains,Mountains. In addition to teaching at thethco University and publishing his books, Thompson also managed to help revive the Vermont Geological SurveySu(\'ey in 1853. In 1851 and 1852 he had pTOpoSt:dproposed a variety of plans for conlplctioncompletion of the survey, including asking the Legislature to use the natural hiStoryhistory part of his History ojof VermontVermonl as the basis for a fourfour· volumevolUl1le w(lrkwork on the ~,.tate'sstate's geology,geology. geogr-aphy.geography, agriculture,agriculture. mineralogy antiand natural history.1IhislOl)',88 The legislature rejectedreje{;tcrl his proposals.proposals, but a modified Vl'ISltlllversIon passed in 1853.185~, Thompson was appointed StaleState Naturalist and directed to finish the survey ;uthe:at the princely salarysalal)' of $800 a ycaL"year. 89 ThompsonTholllpson worked hard on the survey. but a number of faclOrsfactors in addition to the sheer size of the project itself preveOledprevented his completingcompletIng the project. The .lohonhandshorthand notesnOle; leflleft by Charles B. Adams were inin· decipherable andan:d useleM,useless. Progress was furtherfunher slowed by Thompson's own high StanJards:standards: he could notnOI force himself to move quickly through Ihethe natural history volume and get it into print. Finally, the fragile and failing state of Thompson's own health impeded progress more than anything else.else.""to Thompson had never had a robustrobUSl constitution. Illness had almoslalmost taken his life in western NewNt:w York in 1818,1818. and his recoveryrecovel)' stretched outOllt over more than six months. Chronic poor health prevented his bebe· coming a minister and taking over his own parish.parish, Lung fevers delayed hishi.s work on the History ojof Vermont in the early 1840's,1840's. and his physical condition was seldom sound thereafter,thereafter. He also suffered from heartpeart lroublt:trouble to such an ex.tentextent that he was reluctant 10to go veryvel)' far from home without '51251 a friendfrie;nd to accompany him.him."91 Forfor these and other reasons Thompson's health had always been precarious, but during his tenure as State Naturalist it deteriorated steadily,steadily. By the fall of 1854 Thompson's condition was such that he wrote that he was "confined [0to my room and most of the time,rime, 10to my bed, for a period of more than(han 12 months.months."'2 "92 1-1('"He recovered enough late in 1855 to resume his studies and accept a medal for a display sentscnt (0to the French Industrial Exhibition.Exhibition,93H but the remission was very short. On January 14, 1856,1856. "i>(:ing"being in a weak state of body, buthut of sound and disposing mind and memory (bles.'>«i(blessed be God for the same),""same),"9< hehe; made some minor adjustments in his will. Five days later, at the age of fifty-nine,fifty·nine, he died quietly in bedi>(:d of "an organic affliction of the hean.""heart. "95 PhebePhei>(: entered thethc day's temperatures in the meteorological notebooks,noteboob, just as he had been doing for thirty years,years. adding only, "Mr,"Mr. Thompson died 5 P.M."96P.M."Ii The eulogies poured in as soon as news of Thompson's death circu·circu lated around New England. On January 21 Thompson's colleagues on the university faculty unanimously passed a lengthy set of resolutions in memory of "a most worthy alumnus, faithful friend and useful instTUClOr.""instructor. "9] The town of Burlington,BurlingtOn, Thompson's home for most of his life, also joined in the tributes 10to him.him, His funeral was attended by many of the tOwnspeople,townspeople, and Ihethe stores.stores and businessesbusinesser; dosedclosed in his honor.n98 ThompsnnThompson was buried in the Elmwood Avenue Cemetery in Burlington beneath a white marble headstone bearing only his name, dates and last words,word~, "God's will be done." In addition to the many compliments offered h)'by his fellowfdlow Vermonters, Thompson also received posthumous recognition from outsideoUL~ide the state,state. I The Boston Society of Natural History, before whom Thomp.'iOnThompson had spoken six years earlier on theIhe natural hisforyhistory of Vermont, adopted a resolutionresolution in February of 1856 mourning his death."death. H OtherOf her groups and individuals followed suit, and the Boston Atlas ably expressed Ihethe tenor of their sentiments: "New England may have more brilliant and more popUlarpopular illustrators of her natural history, but one more earnest, more thorough, or more devoted, we have never known;known: nor one who once known has b~nbeen more honored and esteemed by naturalists, or beloved by friends than the late Professor Thompson."looThompson, "100 Thompson's writings continued to be reprinted after his death, but only for a few years. A new edition of thethl': Northern Guide came out in 1857, followed the next year by a pirated anonymous Mitionedition with a different title but identical text.,OItext. '01 His wife was still selling the HistoryHutory of VermonlVermont into the 1860's, and in 1858 she reissued his History of the State of Vermont from the edition of 1833/36. 102 After these, however, Thompson's booksbook.<> went out of prim and remained that way for more 252 1:;<;;."~~~ .~ ;:l ~ ;:r 'Y~rt ~ ~;:l .... (\>~ ...... c/. I: (\>.... ~ ~ '"0 ()-(\>~ .,J~ a~ .... 0-"; ~\Q~o-~~ !r ~..... 5'2' ;;~ 00 -~~~ e:~ ;:l c ~~- .....~~;:l .~ ~'":;>O(\> ~ go ~ ,.'I g()- 0 g~'" ~..., ~~~ ;:to ~_ 5'c ~. ~()- ~ ~ ~ ;:r",~. ~ ~ 1::-~. I:l...l:l. ~ 0 ~;:l;;:I "'" c Nl c: ::l;:l <.n(,n i:: .... 00lJC -(\>. !} .... it!};;.R. ~ i;~ ~ (II(1l v,~;~ g~ :-0. S c R.;:l ~""I:l... -:~ ~[~.~ . ~'" .... D ~.~.:::' ;;' ~' $1 ~~~. 1 ...;: I I ~~;0,.- o~c~ 'J ;:l .... ~l ...... ,J. ;'-...,~..., ,-1 I (II(1l ;:r~ I c ~~ tJ .~ ~j! c;B l' ~ 7 "O';:s~ ~. ~ 7 ? .. "'- K • S } $ ] J " than a century.century, untilunlillhe the natural histOry sectionseclion of the History ojof VermontVermO/lt was republishedrepu blished in 1972.1972.">1 103 Phebe ThompsonThom~n remained in Burlington for two decades aflerafter his death,death. She sold his cabinet of geological and naluralnatural history specimensspe<:imms to L!1I:the State of VennomVermont in 1857l857 for $1,000,10< bUIbUl cominuedcontinued to keep up his meteomlogicalmCleorological notebooks and guard the remainder of his scientific collections '·as'"as jealously as if they had ~nbeen gold and diamonds."lo,diamonds. "105 She stayed in the little white COllagecottage on the University Green until 1876, when shcshe sold it for $2400 and moved to Northfield, Vermont. to live with her granddaughter.I'·6granddaughter.llM; Finally, on July 29, 1885, Phebe Boyce Thompson died at lhethe advanced age of eighty-seven, nearly thirty years after her husband. 107I01 Although his books cominuedcontinued to be used and imitalcdimitated and lhethe significance of his work and research remained considerable, Zadock Thompson's life soon faded from memory,memory. An occasional article or biographicalbiogTaphical sketch camecaml" out from time to time afterafler 1860 [0LO provide the factual framework of his life, but these becamebeeam<' both less frequent and more sketchy aherafter 1900, and no serious attempt toLO portray Thompson appeared after 1902. "Thompson's Vermont"VeTmont" retained much of itsils popular and antiquarian appeal, but its author was more or less ignored. In 1927 the floodnood which devastated VenT-10mVennom alsoalJ;O destroyerldestroyed Thompson's collection of natural history specimens stored in a basement in Montpelier.MOlllpelier. Over the past half·centuryhalf-century not one signific NOTES 'FoT'For a~an "."",irwoverview ufof Ill,lhe ",«k>pm,n,etel.:e1opmem of<>f VennomV.rm..,n' historiographyhi>lo..ognphy,. >«.see J. KevenKevcn Graffagnino.c:••ffapono. -Th."The Vt"nnonlV'nnonl ·S' 254 •'Ibid..IbiJ.. , Thompson,Tbompoa. autobiographicalau 255 " 1'.6'.P. 63. "Lana."Lance MSS,MSS. ThompsonThompooOI.bool 256 "Burlington"n~l~~ FreeF,uPrL,.,Jan. Pr...... Jan. 11.21.1856.1856, "XMS 551.5 TS72.nn, Th<>mpsonThompson .....weatru-ra''''' _.book.notebook, VIISVHS CoII~.ioou.Collection<. "UVM MSS. "Faculty Minutes,"~;~"'''':. 2:47·48.t:i7·~8. "HO\lgl,,~n,"Houghton. "Obin"Obicuary,"..,y,"p. p. +4.44. "Burlingtont>1!1I..u..""" FreeF.~. Pre:.;,Prw. M. 257