Uriah Tompkins (abt. 1777 - abt. 1822)

Born about 1777 in Kinderhook, Columbia, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died about 1822 at about age 45 in Norway, Herkimer, New York, United States

Biography

Uriah Tompkins was the 4th son of Stephen Tompkins Sr. of Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York. ^[1] Uriah was born about 1777. He died about 1822 in Norway, Herkimer County, New York.

Stephen Tompkins, senior, was the father of the Tompkins boys that settled in Norway. He lived and probably died in Dutchess county. By two marriages he had nine sons and one daughter. Two of his sons, Nathaniel and Searles, came to Norway in 1794. Before coming they had purchased 200 acres of a Methodist minister, who represented, if tradition is correct, that the land was finely timbered with pine. The land is located four miles northeast of Norway village, on the borders of the North Woods, and originally covered with a heavy growth of spruce, hemlock and hard wood. It may be that the minister supposed spruce to be pine; we give him the benefit of the doubt. The sons mentioned built a log cabin, cleared off four acres and returned to Dutchess county in the fall. They gave so favorable an account of their purchase that they succeeded in selling out to their neighbors, Moses and Stephen, Jr. So, the original Tompkins lot was twice sold “unsight and unseen.” Moses and his brother Uriah came to town in 1795, the latter locating north of Dairy Hill. Stephen, Jr. came in 1800 and settled on his original purchase, east of the old plank road, near his brother Moses. ^[2]

Uriah Tompkins married a sister of John Sisson. He was one of the trustees of the first Methodist church in town, organized in 1809 and was active in church work until death, in 1822. He was buried near his home but after a few months was taken up for reburial in the Barnes street yard when it was found that his close shaven beard at death had grown to an astonishing length. He left but one child, a son, named Griffin who married a daughter of Pasco Whitford and removed from town and his after history lost. ^[3]

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Sources

1. ↑ Columbia County NY Will; 25 July 1794; probated 23 Dec 1794; Stephen TOMKINS.
2. ↑ The Tompkins Family, from Norway Tidings (Norway, Herkimer County, NY) by Fred Smith, July 1890; reprinted in The Enterprise and News, Saint Johnsville, NY, Wed. June 17, 1936.
3. ↑ Tompkins family history, referenced above.