SKETCH OF ZADOC THOMPSON. 263 



Mr. Thompson was graduated from tlie University of Vermont 

 in 1823, at the advanced age of twenty-seven years, and imme- 

 diately turned his attention to making known the natural and 

 civil features and history of his native State to its own inhabit- 

 ants and to the world beyond its borders, which was the chief 

 occupation of his life. Within a year his first publication in this 

 field, a Gazetteer of Vermont, appeared at Montpelier. His first 

 bound volume was an arithmetic, published in 1826, which had 

 a general sale through the State. While serving as principal of 

 an academy in Canada, he issued a geography and map of Canada 

 for schools, which passed through several editions. 



In 1832 Mr. Thompson edited and was the chief contributor to 

 the Grreen Mountain Repository, a monthly magazine published 

 for about a year at Burlington. In the following year appeared 

 his History of Vermont from its earliest settlement to the close of 

 the year 1832. 



Taking up the study of theology and supporting himself in 

 part by teaching in the Vermont Episcopal Institute and else- 

 where, he was prepared for orders, and became a deacon in the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in 1836. He preached from time to 

 time in various parishes of northern Vermont and New York, and 

 usually supplied the pulpit of St. Paul's Church, Burlington, dur- 

 ing the illness or absence of the rector. His health not being 

 good enough to allow of his undertaking the labors of a parish, 

 and being a man of " deep and unconquerable modesty of spirit," 

 he never advanced to the priesthood. 



His earlier works aroused in him a desire to issue something 

 larger and fuller in the same line, and for many years he industri- 

 ously collected from various " oldest inhabitants " and scattered 

 records facts relating to the history, geography, and natural re- 

 sources of Vermont. From 1838 to 1842 he devoted most of his 

 time to putting together these materials and publishing the re- 

 sulting Natural, Civil, and Statistical History of Vermont. His 

 attainments in natural history were at that time limited, and he 

 obtained considerable assistance in preparing the accounts of the 

 plants and several classes of animals for this book from other 

 New England naturalists. Having made the mammalia quite a 

 specialty, he described these himself. 



The undertaking was most thoroughly and conscientiously 

 carried out, and by the time the book was ready for the press all 

 his savings had been expended. At this juncture the Burlington 

 publisher, Mr. Chauncey Goodrich, who was a neighbor and friend 

 of Mr. Thompson, offered to get out the book for him at the usual 

 prices for the labor and materials without any contingent share 

 in the profits, and to wait for payment from the sales of the work. 

 This generous offer was promptly accepted, and the volume, con- 



