ZADOC THOMPSON. 







1796-1856. 



THE slopes and intervales of the Green Mountains have 

 ever been a home of sterling worth. Much of it has lain 

 modestly hidden unless some compelling occasion called it 

 forth, as the Revolution brought out Ethan Allen and Stark 

 of Bennington. This region has had its workers in science, 

 who, with more generous facilities or a more assertive spirit, 

 could have equalled in prominence many whom the world calls 

 famous. The subject of the present sketch is an example, for 

 he became known in his lifetime only so far as the patient 

 performance of valuable labours of necessity brought him 

 into notice. 



Zadoc Thompson was born in Bridgewater, Windsor County, 

 Vt., May 23, 1796. He was the second son of Barnabas Thomp- 

 son, whose father was one of the early settlers in that part of 

 the country. 



His early life was a continual struggle with poverty. Hav- 

 ing from childhood a passion for writing and publishing books, 

 he earned part of the expenses of his education in this way. 

 His first publications were almanacs, which he sold travelling 

 about the State on foot. Thompson's Almanac became as 

 famous in Vermont as Robert B. Thomas's in Massachusetts, 

 and shared the honours with the latter publication in adjoin- 

 ing States. Its success was to a large extent due, it is said by 

 those who should know, to a chance remark it can hardly be 

 called a prediction which came one day when a clerk, who 

 was at work upon the almanac, found that no weather forecast 

 had been given for July. Prof. Thompson was at the time 

 much absorbed in some investigations, and when interrupted 

 by the printer's inquiry as to the July weather, hastily replied, 

 " Say, Snow about this time." The printer took him at his 

 word and printed snow as a part of the probable weather for 



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