1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



377 



PROFESSOR ZADOCK THOMPSON. 



We copy from the Franklin County Journal, 



Vt., the followhig memoir of Professor Zadock 

 Thompson, of Vermont, a gentleman who did much 

 to develop the advantages and charms of rural 

 life, — a true friend of the farmer, and one who has 

 left a healthful impress upon the region where he 

 lived. We have been obliged to omit some por- 

 tions of the Memoir as it Avas sent us, as the char- 

 acter of our journal will not admit very long ones. 



Professor Zadock Thompson died at Burling- 

 ton on the 19th day of January, 1856, of ossifica- 

 tion of the heart. He was born in Bridgewater, 

 Windsor County, Vermont, in the year 1796, and, 

 at the time of his death, must have been in the six- 

 tieth year of his age. His early life was a contin- 

 ual struggle with poverty, and his education was 

 acquired while successfully combatting the evils 

 of pecuniary embarrassment. At the advanced 

 age of 27 years he was graduated from the Univer- 

 sity of Vermont, having for his classmate in 1823 

 and now living, the Hon. Frederick H. Allen, an 

 eminent lawyer in Boston, and Warren Hoxie, of 

 Westford, Vermont. Within a twelvemonth from 

 his graduation he published at Montpeher, his 

 "Gazetteer of Vermont," pp. 312, and, in 1833, he 

 published, at Burlington, his "History of Vermont 

 from its early settlement to the close of the year 

 1832," pp. 252. In the year 1832 he was editor 

 of and principal contributor to the " Green Moun- 

 tain Repository," a monthly magazine published 

 for about a year in Burlington. After pursuing 

 his study of theology, and occasionally teaching at 

 the "Vermont Episcopal Institute" and elsewhere, 

 he was prepared for orders and was ordained to 

 the diaconate in the Protestant Episcopal Church 

 by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins, in 1836. He 

 subsequently preached in several parishes in North- 

 ern Vermont and New York, and supplied the pul- 

 pit at St. Paul's Church, Burlington, during the ill- 

 ness or absence of the Rector ; but his feeble 

 health prevented his assuming the active and oner- 

 ous labors of a parish. 



Ever since the publication of the books before 

 mentioned, he had contem])lated a larger and more 

 comprehensive work which would embrace the 

 General History of Vermont, both natural and civil. 

 From 1838 to 1842 he devoted the greater part 

 of his time to preparing and publishing his "Natu- 

 ral, Civil and Statistical History of Vermont." 



The prosecution of this purpose necessarily 

 brought him into contact or correspondence with 

 the naturalists of the country. In completing his 

 account of the birds of Vermont he was greatly 

 assisted by Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, of Boston ; in 

 determining several species of reptiles and fishes, 

 he was aided by Dr. I). H. Storer, also of Boston. 

 For a full description of our molluscous animals, 

 he was indebted to Prof. Charles B. Adams, then 

 of Middlebury College, and to Prof. George W. 

 Benedict, then of the University of Vermont. For 

 his catalogue of plants, he was indebted to the late 

 William Oakes, of Ipswich, Mass., to Prof. Joseph 

 Torrey, William F. INIacrae, and John Carey, Esq., 

 and others. With these aids in his arduous 

 labors, Prof. Thompson succeeded in embracing 

 in his work every thing of special importance rela- 

 tive tn tho N''>rr.r-' pn<-1 Civil History of Vermont; 



and published it in so condensed and cheap a form 

 as to place it within the reach of every family in 

 the State, having but little regard to a pecuniary 

 recompense from the sale of a book which had 

 cost so much travel, research, time and expense in 

 its preparation. 



Prof. Thompson found time also to prepare an- 

 nual astronomical calculations for the Messrs. Wal- 

 tons of Montpelier, and to publish a valuable arith- 

 metic and elementary work on the Geology and 

 Geography of Vermont, for the use of schools, 

 both jn-epared in the systematic, lucid and con- 

 densed manner which imparted so much value to 

 all of his publications. 



In 1845, Governor Slade appointed Prof. 

 Charles B. Adams, State Geologist, who, with the 

 approbation of the Governor, appointed the subject 

 of this memoir one of his assistants in the field la- 

 bor. Prof. Thompson and the Rev. S. R. Hall, 

 the other assistant, visited and explored "more or 

 less thoroughly" about 110 townships in one sea- 

 son ; and Prof. Thompson was actively engaged 

 in this important scientific labor until the Legisla- 

 ture of Vermont neglected to make an appropria- 

 tion for a Final Report on the Geology of our 

 State, and thus permitted the materials, manu- 

 scripts, books, and specimens belonging to the Sur- 

 vey to remain at Montpelier and Burlington, 

 locked up in about fifty boxes. The brief and ex- 

 pressive Report of Prof. Thompson addressed to 

 Gov. Coolidge, in October, 1849, was published in 

 the appendix of the House Journal for that year, 

 and is a sad commentary on the folly of which our 

 State has been guilty in regard to the matter of a 

 Geological Survey. After the suspension of the 

 Geological Survey, Dr. Horace Eaton, Governor of 

 the State in 1847, appointed Prof. Thompson to 

 carry out the Resolution of the Legislature in rela- 

 tion to international, literary and scientific ex- 

 changes ; and in pursuance of his appointment he 

 presented the exchange system in its clearest light, 

 so that it commended itself to the approbation of 

 every benevolent mind. The preparation of the Re- 

 port of "Proceedings and Instructions," which, by 

 the bye, was beautifully printed in a pamphlet of 

 80 pages, reflected great credit upon Mr. Thomp- 

 son, and upon the State, and it is greatly to be de- 

 plored that the historical interest which was then 

 awakened throughout the State, by the visit of the 

 Founder of the System of Exchanges, and by the 

 labors of such men as Prof. Thompson, Hon. Hi- 

 land Hall, of Bennington, Henry Stevens, of Bar- 

 net, Daniel P. Thompson, of Montpelier, Prof. 

 James D. Butler, then of Norwich, Vt, and others, 

 should so soon and so thoroughly have subsided 

 and become almost extinct. 



In June, 1850, Prof. Thompson delivered upon 

 invitation an address at Boston, before the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, in which he made the 

 announcement that "what he had accomplished in 

 the business of Natural History, he had done ivithoid 

 aiiy associates engaged in like pursuits, toithout 

 having any access to collections of specimens, and 

 almost ivithout books." In that admirable address, 

 (which by the way was printed by his devoted 

 friend and neighbor, Chauncey Goodrich, Esq., in 

 1850, in a pamjihlet of 32 pages,) he illustrated the 

 importance and difficidlies of a thorough cultiva- 

 tion of JVatural History, in country places, insist- 

 ing that a habit of observation and comparison of 

 objects of Natural History could be as quickly ac- 



