Sketch of the Early History of Count Rumford. 25 
of his youthful life; they very much increased his stock of infor- 
mation and confirmed his taste for natural science. 
In the autumn of this year (1770) he was invited to instruct 2 
school in Concord, New Hampshire, then called Rumford; and 
here he closed his career as a schoolmaster in a manner not a little 
interesting, as in this place the train of circumstances seems to have 
originated, that eventually tore him from America and gave him to 
Europe. I allude to his marriage, an event always so productive of 
happiness or misery, and sometimes of both, as appears to have been 
the case in the present instance. 
Mr. Thompson, soon after taking up his residence in Coneord, 
became acquainted with Mrs. Sarah Rolfe, widow of Col. Rolfe, a 
lady of wealth and respectability; and their acquaintance resulted im 
their marriage when he was but nineteen years of age. Mrs. Rolfe 
was some ten or twelve years older than himself, and for the bonor 
of her hand, Cuvier says he was indebted to his “ belle figure, et des 
manieres nobles et douces.” 
By the relatives of his wife, Thompson was introduced to Mr. 
Wentworth, then provincial governor of New Hampshire, who was 
much pleased with him, and bestowed upon him an unusual share of 
his attention. He soon gave him a major’s commission in the militia 
of the province, and thus placed him at once over many older offi- 
cers. This appointment must be admitted to have been exceed- 
ingly injudicious, but, as it was legal, it afforded no exeuse for the 
feeling of envy and jealousy which was excited against Thompson, 
and from which all his subsequent difficulties appear to have origin- 
ated previous to his leaving the. country. It was whispered that 
Major ‘Thompson was a tory; and such were the circumstances of 
the times, it is not surprising that many should give full credit to the 
rumor. We have the most satisfactory evidence, however, that up 
to this time at least, he was firmly attached to the cause of Ameri- 
can liberty. As this is a point of some importance, I may be per- 
mitted to give my reasons a little in detail. 
In the first place, Thompson had always professed strong attach- 
ment in principle and feeling to the popular cause, and his friends,* 
* In Capt. Parker’s company, which was paraded on the green in Lexington 
upon the approach of the British troops on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, 
there were four of the name of Simonds, the maiden name of Thompson’s mother. 
In the afternoon of the same day, among the killed was Daniel Thompson of 
Woburn.—Everett’s Orations, pp. 523 and 524. 
Vol. XXXIII.—No. 1. 4 
