Which One

I descend from John Thompson -- the John Thompson who married Sarah Iglehart in Ohio County, Kentucky, lived in Warrick County, Indiana, Wapello County, Iowa and Adams County, Iowa.

The 1830 and 1840 census records for Warrick County, Indiana include two men named John B Thompson.

1840 Census

1830 Census

Since I had researched this family, I already knew of most of the children and their birth dates. Using this information, I could calculate their ages and figure out how the family would show up on the 1830 and 1840 census.

After comparing the ages to the two census records, I highlighted the John B Thompson that I believe matches the family of my ancestor, John Thompson.

With an 1830 census record for John Thompson matching the ages of the family members, I elected to search for patent records in Warrick County, Indiana. The result turned up nine patents for a Thompson, with four of them named John.

Based on the land descriptions, there may be several family groups. I colored those in T4SR6W green and those in T4SR8W gold. Unfortunately, that left both John's outside of the two groups.

I then used the website HistoryGeo to try and figure out which of the patents for John Thompson might be my John Thompson.

My John Thompson married Sarah Iglehart. Even though they married in Ohio County, Kentucky, I searched land patents for Iglehart or Igleheart in Warrick County, Indiana. I found Levi Iglehart with land fairly close to one of the John Thompsons with land in sections 23 and 24.

Since several of John Thompson's children married an Evans, I then searched for patents registered by an Evans in Warrick County, Indiana.

When I zoomed out a bit, I found that John Thompson owned land in sections 23, 24 and 25. James Evans, a potential father-in-law of William Taylor Thompson (son of John Thompson) was in section 36. A little to the West, Levi Igleheart was in section 22 and Asa Iglehart was in section 21.

The proximity of all of these potential family members supports the theory that the John Thompson with patents in sections 23, 24 and 25 is the husband of Sarah Iglehart and father of William Taylor Thompson. If the land was sold while his wife was still living, the deed for the sale of the land would support this theory IF John's wife is named Sarah.

These land records are valuable clues to the Thompsons, Igleharts and Evans families. However, further research is needed to verify my theories.