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Note: Address:<ADDR> 730 Fort Ave. 1426 Woodall Street Baltimore MD Born 1873 on 1910 Census In 1902, John Thompson married Mary Louise Blanchard. This was her second marriage. They had 5 children in addition to raising all of Mary's girls. Obituary is in the Baltimore Sun 9/15/1953 John's funeral services were held at the home of Mrs. Howard Synder (his daughter, Uncle Si and Aunt Emma) , 1454 Steveson Street, on Thursday at 2:00PM Thompson : English and Scottish Patronymic name from Thomas (twin) which was a popular name in the Middle Ages (and still is...). The name Thomas comes from an Aramaic term for "twin." It was one of the really popular given names at a very early time, which led to people who bore the name achieving some renown, leading to an increased popularity. The first letter of the name was originally the Greek "theta" which accounts for the TH spelling -- the pronunciation of which was lost due to the French influence in the earliest stages of the name. As with many of the early popular given names, they became the subject of variations due to familiarity or fondness -- pet names, if you will -- in the same fashion that William Clinton is called Bill, or William Mayes was called Willie. Several of the pet forms of Thomas (there are loads of them, like Tom, Tommy, etc.) did not carry on as given names to modern times, and involved the letter -p, which was generally added as a pronunciation aid to make a pet form. For example, from Thomas came the pet form Thompkin, similar to Thumbkin being a "little thumb" (a nursery rhyme). Thompkin was "little Tom" and when someone described his son, they might say William -- Thompkin's son. They also contracted names or dropped the diminutive (or pet) form, which would cause Thompkin as an adult to be known as Thom or Thomp, for short. His son might be described as William -- Thomp's son. And that is what Thompson means -- son of the man known as Thom, Thomp, or Thompkin, or other diminutive form of Thomas. LOCUST POINT An article on Fort Avenue appearing in the Sun of June 1 and 8th, 1924 says that the area received its name because of the many locust trees that grew on the point at that time. A map of original land grants of Baltimore City, published in Scharf's History of Baltimore City and Baltimore County 1 show. that the Locust Point area was embraced by three colonial land grants: "Whetstone Point," 'Upton Court", and "David's Fancy" (also known as "Oliver's Range"). ''Whetstone Point" surveyed 3 August, 1661, for Charles Gorsuch,
including 50 acres of land "on a point at the junction of the northwest and middle branches of the Patapsco River." This tract included the. land where Fort McHenry is now located. Mrs. Albert Sioussat, author of several books on Baltimore history, was of the opinion that the name "Whetstone" probably derived from Whetstone Park in London, England. Various deeds indicate that Charles Gorsuch probably lived here after 1661, and was definitely living here by March, 1708-9. In 1706, a town called "Whetstone Town" was laid out on the tract "Whetstone Point" by order of the Maryland Assembly, and was to be port
of entry for ocean going vessels. This was 22 years before Baltimore Town was founded, and was the first town erected within the present limits of Baltimore City. There is evidence that a town was actually in the area. "Upton Court" 500 acres lying on the north side of Patapsco River. opposite the land of Hugh Kensey, was surveyed 18 March 1667, for George Gale, who assigned the land to David Pool, merchant. Later, Captain Thomas Pale, Nicholas, and George Hollingworth owned the land Scharf, in his Chronicles of Baltimore, notes that John Giles, a Quaker, settled in Baltimore 1700, and his house was used as a meeting by members or the Society of Friends. When Giles died in 1725, he left portions of Upton Court, , which he called h
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