Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1913-06-14
Woodstock. VT, June IA. 1913
zADocK THOMPSON.
Interesting Facts About a Great
Vermonter Recalled by the
Death of His Sister, Mrs.
Shurtleff. of North Bridge

Death Of His Sister, Mrs.
Shurtleff. of North Bridge
water.
"In North Bridgewater, May 80.
Mrs. Eliza Thompson Shurtleff.
widow of the late Jesse L. Shurtleff.
aged l03 years A months"
The above clipping has more his
tory in IL than the significant fact
that perhaps Mrs. Shurtleif was the
oldest female person in the State,
writes Horace w. Bailey in the Bur
lington Free Press, from whose arti-
Gle the following facts are taken.
Mrs. Shurtleff was the last sur
vivor of FIVE children Of Captain
Barnabas Thompson. an early settler
of Bridgewater, VT. The second
child in this family was Paddock
Thompson, Vermont's most dis
tinguished historian, who was born
in Bridgewater. VI. May go. 1896,
and whose mortal remains lie buried
in a neglected grave in the Elmwood
avenue cemetery in the city of Bur
lington, marked by plain, marble
slab bearing the following inscrip-
ton
Zadock Thompson, died January
10, 1856. aged SO years, 8 months.
Gods will be DONE"
Sedate and studious as boy. Zadock
Thompson's mind ran in channels
of original and scientific research.
His first publication was an almanac
in the year 1919 The same year he
entered U. v. M. at Burlington as a
freshman. His sisters sewed the
almanacs and he peddled them from
town TO town. often taking paper
and rags in payment By this hum
BILE but honest means Zodock Thomp-
SON paid bis way through college.
On foot and by horseback he visited
nearly every town in the state gath
ering from town records and other
sources the valuable data for his
history and gazetteer.
Mrs. Shurtleif, who died May 80.
testified that she assisted Brother
Paddock in preparing the almanacs
for sale.
He published several almanacs
and furnished the astronomical cal
culations for Walton's Register for
"a years. He graduated in 1928
and two years later was chosen a
tutor at his university. In 1928 he
edited the Iris and Burlington Liter
airy Gazette and later the Green
Mountain RESPIRATORY, both publish
ed at Burlington. In 1888 he taught
in Hatley and Sherbrook, P. O.,
where he published a geography of
Canada. In 1885 he was ordained an
Episcopal minister by the RI. Rev.
Bishop Hopkins. and in 1887 be-
came a teacher in the Episcopal In
stitute at Burlington. From 184l
to the end of life he was under APP
pointment by the State as geologist
and naturalist as well as curator of
the State cabinet, being commission
ed TO collect specimens for the same.
In 1851 he was appointed to the pro-
censorship of chemistry and natural
history at the University of Vermont.
The list of his books is long one.
He is best known today as the author
of "a Gazetteer of the State of Yer
mont" published in 1924 and His
tory of the State of Vermont from it's
earliest settlement to the close of the
year 1882" A second edition of
this appeared in 1886, and in 1852
he published an appendix TO the
history.
There is not branch of practical
education of which he is not a mas
ter and his works include textbooks
ON the geography and geology of
Vermont. an arithmetic, published
an several editions Journal of trip
to London and Paris in 1851; geog- |
raphy and history OF Lower Canada;
a guide to Lake George, Lake Cham
plain, etc, and other guide books
relating to Vermont and vicinity.