Program

NYS Historic

Subject

House, People

Location

1243 Hunns Lake Rd, Pine Plains, NY 12567, USA

Lat/Long

41.905622, -73.619715

Grant Recipient

Stanford Historical Society

Ezra Thompson was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1738. Ezra is listed as having served in Captain Joshua Haywards company, in Colonel David Gilman’s Regiment of the New Hampshire Militia in 1776. On June 18th, 1776, Ezra was also “requested to superintend” the mine in the Great Nine Partners region by the New York Committee of Safety. Ezra Thompson and Jonathan Landon, a lawyer, were charged with hiring laborers and working with landowners. They were authorized to take possession of the land even if the owner was unwilling. Ezra Thompson and Jonathan Landon reported back to the Committee of Safety on the amount of lead and size of the mine shaft that was being cut throughout the fall of 1776. The mine is in what is now called Shekomeko.

In 1793, Ezra Thompson served as the chairman for the committee to nominate the Democratic-Republican (as it is referred to now) candidate (Theodorus Bailey) for the U.S. House of Representatives. Bailey, from Dutchess County, won the seat. Ezra Thompson also served as chairman for the elections committee in 1794 and continued to serve as chairman for the “Anti-division” (or Union) party until at least 1808.

By 1797, Ezra Thompson’s home was labelled on a map of the Great Nine Partners land patent, in the town of Stanford. Many of the other homes in this area, called either “The Square” or “Federal Square” were owned by members of the Thompson family according to multiple early maps. The home was passed down through the family for many years before being sold in the late 1800s to the Hood family.