— born in Grundy Co., MO:
  5.  John THOMPSON, b. 1838/9
  6.  Angeline THOMPSON, b. 1840/1
  7.  Presley THOMPSON, b. 1843/4
  8.  Francis THOMPSON, b. 1845/6
  9.  Eliza E. THOMPSON, b. 3 Sep 1848; d. there 10 Sep 1848
10.  James Matthew THOMPSON, b. 27 Jun 1850
11.  Elizabeth THOMPSON, b. & d. 28 Jan 1854

1.  Jordan R. Dodd, ed.  1993.  Kentucky Marriages:  Early to 1850.  Liahona Research, Orem, UT (Broderbund CD-229):

Thompson, Lorenza D.

Oates, Nancy C.

22 Dec 1831

Hopkins Co.

2.  Family Quest Archives:  Missouri Federal Census 1840:  Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, and Livingston Counties.  Heritage Quest CD M704-225 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen).

1840

MO

Livingston Co.

p. 282A

Lorenzo Thompson

210 010 - 010 010

These data indicate:

No. & Sex	Age Class	Therefore Born	Individuals Inferred
2 males	4 or under	1835-1840	= John (b. 1838/9)  = George (b. 1836/7)
1 male	5-9	1830-1835	= Frank (b. 1832/3)
1 male	20-29	1810-1820	= Lorenzo (b. 1810)
1 female	5-9	1830-1835	= Martha (b. 1835)
1 female	20-29	1810-1820	= Nancy (b. 1811)

3.  1850 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #9 of 69):  District No. 35, Grundy Co., MO, p. 390A, 49/49, enumerated 20 Aug 1850, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1850 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Lorenzo D Thompson	40	M		Farmer	1000	Ky
Nancy	36	F				Ky
Frank Thompson	17	M		Labourer		Ky
Martha Thompson	14	F				Mo
Geo Thompson	13	M				Mo
John Thompson	11	M				Mo
Angeline Thompson	9	F				Mo
Presley Thompson	6	M				Mo
Frances Thompson	4	M				Mo

Nancy appears to be fibbing about her age.  Living next to Joseph DAVIS, of OH, who is next to Joseph's father, Andrew DAVIS, of VA.

4.  1860 Census.

5.  Family Quest Archives:  Missouri 1870 Census Index.  Heritage Quest ACD-0019.

Thompson

Lorenzo D

60

M

W

KY

Grundy

Jefferson Twp.

p. 298

6.  1880 Census.

7.  Lorenzo D. Thompson Family Cemetery.  Located 4 mi E and ¾ mi S of Jamesport, Jefferson Twp., Grundy Co., MO (online at the Grundy County MOGenWeb site).

THOMPSON	Lorenzo D		08 Apr 1896	age 86y 5d
	Nancy C	29 Sep 1811	20 May 1860	"O faithful wife..."
	Eliza E	03 Sep 1848	10 Sep 1848	dau of Lorenzo & Nancy
	Elizabeth	28 Jan 1854	28 Jan 1854	dau of Lorenzo & Nancy
THOMPSON	James M	1850	1917	...son of Lorenzo & Nancy
THOMPSON	Susan C	11 Apr 1844	19 Feb 1870	wife of Presley (who was son of Lorenzo & Nancy)...

I have paraphrased the text from this web page:

In 1830, Lorenzo is said to have made his first trip into the area where he later settled (i.e., Jefferson Twp., Grundy Co., MO), then to have returned to Hopkins Co., KY.  In 1835, he returned to the area with his wife and two children.  In 1836, they moved to St. Louis due to Indian/Mormon threat.  In the spring of 1837, they returned (with now three children) to the area where they homesteaded their property, which is said to have remained in the Thompson famly for over 100 years.  There is a cemetery across the road, no longer in evidence, where Lorenzo's slaves were buried.  These slaves came with Lorenzo from Kentucky and are said to have chosen to remain with him after they were freed.

The only way to reconcile this narrative to the data is to postulate a child born before 1835 who died before 1837.

8.  Birthdate calculated using Ben Buckner's JavaScript Birthday Calculator.

Entered		Result
08 Apr 1896	86y 00m 05d	03 Apr 1810
(Calculated birthdates should always be prefaced with "ca." — you can't be certain the person who calculated their age did it correctly.)

9.  U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. The Official Land Patent Records Office.

Date	Certificate No.	Land Office	Patented By	Acres	Location	County*
24 Jan 1837	2,867	Jackson	Lorenzo D. Thompson of Christian County, Kentucky	78.14	S½ SE¼ S22.T26N.R16E	Mississippi
1 May 1843	13,337	Lexington	Lorenzo D. Thompson of Livingston County	80.00	W½ NW¼ S33.T60N.R25W	Grundy
1 May 1843	13,338	Lexington	Lorenzo D. Thompson of Livingston County	160.00	W½ NE¼ S33.T60N.R25W E½ NW¼ S33.T60N.R25W	Grundy
*The county is not given on the original certificate, which describes the land solely in terms of Aliquot, Section, Township, and Range.  The county name must have been added to the database at some later time, probably when the certificate data were computerized.

9.  Broderbund.  World Family Trees.  Vol. 12, Pedigree No. 2336.  Gives Lorenzo's father as William THOMPSON.  Says Lorenzo was born in Hopkins Co. and that Nancy "Oats" was said to be of French descent.

As unusal as the name "Lorenzo Dow THOMPSON" would seem to be, there are numerous, apparently unrelated southern Thompson males named "Lorenzo Dow."  The reason for the rather widespread use of the name appears to be that one Lorenzo Dow THOMPSON whipped Abraham Lincoln in two straight falls in a wrestling match on 22 Apr 1832 in Beardstown, IL.  However, there must be more to it than this because our above Lorenzo Dow and others were given that name well before the famous wrestling match, with it's symbolic overtones for southern sympathizers.  So, we are left still wondering where this name came from and why it appears in families that do not seem to be related.