Career
Thompson married Olive Leonard on March 18, 1802. Their daughter Florantha married missionary Granville Sproat and, after spending time teaching at Louisiana Pointe, Wisconsin, moved to California during the gold rush. Florantha and Granville"s daughter Elvira (Cephas Thompson"s granddaughter) married James Hutchings, the early promoter of Yosemite.
Although Thompson lived most of his life in Middleborough, he produced portraits throughout New England and from 1800-1825 also made annual trips to the south during the winter months to paint in Alexandria, Baltimore, New Orleans, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and the Carolinas and Georgia.
When about fifty years of age, he settled permanently in his home in Middleborough. Among his portraits were those of John Marshall, Stephen Decatur, David Ramsay of South Carolina, John Howard Payne, Elizabeth Wirt, and George Washington Parke Custis, who was his pupil.
The largest collection of his work is in the Boston Athenæum.