Zillah Townsend Thompson

b. December 1897

Zillah Townsend Thompson
  • Zillah Townsend Thompson was born in December 1897 in New York.
  • George J. Thompson and Harriett Frances Tracy appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Oyster Bay Township, Nassau County, New York, on the road from Oyster Bay Cove to Oyster Bay.. Other members of the household included Zillah Townsend Thompson, George Alanson Tracy Thompson.
  • George J. Thompson and Harriett Frances Tracy appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Manhattan, New York, at 162 East 61st Street. Other members of the household included Zillah Townsend Thompson, George Alanson Tracy Thompson.
  • The following appeared on 9 September 1916 in the New York Herald: Among the debutantes of the coming season will be Miss Zillah Townsend Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Thompson, of No. 162 East Sixty-first street and Oyster Bay.
  • The following appeared on 22 February 1918 in the New York Herald: Miss Zillah T. Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Thompson, No. 162 East Sixty-first street, has begun an action in the Supreme Court demanding $50,000 from the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and alleging that she was crippled, probably permanently, because of the overcrowded condition of a Third avenue elevated train.
         The case is attracting much attention because it may determine the right of the company to pack so many passengers into its cars and because of the social prominence of the Thompson family. Miss Thompson was a debutante of last season. She is a daughter of Mrs. Harriet Tracey Thompson and her brother, George A. T. Thompson, is a junior at Columbia University.
         Miss Thompson and her mother and brother started in an automobile from their home the morning of December 15 last to go to the New Jersey Central ferry at Liberty street. They were to have spent several days at Lakewood. Their automobile became stalled in the snow and the party boarded a Third avenue elevated train at Fifty-ninth street as the most convenient way to reach the ferry.
         They were clinging to straps in the middle of the car, when, at Forty-second street, such an avalanche of persons poured in from both ends that Miss Thompson was caught by their swirl and twisted around so that her knee was broken, the kneecap dislocated and many ligaments were torn.
         Miss Thompson fainted, but the crowd was so closely packed that she could not fall to the ground, but was supported in her brother's arms. He started toward the door with her, but was unable to reach it till they arrived at Twenty-third street. An ambulance surgeon gave Miss Thompson first aid and she was removed to her home. She is still ill from the physical and nervous shock, it was said at her home, and cannot now any [sic] may never walk without crutches.
         Papers in the action to recover $50,000 damages were filed a few days ago and will be assigned for hearing to some part of the Supreme Court soon. Mrs. Thompson appears as guardian for her daughter, who is only about nineteen years old. H. L. T. Beekman, of No. 120 Broadway, is counsel for the Thompsons. Henry Quackenbush represents the railroad.
         The papers call the railroad grossly negligent in permitting such an overcrowded condition of its cars.
  • George J. Thompson and Harriett Frances Tracy appeared in the US federal census of 1 January 1920 in Manhattan, New York. Other members of the household included Zillah Townsend Thompson, George Alanson Tracy Thompson. Son George is enumerated in the household twice -- as George Thompson, age 19, and as Alanson Thompson, age 16.
  • The following appeared on 28 February 1930 in The Putnam County Courier: George Thompson, 62 years old, died Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1930, at his residence, 162 East Sixty-first Street, New York city, of an infection suffered only a few days before which developed into blood-poisoning.
         At his becside were his wife, Mrs. Harriet Tracy Thompson; his daughter, Mrs. Adolph H. Wenzell, the former Miss Zillah T. Thompson, and his son, George Alanson Tracy Thompson.
         Mr. Thompson was an Englishman and was born in Liverpool. He was well known for his intense interest in sports, principally hunting and fishing. He was a member of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club at Oyster Bay and a former member of the Racquet and Tennis Club, New York city.
         Funeral services were held Thursday morning at 11 a. m., and the body brought to Carmel and placed in the vault in Raymond Hill Cemetery for interment later.
  • Last Edited: 22 Dec 2011