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- The Belle of Bonhamtown
He had wondered how she would act when they would meet again. She was 10 when he left; when they met the next time in the Guest house, she was 14, & the real belle of Bonhamtown. She never told me she was pretty, but she was. Mrs. Cornelia Dunham, who was an associate, & I suspect an ambitious rival, informed me in after years that Molly was beautiful at 14 for many years thereafter. She was charming at 60. Lewis knew she was fair to look upon & found her as faithful as she was fair. He was very much ashamed of it, & could not account for it, but it was impossible to refrain from indulging in a flood of tears when they met; & she cried too. He could say but one word & that was, PEACE. That one short word spoke volumes about the stormy past, the delicious present, & the time to come. Lewis & Molly had been warm friends at school, at picnics & other places before the war, & now they were ardent lovers.
In 1794, Lewis went as a New Jersey militiaman to help quell the "Whiskey Riot" at Pittsburg. The expedition was successful & he soon returned, glad as ever to see Bonhamtown & Molly. He & Molly Compton were married in the Thomas Guest house, in Bonhamtown, January 25th, 1797. The gallant 14 year old lad became my grandfather, & Molly Compton was finally my excellent grandmother.
Dr. D.H. Thickstun has hung up in a safe place in his office in Plainfield, the musket which was surrendered by the Scotch Sergeant to his brave great-grandfather.
These reminiscences, & many more "of ye olden times," I have heard substantially, as here stated, from the lips of my grandmother, the once "Pretty Molly Compton."
Ref: By Carrie St. John's grandfather Lewis William Thickstun. - - -
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1765 - 1819 (54 years)