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divide the profit equally between his brothers, Alexander,
Samuel and Andrew and his sisters Rosanna, Elizabeth and
Isabella.
William followed his father’s will to the letter but the
future did not unfold, perhaps, as his father had envisioned.
William became the family glue providing a home for life to
Isabella and Rosanna, both of whom remained single.
William, also unmarried, eventually took in the widowed wife
and four minor children of his brother Andrew.
A
NDREW
T
HOMSON
,
M.D.,
1799
-
1842
Dr. Andrew remains a mystery man as historically
inscrutable as the parentage of his wife, Jane Eliza McLean.
Americans were on the move. Americans had always
been on the move but after 1820 western territories seemed
to be sending siren calls. The pull of the west, cheap land,
the expansion of roads and canals, the removal of Indians—
all combined to make the grass seem greener on the other
side of the Ohio. Eventually Jane and Andrew succumbed
and with four very small children traveled to northwestern
Illinois.
In Illinois Andrew continued to practice medicine,
chiefly in Macomb. He was also buying land in public