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loneliness or perhaps the isolation from other family
members were just too much for Jane to handle.
The baptismal log of the United Presbyterian Church
in Shippenburg recorded the baptisms of Andrew and Jane’s
four children on September 23, 1842: Margaret (b.1832),
James McLean (b.1834), Roseanna (b.1836) and Mary Isabel
(b.1839). Jane E. Thomson is identified as the mother. Dr.
Andrew Thomson is named the father and listed as deceased.
Jane McLean Thomson and her children are taken in
by William, Andrew’s brother. The children received the
same careful and somewhat privileged upbringing accorded
to all of the Thomson offspring. James McLean Thomson
(Mac) studied law with his prestigious cousin, Judge
Alexander Thomson.