The following article on the ancestry and descendants of Eli Tompkins, Mary Jane Godsey, and Elizabeth Wilborn was originally written for the Laurel county mailing list.
The article is in 3 parts:

Part 1: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Earran6/cgen/tompkins_laurel.htm
An overview of the current research, including my own and the research of Gail and Mel Tompkins and Lynn Krowczyk, which has been very helpful in writing this article.
Part 1 is in 3 sections:
* Eli’s parents
* Martha Beatty, Elizabeth Wilborn, and Sarah
* Mary Jane Godsey

Part 2: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Earran6/cgen/tompkins_genealogy.htm
A genealogy report generated by Family Tree Makers software, showing 2 generations of descendants of Eli, Mary Jane, and Elizabeth. Whenever I refer in Part 1 to “the data notes below,” these are always to be found in Part 2, the data portion of the article.

Part 3: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Earran6/cgen/tompkins_kentucky.htm
A transcription of the article “Traces of Laurel: Tompkins of Laurel Co.” from the Sentinel Echo Sept. 1987. It was prepared by Geneva Pope of the Laurel County Historical Society for a descendant of Eli, Doris Robertson of Indiana. Footnotes have now been added to the original article to answer some of the questions the article poses and expand on some of its details.


1850 Census:
Laurel Co. Kentucky, Sept 3, 1850
Eli Tompkins 47 m farmer tn
B. H. " 18 m ky
C. S. " 14 m ky
George Chestnut 24 m farmer $400 ky
Mahala " 18 f tn
(It looks like the Chestnuts are enumerated in the same household as Eli. However, the household before Eli is 364, and the next is 367, so this may have been an error, perhaps the Chestnuts are in separate household. Yet Chestnut's property is given the value of $400, and no such note is made for Eli, so perhaps they were living on the Chestnut farm)

1860 Census:
Laurel Co. Kentucky, July 19, 1860
Eli Tompkins 57 m w farmer va
Mary Jane " 32 f w va
Pheby " 15 f w va
William J. " 12 m w va
Emley M. " 8 f w va
Elias B. " 7 m w va
Ammon G. " 5 m w va
George W. " 2 m w va
Stephen L. " 1 m w va


1870 Census
Rock House PO, London, Laurel Co. Kentucky, August 1, 1870
Tompkins, Eli 67 m w farmer ky
Mary J. 43 f w keeping house ky
Elias B. 15 m w ky
Ammon 13 m w ky
George W. 15 m w ky
Stephen 11 m w ky
Sarah R. 9 f w ky
Daniel 7 m w ky
Rosey E. 5 f w ky
Malisie 3 f w ky
David R. 1 m w ky
(Rosey E. is actually Reece E. b. 1865)
Next household:
Tompkins, Mary 40 f w ky keeping house
Andrew 20 m w ky farmer
Charles 15 m w ky
Malinda 5 f w ky

Note: My great-grandmother Eliza Emma Tompkins, daughter of Reece Tompkins and Martha Jones, granddaughter of Mary Jane and Eli, called her grandparents in a letter:
"Eli Bony Tompkins" and "Jane Godsey."
This suggests that Eli's middle name may have been Bonaparte. Another hint at that is the fact that Eli Bony (son of Reece and Martha) was also sometimes referred to as Bonaparte. Eli's son Elias B. most likely had the middle name of Bonaparte, see more discussion of this name under notes for Elias.

KY land grants:
Grantee: Tompkins, Eli
Acres: 50
Book: Z
Survey Date: 12-15-1829
County: Laurel
WaterCourse: Little Laurel R
Reference: THE KENTUCKY LAND GRANTS
Volume 1
Part 1
CHAPTER VI KENTUCKY LAND WARRANTS (1816-1873)
THE COUNTIES OF KENTUCKY
page 748

• Married: ABT 1820
• Note:

  Transcription of divorce papers:
  To the Honorable the Judge of the Laurel Circuit Court, in Chancery sitting, your petition in Eli Thompkins humbly complaining, would respectively show unto your honor that some 20 years since he married his wife, Elizabeth and **** as a family *** life tolerably well for some time but at last by degrees a fire began to rise in the breast of my wife till it has grown to such an extent, that it cannot be put out with management and good treatment or with water. She seemed to be everything but a wife and everything but a prudent woman. I have a large family of gals and boys and I am willing to take them and work for them and do all that is in my power if I could get them out of her company. She is no wife to me nor has she been for 4 or 5 years, she is loose in her habits and plays too much with other men. With her there is no confidence in her virtue or chastity. Adultery seems to be her pleasure, therefore your petition in **** in Justice and mercy on your honor to set aside the marriage contract to divorce me and dissolve the union between us and in mercy ever will pray a he is in duty bound and prays that said Elizabeth Thompkins may be made a *** to this bill.

1. Nancy W. Tompkins b: 30 NOV 1827 in Virginia
2. Mary Jane Tompkins b: ABT 1828 in Virginia
3. Benjamin H. Tompkins b: ABT 1832 in Virginia
4. Malinda Elizabeth Tompkins b: MAY 1834 in Kentucky
5. Charles Storm Tompkins b: 2 AUG 1836 in Kentucky
6. Burnetta W. Tompkins b: FEB 1841 in Kentucky
7. William Andrew Tompkins b: 25 DEC 1849 in Laurel Co. Kentucky

• Married: 1851 in Laurel Co. Kentucky

1. Pheby Dinah Godsey b: 28 APR 1845 in Virginia
2. Emley M. Tompkins b: ABT 1852 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
3. Elias Bonaparte Tompkins b: 12 FEB 1853 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
4. Ammon G. Tompkins b: 8 MAR 1855 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
5. George W. Tompkins b: 24 FEB 1857 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
6. Stephen E. Tompkins b: 13 JAN 1859 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
7. Sarah R. Tompkins b: ABT 1855 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
8. Daniel Huseton Tompkins b: 2 FEB 1863 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
9. Reece Ellis Tompkins b: 5 AUG 1865 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
10. Melissa Charity Tompkins b: ABT 1867 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
11. David R. Tompkins b: ABT 1869 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
12. Eliza C. Tompkins b: 30 MAR 1870 in Laurel Co. Kentucky
13. Jarvis Jackson Tompkins b: 23 AUG 1871 in Laurel Co. Kentucky