When Sidney Burgess Thompson was born on March 12, 1837, in Williamsburg, South Carolina, his father, William Thompson, was 49 and his mother, Susannah A Goude, was 38. He married Martha Caroline Patricia Eaddy in 1867 in his hometown. They had four children during their marriage. He died on February 3, 1917, in Williamsburg, South Carolina, having lived a long life of 79 years, and was buried in Florence, South Carolina.