Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Thorne, John R. 1873 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 19, 2009, 5:33 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  John R. Thorne, secretary of the Patrons' Fire and Tornado Association,
Olathe, Kan., is a veteran of the Spanish-American war and former county
attorney of Johnson county. He was born at Gardner, Kan., December 17, 1873, and
is a son of George A. and Emma (Fulcher) Thorne, the former a native of New
Hampshire and the latter of Ohio. George A. Thorne was a son of Rufus Thorne,
and when a boy came west with his parents who located at Detroit, Mich., for a
time and later removed to Monmouth, Ill. The family resided there for a time and
Rufus Thorne served as postmaster of that place. He was a veteran of the Mexican
war. In 1857 the Thorne family came to Kansas, locating near where Gardner now
stands and Rufus Thorne and his son, George A., both took up homesteads. They
drove the entire distance from, Monmouth, Illinois, to Johnson county with an ox
team and prairie schooner and were among the very first settlers of Johnson
county. Even ox teams were scarce in those days, and for a number of years in
the early days they broke prairie for the settlers and were also engaged in
freighting across the plains. George A. Thorne made four trips, one to Salt Lake
City, one to Ft. Laramie, Wyo., and two to Santa Fe. N. M. When the Civil war
broke out, he enlisted at Paola in August, 1862, in Company I, Twelfth regiment,
Kansas infantry, and served three years, being mustered out in August, 1865. At
the close of the war he returned to Johnson county and was engaged in
farming-near Gardner, with the exception of the last few years of his life which
he spent in retirement. He died October 1, 1912, aged seventy-six years. His
wife died in June, 1895, aged forty-six. They were the parents of seven
children, as follows: Alice M. married T. B. Ott, Gardner, Kan.; Eva F. married
W. A. Jarboe, Olathe, Kan.; John R., the subject of this sketch; George A., Jr.,
married Edna Armstrong, resides at Howard, Colo.; Edgar F. married Ella Gary and
resides at Smuggler, Colo.; Charles F. married Lydia Upchurch and resides at
Silverton, Ore., and Bert W. married Nellie J. Atwood and resides at Smuggler,
Colo.  John A. [sic] Thorne was educated in the district schools of Gardner
township and the Gardner High School. In 1894 he engaged in teaching in Johnson
county and followed that occupation until the breaking out of the
Spanish-American war, when he enlisted at Paola, Kan., June 14, 1898, in Company
I, Twentieth Kansas regiment, and served with that famous Funston regiment from
Kansas, throughout the entire campaign in the Philippine Islands. They first
went directly to San Francisco where they remained in camp until October, when
they embarked on the U. S. transport "Indiana," bound for the Philippines. Mr.
Thorne was with his regiment in every engagement in which they participated as
follows: Philippine insurrection, February 4, 5 and 6; Caloocan, February 10;
defense of Caloocan, February 11 to March 24; battle of Tullojan River, March
25; Polo, March 25; Malinta, March 25; Marilao, March 27; outpost skirmishes,
March 28; Battle of Bocava, March 29; Guiguinto, March 29; advance on Malolas,
March 30 and 31; defense of Malolas, April 1 to 24; battle of Bagbag River,
April 25; Rio Grande, April 26 and 27; Santo Tomas, May 4; defense of San
Fernando, May 6 to June1 25; batttle of Bocolor, May 24; engagement north of San
Fernando, June 16; reconnoisance of Santo Rita, May 25; Bulacan April 1, and
Paranique, August 2. Mr. Thorne was discharged October 24, 1899, at San
Francisco, Calif., and returned to Johnson county. In the fall of 1900 he was
elected clerk of the district court and reelected to that office in 1902,
serving four years. During that time he also read law in the Kansas City Law
School for two years and at the expiration of his term of office entered Kansas
University at Lawrence and was graduated in the class of 1906, with the degree
of Bachelor of Laws. He was then admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice
of his profession at Olathe. In the fall of 1906, he was elected county attorney
of Johnson county, serving one term. He then followed the practice of his
profession until 1914 when he became secretary of the Patrons' Fire and Tornado
Association and has since served in that capacity. Mr. Thorne was married June
4, 1901, to Miss Ada, daughter of S. J. Chamberlain, of Gardner, Kan. She was
born near Spring Hill, her parents having settled in that part of the county in
the early seventies. To Mr. and Mrs. Thorne has been born one child, Robert
Lane. Mr. Thorne is a member of the Masonic lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, No. 19, Olathe, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Olathe
Grange. Both he and Mrs. Thorne are members of the Order of the Eeastern Star
and the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. Thorne has been an elder for the past
ten years.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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