THORNHILL, C. P., Caldwell Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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C. P. Thornhill, of Columbia, La., a lawyer by profession, was born in  
Caldwell Parish, La., June 13, 1857.  He was the youngest in a family 
of six children, born to John and Matilda (Blackburn) Thornhill, both 
of whom were natives of the state of Mississippi, where they grew to
maturity, received their early education and were married.  They 
removed from Mississippi to Louisiana, in 1841, locating in Winn
Parish, where the father engaged in farming for two years, removing at
the end of that time to Caldwell parish, where they still reside.
Mr. Thornhill has never aspired to any official position, but has been 
content to remain a plain, practical and highly successful planter.
Mrs. Thornhill is a member of the Baptist church, and they are highly 
esteemed by all who know them as honorable, high -minded people and
helpful neighbors.  The subject of this sketch received his early
education in the common schools of Caldwell parish.  He began the study
of law in the year 1881, being at that time deputy clerk of the 
district court, in which capacity he served for four years.  He was 
admitted to the bar in 1884 and began the practice of his profession 
the same year at Columbia, La., where he has remained until the present 
time, and has succeeded in building up a fair practice.  In May, 1884, 
he was appointed by Governor McEnery, of Louisiana, as a member of the 
police jury of Caldwell Parish, and was elected by that board as its 
president, in which capacity he served for four years.  He was also the
mayor of the city of Columbia, but resigned this position in a short  
time, as his duties as an attorney were too pressing to admit of his 
time being divided.  Mr. Thornhill is acknowledged by his legal 
brethren at the bar, as a man of much ability.  He is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias.  He was married in 1889 to Miss Eva Bridger, a 
daughter of George W. and Fanny (Wooton) Bridger, of Caldwell Parish.  
One child, a son, has blessed this union, John B., born July 21, 1890. 
Mrs. Thornhill is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the 
subject, though not a member of any church, is a liberal contributor to 
all liberal denominations, as well as to schools and all other laudable 
public enterprises. In 1887 he purchased as an investment, sixty-nine 
acres of land situated in a fashionable neighborhood, near Colombia, 
La., which is well supplied with an abundance of as pure water as ever 
came out of the earth, and upon which he has established a comfortable 
and convenient home, and is rapidly drawing around him all those rural 
comforts for which he acquired a taste in the days of his boyhood upon 
his father's farm.  This plantation is located three miles out from 
Columbia, and Mr. Thornhill and family reside there during the summer. 
He and his wife move in the very highest circles of society, and are 
most warmly esteemed by all who come in contact with them.  Mr. 
Thornhill is of a decidedly literary turn of mind.  He has contributed 
to several different periodicals and has written several articles for 
the American Publishers' association of Chicago, a fact which speaks 
we'll for his attainments in the field of literature. 

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 422.
Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.