THORNTON BIOGRAPHIES, Henry County, Missouri ==================================================================== THORNTON, John Fitzhugh - b: 1826 Oldham Co, KY source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 599 residence: Windsor Twp John Fitzhugh Thornton was born in Oldham County, Kentucky, July 8, 1826, his parents being Fitzhugh Thornton and Caroline Matilda, nee Fitzhugh, both Virginians by birth. His paternal ancestry was from Wales and the two families came over and first met at Plymouth Rock, and settled in Virginia. They have inter-married and have been identified together ever since. John's father came to Missouri and settled in Henry County in 1840 and bought the Arbuckle farm, where he lived and prospered until December, 1861, when he died. Mrs. T. died in 1863. Young Thornton was the youngest of a family of thirteen children. He grew up to manhood and for a time resided on the old homestead. After selling that farm he bought his present place, on section 8, of 242 acres of improved land. He is unmarried, and the only member of the large family living. His sister,. Sarah Ann, married James Todd, of Kentucky, and died in 1846, leaving two children, Eliza Jane and Catharine; their mother died in 1873. Eliza Jane died in 1871. Catharine married James Wyatt Taylor, and they are now living with Mr. Thornton. They have two children, Anna and Lida. Anna married William Harris. In 1852 Mr. T. went to California, and remained for two years occupied in farming. By his own exertion and economy he has added to the estate left him and is now among the prosperous and independent farmers of the county. He has many friends in this community. ==================================================================== THORNTON, T. T. - b: 1846 Henry Co, MO source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 708 residence: Big Creek Twp Dr. T. T. Thornton was born October 18, 1846, in Henry County, Missouri, and was the son of W. B. Thornton, a native of Kentucky, who was married to Augusta Toliver, also a Kentuckian by birth. About the year 1846 the family removed to Missouri, and located in Henry County at Calhoun, where W. B. Thornton carried on his trade, that of a saddler, until his death in 1850. After his father's death T. T. Thornton returned to Oldham County, Kentucky, and there grew to manhood, spending his youth on a farm. His education was acquired principally through his own efforts. At about the age of eighteen years he commenced the study of medicine under the tutorship of Dr. H. G. Duerson, one of the prominent physicians of Oldham County, and later attended lectures at the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville. After completing his studies at this college the doctor commenced the practice of his profession at Shady, Crittenden County, Kentucky, where he remained four years. In 1872 he located at Huntingdale, Henry County, Missouri, and continued practicing, in partnership with Dr. E. C. Royston, for two years. In 1874 he came to Norris, and here has built up a fine practice. Dr. Thornton was married in Huntingdale in October, 1873, to Miss Sallie Lewis, a daughter of Robert Lewis. She was born in St. Louis County, but was reared and educated in Cass County. Dr. and Mrs. Thornton have a family of five children, Lucy A., Alice, Emma L., Genevieve and Samuel L. The doctor is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. His wife belongs to the Missionary Baptist Church. ==================================================================== THORNTON, William - b: 1806 VA source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 544 residence: Clinton Twp Dr. William Thornton. The subject of this sketch was born on the first day of May, 1806, in the northeastern part of the state of Virginia. His family were among the earliest settlers in Virginia. The dwelling upon the family homestead was built from bricks that were brought from England by his grandfather. It was to this same house that Stonewall Jackson was conveyed after receiving his mortal wound on the field of Chancellorsville; there it was where this great leader closed his earthly career. When the thirteen colonies proclaimed their independence of the mother country, Charles Thornton, the father of William T. Thornton, joined the Army of the Revolution, and became a captain. In the year 1811, Captain Charles Thornton removed from Virginia to Oldham County, Kentucky, taking with him his family. At the time of his settlement there Kentucky was a wilderness and infested with Indians, who were so bad that the settlers were obliged to build block houses and keep guards constantly posted, in order to protect themselves, and their property. It was here, amid the wilds of Kentucky, that William T. Thornton was reared. When becoming of sufficient age, he went to Cincinnati to be educated, where he graduated in the profession of medicine, about the year 1831. Shortly afterward Dr. Thornton removed to Jacksonville, Illinois, and there began the practice of his profession. When he had succeeded there in establishing himself in his profession, he returned to Louisville, Kentucky, to marry Caroline V. Taylor, a daughter of Major William Taylor, of the Continental Army. She bore him seven children, three of whom died in early childhood, the other four are still living. The eldest, Paul V. Thornton, is the president of the Thornton Banking Company of Nevada, Missouri, and is now residing in Austin, Texas. The second son, William T. Thornton, is a practicing lawyer in Santa Fe, in the territory of New Mexico. The youngest son, James T. Thornton, and his daughter, Carrie V. Stone, and her husband, reside near Waco, Texas, engaged in stock raising. In the year 1839 Dr. Thornton, in company with his eldest brother, Fitz Hugh Thornton, removed from Jacksonville, Illinois, to the state of Missouri, and settled at what is now known as Thornton's Ferry, on Grand River, in Henry County. There he remained a few years, when he removed to Calhoun, in which place he continued in the practice of his profession, until about the year 1846, when he gave up the practice and purchased a large farm on the Tebo; the same farm that is now owned by Dr. Barbour. There he continued to live until the close of the year 1865, devoting his time to agriculture and to the breeding of stock, in which pursuits he took great delight, amassing, by his industry and systematic labor, a very comfortable fortune; being in fact, at the beginning of the war, one of the largest land and slave owners in Western Missouri. His stock was prized throughout his whole region. He particularly interested himself in the raising of horses and cattle, and in breeding fine stock. It was one of his delights to aid and to contribute to the displays that were made at the agricultural and mechanical fairs of central Missouri, visiting annually the fairs held at Brownville, Georgetown, Warrensburg, Cold Camp, Clinton, Harrisonville, and other points, and always taking pleasure in contending for the premiums offered by those associations. As a physician, William T. Thornton ranked among the best of the state, and long after he quit the practice, was consulted by the leading physicians in important cases occurring in the vicinity in which he lived. He was a prominent member of the M. E. Church, South, and took great interest in the prosperity and success of this denomination. In politics he was a Whig, but never at any time aspired to any office, or sought political preferment. Dr. Thornton was three times married. His second wife, Miss Elizabeth Fewell, lived but a few years after her marriage. His third wife, Mrs. Maria Atkinson, formerly a Miss Williams, who was a daughter of General Samuel Williams, of the war of 1812, and is a sister of John S. Williams, better known as Cerragoda Williams, and who at present represents Kentucky in the United States Senate. She now resides at Clinton, in Henry County, the place which Dr. Thornton made his home after the war. Like most of the large slave owners, Dr. Thornton suffered greatly by the war. Not only was his estate wasted, his stock stolen, and his home made desolate, but throughout the greater portion of those sad four years he was a refugee. When the war closed there was little that was left to him about his old home. His staves were liberated, most of his horses and cattle had been seized by the marauders belonging to the armies of the contending sections. The surplus money which he had gradually accumulated through his years of toil, had been expended in maintaining himself and family through the years of strife, but still at its close he was enabled, by the sale of his real estate and of what personal property that was left to him, to realize enough to enable him to live comfortable during the remainder of his life, and to give to his children a good start in business. On the 27th day of December, 1874, Dr. Thornton departed this life, at his residence in Clinton, in the sixty-ninth year of his age beloved by his children and relatives and regretted by his friends. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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