BIO: Willis L. Thorpe, Wyoming Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, PA & NY

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Chaffee, Amasa Franklin. History of the Wyoming 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904, pages 413-414.
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  Thorpe, Willis Loomis, was born on January 20, 1838, in the town of 
Sheffield, Berkshire County, Mass., and in the vicinity of his parent's 
birthplace. In April, 1846, his parents moved to a farm near Otego, 
Otsego County, N.Y. His father, though regular in attendance upon 
church services, and insistent that his children should be religiously 
trained, did not make a profession of religion until his fiftieth 
birthday. His mother's people were Episcopalians, but she united with 
the Congregational Church in her youth. After removing to Otego she was 
one of nine who constituted the first class organized in the village of 
Otego.
  In January, 1856, he joined the church at Otego. From this time until 
1862 he was in school, preparing for the ministry. He spent one term at 
Cazenovia Seminary, and thereafter was at the Delaware Literary 
Institute, in Franklin, N.Y. During this period he taught school 
winters, thus furnishing himself with funds to defray expenses.
  He received his first exhorter's license from Rev. A. E. Daniels, 
October 31, 1858, and local preacher's license February 18, 1860.
  In 1862 he united with the Oneida Conference, and became a member of 
this Conference when some Oneida territory was absorbed. He spent one 
year and a half in Iowa, but returned to this Conference, preferring 
the East.
  In the summer of 1862 he married Miss Hattie E. Coe, of Sidney, N.Y., 
who died in the winter of 1868. On May 31, 1870, he married Miss Emma 
Bresee, of Morris, Otsego County, N.Y. Two sons have been born to them 
- one is a practicing physician in Clyde, N.Y.; the other is in school 
now.
  His pastoral record is as follows: 1862, Worcester; 1863-64, 
Starkville; 1865-67, Morris; 1868-70, Cooperstown; 1871, located; Upper 
Iowa Conference, 1872, Hampton; Wyoming Conference, 1873, Unadilla; 
1874-76, Montrose; 1877-79, Hyde Park, Scranton; 1880, Providence, 
Scranton; 1881-84, Presiding Elder of Chenango District; 1885-87, 
Honesdale; 1888, High Street, Binghamton; 1889-91, Waverly, N.Y.; 1892, 
Pittston; 1895-98, Presiding Elder of Honesdale District; 1899-1901, 
Plymouth, Pa.; 1902-03, Newark Valley.