William Patton Thornton

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Dr. William Patton Thornton (February 6, 1817 in Hillsboro, Ohio – October 10, 1883, in College Hill, Ohio), son of William and Martha Patton Thornton, was a prominent physician, educator, author, politician, and member of the influential Thornton family of Logansport, Indiana. Sir Henry Worth Thornton and Judge William Wheeler Thornton were his nephews[1].

Contents

[edit] Education and Career

After a brief study for the ministry (1837) at Wabash College, Indiana, William began his preparations for medicine at the Ohio College of Medicine; He graduated from Kemper’s Medical College, St. Louis, and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia[2]. After graduation, Dr. William P Thornton spent five years in Houston, Mississippi, where he began to specialize in diseases of the trachea and larynx[3].

In 1847 Dr. Thornton returned to Ohio and established a thriving practice. In the late 1850s, he spent two years in Europe, studying the latest procedures in Paris and Vienna[4]. Dr. Thornton was one the first Cincinnati doctors to undertake such a study. Upon his return, he began his long affiliation with the Cincinnati Hospital and the Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he was named chair of the Anatomy and Physiology Department[5]. Dr. Thornton published academic papers[6] on cholera[7] and laryngology.

[edit] 1877-1883

After retiring from practice in 1877, Dr. W P Thornton served as mayor of College Hill, Ohio, until his death. Joseph F Tuttle[8], President of Wabash College, delivered the sermon at Dr. Thornton’s funeral. Thornton left a sizeable portion of his estate to Wabash College to endow a professorship[9].

[edit] Family

In 1841 William Thornton married Electa Bacon in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio, near his brother[10], Dr. Joseph L. Thornton, a prominent educator and past-President of the Ohio Valley Paper Company. William was a cousin of Hon. Samuel W. Thornton, a member of the Nebraska Legislature of 1886, and Judge James Johnston Thornton of Seguin, Texas.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ See Thornton genealogy: www.thorntonsoky.blogspot.com; www.sonton.info
  2. ^ Juettner, Otto. Daniel Drake and his Followers: Harvey Publishing Company, 1909 (pg. 311).
  3. ^ Appleton’s Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events. D. Appleton & Co., 1877.
  4. ^ The Lancet-clinic. Mississippi Valley Medical Association; Ohio Valley Medical Association, 1916 (pg. 243).
  5. ^ The Cincinnati Medical and Surgical News, v. 2 1861 (pg. 208-9)
  6. ^ See Footnote 3
  7. ^ The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. United States Surgeon General’s Office, G.P.O., 1875.
  8. ^ Tuttle, Joseph Farrand In Memoriam. Press of Robert Clarke & Co., 1883.
  9. ^ New York Times: Nov. 11, 1883
  10. ^ Helmke, Jaclyn. A Family History of the Simonton Family,…, 2000