William Thornton (immigrant)

William Thornton (1620 - 1708) was a prominent planter and Colonist in 17th century Virginia. He was one of approximately thirty early Virginia colonists to progenerate descendants that through intermarriage would establish themselves as a political and social ‘aristocracy’ in America. Among his most notable descendants are U.S. Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor.

Life

William Thornton arrived in Virginia before 1646.[1] Historical accounts and family tradition indicate he was from Yorkshire and descendants from the 17th century onward bore the arms of a powerful Yorkshire Thornton family that intermarried with other powerful landholding families of Aldborough, Bulmer, Foljambe, Plumpton, Norton, Reresby, Savage, Scrope, Stanley, Stapleton and Westby.[2] Thornton settled in Petsworth Parish of Gloucester County, Virginia and quickly pursued in the acquisition of land. The first recorded document he appears on in Virginia was in May 11, 1646, when he was recorded in York county court to ‘oblige himself’ to care for the cattle of John Liptrot until the Liptrot came of age.[3][4] Thornton appeared some twenty years later on February 16, 1666 in Gloucester County court records having patented 164 acres within Petsworth Parish “adjoining the land where he lived, and that of Mr. Richard Barnard." [5] In September 1673, he appointed James Kay to oversee 2,000 acres of land in Richmond County, Virginia.[6] On July 16, 1675 he gave his sons Francis and Rowland Thornton his 2,000 acres of land he acquired in Richmond County.[7] He served on the vestry of Petsworth Parish from 1677 to 1700.[8] Thornton was last recorded in Stafford County, Virginia in 1708 where his son Francis had removed to sometime before 1700.

Family

He married at least once to Elizabeth, whose surname is believed to be Rowland by some genealogists. He is known to be definitively the father of at least three sons William (1649–1727), Francis (1651–1726) and Rowland (? – 1701). His son William was the father of 16 known children and his son Francis was the father of 7 known children many of whom have descendants.[9]

Historical Places and Estates

The following historic places are communities, estates, houses directly associated with Thornton descendants.

Ash Lawn–Highland, Avery Island, Louisiana, Belle Grove (Port Conway, Virginia), Bellair (Stafford County, Virginia), Ben Lomond Manor (Manassas, Virginia), Blandair, Blenheim (Albemarle, Virginia), Camden (Port Royal, Virginia), Castle Hill (Virginia), Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Churchill Downs, Dodona Manor, Dr. Richard Thornton House, Fall Hill, Farley (Culpeper County, Virginia), Flagler Museum, Fredericksburg, Virginia, General George Patton Museum of Leadership, General George S. Patton Memorial Museum, Gloucester County, Virginia, Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia), Locust Hill (Albemarle County, Virginia), Montpelier (Orange, Virginia), Montpelier (Sperryville, Virginia), Nanzatico (King George, Virginia), Northumberland House (Virginia), Norwood (Powhatan County), Orange, California, Oaken Brow (King George, Virginia), Ormsby (Caroline County, Virginia), Ravenwood (Blackstone, Virginia), Rippon Lodge, Rolling Hill (Charlotte County, Virginia), Rokeby (King George, Virginia), Smith Tower, St. Julien (Spotsylvania County, Virginia), Thornhill (Forkland, Alabama), Thornton Gap, University of Virginia, Woodlawn (King George, Virginia).

Notable Descendants of William Thornton

The following list is some of the more notable descendants of William Thornton. It is likely that there are a number more.

  1. Meriwether Lewis Anderson
  2. Howard Randolph Bayne
  3. Kate Betts
  4. Julien Binford
  5. Theodorick Bland (judge)
  6. Charles Armistead Blanton
  7. William Wallace Smith Bliss
  8. John A. Bridgland
  9. Francis T. Brooke
  10. Robert Brooke (Virginia)
  11. Aline B. Carter
  12. Lucian Howard Cocke
  13. Holmes Conrad
  14. William Clark
  15. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Sr.
  16. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr.
  17. George Fitzhugh
  18. Thomas Marsh Forman
  19. Thomas Walker Gilmer
  20. Presley T. Glass
  21. Andrew Glassell
  22. Susan Thornton Glassell
  23. William T. Glassell
  24. Albert Taylor Goodwyn
  25. George Hancock (Virginia)
  26. Lawrence W. I'Anson
  27. Charles Frederick Goodwyn Kuyk, Jr.
  28. Meriwether Lewis
  29. John Tayloe Lomax
  30. James Madison
  31. George C. Marshall
  32. Bijie Martin
  33. Riccardo Martin
  34. Bijie Martin
  35. John Avery McIlhenny
  36. Walter Stauffer McIlhenny
  37. John A. McSparran
  38. J. Collins McSparran
  39. Julian R. Meade
  40. George S. Patton
  41. George Patton IV
  42. Gabriel Slaughter
  43. Adlai Stevenson II
  44. Adlai Stevenson III
  45. Letitia Green Stevenson
  46. Lewis G. Stevenson
  47. David Hunter Strother
  48. Edith Taliaferro
  49. Lawrence Taliaferro
  50. Mabel Taliaferro
  51. John Taliaferro
  52. Walter R. Taliaferro
  53. Joseph Hancock Taylor
  54. Joseph Pannell Taylor
  55. Richard Taylor (general)
  56. Sarah Knox Taylor
  57. Zachary Taylor
  58. John T. Thompson
  59. Gen. Sir Charles Wade Thornton
  60. George Thornton (American)
  61. James Innes Thornton
  62. Peter Presley Thornton
  63. Presley Thornton
  64. William Thornton
  65. William Mynn Thornton
  66. William Taylor Thornton
  67. George Troup
  68. Thomas Walker (explorer)
  69. Meriwether Lewis Walker
  70. Benjamin Franklin Washington
  71. John Thornton Augustine Washington
  72. Lawrence Berry Washington
  73. Thornton Washington
  74. Jere M. H. Willis, Jr.
  75. Charles Carroll Wood
  76. Herschel Taylor Wood
  77. John Taylor Wood
  78. John Taylor Wood II
  79. Stuart Taylor Wood
  80. Zachary Taylor Wood

References

  1. ↑ Stanard, W. G. (1982). The Thornton Family: Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: William and Mary College/Genealogical Publishing Co. pp. 20–24.
  2. ↑ Crozier, William Armstrong (1908). Virginia heraldica: being a registry of Virginia gentry entitled to coat armor, with genealogical notes of the families. New York, NY: The Genealogical Association. p. 99.
  3. ↑ Stanard, W. G. (1982). The Thornton Family: Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: William and Mary College/Genealogical Publishing Co. pp. 20–24.
  4. ↑ Crozier, William Armstrong, Howard Randolph Bayne (1907). The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby. New York, NY: Genealogical Association. p. 280.
  5. ↑ Stanard, W. G. (1982). The Thornton Family: Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: William and Mary College/Genealogical Publishing Co. pp. 20–24.
  6. ↑ Stanard, W. G. (1982). The Thornton Family: Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: William and Mary College/Genealogical Publishing Co. pp. 20–24.
  7. ↑ Stanard, W. G. (1982). The Thornton Family: Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: William and Mary College/Genealogical Publishing Co. pp. 20–24.
  8. ↑ Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson (2009). The Vestry Book of Petsworth Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1677-1793. New York, NY: Genealogical Publishing Com.
  9. ↑ Crozier, William Armstrong, Howard Randolph Bayne (1907). The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby. New York, NY: Genealogical Association. p. 280.