From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine
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STOPPED HERE Thornton, p. 157.*-" In Mr. Stanard's article on this family it may properly be inferred from Reuben Thornton's will, son of Col. Francis Thornton, of Caroline, that Reuben Thornton's niece married Dr. Thomas Walker, and this is true, for it is well known, that Thornton Washington was son of Samuel Washington and Mildred Thornton, and this Mildred was daughter of Col. John Thornton, who died in 1777, and not the daughter of Col. Francis, of Caroline. Reuben Thornton's sister Mildred, who married Nicholas Merriwether, (see Merriwether book), married, secondly, Dr. Thomas Walker, of Albemarle. The Francis Sermes (page 60) in the Thornton article should have been Homnes. The act of Legislature, authorizing a ferry from Falmouth to Francis Thorn-ion's, opposite Falmouth, shows that he lived at the falls, opposite Falmouth, not at Fall Hill, a mile vest of Falmouth. Indeed, it is stated by a well-informed member of the Thornton family that the first Francis Thornton, of Spotsylvania, not only lived at {he falls, but died there, and that his grave may be seen there."—A. G. Grinnan, M.D., P. O. Madison Mills, Va. thoentok.—" On page sixty of wieijam amd mas? quabteklt it is said that Lucy Frances Thornton, who married Capt. John Posey, was doubtless mother of Col. Thornton A. Posey, V. S. A. This is a mistake. She was his half-sister, and her husband was his half-brother. General Thomas Posey, of the Revolution, married (1), —— Matthews, daughter of Samson Matthews, of Augusta county, and they had one child, John, whose mother died during {he Eevolution. After the Eevolution he married Mary Alexander, widow of Major Geo. Thornton, ' a zealous partisan officer.' As her mother was Imoy Thornton, she was akin to her first husband. General Posey's son by his first wife married Mrs. Thornton's daughter by her first husband after the General and Mrs. Thornton married. Col. Thornton Alexander Posey, TJ. S. A., was son. of General Thos. Posey and his second wife, Mary A. Thornton." —George Wtlson, £exin,ffton, Missouri. For pp. 157 and 60 see pp. 24 and 84, this volume. Page 56 The Merriwether boob proves the marriages of the two Merriweth-era to the Misses Thornton. Gen. Memican Hunt's copy of the Taylor chart, lost for many years, has recently been recovered from a junk shop in New Orleans, and this corresponds in {he Alice Thornton matter with the chart the writer has."—A ff. ffrinnan, M. 2?., P. 0. Madison h/hub- Va. TaoBMroiir, p. 157.*-'* In Mr. Sianard's article on this family it may properly be inferred from Eenben Thornton'a will, son of Ool. Francis Thornton, of Caroline, that Eeuteen Thornton's niece married Dr. Thomas Walker, and this is true, for it is well known, that Thornton 'Washington was son of Samuel Washington and Mildred Thornton, and this Mildred was daughter of Col. John Thornton, who died in 1777, and not the daughter of Ool. Francis, of Caroline. Beuben Thornton's sister Mildred, who married Nicholas Merriwether, (see Merriwether book), married, secondly, Dr. Thomas 'Walker, of Albemarle. The Francis Sermes (page 60) in the Thornton article should have been Homnes. The act of Legislature, authorizing a ferry from Falmouth to Francis Thorn-ion's, opposite Falmouth, shows that he lived at the falls, opposite Falmouth, not at Fall Hill, a mile vest of Falmouth. Indeed, it is stated by a well-informed member of the Thornton family that the first Francis Thornton, of Spoteylvania, not only lived at {he falls, but died there, and that his grave may be seen there."— A. 0. Grinnan, M. !>., Madison Milts, Madison County, Va. thoentok.—" On page sixty of wieijam amd mas? quabteklt it is said that Lucy Frances Thornton, who married Capt. John Posey, was doubtless mother of Col. Thornton A. Posey, V. S. A. This is a mistake. She was his half-sister, and her husband was his half-brother. General Thomas Posey, of the Revolution, married (1), —— Matthews, daughter of Samson Matthews, of Augusta county, and they had one child, John, whose mother died during {he Eevolution. After the Eevolution he married Mary Alexander, widow of Major Geo. Thornton, ' a zealous partisan officer.' As her mother was Imoy Thornton, she was akin to her first husband. General Posey's son by his first wife married Mrs. Thornton's daughter by her first husband after the General and Mrs. Thornton married. Col. Thornton Alexander Posey, TJ. S. A., was son. of General Thos. Posey and his second wife, Mary A. Thornton." —George Wtlson, £exin,ffton, Missouri. •For pp. 157 and 60 see pp. 24 and 84, this volume. 55 »
VBsa qoabtebls for July, 1896, in tea. article on "The Thornton family," by W. Q. Stanard, third from last line, "120 Martha" married. Tho. Pitzh.ugh, of Pauquier county." It should read that Martha Stuart Thornton, bom —————, married Dr. wilimm Deadnam fitzhugh, of Pauquier oounty, for his second wife. Issue: three sons and one daughter. 121 Maria married Dr. Chiu-lea Stuart, of Prince William county, her first cousin. He •was the son of Philip Stuart, brother to Martha Stuart, who was the daughter of John Stuart. Martha Stuart Thornton was my grandmother, with whom I lived some years. She died December 19,1861. Dr. William D. fitzhugh was a very dexterous surgeon in his day. Dr. Charles Stuart practiced medicine for many years in Prince William county, and died about 1883."—J7'., Amesbury, Mass. « PosET.—See pages 60, 14:1. Bev. Dr. Douglas T. Porreat, of Clarksburg, W. Va., sends the following note which gives an intermarriage of Captain John Posey: " William Harrison, of Stafford and Westmoreland counties, married Sarah Hawley and had issue: Sarah, William, Alexander, George, and Sybil; of these George Harrison married Martha Price. She married secondly, Captain John Posey, son of Major-General Thomas Posey, afterwards Governor of Illinois. John's step-mother was Mrs. Mary Thornton, wi.iow of George Thornton and daughter of John Alexander and Imoy Thornton. Who was Sarah Hawley T" Goes. Posar—thobnton—adams, ssa.—VoL IV., pp. 212-'18, Eev. Forest says that William Harrison, of Stafford and Westmoreland counties, married Sarah Hawley, and thai their son George married Martha Price, who, as his widow, married Oapfc John Posey, son. of Gen. ThoB. Posey; and that John's step-mother was Mary, daughter of John Alexander and Imcy Thornton, Mary being Geo. Thornton's widow when General Posey married her. On pp. 34-35, Life of £«o. Archibald Alexander, by his son, Bev. James, we read: "At the early age of seventeen, Archibald Alexander left his father's house to become a private tutor in the family of Gen. John Posey, of the Wilderness, in the county of Spotsylvania. The family residence was in a very retired situation, where a few persons of wealth had valuable estates. Among these, visits were frequent, but few other *For pp. 60 and 141 see pp. 84 and 55, this volume. Page 57 persons came into the neighborhood. Gen. Posey had done service in the Revolution as a commander of riflemen in Morgan's famous corps, in which he finally rose to be OoloneL He was a man of noble appearance and courtly manners. Mrs. Posey, who had been a beauty in her youth, was now, at the age of forty, a fine and stately person. She was addicted to the pleasures of society, but generally took the side of religion, in a day when it was frequently impugned, and seemed to be vacillating between duty and the world. Though somewhat decayed in wealth, the Poseya maintained much of the style which belonged to old Virginia families. The pupils were John Posey and George and Beuben Thorn-ton; a daughter Lucy came in for occasional lessons." It is unfortunate that a boob so widely circulated calls General Posey "John" instead of Thomas, hia right name. He was born July 9,1750. His first wife was the daughter of Samson Matthews, a leading man of Augusta county in the Revolution, -whose brother George became Governor of Georgia. (See Peyton.) She died during the Revolution, leaving the one child John. (By the way, Gen. Posey never had any wealth to "decay," except what he got with his wife, who had wealth from the Alexanders and Thorntons.) Gen. Posey married Thornton's widow after the Revolution. Archibald Alexander was born in 1772, so he was tutor in 1789. General Posey married his first wife about 1775. TTip son was about fourteen when Alexander taught him. By these dates Mr. Forest will doubtless see his mistake. Furthermore, General Fogey's son John never had any wife but the above Imoy Thorn-ton, his step-sister, and she never had any husband but John Posey. Her name was Lucy Frances, for her two grandmothers, Irticy Thornton and Frances Gregory, one the wife of John Alexander, and the other the wi(e of Francis Thornton. Frances Gregory was daughter of Mildred Washington, the aunt and godmother of the President. One of the easiest things to remember in the tangled web of Virginia genealogy is the three brothers, John, Beuben, and Francis Thornton, who married the three sisters, Mildred, Elizabeth, and Frances Gregory. Major George Thornton, Mrs. Gen. Posey's first husband, was son of Francis and Frances. He died from drinking cold water on a forced march in the Revolution. John Posey and Lucy Frances Thornton had a son, John Francis, much over six feet in height, and called " the big captain." Part of this I have from the widow of Churchill Jones Thornton, who lately died. Her name was Lucy Maria, and 57 she was a daughter of Wm. Beverley, of King George county. Her mother, Sarah Ann, youngest daughter of ©en. Posey, was raised by her childless aunt, Mrs. Wm. ITitzhugh, of King George (born Alexander). C. J. Thornton was son of Beuben (Dr. Alexander's pupil) and Anna Maria Washington, granddaughter of Charles, the President's brother. 0. J. Thornton's widow had Beuben's and Anna Maria's Bible with their handwriting in it. She had a miniature of Gen. Posey, by James Peale, 1795, the same year he made a like one of Washington. (See Oustis.) It is not only an art work of rare beauty, but confirms Alexander's statement thai Gen. Posey was a man " of noble appearance." A full-length, life-size portrait of Washington, in oil colors, presented to Gen. Posey by Washington nunaol-^ was lost in the burning of the old home of John Posey and Lucy francos Thornton, in. Kentucky, some years ago; and in the same fire the pair of silver-mounted, flintlock pistols given up to Gen. Posey by the British commander at Stony Point, where Posey led the assaulting column, were lost. On p. 162: "Eichard, born 1800, son of Samuel Griffin Adams and Catherine Innes, married a daughter of Col. Miles Selden, and secondly, Imcy W. Thornton." From the lately-deceased Mrs. 0. J. Thornton, above mentioned, I have it that the other one of Alexander's pupils (whose name was George W.) had a daughter Lucy, who married an Adams. George W. bad eldest son Henry i daughter Mary Goode; and son Seth Brett, killed at Ohapultepeo. Seth's sword and epaulettes are in the Smithsonian Institution. John Washington, the immigrant, married a widow Brett as one of his wives. Mrs. Mary Goode Thornton Scott lives at Pensacola. One of General Posey's sons by his second wife was Washington Adams G-laaseU. Gen. Posey was never Governor of Illinois, but of Indiana. The names of Price and Hawley, given by Mr. Forest, are absolutely strange to the family of Gen. Thos. Posey, nor has his kinship with any other Poseys but his descendants, nor, indeed, with any one else, ever been shown. All of Gen. Thomas Posey's descendants axe now akin by blood to the following descendants of the Washingtons and Balls, to-wit: all of Charles Washington's descendants through his wife Mildred Thornton, sister of Major George, above named, whose wife was daughter of Imcy Thornton; all of Samuel Washington's by another Mildred Thornton; all of the Balls descended from a Mildred Thornton; and all of those of Augustine, the President's half-brother, whose wife, Ann Aylett, was daughter of Ann Ashton. John Alexander was son of Philip Alexander and Sarah Hooe; Philip, the son of Philip and Sarah Ashton, daughter of Captain Peter. (See Hayden.) Peter Ashton was the associate of John Washington, the immigrant. Welles gives twelfth-century documents in which the name is written "Wessyngton vel Ashton." The Ashtons were lords of Mid-dieton, among the most distinguished North English nobility. 'Welles also gives the manors of Wessyngton and Ashton as cornering on each other.
His son, General Alexander Posey, by a movement of his troops ended the battle of Bad Axe, in Wisconsin, and with it the Black Hawk War. (See frost's Indian, Wars.) His grandson. General Camot Posey, of Louisiana, was a brigadier-general in Picbeit's division at Gettysburg; was hilled soon after in "Virginia. He left two sons, John and Camot; murdered by negroes in Mississippi, for which a mob killed five negroes.—Gao. whsom, Iiexington, Mo. Page 60 THORNTON FAMILY.* •Jc
In quarterly IV., 90, Mr. Stanard quoting the Family Bible, states that William Thornton, Jr., of Gloucester County, had the following sons: (i) William, who died early; (2) Francis, born June 7, 1692, and died February 6, 1737. He was vestryman of Petsworth Parish; (3) Seth, born Oct. 13, 1694, vestryman of Petsworth Parish, Gloucester County; (4) William, born March 31, 1699. He had a twin in a sister Prudence; (5) John, born April 17, 1701. In Gloucester County a slab used as a door step at the house of an old gentleman named Henry H. Hibble once covered the grave of 4 William Thornton. It bears the following inscription: Here lyeth the Body of Mr. Win. Thornton who married the youngest daughter of Mr. Jno. Meiuc, by whom he had eight children, two of them lyeth on his left hand, the others are as Follows, Elizabeth, Ann, William, Meux, Richard and John. He was a loving Husband a Tender Father and kind Neighbor He dyed May y" 3d., i74S Aged 46 years.
William Thornton married Miss Meux. She was probably Anne Meux, daughter of Richard Meux and Elizabeth Lightfoot, daughter of Major Sherwood Lightfoot of New Kent (See Meux Family, quarterly XVI.) They had issue surviving: Elizabeth, Ann, William, living in 1761 when he kept the Ferry at Cappahosic, Meux who married Anne Jones, daughter of Richard Jones and Anne Simmons, Richard and John. Meux Thornton, living in 1787 was probably son of Meux Thornton and Anne Jones. 2. Francis Thornton (born June 7, 1692; died February 6, 1737), had issue (i) William, and probably (2) John, of North Carolina, who in 1751 sold lands in Brunswick to Sterling Thornton (3) probably Sterling, living in 1751 in Brunswick County. William Thornton, son of Francis, married Jane Clack (born January 9, 1721) daughter of James Clack, of Brunswick County and Mary, his wife, and had issue:1 (i) Francis, died early; (2) James, born July n, 1743. In 1765 he made a deed in Brunswick County to John Jones, and in 1762 he married Elizabeth Jones (marriage bond at Oxford, Granville County, N. C.) (3) John, born Sept. 13, 1744; (4) Elizabeth, (5) Francis, born January 22, 1747; (6) Mary, (7) William, born April 14, 1751, married Sarah Goodrich, daughter of Edward Goodrich (marriage bond in Brunswick, dated Feb. 16,1774), (8) Sterling Clack, born Aug. 12, 1753, (p) Reuben, born March 28, 1756; (10) Ann Sterling, (n) Mary, (12) Jane, (13) Peter Presley, whose descendants are given by Mr. Stanard. William Thornton's will was proved in Brunswick Co., Nov. 2'3,1790. It names wife Jane and makes sons Francis, Sterling Clack and Peter Presley Thornton executors; he speaks of his surviving children and excepts his son James out of the devise. Sterling Thornton, son of Francis, was probably the first husband of Jane Boswell, who married 2'dly John Seawell, and father of Sterling Thornton, who married Anne Cary, of Matthews County, and made his will March 28,1790. This second Sterling Thornton had a son John, a minor, who survived him, and a brother Frauds, who had issue: James, 'quarterly, IV., 158. *See Volume III of this work, p. 668. 61 Elizabeth, Ann and Francis living in 1790. It is probable that Francis Thornton (born June 17, 1692) married a daughter of Rev. James Clack, and hence the name "Sterling" which appears also in the Clack family. In Stafford County John Thornton made his will Aug. 15, 1788, and codicil Feb. 23, 1789, which was proved April 10, 1789. It names wife, Catherine (she was Catherine Yates, daughter of Rev. Robert Yates) to whom he gives his chariot and four horses; sons Anthony, Benjamin Berryman and Wm. Thornton, the last named in codicil as just born. Directs his property in Gloucester to be sold, and makes "his friend Seth Thornton, of Caroline, John Taliaferro, of Hayes, in King George County, Samuel Triplett and Samuel Love'in the County of Loudoun," executors of his will. His widow married Jan., 1781, Dr. Robert Welford. A Major John Thornton was a vestryman of Blissland parish, New Kent Co., and died in 1730. (Blissland Parish Vestry Book.) A John Thornton was the fourth husband of Anna Maria Jones, daughter of Rev. Rowland Jones. She died in 1760, and in her will proved in York County, left .£400 to her husband John Thornton. This John Thornton was probably the youngest son of William Thornton, Jr. 62 THORNTON ADDENDA By W. G. stanard. (See V., 200; VI., 240.)" Philip Wade Thornton married Lucy Brockenbrough and had issue: 1. Champe Brockenbrough, married Elizabeth Grammer of Washington. 2. John Tayloe, married Ann ————, 3. Wade Augustine; 4. Charles Presley. Issue of Champe B Thornton5 and Elizabeth Grammer, was: "Champe B. Thornton, Jr. m. Laura Stettenious (issue—Champe B III, Heber Leslie Thornton, Grayson Lomax Thornton, and Mattie Roselie Thornton m. Leiand Conness. "Chas. Presley Thornton (Champe5)—m. Miss Champe Fitzhugh (no issue). 'Grammar Thornton (Champe5) died unmarried. "Rosena Thornton—m. David Bernard Powers (issue—David Bernard7 Jr., Elizabeth Grammer7—m. R. H. Seward; Rosena Gertrude7—m. W. T. Holloway; James Thomas7; Frances Brockenbrough—m. C. A. Holloway (issue—Frances Powers8) ; Chas. Presley7; Jennie Taylor7; and William Thorn-ton7. "Julius Fitzhugh Thornton (Champe8)—m. Miss Florence War-ner of Baltimore (issue—Julia7—m. Rev. Ziegler; Charles Wade7; Elizabeth Grammer7; Mary Warner7). "John Tayloe Thornton (Champe5)—m. Miss Louise Disney (issue—Elizabeth Grammer7; Louise Beatrice7). 'Tillie Grammer Thornton (Champe8) m. *Pages 88 and 50, this volume. 63 •Arthur Presley Thornton (Champe")—m. ist Miss Leslee Thompson (issue—Arthur Leslie) ; 2nd Miss Elizabeth New-man (issue—Barbour, Frances). •Chas. Wade Thornton (Champe5) died unmarried. Issue of Philip Wade Thornton* and Lucy Brockenbrough T., in addition to four sons above mentioned, two daughters. (") Charlotte Belson Tho^ntonl'-^-m. Richard Ball Mitchell of Northumberland County (issue—Arthur Spicer"—m. Elizabeth Carter Snead; Joseph Dowman"—m. Louise Morrison of Gate City, Va.; Richard Ball"—m. Miss Daisy Peters of Bristol, Tenn.; Austin Brockenbrough'—m. Miss Bessie Aylett, d. of Col. Win. Aylett of King William County. OLucy Austin Thornton" (P. W. T.*). thornton-taliaferro.—On page 92, Vol. IV, of quarterly, is an account of Francis Thornton, Jr. (born January 4, 1682), and Mary his wife.* It does not seem that there can be any doubt that the wife was Mary Taliaferro, daughter of John Taliaferro and Sarah Smith, his wife. John Taliaferro mentions his daughter Mary in his will, dated June i, 1715. The children of Francis Thornton and Mary, his wife, were Francis, Reuben, John, Sarah, who married Slaughter, and Alice, who married James Taylor (see Virginia Genealogies, p. 675 and see will of Reuben Thornton, quarterly, IV., 160). Mrs. Elizabeth Ward Doremus, of New York, writes as follows: "My great-grandfather, Gen. James Taylor, knew that Mary Thornton was the daughter of John Taliaferro, and spoke of it to my mother and others, but in his Journal where he speaks of Alice Thornton as having married his ancestor James Taylor, he did not go back into the Thornton line giving Alice's parents. I knew many of my Thornton and Taliaferro cousins in Kentucky as a child when I lived with my great-grandmother, Mrs. James Taylor (nee Keturah Moss), wife of Gen. James Taylor, of Newport, Kentucky. She was ninety-six when she died and I remember her well." *'For pp. 92 and 160 see pp. 22 and 27, this volume. 64 EXOCIISTJB—THOENTON. Below is given a careful copy of a Bible-leaf in possession of the family of Dr. Van F. Qarrett, of WiUiamBburg. Around 3, 4, and 5, are drawn the words in the margin, "All these -were the children of Anne Bickerton"; so that the interpretation should be as follows: Thomas Thornton (born 1714, died 174—) and Anne, his wife, subsequently Anne Biokerton (born 1709, died 1st September, 1775), had issue: 1, Anne, born September 11, 1789, died February 28, 1763; 2, William, born October 16, 1741, and died the 5th day of November, 17—; John, born March I", 1743. Anne Thornton married Samuel Timson, and had issue: Anna Thornton Timson (born June 22, 1762) married Samuel Major. Issue: 1, Samuel, d. b. p.; 2, Mary, d. s. p.; 3, Anne, married Eichard Garrett, Senior. 'William Thornton, Sr., and Susannah Thornton, mentioned in the register, were probably the parents of Thomas Thornton. William Thornton, Sr., was probably William Thornton', son of William Thornton', son of William Thornton', of Mr. Stanard's pedigree in my October number. ebom famtlt biklb. 1. William Thornton, Senior, Departed this life The 5th Day of January, 1741. 2. Susanna Thornton Departed This life the 29th Day of August, in the year of our Iiord 1744. 3. Ann Thornton was Bom September y" 11th Day, on Tuesday, 1739, about 3 o'clock In the afternoon. 4. William Thornton, born October the 16, 1741, & Died The 6"' Day of November, 17—. 6. John Thornton was Born March y° 1" Day, 1743, on Tuesday Night, about 10 o'clock at Night. 6. Thomas Thornton Departed This life the 2'"' Day of January, 174—. 7. Thomas Thornton was Bom September 24, 1714, on Friday, about an hour within night. 8. Ann Timson, Daughter of Tho" & Ann Thornton, Departed This Life the 28th of February, 1763. 9. Ann Thornton Timson, daughter of Samuell and Ann Timson, was born June the 22"'1, 1762, And married to Samuel Major, March the 2, 1777. 65 Mary Major, Daughter of Samuel and Ami Major, -was born January {he BO"', 1779, & died the 28th of May, 1812. *™ Major, Daughter of Samuel and Ann, -was born September the 10"', 1786. 10. Ann Bic&erton Departed this Life 1" of September, 1776, in the 66th year of her age. 11. Mary Major departed this life on Thursday, the 32"* of August, 1776, at 25 minutes after 11 O'clock. 12. Samuel Major was born the 26°' of April, 176A. 13. Samuel Major Departed this life January 291'11, 1785. 14. Bicbard Garrett married to Ann Major April the 18"', 1807. 
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1 The dates referred to as having been sent by me were abstracts from the State registry of various grants of land. A grant of 350 acres in Westmoreland county was reissued December 9, 1562, to Walter Brodhurst, which had been formerly granted, September 14, 1655, to his deceased father, Walter Brodhurst. Anne Pope, alias Washington, was granted 700 acres in Westmoreland county, Virginia, 13 January, 1661. (O.S., 1662, N.S.) I have not the full note as to this grant -- R.A. Brock. |