Person:William Thornton (3)

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William Thornton (about 1622 – after 22 December 1708) was a 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.

Old King William Homes and Families FHL# 975.5355 D2c p.105: "The first [Thornton] of which there is any record in Virginia is said to have come from Yorkshire, England. He afterwards lived in Gloucester and died in Stafford County. He had three sons, William (2), Rowland and Francis (5)." Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the State: "About 1640, William Thornton, Gentleman from Yorkshire, settled in York County, Virginia. He moved then to Gloucester County, and four miles northwest of Gloucester Point established his home called "The Hills", after the ancestra home in England. He had large landed estates in Stafford County, wher he died at a ripe old age. He is buried in Stafford County, and his arms are enblazoned on his tomb. Virginia County Records, VII

1.   William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 4 , No. 2, (Oct., 1895), pp. 75-89.

   THE THORNTON FAMILY.
   BY W. G. STANARD.
   Though there have been in Virginia several different families of this name, the largest and most prominent has been that which originally settled in Gloucester county, spread to Stafford, King George, Richmond, Northumberland, Essex, Caroline, Spottsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Madison, Brunswick, and other counties, and has now representatives in almost every State in the Union.
   The first of the name of whom there is any record is said to have come from Yorkshire. On May 11, 1646, William Thornton obliged himself, by a paper recorded in York county (including Gloucester), to care for the cattle of John Liptrot until the latter came of age. On February, 16th, 1665-'66, as "Mr. William1 Thornton", he had a grant of 164 acres of land, in Petsworth parish, Gloucester, adjoining the land where he lived, and that of Mr. Richard Barnard. He was a vestryman of Petsworth parish in 1677. There is on record in Essex a power of attorney, dated September, 1673, from William1 Thornton, of Gloucester, to James Kay, of Rappahannock county, concerning 2,000 acres of land in the freshes of Rappahannock, on the north side of the river, adjoining the lands of Andrew Buckner, Col. Wm. Ball, and Mr. Richard Whitehead, and Muddy Creek, a tract of land which he had bought from Mott. There is also recorded in Essex, in 1708, a deed, dated July 16, 1675, from William Thornton, of Gloucester , gentleman, to Francis and Rowland, "two of his sons", conveying 2,000 acres in Rappahannock county, and also a power of attorney, dated 1708, from Wm. Thornton, formerly of Gloucester , but now of Stafford, authorizing the confirmation of said deed. So in his old age Wm. Thornton removed from Gloucester to Stafford. It is not known whom he married, but he had issue : 1, William, Jr.; 2, Francis; 3, Rowland; was witness to a will in Rappahannock, 1686. There is a deed, Richmond county, 1692, from Rowland Thornton, of Rappahannock county, planter, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Fleming, to Francis Thornton, of the same county, gentleman. Elizabeth Thornton, daughter of Captain Alexander Fleming, sold land in what was afterwards King George, in 1699.
   In May, 1701, the bond of Elizabeth Thornton, as administratrix of Rowland Thornton, of Richmond county, deceased, was recorded. There is no evidence that they had issue.
   Text: William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 4 , No. 2,
   (Oct., 1895), pp. 75-89.