Fox and Anderson and Taylor families in USA » William "the Immigrant; the Gentleman from the Hills" Thornton III (1620-± 1708)

Sources

1. WikiTree, via http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thornton-11...

   Biography
   
   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.
   
   William was also known as “The Immigrant” and “The Gentleman from the Hills”.
   
   He was from Royalty, coming from Yorkshire, England no later than1646, and settled in Stafford County, VA. His plantation was called Fall Hill, located in Stafford Co., VA., where he was buried.
   
   The Thorntons were originally fair-haired Norwegian Vikings. The family has been traced back to Firgot, about 13 generations before Rolla. The Norse spelled Thornton as Thurston.
   
   William, The Conqueror, from Normandy, was the great-grandson of Rolla. William, the Conqueror, was crowned King of England in 1066.
   
   Elizabeth was his second wife.
   
   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.
   
   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.
   
   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."
   
   A headright of William Pryor who received 1300 acres on the north side of Charles River in 1642 (York County, Va.?) ; see The Library of Virginia . Bible Records Collection; 29533, Thornton Family Bible Record, 1651-1758. Bible printed in 1672. VA home named after English home & abt 4 mi NW of Gloucester Pt.
   
   In September 1673, he appointed James Kay to oversee 2,000 acres of land in Richmond County, Virginia. On July 16, 1675 he gave his sons William, Francis and Rowland Thornton, and also mentions a daughter, Esther. (Deed Book 6, p. 83, Rappahannock Co., VA) his 2,000 acres of land he acquired in Richmond County.
   
   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.
   
   Notes for William Thornton:
   
   Deed, (Old) Rappahannock Deed Book 6, Page 84 (this deed is now kept in the current Essex County Courthouse) William Thornton to his wife, Elizabeth November 4, 1679 Know all men by these presents that I, William Thornton for the consideration of the….of the… or dower my wife, Elizabeth Thornton, now or hearafter may have of and ….one dividendt of six hundred acres of land sold from E. Waters and his heirs and have given, granted, bargained, sold, assigned, …. and confirmed wife my said now wife, one mare about three years old also a sorroll …, whiteish in the forehead and marked with a … in the right … and also one yearling cow calfe marked ………… and two …. natural marked, being black with a white face, to have and to hold the said mare …. for …….. one …. foal, such as the said William Thornton or his heirs or assigns shall at any time hearafter or make claim ……. to have fallen so from the above …. , upon …… as the said Thornton or his assigns shall make together with the so above said yearling cow calfe, with all …. & every of their …., unto thee aforesaid Elizabeth Thornton & for her proper use, & to her heirs and assigns forever (except as before excepted)……. All of him the said William Thornton, his heirs or assigns, or any other person claiming from by …. him …. any of them. In witness whereof I have here unto both my hand & seale this 4th day of November 1679. Sealed & delivered in fee(S) William Thornton
   
   … of
   
   Wm …. Recorded in Circuit Court Rappahannock Rees Evans ………… anno 1649 Edmo. Craske Cl Cur
   
   
   
   Children of William Thornton and Elizabeth Rowland are: i. William Thornton, born March 27, 1649 in Gloucester, Petsworth Parrish, Va.; died February 15, 1726/27 in Gloucester, Petsworth Parrish, Va; married (1) August 24, 1671; married (2) April 11, 1688. ii. Rowland Thornton, born Abt. 1650 in Gloucester, Petsworth Parrish, Va.; died Abt. 1701 in Richmond County, Va; married Elizabeth Fleming June 01, 1691 in Richmond County, Va; born Abt. 1668. 64 iii. Major Francis Thornton, born November 05, 1651 in St. Paul's Parrish, Stafford County, Va./Stafford Co., VA; died 1726 in St. Paul's Parrish, Stafford County, Va; married (1) Ann Riding; married (2) Alice Savage April 13, 1674.
   
   
   
   
   Sources
   Entered by Greg Rose, direct descendant of Francis Thornton. FamilyTreeDNA #356330. Member of the Thornton Project on FamilyTreeDNA, #356330.
   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.
   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.
   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.
   Deed Book 6, p. 83, Rappahannock Co., VA
   Thornton 1300-1917 by Mrs. Lola Jane Carr-Bates.
   
   
   See also:
   
   Add sources here.
   
   NOTES
   I believe the importance of the Thornton - Bellington marriage was to legitimize Luke Thornton as a son of William. However, the Thornton DNA project has conclusively proved that Luke was not a son of William the Immigrant. There has been no evidence to show that William the Immigrant had a first wife nor any additional children than the one's listed by Elizabeth Rowland. (Greg Rose, direct descendant of Francis Thornton. FamilyTreeDNA #356330. Member of the Thornton Project on FamilyTreeDNA, #356330. )
   As shown in (Old) Rappahannock Deed Book 6, Page 86, William Thornton issued a deed to John Waters on October 22, 1678.
   Rappahannock County Deeds 1682-88, VII, Page 265 includes a deed dated 7 April 1686 from John Waters to John Savage showing Savage paying Waters 3,750 pounds of tobacco for 200 acres in Gloucester County on the South side of Piscaton Creek, land purchased by Waters from Wm. Thornton.
   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. (2)
   He died in 1708 at the home of his son, Col. Francis Thornton, in Stafford County, and it is stated that his tombstone bears his Coat of Arms, (See Crozier's "General Armory," 1904 edition, page 126, Burke's "General Armory," 1878 edition, page 1010.).
   Fr. Jeff Duvall - (XXXXX@XXXX.XXX)
   From the genealogical column of the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch of Sunday, October 23, 1904:" Later the following "From them was William Thornton, gentleman of the Hills, Yorkshire, who emigrated to Virginia and settled in York County 1646 in Pentworth Parish, new Gloucester County. He built his home four miles north of Gloucester Point, which he called "The Hills, after his English home. In later life he moved to Stafford County. He married THREE TIMES and had NINETEEN CHILDREN". [Marcine's note: William, Jr. married three times, no proof found that William, Sr. married three times. I believe he's got the two William's confused.]
   Lineages of Hereditary Society Members, (1600s-1900s), Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors, Ancestors, Page 252.
   "Thornton, William (1620 - ) Va.; m. Avice Russell & Elizabeth Howland (Rowland?). Landowner."
   "Thornton, William (1642-1708) Va.; m. Elisie Bellington. Landowner"
   

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2. 1.MyHeritage.com, via http://www.myheritage.com/matchingresult...

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• Richard and Charlotte Allen Cosby Ancestry

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• Birthday February 15, 1620
• Day of marriage March 27, 1648

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• Also born on February 15

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