My Genealogy Hound

J. THORNTON, farmer, chair manufacturer and proprietor of saw mill, P. O. Hamersville, Ohio, was born in Maryland April 26, 1826. He was the seventh son of John and Letitia (Matthews) Thornton, natives of Pennsylvania, he of English and she of Irish descent. They emigrated to Ohio in 1830, and settled in Clermont County, where they lived with their family of seven sons until 1843, when the father died. The mother survived him nine years, dying in 1852. After locating in Clermont County the father and sons engaged in the saw mill business in Bethel; they soon added to their business the manufacture of wagons, which they continued until the breaking-out of the rebellion, which seriously interfered with their business; they continued, however, and manufactured wagons for the Government until 1862, when they sold out their business in Bethel and moved into Clark Township, Brown County, where they built the Thornton Mill and Chair Factory, in which they still continue, having had their mill once consumed by fire. They own nearly a section of land and the handsomest residence in the township, the latter costing nearly $6,000 in its construction. The subject of this sketch is the only one of the boys that ever married and he has married twice. His first wife, whom he married 1850, was Elizabeth Morris, daughter of J. P. Morris, and grand-daughter of Senator Thomas Morris. She died in 1857, leaving three children, and on February 13, 1872, our subject married Clara D. Cook, daughter of James Cook. Mr. Thornton and his brothers, in their manner of living, formed an example of successful communism; they worked together, owned their property in common, kept no book accounts with each other, and when one died he relinquished all his right in the property to the survivors. The two youngest, George and our subject, are the only ones now surviving. The eldest, James, died in 1868; Samuel, in 1840; Isaac, 1850; W. P., 1878; Charles, 1882. W P was a prominent man during his life, and at the time of his death was a member of the Board of County Commissioners. The brothers were all men of more than ordinary intelligence, and men who deserve more than a passing notice m a local work like this.