The Ancestry of JANE THORNTON OF SPARTANBURG South Carolina DAIE MICROFILM 2-/3-73 ITEM ON ROLL H Wife of Arthur Hutchens of Albemarle Parish, Virginia CAMERA NO, CATALOGUE NO. and Ancestress of Clarence Edmund Crowley By ARIEL L. CROWLEY, Ph. D. Idaho City, Idaho 83631 June lb, 1969 ftn ^LUOICAi 891, I'M 7 i INTRODUCTION In proper theory, I suppose, there should be, and perhaps one day vie may see it, but one vast and flawless genealogy, in which the intricacies of human relationships and descent will be perfectly defined (Rev. 20:12). For nresent practical convenience, in spite of the manifest flaws and inadequacies of search and records which beset all genealogists, a second little volume in aid of those who search for the maternal ancestry and ties of Clarence Edmund Crowley (1881-1967) distinguished lawyer and father of this compiler, seems requisite. The point of departure is Harriet Ante Ida Hutchens who married Squire Green Crowley 18 October 1875. She was a daughter of William Birch Hutchens whose ancestry is detailed in the previous volume, FRANCIS HUTCHENS, Immigrant 165U. The real problem in the prior volume was solution of the mystery of the parentage cf Arthur Hutchens,of Spartanburg, grandfather of William Birch Hutchens. Even so, in this volume a solution is offered as to Jane Thornton of Spartanburg, wife of Arthur Hutchens. It is obvious that many doors are now open to those who wish to look more deeply into these ancestral ways. It is hoped that this volume may shortly be followed by others until a comprehensive view may be obtained. The Archives of the Crowley Family are held at Pineview, Idaho City, Idaho, in the present custody of this compiler. As a matter of policy, a copv of each volume as issued is placed in the Idaho State Genealogical Society Library, Boise, Idaho and also in the Genealogical Society Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. - Ariel Lionel Crowley June, 1969 -If I. THE ANCESTRY OF JANE THORNTON 0? SPARTANBURG, S, C, The ancestry of JANE THORNTON, who married Arthur Hutchens of Spartanburg, South Carolina, has been for many years the object of an intense search. Documentary proof of the date and place of her birth is wanting, and probably does not exist, but the facts as now known by exhaustive examination of all Thorn­ ton records found in the period involved, point conclusively to her parents as being JOHN THORNTON and JEMIMA LONGWORTH The difficulties which have attended search for Jane's parents are inherent in the well-known fact that there were, in early Virginia, several Thornton fam­ ilies, frequently living side by side in various communities and counties, and entirely unrelated in America. As is shown below, they were also unrelated in England, The families from which Jane Thornton certainly did not come, have been the subject of numerous genealogical studies and much confusion. Chief among these is the Gloucester family descended from the immigrant William (about I6h6) whose ancestors were from Yorkshire, and Edward of Accomack (will proved 1703) and real origin not known. With these lines the present monograph is unconcerned. The line here involved it must be made clear at once, is that of Henry Thornton of Richmond County, Virginia, immigrant before 165?. In the celebrated Nugent work Cavaliers and Pioneers p. 351 the entry touching upon the importation of Henry Thornton by William Davis is as follows: "WILLIAM DAVIS. $00 acs E'ly upon Petomeck Riv in the freshes above Puscatowy & S'ly upon land called Wm Butlers, 15 July 1657 p. 115 (171). Trans, of 10 pers: Kent Thornton, James May, James Jolly, Robert Brooke, James Battin, John Covell, Edd. Mason, Sil. Baker, Edd. Snape, Mathew Shorte." By reasonable assumption that he was of age at the time of importation, Henry was born before 1636. The record of his marriage in 1652 to Deborah Skoper, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on the standard of 22 years at marriage, places his birth at about I63O, and the date of his arrival at between 1652 and 1657, probably no later than 1656, as it is an established historical fact that patents were not normally granted in the year of importation. In Cavaliers & Pioneers, cited, p. xxv, it is -2- noted that the immigrant named in a transportation record often came "long before the patentee had entered claim for the land thereby due." It should be understood that persons who supplied transportation for immigrants were granted fifty acres of land for each person brought to America. After the importation it was necessary for the transporter to present a claim to the government, prove the importation and wait for adjudication and patent. These proceedings, seldom taken immediately, often occupied several years. It may therefore be taken as established that at the time William Davis procured patent for bringing Henry Thornton to Virginia (15 July 1657), Henry had been in Virginia for a period from a few months to a few years. He arrived between 1652 and 1657- It is lamentable that no records are known to exist in the area where his sons Henry and Luke lived, in the way of church records, before 1663, the date of the earliest entries in the North Famham Parish Register. The printed copy of the entries in the existing transcript of the register (the original having disappeared) covering; Thornton births, commences in 1686, thirty years or so after Henry's arrival. Births are listed as follows (George Harrison Sanford King Edition, North Farnham and Lunenberg Parish Registers, Richmond County, Virginia, 1966): THORNTON, Roger, son of Henry and Anne Thornton, 17 June 1686 THORNTON, Mark, son of Luke and Ann Thornton, 23 September 1686 THORNTON, Thomas, son of Luke and Ann Thornton, 5 April 1688 THORNTON, Henry, son of Roger and Isabel Thornton, 15 November 1709 THORNTON, Mary, daughter of Roger and Isabel Thornton, 5 July 1712 THORNTON, John, son of Roger and Isabel Thornton, 25 June 1718 THORNTON, Anne, daughter of Roger and Isabel Thornton, 9 February 1720 THORNTON, Robert, son of Robert and Mary Thornton, 20 October 1722 THORNTON, William, son of Roger and Isabel Thornton, ll March 1722/3 THORNTON, Bridget, daughter of Robert and Mary Thornton, 28 May 172U THORNTON, Mary, daughter of James and Anne Thornton, 13 March 1725 THORNTON, Roger, son of Robert and Isabella Thornton, Iii June 1725 THORNTON, John, son of Robert and Mary Thornton, 7 April 1727 THORNTON, William, son of Roger and Elizabeth Thornton, 17 June 1728 THORNTON, William, son of James and Anne Thornton, 2 August 1728 THORNTON, James, son of James and Anne Thornton, 8 August 1731 THORNTON, David, son of Pobert and Frances Thornton, 2h March 1788 THORNTON, Sharlott, daughter of Robert and Frances Thornton, 29 November 1791 (this entry from the adjoining parish of Lunenburg: 37) -3- Marriage entries in the same register remnants are few, and as follows: THORNTON, wiiiiam and Elizabeth Talburt, 10 August 1727 THORNTON, Margaret and Robert Boston, ih September 1727 THOR'WON, Luke and Millisent Longworth, 2 January 1727/8 THORNTON, Ellen and Alvin Mountjoy, 3 May 1728 Death entries are even more sparse and also of late date. They are as follows: THORNTON, William, ll November 1726 THORNTON, Bridget, 26 November 1726 THORNTON, Matthew, 10 February 1730 The foregoing entries exhibit that one Henry Thornton and his wife Anne had a son Roger born 17 June 1686, the same year that Mark Thornton, an cestor of Jane Thornton and son of Luke Thornton and his wife Ann was born, 23 September l6cf(£| there being only three months between the children. By continuation of the name Henry in the line of Mark Thornton (his son Henry was born about 17^0) Henry and Luke are tied together. Some genealogists have queried their relationships as brothers or father and son. The facts seem to be clear: Henry the immigrant was about 56 years old when those two children were born, and his wife's name was Deborah Skoper, not Anne. Henry, father of Roger, and Luke father of Mark, were accordingly brothers, and sons of Henry Thornton the immigrant. The Henry Thornton line down to the second Henry in America, as is shown in the pedigree set forth below, is characterized by a constant repetition of the name Henry, generation after generation. Commencing with Luke, the line is characterized by the constant and identifying use of the names of the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This factor is too constant to be ignored, and serves to identify the widespread branches of the descendants of Henry Thornton accordingly. It is by means of this identifying characteristic that it is possible to deduce the parentage and lineage of Jane Thornton of Spartanburg with assurance. When found in Spartanburg, she is in the midst of the "evangelists" line," so called. " Jane Thornton, subject of this study, married Arthur Hutchens, who was born in Albemarle Parish, Surry County, Virginia, 8 October 17li8. She became the mother of ten children, nine of whom were born prior to the taking of the 1790 census of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Her first child, John Hutchens, named after Jane's father John Thornton, was born in or close to 1773. Jane's birth may therefoe be placed with reason­ able certainty at or close to 1752. For many years it was supposed in the Hutchens Family Association that Jane Hutchens was the daughter of William Thornton, of the old William Thornton line to which reference is made above, and his wife Jane Clack, of Brunswick County, Virginia. This error has now been corrected in the family archives, and in the official records of the Genealogical Society, 107 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah.