Davis Uriah I | Born 1707

THORNTON, Francis

Male 1682 - 1758  (74 years)


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  • Name THORNTON, Francis  [1, 2, 3
    Born 4/04 Jan 1681/1682  Fall Hill, Gloucester County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died Between 1757 and 1758  Snow Creek, Frederick County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Person ID I8441  Uriah Davis I - Genealogy
    Last Modified 21 Jun 2018 

    Father THORNTON, Francis,   b. 5 Nov 1651, Fall Hill, Stafford County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1726, King George County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years) 
    Mother SAVAGE, Alice,   b. 1647, Gloucester County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1701, King George County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 54 years) 
    Married 13 Apr 1674  Gloucester County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2969  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family TALIAFERRO, Mary,   b. 1686, Powhatan Plantation, Essex County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Snow Creek, Frederick County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married 3 Sep 1703  Snow Creek, Essex County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. THORNTON, Francis,   b. 7 Apr 1704, Snow Creek, Essex County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Bef 5 Sep 1749, Spotsylvania County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age < 45 years)
     2. THORNTON, Alice Catlett,   b. 1708,   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. THORNTON, John,   b. 1710,   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. THORNTON, Elizabeth Mary,   b. Abt 1713,   d. Yes, date unknown
     5. THORNTON, Reuben,   b. 1717,   d. Yes, date unknown
     6. THORNTON, Sarah,   b. 1719,   d. Yes, date unknown
     7. THORNTON, Rowland,   b. Abt 1720,   d. Yes, date unknown
     8. THORNTON, Mildred,   b. 21/21 Mar 1720/1721
     9. THORNTON, Lydia,   b. Abt 1723, Fauquier County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     10. THORNTON, Ann,   b. 1726,   d. Yes, date unknown
     11. THORNTON, William Monpelier,   b. Abt 1730,   d. Yes, date unknown
     12. THORNTON, Lucy Eliza,   b. Bef 1733,   d. Yes, date unknown
    Last Modified 24 Jun 2018 
    Family ID F1618  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Francis was the first Justice of Caroline Co., VA. He was also a Justice of Essex County and was a Burgess for Spottsylvania Co., VA in 1723-27. Francis settled at Snow Creek, near the present Fredericksburg about 1703. Burgess from Spotsylvania, 1742-1747; and a Colonel of Militia, 1742; He was a member of Loyal Land Company, 1745-1749; and a member of Ohio Land Company, 1745-1749. He was one of the first explores of the Peidmont section.
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      There is a recorded deed in Essex County, dated Mar 1703/04 from Francis Thornton of Stafford conveying to Francis Thornton, Jr., then of Essex Co., VA, a tract of about 700 acres at Snow Creek.
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      On the way up to Fall Hill, one finds a large old water-worn stone called the Indian Punch Bowl and it is seated on the banks of the Rappahannock River. It was originally carved into the rocks by Indians who used it to brew their poison for the tip of their arrows. Francis Thornton, II found the bowl, cleaned it out and served tasty punch in it during his river parties. The date he carved (1720) and the initials of his guests can still be seen today. There he held a fish fry for his friends every year for forty years.
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      The legend of the old Barbary pirate is included. His tongue had been cut out and Francis Thornton, III took pity on him and offered, when the pirate died, to burry him. The gold he reportedly had was never found. The Thornton family was destitute after the Civil War and the cook had a vision in which she saw the gold buried between two oak trees. There are many holes between oak trees at Fall Hill today, but the gold has never been found!
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      Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, VA, p. 11
      Culpeper county begins its career on historical ground. Its territory originally embracing what is now Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock, was the subject of a protracted controversy, involving the title to several million acres of land...
      1733... "There we took the depositions of Taliaferro, Thornton, and Russell, as follows:
      John Taliaferro, gentleman, aged forty-nine years, being summoned, saith:--"About the year 1707 he came to live where he now lives, above Snow Creek, nine miles below the falls, and there were then but three settlements above his house, on the south side of the river. He had been acquainted with the fork of the river above twenty-four years, and that one of the forks was called South River until Governor Spottswood, about twenty years ago, named the south branch Rapidan, and it has ever since been so called.
      " Francis Thornton, of Caroline, gentleman, aged fifty-three years and upwards, being sworn, declared:--"About thirty years ago he came to dwell where he now lives, on the lower side of Snow Creek, and there were but two settlements above his house, the uppermost of which was about four miles below the Falls. He had been acquainted with the forks of the river about twenty-seven years, and that one was called the South and the other the North Branch." William Russel, aged fifty-six years, being sworn saith:--"He has known the Great Fork of the Rappahannock River thirty-five years as a hunter, and one of the branches was always called South River until he heard Governor Spotswood name South River Rapidan, and the other river has been called Rappahannock; that the uppermost settlement thirty years ago was Montjoy's tobacco house, now Colonel Carter's quarter, on the north side of the river; that he saw some posts of the house on Mott's land, three or four miles above the Falls, which was said to have been burned by the Indians near thirty years ago."
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      DEED BOOK A, 1722-1729
      Francis Thornton and Mary his wife of Essex Co. and Anthony Thornton and Mary his wife of Stafford Co. to Elizabeth Tapp of Spts. Co. Dated Augt. 24, 1722: Recd. Septr. 4, 1722. 500 lbs. of tobacco. 450 a. of land in Spts. Co. "on ye ridge that lies between ye branches of Massaponnax and the branches of Mattapony river"--part of a tract granted Fran. and Antho. Thornton by patent April 19, 1720. Witnesses: Fran. Conway and Will. Strother.
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      DEED BOOK A, 1722-1729
      Francis Thornton and Mary his wife of Essex Co. and Anthony Thornton and Mary his wife of Stafford Co. to Elizabeth Tapp of Spts. Co. Dated Augt. 24, 1722: Recd. Septr. 4, 1722. 500 lbs. of tobacco. 450 a. of land in Spts. Co. "on ye ridge that lies between ye branches of Massaponnax and the branches of Mattapony river"--part of a tract granted Fran. and Antho. Thornton by patent April 19, 1720. Witnesses: Fran. Conway and Will. Strother.
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      Decr. 25, 1723. Francis Thornton of Essex Co. and Anthony Thornton of Stafford Co., gentlemen, to Benjamin Morris of Spotsylvania Co., planter. 200 a. in Spts. Co., 530 lbs. of tobacco yearly for 99 years. Witnesses: Law. Battaille, Henry Martin. Rec. April 7, 1724.
      Decr. 25, 1723. Francis Thornton of Essex Co. and Anthony Thornton of Stafford Co., Gentl., to James Sparks, planter. 200 a. of land in Spts. Co., 530 lbs. of tobacco yearly for 99 years. Witnesses: Henry Martin, Law. Battaille. Rec. April 7, 1724.
      Decr. 25, 1723. Francis Thornton of Essex Co. and Antho. Thornton of Stafford Co., Gentl., to Leonard Night, planter. 140 a. of land in Spts. Co., 530 lbs of tobacco yearly for 99 years. Witnesses: Thos. Smith, John Mulkey. Rec. April 7, 1724.
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      Octr. 31, 1724. Elizabeth x Tap of St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co., Va., widow, to my two sons, William Tap and Vincent Tap, and my daughter, Charity Wood, wife of Bartholomew Wood, all of the said parish and County. 40 ster. To my son Wm. Tap the plantation whereon I now live with 175 a. adjoining, in St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co. To my son, Vincent Tap, 175 a. of land St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co. To my daughter, Charity Wood, 100 a. of land in the sd. parish and county--all the above mentioned land purchased by me of Francis Thornton and Mary, his wife; and Anthony Thornton and Winifred, his wife, as by deeds dated Augt. 5, 1722. Witnesses: Moseley Battaley, Richard Johnson, James Williams. Rec. Nov. 3, 1724.
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      June 6, 1732. Francis Thornton and Francis Thornton, junr. Executors of the last will and testament of James Horsnale, decd. [See Will Book A.] and of St. Mary's Par., Caroline Co., to William Grayson of St. Bee's Par., Cumberland Co., in Great Britain. 50 ster., 300 a. in St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co., purchased by James Horsnale of Augustine Smith. Witnesses: John Grame, John Bland, James x Roy. June 6, 1732.
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      Sept. 4, 1733. John x Hadox of Spts. Co. to Francis Thornton of Caroline Co. 50 curr., 51 a. in fork of Rappk. River, and part of pat. formerly granted William Paton June 11, 1726, transferred by sd. Paton to John Kilgore, and from sd. Kilgore to sd. John Hadox, as by deeds June 3, 1729, etc. James Taylor, Robt. Stuart, John Red. Sept. 4, 1733. Dorothea, wife of sd. John Hadox, acknowledged her dower, etc.
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      Decr. 15, 1737. Henry Willis of St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co., Gent., to Francis Thornton of same par. and county, Gent. 25 ster. 150 a. in St. Geo. Par., Spts. Co., part of a tract called Biranis. Witnesses, Jams. Belsches, John Gordon, Elisha Gordon. Mar. 7, 1737.

  • Sources 
    1. [S328] Paul S. Boyer: 1752 Virginia Historical Magazine Vol. 83, 1975, page 410.

    2. [S329] Virginia Historical Magazine Vol. 80, 1972, page 407-408.

    3. [S330] The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 4, pg. 56.

    4. [S331] Marietta, Cobb Co., GA. Vol. 4.