Today, we will look at the two remaining sons of John Thornton Sr. and his wife, Sarah (MNU) of Newport and then Providence, Rhode Island.

Unfortunately, this post will be rather short because very little is known about these two sons.

Because both William and James Thornton appear on the 14 July 1688 list of “almost all males in Providence” at the time, we have to assume that they were each at least 16 years of age and probably a few years older than that.

Let’s begin with William (John1) Thornton and we’ll estimate a birth year for him of about 1666, making him about 22 years old in 1688.

William left but a few crumbs along the bread trail of his life. He sold his land in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island on 22 August 1738, described as yeoman, to Richard Smith. He signed with his mark:

William died on 16 August 1741 in Glocester, as noted in his estate inventory. Interestingly, Richard Smith was charged with the responsibility of taking charge of William’s belongings. His estate was appraised by Chad Brown, Joseph Eddy and Richard Smith.

William’s estate administration record mentions no wife, nor the names of any children, but says the administration of the estate should occur to pay debts and present “legacies” but says nothing about the what those legacies might be either. Therefore, William is pretty much a blank slate in terms of a family sketch.

If you think that William left a meager paper trail, James Thornton almost forget to leave anything!

There are no records that confirm a birth year. However, a reasonable guesstimate could be c1668, which fits with his appearance on the 1688 Providence list. He was definitely over 21 years of age by 1692 when on & March of that year, A deed of gift of 62 acres of land was recorded from John Thornton Sr. to his son.

It’s possible that James married sometime around when he received the acreage from his father, but no marriage record has been found. His wife’s given name was Sarah (MNU), proved by a land deed written on 23 March 1706 whereby they sold a “dwelling house and 25 acres, being part of lands formerly owned by John Thornton dec.”

The last record which names James Thornton is another land sale dated 10 August 1719 at which time he sold land and buildings where he dwelt with 150 acres to Joshua Turner of East Greenwich, Rhode Island for £88. He apparently lived in Scituate, Rhode Island.

There are no clues whatsoever as to any children James and Sarah (MNU) might have had and no probate has been located for either of them.

The last family sketch post will report on the two daughters of John Thornton Sr. and Sarah, his wife – Elizabeth who married Edward Manton and Sarah, who married (1) Zachariah Field (2) John Gurney. We”ll mention John Gurney in the final post, which will summarize the documented facts which have been gathered during this month-long series.

Today, we are returning to the remaining children of John and Sarah (MNU) Thornton of Newport and Providence, Rhode Island who have not already been the subjects of a family sketch.

Solomon Thornton (John1) was one of the older sons of John and Sarah, as he appears in the Providence tax lists by 1687, along with his father and brother, John Jr.

Therefore, we can estimate his birth to be no later than c1666. Whether he was born in Newport or Providence is not known since he might have been born perhaps as early as the late 1650s when John was still living in Newport.

Solomon Thornton died in Providence on 18 September 1713, but left no will. His estate administration by Thomas Harris and Mercy Borden was approved on 18 October 1713. The administrators took “wardship” of his children and “guardianship of the male heir.”

Nowhere is there any mention of Solomon’s wife and, given that his children were cared for by Thomas Harris and Mercy [male] Borden, she may have predeceased her husband. [Note: Thomas Borden married Mary Harris. Their sons included Richard Borden and Lt. Mercy Borden. This may be a clue that Solomon’s wife was either a Harris or Borden. Often, estate administrators were family members or close friends, particularly when minor children were involved.

The only clue to the names of any of his children is in his estate inventory, which names his daughter, Amey.

This meager information about the lives of Solomon Thornton and his family is noted in Clarence I. Brown’s project, which compiled data about the Rhode Island Thorntons on a series of over 3,700 index cards.

Solomon’s life is summarized on one single card, which has space left over:

On 22 May 1683, John Thornton Sr. sold to his son Solomon 100 acres and the commonage (the right to pasture land for grazing animals) for £33.6s.8d.

Children:

1. Unknown Son, living at the time of his father’s estate administration on 18 October 1713
2. Amey, born c1696; died after 18 October 1713; married Jonathan Whipple, 24 October 1717

I have not found images of Solomon’s estate administration order or his inventory. However, Brown’s index cards seem to be compiled by excellent note takers and, if there were further family clues to be found in those records, I believe the cards would so note that fact.

If you think little is known about Solomon’s life, you might be disappointed to learn that even less is known about the lives of two of his younger brothers, James and William, who will be presented in the next Thornton post.

David Thornton, in his 1772 will, named all of his siblings, both living and dead. He named two sisters, but not a lot is known about them.

Sarah Thornton was born, say about 1708, probably in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island. There is a marriage record for Sarah to Stephen Paine, found in the DAR Patriot Index, on 15 July 1739 in Providence County, Rhode Island and likely in Glocester.

However, Sarah Paine is called deceased in her brother’s will, so we know that she died between her 1739 marriage and 1772.

Stephen Paine was born 17 August 1716 i n Providence, Rhode Island and died on 29 December 1797 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island. Benjamin Thornton called him “brother” (brother-in-law) in his 1761 will so Sarah was probably living at that time.

Nathan Paine, born c1739, is also in the DAR Patriot Index, and would be a son of Stephen and Sarah.

However, Stephen married (2) Jemima Martin, by 1776, as their son Jonathan, born c1776, died in Blackstone, Worcester, Massachusetts on 14 November 1856, aged 80 years. His death certificate names his parents.

More work needs to be done to determine whether Stephen and Sarah (Thornton) Paine had additional children.

Mary Thornton was born, say about 1712 and died after her brother’s 1772 will. Mary married Jonathan Vallett on 25 January 1738/39 in Providence County, Rhode Island (again probably in Glocester).

More research needs to be done to determine the names of their children, although one son, David, born 1739, is attributed to them on the FamilySearch family tree.

It appears that Jonathan Vallett died in 1744, but he and Mary may be the parents of David Vallette, born c1739, who is in the DAR Patriot Index.

This completes the documented information for the family of Benjamin Thornton Sr. and his unknown wife.

The next few posts will examine records that will help piece together the families of Benjamin Sr.’s siblings, all the children of John Thornton and his wife, Sarah, of Newport and Providence, Rhode Island.