OVERVIEW
Location: Watsonia, Greene County, Alabama
Date Constructed/ Founded: 1833
Associated Surnames: Glover, Thornton
Historical Notes: none
Associated Pages: Fall Hill Plantation (Spotsylvania Co., VA), Rosemount Plantation (Greene Co., AL)
ASSOCIATED ENSLAVED PERSONS
1840: 56 slaves [1840 United States Federal Census, Greene Co., AL, James Thornton]
1850: 97 slaves [1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules, Greene Co., AL, James Thornton]
1860: 156 slaves [1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules, Forkland, Greene Co., AL, James Thornton]
ASSOCIATED FREE PERSONS
Thornton family: James Innes Thornton (b.1800-d.1877)- owner of Thornhill Plantation; Mary Amelia Glover Thornton (b.1829) – daughter of A. and S.S.N. Glover of Rosemount Plantation, wife of J.I. Thornton (m.1825); Ann Amelia Smith Thornton (b.1811-d.1864) – second wife of J.I. Thornton; Delia Frances Thornton (b.1832-d.1910) – daughter of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; George Francis Thornton (b.1838-d.1893) – son of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; Catherine M. “Kate” Thornton (b.1840-d.1870) – daughter of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; Ennis Thornton (b.1841-d.1878) – daughter of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; Harry Innes Thornton (b.1845-d.?) – son of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; Butler Brayne Thornton (b.1846-d.1905) – daughter of J.I. and A.A.S. Thornton; Sarah Williams Gould Thornton (b.1824-d.1885) – third wife of J.I. Thornton (m.1870), daughter of W.P. and E.C. Gould from Hill of Howth
RESEARCH LEADS AND RECORDS
None noted yet
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
- Associated Buildings: Mansion – the two story frame mansion with a mahogany spiral staircase was built by carpenters whom the builder James Innes Thornton brought from Virginia.
Family Schoolhouse; Wash Place – see photo from “Back of the Big House: The Cultural Landscape of the Plantation” by John Michael Vlach (online exhibition). http://www.gwu.edu/~folklife/bighouse/
REFERENCES
- Back of the Big House: The Cultural Landscape of the Plantation, by John Michael Vlach (online exhibition). http://www.gwu.edu/~folklife/bighouse/
- South Central Alabama Historical Places. http://natural1.home.mindspring.com/scent_ala.html
- Rootsweb World Connect: convolution. Entry: James Innes Thornton, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hom42&id=I17622
