Thornton Family Genealogy

    Thornton, 3 John

Birth:     3 Nov 1787, Union Twp., Snyder Co., PA
Death:     10 Aug 1846, Green Twp., Summit Co., OH

Father:    Thornton, 2 John (*1758 Snyder Co., PA +1816 Union Twp., Snyder Co., PA)
Mother:    Witmer, Maria Magdalena Thornton (*1766 Manor Twp., Lancaster Co., PA +1847 Green Twp., Summit Co., OH)

Married    Swartz, Catherine Thornton (*1788 Snyder Co., PA +1855 Green Twp., Summit Co., OH)
           Snyder Co., PA, Sourced
Children:
    1. Thornton, David (*1815 Union Twp., Snyder Co., PA +1874 Green Twp., Summit Co., OH)
    2. Thornton, 2 Samuel (*1824 Union Co., Pensylvania +1877 Akron, Summit Co., OH)
    3. Thornton, Mary (*1846)
    4. Thornton, Susanna ()



Censuses: 

 1820
Roll ?, Vol. ?, p. ?
Washington Twp., Union Co,, PA
1 male 5 < 10
1 male 16 <= 26
1 male 26 <= 45
1 male > 45
2 females < 5
1 female 26 <= 45
In Agriculture
 1830
NOT in name index!
Roll 149, Vol. 7, p. 323
Chapman Twp., Union Co., PA
1 male 5 <= 10
1 male 15 <= 20
1 male 40 <= 50
1 female 5 <= 10
2 females 10 <= 15
1 female 40 <= 50
 1840
Roll 428, Vol. 23, p. 278
Coventry Twp., Summit Co., OH
1 male 15 <= 20 [2 Samuel OR David]
1 male 30 <= 40 [?]
1 male 50 <= 60 [3 John]
1 female 50 <= 60 [Cath.]
4 total, no revolutionary pensioners
 1900
Vol. 143, ED 73, Sheet 8
? Twp., Summit Co., OH
WHO IS THIS JOHN?

Notes: 

1840 moved by wagon from Snyder Co., PA


Texts: 

THE THORNTON STORY

The year 1840 was a memorable one for this section of Ohio
because it was the time of the founding of Summit County.  After a long
fight with adjoining counties, Portage gave up ten townships, Medina
four and Stark two to form Summit.  It was so named because it carried
the highest level of the Ohio Canal, which joined Lake Erie to the Ohio
River, and therefore was situated on the Continental Divide so that
waters of the northern part flowed into the Atlantic Ocean and those of the
southern section ended up in the Gulf of Mexico.

All townships, excepting Franklin and Green are five miles
square and were a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve.  This land,
a 60-mile ribbon, was claimed by that state through a grant by the king
of England and was supposed to cut across the Continent.  This strip
rested on the 41st parallel, which is the southern line of Coventry Town-
ship.  It is about a quarter mile north of Turkeyfoot Golf Course.

About 25 years before the county's beginning, The Rex people
came from the East and became interested in the region around the lakes.
On August 24, 1816 George Adam Rex acquired a N.E. quarter section of
Franklin Township through a land grant signed by President James Madi-
son.  Later Grants were signed by Andrew Jackson, until Rex owned a
square mile - 640 acres.  Some of the Rex folks still live in the neighbor-
hood and claim there were four brothers of Adam, and between them they
controlled 4,000 acres in the area.  One of them built the State Mill.
Little wonder that we have a Rex Lake and a Rex Hill.

About 1820, Rex built the Stage Coach House at the point where
Route 619 crosses Turkeyfoot Channel, a part of which still stands and
the Summit County Historical Society claims it is the second oldest
building in the county.  Rex catered to the folks who travelled from
Pittsburgh on the Ohio River to Sandusky on the Lake.  Two wings of the
brick structure have been torn down.

Before the Canal was put through Rex had built a dam in the
Channel and used the water power to operate a mill he built.  In later
years the channel was narrowed under the bridge and the Thorntons built
a fishery.  A couple logs were thrown across boards driven down,
with two openings left to slide in the nets, one for upstream and the
other down.  The travelling finny tribes were almost compelled to get
into the nets.  Often a half bushel of fish could be emptied on the bank
next morning.  Sometimes a traveller would stop and carry away the
catch or an imprisoned turtle knawed a hole in the net and allowed all
the fish to follow.

John Thornton, 1788-1846, married Catherine Swartz and there
were four children: David, Samuel, Mary and Susanna.  His father, also
John, died in 1816 near Selinsgrove, Pa.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton Story, 1840-1959, p. 2 front
[The Thornton Story, continued]
In 1840, the family, by wagon, moved from Snyder County, Pa.
to the newly formed Summit County, Ohio.  John purchased from the
estate of George Adam Rex the northern half of a full section - 640 acres
which Rex secured from the government through Land Grants signed by
the presidents.  Three of these original Grants, for a quarter each, are
in possession of great-grandchildren of John Thornton.  One dated August
24, 1816 was signed by James Madison, and two signed by Andrew Jack-
son were dated Nov. 2, 1829 and Nov. 18, 1833.

The property took in all the land bordering both sides of the mile
long Turkeyfoot Channel, and in addition some frontage on Turkeyfoot
Lake, the West Reservoir and Miller's Lake.  Years ago a Mr. Lahm, a
French Balloonist, purchased land west of the channel and started the
Turkeyfoot Islan Club.  That section is now a fine residential area.

The land east of the Channel has become the location of the
27-hole Turkeyfoot Golf Course owned by the great-grandchildren of
John; and the land has never been controlled except by Rex and the
Thorntons.

In April 1857, Samuel Thornton purchased the 207 acre farm
which centered at South Main and Thornton Streets from John R. Buch-
tel, the founder of Buchtel College, for $15,000, and moved, with six
of his children, to the Akron Location.  This farm was allotted later and
extends from South to McCoy and from Coburn to Grand Streets.  The
five-acre Thornton Park was donated to Akron in 1865.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton Story, 1840-1959, p. 2 back
Two brothers came to OH in addition to 3 John Thornton
SOURCE: Clark Olmsted Thornton, verbal testimony, 1995