Thornton Family Genealogy

    Thornton, 2 Samuel

Birth:     18 Jul 1824, Union Co., Pensylvania
Death:     15 Jul 1877, Akron, Summit Co., OH

Father:    Thornton, 3 John (*1787 Union Twp., Snyder Co., PA +1846 Green Twp., Summit Co., OH)
Mother:    Swartz, Catherine Thornton (*1788 Snyder Co., PA +1855 Green Twp., Summit Co., OH)

Married    Kepler, Mary Ann Thornton (*1827 Near East Liberty, OH +1910)
           14 Apr 1845, Sourced
Children:
    1. Thornton, Amais (*1846 +1920)
    2. Thornton, Elizabeth (*1847 +1913)
    3. Thornton, Vianna (*1848 +1913)
    4. Thornton, Houston (*1849 +1908)
    5. Thornton, Aaron (*1850 +1922)
    6. Thornton, Matilda (*1853 +1935)
    7. Thornton, Cyrus (*1855 +1945)
    8. Thornton, Johnny (*1858 +1858)
    9. Thornton, James Milton (*1862 +1946)
   10. Thornton, Ellen ()
   11. Thornton, Belle (*1866 +1925)


Notes: 

Bequeathed Plantation, livestock, household items in father's will.
MAYBE an Uncle Sam of JAY C. STEESE?


Texts: 

The couple [2 Samuel & Mary Ann] lived in the old brick homestead on
Turkeyfoot Channel until April 9, 1857 when they moved, with six of their
children, to the 206.97 acre farm which centered at what is now the corner
of Main and Thornton Streets in Akron.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton  Story, 1840-1959, p. 1
Some data about
THORNTON PARK

[Picture of plaque reading:
THORNTON PARK
donated by
Samuel Thornton
and
George Steese
December 16, 1866]

Samuel Thornton purchased the 206.97 acre farm centering
at Main and Thornton Streets from John R. Buchtel, founder of Buchtel
College (Akron University) in 1857 for $15,000.

In 1865 he sold a half interest in the 94.66 acres which were
east of the railroads to George Steese for $7,099.50.  This transaction
is recorded Dec. 15, 1865, Page 11, Book of Deeds #56.

Summit County Plat Book No. 1, Page 78, shows the Thornton
and Steese Allotment.  This took nearly one-half of the old Buchtel
farm and it extended from McCoy Street about a half-mile to South Street
and from the railroads to Grant Street.  It includes the lots on both sides
of McCoy and Grant Streets but only those on the north side of South.

Pleasant (Thornton) Park is shown on the Plat as being 9.30
Chains on Thornton and Eagle Streets and 5.375 chains on Washington
and Grant Streets.  A chain being 66 feet, makes the dimensions 613.8
by 354.75 feet and therefore very close to five acres of land.

The deed for the Park was recorded June 25, 1866 and was
signed by Samuel and Mary Ann Thornton and George and Rebecca
Steese.  Witnesses on the document were H. Paul and Lizzie Thornton.
Paul was a surveyor and Lizzie was the eldest Thornton daughter.  She
was eighteen and two years later married John, the elder son of the
Steeses.  Stipulations in the transfer of the park were that it must always
be used for Public Park purposes and further that Washington Street be
opened across the deep Wolf Ledge to Exchange Street.  In 1865 none of
the streets from the railroads to and including Spicer had been bridged
across the Ledge.  In later years a storm sewer replaced Wolf Run and
the Ledge was filled up.

On the record books the railroads were called by names that
seem quite queer today.  One was the Atlantic & Great Western.  This
later was termed New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio, and finally the Erie.
It was a broad gauge road as the rails were six feet apart.  The other
carried the name of Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati.  It became Cleve-
land, Mt. Vernon & Columbus; then Cleveland, Akron & Columbus be-
fore joining the Pennsy System.

The Thornton & Steese section, taking in all the land east of
the tracks, was the first Allotment of the old Buchtel farm.  The other
parts were alloted in 1868, '69 and '70 while the half-mile strip north
of South Street, and 354 feet wide, from Main Street to the Ohio Canal,
was laid out in 1874.  This latter included Russell Avenue.

Grandfather Thornton was only 22 years old when his father,
John, died and he became the owner of the 350 acre farm on Turkeyfoot
Channel, and Lake, and the West Resevoir, and was but 33 when he
bought the Buchtel farm and moved, with six children, to Akron in
1857.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton  Story, 1840-1959, p. 4
THE JOHN R. BUCHTEL FARM

[Picture of stone, two-story, two gabled, iron-fenced farmhouse]

The 206.97 acre farm, which centered at that, now prominent,
corner of our growing city, was purchased by grandfather Samuel
Thornton from John R. Buchtel, founder of the College which is now
University of Akron, April 10, 1857.  The deed is recorded in the
Summit County Book of Deeds, #32, page 338, and shows the purchase
price to have been $15,000.  The land takes in quite a large section of
the city and today, with all the improvements on it, is worth hundreds
of times the 1857 price paid.

In the belief that all members of our family should have an idea
as to the extent of the old Farm, a rough description of its boundaries is
added and this should be preserved and handed down to future generations.

The southern limit of the land is a straight line formed by South
Street and with the narrow 354 foot strip, west from Coburn Street to the
Ohio Canal, makes that boundary over a mile in length.  Going east along
South Street the land extended far enough to include the lots on the east
side of Grant Street.  All of Russell Avenue, with lots on both sides, was
laid out from the 354 foot strip.

The northern boundary took in the lots on the north side of Mc-
Coy Street from Main Street to Grant Street.  Also in the farm were lots
on the west side of Main Street almost to Cross Street and on both sides
of Coburn Street to Thornton.

It is understood that the new East-West Freeway will take the
lots on the north side of South Street, west of Main, to the Canal, and
all on the south side of Russell Avenue.

Grandfather Thornton was only about 22 years old when his father,
John, died in 1846, and left him with the management of the 350 acre
farm which borders on four different bodies of water--Turkeyfoot Lake,
both sides of the mile-long Channel, West Resevoir and Miller Lake.
Yet, eleven years later he was able to finance the purchase of the Akron
farm, to which he moved with six of his children.  He must have been a
pretty thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch farmer.  In another twenty years he
passed away, but not until he had given farms to seven of his children
and city property of equal or greater value to the other three.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton  Story, 1840-1959, p. 6
THE HANKEY HOME

[Aerial photo of frame, two-story house with city stretching behind]

This photo taken around 1912, points north-east and shows in
the foreground the north-west corner of Thornton and Main Streets. The
Simon Hankney home is in the middle front.  Further back is the flatiron
shaped Kohler Home on east side of Main Street and built right up to the
lot line of Main and Broadway (now Hackett) on the other side.  The old
#4 Fire Station adjoins the Kohler lot on the north.  Simon Hankney had a
lumber yard on the west side of Main between Jackson and Falor Streets.
It ran west to the Ohio Canal where the boats brought all the lumber. There
was a large planing mill and windows, sash and doors were made there.

The Hankey Home brings to mind his fatal traffic accident.  It
shows we had them long before the automobile came.  Simon Hankney,
along with many others, was a lover of fast horses.  Our roads were
unpaved, sandy, dusty and muddy--but with the help of winter snows
and Jack Frost, they often became as smooth and slick as the best of
today.  Driving west of Akron, Simon's horse got out of control and ran
away, overturning the cutter (sleigh) and the end came.  Similar casual-
ties were not uncommon.  East Market Street, with homes of wealthy
Akronites on both sides, was a veritable speedway and the scene of many
a race.  The steel runners of the sleds polished the surface to a glare and
the calks on the horses' shoes had to be kept sharp to prevent slipping.
Such roads also helped the farmers to convert their wagons into bob-
sleds by removing the wheels and substituting runners.  Then bags of
grain could be loaded and hauled to Akron's many mills.  It was great
sport for the kids to hop these low sleds - either loaded, going in, or the
straw-covered boxes homeward bound.
SOURCE: JAY C. STEESE, The Thornton Story, 1840-1959, p. 7