Migration to Kentucky

The first of the families to move to Kentucky was the Owen family. On September 12, 1793, Barnett and Frances sold 115 of their remaining acreage in Lunenburg and on December 14, 1798, sold 100 acres in Wilkes County. This sale of land continued as the Owen families prepare for their move to Kentucky in the early 1790s. Barnett and family were already in Madison County, KY in time to be listed in the 1795 census. Barnett’s brother William was listed in the neighboring county, Clark, in the same census.

There are records of marriages of 10 the Owen children in Madison County, Kentucky from 1795 through 1813. The marriages for the first three— Sally, Frances, and Jemima— were in 1795 and 1796. Because their marriages were recorded right after they arrived in Kentucky, the young men were probably part of the migrating families from North Carolina. If not, the girls were quick to marry newly found Kentucky boys.

The Todd families were also ready to migrate to Kentucky. On March 19, 1796, Benjamin Todd sold 525 acres of land in Rowan County. Records of sale of Peter’s land have not been found, but the Todd families migrated to Kentucky sometime between 1796 and 1799. By 1800 Peter and his family were listed in the Madison County, KY census.

It is not known if the Todd families knew members of the Owen family or the Thornton family before the migration. The Todd families lived about 60 miles from the Thornton family in Burke and the Owen family in Wilkes but they could have accidentally met each other as they passed through the counties toward Kentucky just before the end of the century. Instead of joining them, William and Patsy would stay in North Carolina a little longer. William was listed as overseeing the road from Silver Creek to the bridge on Gunpowder Creek in Burke County in January 1797. William was still in Burke County when the 1800 census was taken.

Between 1800 and 1805, William, Patsy and their three children [four if Frances was born in NC in 1802 before they moved] followed the Todd and Owen families and friends to the eastern section of Kentucky. The most direct route for the migrating families to their destination was due west through the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachian Mountains, across the corner of Tennessee, following the popular Wilderness Road to the southeast part of Kentucky to Madison and Clark Counties. They found land a few miles northeast of Richmond, fairly close to Boonsboro—a settlement that was founded by Daniel Boone in 1775. At the time of their move William was 39 years old and Willi was 12.

A few years after the families moved, Luke Thornton, William’s father, was reported to have died in South Carolina sometime after 1800. He is listed in the 1800 census of Spartanburg, South Carolina but not in the 1810 census. There were several Thorntons listed in the 1810 census including a Martha Thornton living with a boy and girl age 10-16, and a boy and girl age 16-25.  If this was William's mother, Martha would be 63 and too old for them to be her children. Luke was around 60 years old when he died.

The Todd and Owen families settled in Madison County, Kentucky, where they are listed in the 1800 and 1810 census records. William Thornton is not listed in Madison County but in Clark County, just across the Kentucky River that forms the northern boundary of Madison County. The Thornton family must have lived close to access across the Kentucky River because all marriage for the family are recorded in Madison County.

A relative of the Toney family (The Toney family connection appears later when William’s daughter Patty marries James Toney around 1823.) has a remembrance from one of the early pioneers. He said that when William Thornton lived in Clark County Kentucky, he was not a farmer but a mechanic who worked in the Red River Iron Works. The factory was located on one of the tributaries in Clark County that fed into the Kentucky River. The pioneer said the iron works “beat the dross put of the iron with a big trip hammer that was run by water power. They made kettles and pots for stoves that were not made elsewhere at that time—approximately in the year of 1810.” They also made cannon balls that were used in the War of 1812. Maybe this is where Willi Thornton learned his trade with mills and various water powered tools. Willi was in his late teens and early twenties when they were in Kentucky and could have worked with his father at the iron works.

As William’s children matured they looked to their close neighbors for spouses. Sally was the first to get married when she and John DeShazer joined together in 1805. The DeShazer family was also from Burke County, North Carolina and probably migrated with the Thornton family to Kentucky. When they were married in Madison County, Kentucky, Sally was just 16 and John 19. They had been in the state for a little more than a year. The DeShazer family found this story about their wedding: John’s father, also named John, and Sally’s father William Thornton each gave fifty English pounds in current money for their marriage bond.

 About 3 years after William and Patsy arrived in Clark County, James, their last child was born in 1807. Patsy was 42 years old when he was born.

Sally [Thornton], and her husband John DeShazer, did not settle long in Kentucky and were the first to leave, around 1812. Sally and John would eventually have 10 children while they traveled by ox team in the Midwest. The DeShazers returned to Madison County, Kentucky in 1813 for the most important event for our side of the Thornton family: the wedding of her brother, Willi Thornton to Sally “Sallie” Todd. When they were married on December 9, 1813, Willi was 21 and Sallie 20. The same day they were married, Sallie’s brother, William Todd, married Elizabeth Owen, Patsy (Owen) Thornton’s youngest sister. Elizabeth was 25 years younger than her sister Patsy.

After the Thornton / Todd / Owen weddings, the DeShazers continued their journey in the Midwest and to have children in Indiana and Illinois.

There is also the possibility that Willi’s twin sister, Patsy Martha [Patty], traveled with her sisters Sarah and their families. Patty had a son, Simeon, born out of wedlock in 1818 in Indiana. Some say he was raised “with the Thorntons.” Others say he later took Patty’s future husband’s name “Toney” until he changed it back to Thornton when he moved to Missouri. Five years after Simeon was born, Patty Thornton was in Indiana and married James Toney, a native of Indiana.

Frances, William’s fourth child, married a Mr. Barnes sometime around 1818. It is said that the Barnes family moved to Clay County, Missouri around 1826 and Frances died soon after they arrived. Mr. Barnes remarried and farmed in Platt County Missouri. They had four children.

There is no recorded information on James Thornton’s wife, Sarah Lamkin and her family. Family records show they were married in Indiana. He also may have traveled with his sister Sally and John DeShazer because they were in Indiana until 1825. At that time, James was around 18 years old, old enough to get married. It is clear that James joined his parents and grandparents in Missouri before 1828.

Next Page: Migration to Missouri