William Thornton Research Papers, 1673-1963
General International Standard for Archival Description
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399 Phone: (610) 328-8496 FAX: (610) 690-5728
Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, May 2002.
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Harriet Frorer Durham (d. 1991)
Biographical History for: William Thornton Research Papers, 1673-1963
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL William Thornton (1759-1828), physician, architect, and government official, was born in Tortola and practiced medicine there briefly before moving to the United States. He was a birthright Quaker and strongly antislavery, concerned primarily with colonizing efforts for freed slaves. He was disowned after his 1790 marriage in Philadelphia. His best known buildings are the United States Capitol and Woodlawn Plantation in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
SCOPE AND CONTENT This group of papers relating to the Thornton family, copies and transcripts, were made available by William Thornton of England to Quaker writer, Harriet Frorer Durham, who was working on a biography Dr. William Thornton (1759-1828) of Tortola and the United States. William Thornton was a descendent of the Doctor. Durham was a graduate of Swarthmore College, Class 1945, active in social concerns, and wrote the book Caribbean Quakers (Dukane Press, 1972)..
Quaker - Genealogies
Caribbean Quakers
Thornton, William, 1759-1828
Durham, Harriet Frorer, d. 1991
Thornton family
series
Ser. 1. Genealogical material
Ser. 2. Genealogical correspondence, 1961-1963 and n.d.
Correspondence
Ser. 3. Business and financial papers
Accounts
Bills
Inventories
Receipts
Proposal for Auction
Valuations, and estimate
Ser. 4. Legal papers
Abstract of mortgage
Appointment and release
Reverse of document, shows signer of John Quincy Adams.
Deeds, list of deeds
Instrument of guardianship
Leases
Opinion concerning trusteeship
Release
Wills (see separate folder labeled "Wills")