William Nicholas Thorn

William Nicholas Thorn M V B K Y Photo: One we don’t have is in Helm, Defend, 190. His source: Mrs. Hugh J. Standing. Dink has individual photo of him.[3967] Another photo of him in his later years appears at reference.[3968] Born: 22 February 1833,[3969] Rappahannock County.[3970] 22 February 1832.[3971] Married: Maria Eliza Cropp (1831–1874), circa 1852.[3972] Alexander Hunter [BH] describes her: “his girlish wife, a lovely woman….”[3973] “I do know that William had two families (one after the other!) as did many war veterans….”[3974] His first wife was a Cropp. His second wife was Otelia Brown; her mother was a Cropp.[3975] His second wife was “Otelia Harris Wood (Thorn).” A photograph of her and three daughters appears at reference.[3976] Died: 24 March 1900 in Fauquier County.[3977][date should be March 31 [what is the support for the date being 31?]] “William Thorn’s grave is marked with a red X on this map[3978] if the X transmits along with the map; otherwise, it is at the western end of the 1/3-mile long road, just north of Harpers Creek, west of highway 17.”[3979] “I have been recently to the grave of William Thorn—though it scarcely deserves the name: He was buried under a large boxwood tree, behind the farmhouse; and that house burned 10 or 15 years ago; nothing remains but the grass, and memories.” “[His granddaughter] grew up in the house that burned, and knows exactly where the grave is, or was.”[3980] 24 March 1900; buried at Thorn Family Cemetery.[3981] One source records that he is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Bealeton,[3982] but it is actually the cavalryman’s son who is buried there: “William N. Thorn… was my great-grandfather, and his son William, was my great uncle; he [the son] indeed is buried in the cemetery in Bealeton, along with my grandfather, Wesley Thorn.”[3983] Obituary: “Mr. Wm. N. Thorn… was county surveyor. ”[3984] “He was a member of the Black Horse company….”[3985] See Obituary Chapter. Children: “Two young children” around the middle of the war, presumably from his first marriage.[3986] Wesley. William [“one of the sons of the second marriage”].[3987] What is the name of the other son from his second marriage? Any daughters from either marriage? William N. Thorn, born 1898 buried Cedar Grove Cemetery, Bealton.[3988] “… Wesley (my grandfather) and William Jr. (Telie’s father) were full brothers—i.e. they were both from the same (second) family.” [3989] Three daughters from second marriage: Rosella, Esser, Otie. [footnote! was this in the binder or the photo?] Parents and Siblings: He was “the son of John Thorn and Elizabeth Wyckoff.”[3990] His only brother was George Thorne.[3991] When and where was John born? When and where did he die? When and where was Elizabeth born? When and where did she die? When and where did they marry? Where are they buried? What were the names of Billy Thorn’s siblings? Other Family: Wesley and William, Jr., are “buried in the cemetery in Bealeton.”[3992] We need to go to this cemetery again for dates from the tombstones of Wesley, any other Thorns there. “William the son had two daughters; one of them [is] Otelia ….”[3993] “About the family, Telie knows far more than I, and can also refer you to her cousin Rosella, who has done extensive work on the family history. I do know that William had two families (one after the other!) as did many war veterans, and Telie is the daughter of one of the sons of the second marriage.” [3994] “William the son had two daughters; one of them, Otelia, is my second cousin and great good friend; she lives in Nokesville, a retired school principal, and has email, if you would like to acquire more information.”[3995]

William Nicholas Thorne wed Maria Louisa Cropp (1832–1871). Her parents were Elizabeth Fallis Cropp (1798– ) and Robert Cropp (5 March 1800– ); her mother had been a widow of John Cropp. Two full siblings of Maria were Tamasia Josephine, who wed Edgar Embrey, and Edward M., who wed a Hicherson. Children of William Nicholas Thorne and Maria Louisa Cropp: Arabella James (22 February 1853–5 January 1835) who wed Thomas Whiting Cowne (25 Sept 1853–4 October 1939) on 19 January 1875; for this marriage, source cites “vol. 7, p. 127, Warrenton, Virginia.” Enos, who wed Molly Humphrey. Elizabeth, who wed Marcellus Green. Dora (1866– ) who wed George Evans.[3996] “Maria Louisa Cropp was a beautiful and talented young woman, educated in the select boarding school run by the Misses Milligan in upper Fauquier County, Virginia. She was a half-sister and a first cousin of George Welfrod [Welford?] Cropp, Carter Braxton Cropp and Dr. James Thomas Cropp. After a long illness, she passed away in 1871 at the age of 39 years and [was] buried in the old Cropp burying ground beside her brother, Dr. James Thomas Cropp. “William Nicholas Thorne married secondly Otelia Harris Wood, daughter of Wesley Wood and his wife Mildred Ann Cropp of Culpeper, Virginia (cousin of his first wife). “William Nicholas Thorne was the son of John Thorne and his wife Elizabeth Wyckoff. She was the daughter of Nickolas6 Wyckoff, baptized June 30, 1750, died before 1797, and his wife Elizabeth, born February 7, 1757, died 1831. (Nicholas,5 Nicholas,4 Pieter,3 Nicholas,2 Pieter Clausen.) Nicholas Wyckoff resided in Loudon County, Virginia, also in Fauquier County, Virginia. RE: The Wyckoff Family in America, by William F. Wyckoff and M. B. Streeter. “After the death of their father John Thorne, Elizabeth, George and William N. were under the care and guardianship of their uncle, William Wyckoff, until his death in 1847. His will probated June 28, 1847, in Warrenton, Virginia, names Joseph Morgan to act as executor to his estate. “His will states ‘I give and bequeath to Joseph Morgan, Sen., in trust by him to be applied to the maintanence of my niece, Elizabeth Thorne until she is twenty-one years old, to wit, negroes, Violet, Catherin and Mary Ann. I also give and bequeath to the said Joseph Morgan, Sen., in trust by him to be applied to the education and maintenance of my nephew George Thorne until he is twenty-one years old, to wit, negroes, Henry, June and Martha. I give to Joseph Morgan, Sen., in trust by him to be applied to the education and maintenance of my nephew, William N. Thorne until he is twenty-five years old, the remaining portion of my estate.’ The estate was sizable, consisting of real estate, live stock and large number of slaves. He received his education in a boarding school for young men at Jeffersonton, Virginia. After the civil war he taught school until 1870, when he was appointed surveyor for Fauquier County, Virginia, and served in that capacity until his last illness in 1902. “Pieter Claeson Wyckoff, the progenitor of the Wyckoffs in America [first generation; Wm. N. [BH] was eighth generation], married Grietze Cornelise Van Ness, the daughter of the Honorable Cornelius Hendricksz Van Ness of New Amsterdam, the capitol of New Netherland. A Dutch Colony from 1625 to 1664. The early name of New York City. … RE: The Washington Ancestry and Records, vol. 3, by Hoppen, Charles Arthur, p. 207—1932. …”[3997]

There was a connection between the Thorne and the Boteler family: “[M]y mother, who was Florence Jerrell Cowne, (the daughter of Thomas Whiting Cowne and Arabella James Thorne), is the greatneice of ‘handsome, dashing’ Joe Boteler. He, too, was in the Blackhorse troop.” [3998] Stories, Letters & Biographies: “…I had made up my mind to get within the Federal lines; and I also decided that there was one man who could make the trip with me, and that man was Billy Thorn of the Black Horse Cavalry.”[3999] See Stories Chapter. “Here we found Clarke, of the Black Horse… .”[4000] See Stories Chapter under George W. Clarke. “[W]e reached Thorne’s house after traveling all day, and his anxious wife met him, rejoiced to see him safe and well. She had heard the report that we had been captured and shot. There were tears and warm kisses too, for in those stormy times, ‘in Mosby’s Confederacy,’ wives seemed to love their husbands better than in the piping times of peace; their hearts were in their mouths, so to speak, for when they bade their liege lords farewell it was even chances that it would be final.”[4001] “You will note that Thorne is spelled without the “e” often. … [A]s notary public, he tired of writing a long name and dropped the “e”.”[4002] See Biographical Sketches Chapter. CSR: County surveyor; enlisted 25 April 1863; detached as Scout July to October 1863; detached as Scout for Genl. Wickham March to April 1864. Additional Information: Listed as “William N. Thorne”;[4003] this spelling is incorrect. Private.[4004] Surveyor. Rappahannock County.[4005] Was for many years, the Surveyor of Fauquier County.[4006] He was County Surveyor on the dates of 30 November 1870 and 24 June 1895.[4007] He was defeated for the position in 1866.[4008] Muster rolls show that he enlisted on 25 April 1863 in Fauquier by Robert Randolph for three years or war. One, for Apr. 1, 1864, states that he was last paid by Capt. Heath to Nov. 1, 1863, and was detached as a scout for Gen’l Stuart. The other, for Mch. & Apr. 1864, states that he was last paid by Capt. Heath to Feby. 29, 1864, and was absent from the company as a scout for Gen. Wickham.[4009] Thorn’s home was, from the direction of the Rappahannock River, “[a] few miles farther” from “Morrisville, an exceedingly small village in the lower part of Fauquier County, and close to the Stafford line.” [4010] “Bill Thorn appears extensively in the later chapters” of “Alexander Hunter’s book, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank.”[4011]