Mark Thornton, Jr.

Mark Thornton, Jr. was almost certainly the eldest son of Mark2 and Mary Thornton. He was born about 1712-13, as on Feb. 16, 1733/4, apparently when just 21, he deeded to Solomon Redman the 100 acres willed him by his grandfather, Luke Thornton, which he was to possess after the deaths of his aunt, Ann Mountjoy, and his cousin, Sarah Jones (D. B. 8, p. 689). One of the witnesses to the above deed was Leonard Dozier, his wife's brother, and he probably married about this time Elizabeth, daughter of Leonard Dozier, Sr. and his wife Elizabeth. Leonard Dozier, the father, died in 1733, his inventory being dated July 2, 1733 (W. B. 5, p. 207). His widow, Elizabeth Dozier, died in 1748. Her will, dated May 7, 1748 and probated July 4, 1748,mentions granddaughter Elizabeth Doggett, and children, John and Leonard Dozier, Mary Jones, Elizabeth Thornton, Sarah Jeter, Peggy Baker, Susannah Bragg, and James Dozier (W. B. 5, p. 588). Mark3 Thornton had moved to Orange Co. by 1739, when he is shown as a tithable there (WM (l) 27, p. 23), and Order Books 2 and 3 show his presence there through 1743 (O. B. 2, p. 455; 3, 485). Bell's "Sunlight on the Southside", shows that he had moved to Lunenburg Co., Va. by 1748, when he is shown as a tithable there (p. 61). In 1751, he is shown with 2 tithables, obviously his eldest son Mark being the other (p. 162). The tithables of 1764 shown him with two sons in his family, Thomas and John Thornton (p. 239), while his eldest son, Mark, was overseer for Sylvanus Walker (p. 215). On April 2, 1751 Mark Thornton was deeded 150 acres of land by his sister-in-law, Margaret (Peggy) Baker, relict of Samuel Baker, who had died in the same year (D. B. 2, p. 178; O. B. 2, p. 387). By 1752 Margaret Baker had married (2) John Wood (O. B. 2 1/2 A, p. 325); her son, Bartholomew Baker, chose Mark Thornton as his guardian in 1753 (O. B. 2 1/2 B, p. 438), and receipted Thornton for his property in 1758, showing his birth as 1737 (O. B. 5, p. 114). The last appearance of Mark3 Thornton in the records of Lunenburg Co. was Sept. 30, 1766 when he and his wife Elizabeth deeded Warren Beauford 230 acres (D. B. 10, p. 325). He and his family moved almost at once to Warren Co., N. C. where Mark Thornton was deeded land in 1768; Thomas Thornton was deeded land by his brother, Mark Thornton, Jr. in the same year, and was deeded additional land by John Wood in 1771; and Mark Thornton was grantee again in 1772, and both grantor and grantee in 1780 (Warren Co. D. B. 2, pp. 5 and 7; 3, p. 303; 4, p. 127; 7, pp. 19 and 405) Mark3 Thornton, Sr. probably died in Warren Co., N. C. about 1775-80. His sons, Mark and Thomas, moved to Wilkes Co., Ga., where both appear in the tax list of 1785, having both been granted land there (Davidson, "Early Records of Ga. -Wilkes Co", Vol. II, pp. 44 and 45; Smith "Story of Ga. and Ga. People", p. 639-40). Either Mark Thornton, Jr. or his son, married Sarah McAlpin, daughter of Alexander McAlpin and wife Mary, who were living in Abbeville District, S.C. in 1785, but Alexander died in 1790, and the records of Wilkes Co., Ga. show his heirs as Robert McAlpin, the widow Mary McAlpin, Sr., Charles Coleman and wife Mary McAlpin, Jr., James Kirkwood and wife Jennet, Mark Thornton and wife Sarah, and Patsy and Solomon McAlpin, who were still under guardianship in 1801 (Davidson, Vol. II, p. 256). From the fact that Mark Thornton, Jr. was born about 1735, and two of the McAlpin children were still under guardianship in 1801, it would appear that the Mark Thornton who married Sarah McAlpin was a younger Mark, his son or nephew. A peculiar problem with regard to Mark3 and Elizabeth (Dozier) Thornton is whether Rev. Dozier Thornton, a prominent pioneer Baptist minister and Revolutionary soldier, whose biography in Campbell's "Georgia Baptists-Historical and Biographical" states that he was born April 14, 1755 in Lunenburg Co., Va., the son of Mark Thornton and Susannah Dozier (his father having been an overseer at the time), married Miss Hill, and moved to Georgia, was a son or grandson of Mark3 Thornton. The statement that his father was an overseer and that his mother was named Susannah would indicate that he was the eldest son of Mark Thornton, Jr. However, the name "Dozier" may show that he was youngest son of Mark3 Thornton and Elizabeth Dozier, for there is no record of a Susannah Dozier who married a Mark Thornton. This Dozier Thornton deeded land in 1781 in Granville Co. , N. C. (adjacent to Warren Co. ) (D. B. ''O", p. 177), but was living in Wilkes Co., Ga. in 1785 and received land-grants there like Mark Thornton, Jr. and Thomas Thornton (Smith, op. cit., p. 604 and 639-40; Davidson, II, p. 44), proved sons of Mark3 Thornton. Rev. Dozier Thornton left a number of descendants in Georgia. The evidence indicates slightly that Dozier was youngest son of Mark3 Thornton and brother of Mark, Jr., John and Thomas Thornton.