William Thornton

William Thornton was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 1713, the son of James and Elizabeth (Jenkins) Thornton. With his brothers and father, James, he was one of the first settlers in 1740 of Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. In early 1744, he moved to Palmer, Hampden County, Massachusetts, where he lived on a farm on the east side of Dumplin Hill. In the latter part of 1744, William Thornton married Dorcas Little. In March of 1748, he sold his farm at Palmer, and became the first settler of the town of Dublin, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, which town was granted in 1749 to Dr. Matthew Thornton and other worthy settlers. The farm originally owned by William Thornton has an historical marker stating it to be the first place of settlement in the town. In 1753, William moved his family to a farm in what is now Princetown, Schenectady County, New York. The area where he settled was then called Corris Bush or Corry's Brook, and is now known as land west of Rynex Corners on the Mariaville Road, one quarter mile west of North Kelly Road. Under the date of May 12, 1767, William Thornton, or his son William Jr., is listed on the rolls of a volunteer infantry company of the Schenectady Militia commanded by Captain Daniel Campbell; this unit was formed in 1763 at the end of the French and Indian War. In 1774, he moved to Thornton, Grafton County, New Hampshire, where he died in 1790.

William had remarried at some time to Eleanor Unknown, they had at least six children, Samuel, Dorcas, Eleanor, Abraham, Catherine and Sarah. William Thornton was a brother of Dr. Matthew Thornton, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, while serving as a delegate from New Hampshire to the Continental Congress.