Francis Thornton

Lt. Francis Thornton of Rolling Hill (October 22, 1747 – November 18, 1808) was a planter and soldier during the American Revolutionary War. Thornton served as cornet of Lee's Legion of Light Dragoons commanded by Major-General Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee. Thornton went on to serve as a lieutenant in the Charlotte County Militia in the later part of the Revolution. Thornton was the son of William Thornton a Burgess for Brunswick County, Virginia and a great-great-grandson of William Thornton who arrived in Virginia from England as late as 1646 settling in Gloucester County, Virginia. Thornton was commonly known as "Frank Thornton" as indicated in the historical record and often referred to as "Francis Thornton of Rolling Hill" to differentiate him from his cousins Francis Thornton of Fall Hill and Francis Thornton of Society Hill. Thornton was a distant cousin of Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor. Early life and education Thornton was born in Gloucester County, Virginia to William Thornton a prominent Colonial Burgess and Judge and Jane Clack, the granddaughter of the Rev. James Clack. His parents were first cousins and benefited greatly not just the primogeniture status that settle a comfortable size estate upon William Thornton but also from an estate passed matrilineal from Peter Sterling, a seventeenth century surgeon with landholdings in Gloucester County, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland. By 1753, Thornton's family removed to Brunswick County, Virginia where is father gained significant economic and political control. Thornton's formal education is not known, however inferred information from legal documents and the historical record indicate he received a formal education and was fully literate. Thornton married and set up his own household by 1769 obtaining land settled upon him in what is today Charlotte County, Virginia. American Revolution Thornton was commissioned as cornet in Lee's Legion of Light Dragoons on April 21, 1778 serving until January 1, 1779. The majority of his period of service in the Continental ranks was training and foraging, his troop was involved in the retaliatory skirmish known as the "Battle of Edgar's Lane" on September 30, 1778 near Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Thornton resigned his commission at the beginning of 1779, likely for needs of his family and plantation. In April 1780 Thornton took the Oath of Allegiance and mustered in as 2nd Lieutenant of the Charlotte County Militia.