THORNBER FAMILY FROM DOWNHAM NEAR CLITHEROE IN LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND

Emigration to the USA

The following information is abstracted from a book "The History of Matthew and Jane Ellison and Family" subtitled " A History of Matthew Ellison, Pioneer of Rock Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois", supplied to me by Michael LaCroix of Omaha.   There is much more information in the book but the following is provided to enable researchers to identify if this is a branch of the family that is of interest to them.

There is information on this family, starting with Richard and Hannah on the Ronspiez family history pages prepared by Dona Ronspiez.   I have added some details from this source to the tree below.   There is also a site provided by Chester Neff, mentioning Richard Thornber and Hannah Leatham, their son Henry and his daughter Mary Hannah Thornber. I am very grateful to Chester for sending me a detailed account of the descendents of the Thornbers in Illinois, including the surnames of Neff, Siegfried, Walker and Lambert with full details of the sources of information.

Chester Neff's document states that Richard Thornber shown at the top of my chart was born 14 May 1773 at Sawley. quoting as his source "The History of Matthew and Jane Ellison and Family by Mary Seigfried and Downham Registers. I am not aware of a baptism record at Downham for Richard in that year but Sawley is a small area between Clitheroe and Bolton by Bowland and only a few miles from Dowham.

I am also grateful to Sue Regan who has sent me details of the family of Abraham Shaw who married Margaret Thornber. Sue Regan identifies the Richard Thornber who married Hannah Laithom as the one who was the illegitimate son of Ann Thornber and was baptised in Downham on 14 May 1775. Ann was in turn the daughter of Richard Thornber and Susannah Tasker and was baptised in Downham on 12 Oct 1747. Richard was the son of John Thornber and Alice Marsden. This family is shown on these web pages with the second Thornber family on the Gisburn page.

The Henry in the second generation below (baptised 11 Feb 1816) is described as follows in the book:
 

HENRY Thornber was converted to the Church of the Latter-day Saints about 1839 and emigrated to America in 1842. He embarked at Liverpool with his widowed mother and two sisters, Jane and Alice on 12 January, arriving in New Orleans on 6 March. While sailing up the Mississippi by steam boat to Nauvoo, Alice succumbed to Cholera and was buried on the river bank. Henry worked as a shoemaker, and also for the local LDS church, becoming a body guard to Joseph Smith.  On 11 July 1845 he married Lucy Ellison at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Ilinois.  Henry's sister Margaret and her husband Abraham Shaw lived nearby and planned to move west with the Latter Day Saints so they sold their farm to Henry and Lucy. In 1853 Henry and his family returned to England as Lucy was homesick. They lived near Burnley for a time but stayed only two years before returning to their land of opportunity in 1855. Lucy died on 25 December 1866 from pneumonia, leaving Mary Hannah the role of caring for James Matthew, who was only five weeks old. Henry married again in 1868, to Margaret Pilkington who was born in Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England. They had one son, Amos Joseph Thornber, born 1 August, 1869. Henry died in Hancock County on 17 Feb. 1887, owning 1200 acres of prairie land. He was buried in the Thornber Cemetery which he and his son David had dedicated for public use as a burial ground.

Henry's second son, David Richard, is described as follows:

David Richard Thornber, born 1849, returned to England with his parents as a small boy from 1853 to 1855 but then grew up in Illinois on the farm purchased by his father, Henry, in Rock Creek Township. In 1871 David was married by the Presbyterian Minister, Rev. Waldenmeyer to Sarah Jane Haigh in Appanoose Township, Hancock County, Illinois.  David and Sarah moved to Montana in 1889 where Sarah died on 24 December 1920 and David on 15 March 1926. (The Ronspiez web page places his death in Los Angeles, California)

• 1.     Richard Thornber. Probably the Richard son of Ann Thornber, baptised at Downham 14 May 1775. Richard died on 15 Feb 1834 at Downham (information from Chester Neff).
• +      Hannah Laithom (Leatham).  In the register Richard and Hannah, both of this chapelry, were married on 4 September 1803 at Downham, witnesses were Thomas and Henry Wilkinson and Edward Dewhurst.  Children of Richard and Hanna (or Anna) baptised in Downham, Lancashire, England as shown below. Hannah was born in Downham and baptised on 6 April 1808. She died on 21 June 1879 (Information from Chester Neff)
  • 2.    Mary Thornber, daughter of Richard and Hannah Thornber, bapt. 24 Mar 1804, Downham
  • 2.    Susannah Thornber, daughter or Richard and Hannah Thornber, bapt. 6 Apr 1806, Downham
  • 2.    John Thornber, son of Richard and Hannah Thornber, bapt. 6 Dec 1807, Downham (This could be the John Thornber who married Sarah Slinger, both of this chapelry, at Downham, on 11 June 1835. A John Thornber aged 41, tailor, with wife Sarah is in the 1851 census at Upper Settle, information from Beth Merryweather in New Zealand.)
  • 2.    Joseph Thornber, son of Richard and Hannah Thornber, bapt. 25 Dec 1809, Downham. Burial 18 June 1880 (information from Sue Regan)
  • 2.    Margt. Thornber, daughter of Richard and Anna Thornber, bapt. 25 Aug 1811, Downham, emigrated with Henry and Jane
  • +     Abraham Shaw.
  • 2.    William Thornber, son of Richard and Anna Thornber, farmer, bapt. 25 Jul 1813, Downham. Burial 7 August 1879 (information from Sue Regan)
  • 2.    Henry Thornber, born 10 Jan, bapt. 11 Feb 1816, Downham. Said to be son of Richard and Hannah Thornber, farmer. Henry died 17 Feb 1887, Hancock County, Illinois, buried Thornber Cemetery, Powellton, Illinois.
  • +     1st wife of Henry, Lucy Ellison (born 23 Mar 1828, Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, dau. of Matthew Ellison and Jane Wilson) married on 11 July 1845 at Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. She died on 25 Dec 1866 at Hancock County and was buried in the Thornber Cemetery.
    • 3.    Ellen Thornber, born 29 May 1847, Adrian, Illinois; died 12 Sept 1848 of whooping cough and buried in the Thornber Cemetery.
    • 3.    David Richard Thornber, born 20 July 1849, Adrian, Illinois; died 26 Mar 1926, Los Angeles and was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.
    • +     Sarah Jane Haigh on 6 Apr 1871, Hancock County, Illinois.  Sarah Jane died in Montana on 24 Dec 1920.
      • 4.    John Henry Thornber, born 1872, Powellton, Illinois; died aged 2.
      • 4.    Lucy Sarah Thornber, born 1873, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Mary Ellen Thornber, born 1876, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Phoebe Thornber, born 1878, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Margaret Thornber, born 1878, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Rachel Thornber, 1883, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Daisy Jean Thornber, born 1887, Powellton, Illinois; died 1887
    • 3.     Mary Hannah Thornber, born 11 Jan 1852, Adrian (or Rock Creek Township) Hancock, Illinois; died 7 Oct 1834, Hancock, Illinois and buried in the Thornber Cemetery.
    • +     Isaac Siegfried on 28 Feb 1871, Carthage, Hancock, Ill.  The couple lived in Powellton and had seven children of whom one was Lucy Margaret Siegfried, born 14 March 1874 in Hancock County, Illinois. She married Chapin Chester Neff on 5 September 1898 in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa and these were the grandparents of my informant, Chester Neff.
    • 3.     John Thomas Thornber, was born 16 Oct 1854, Downham, Lancs., England, died 2 Apr 1938, in Hancock County, Illinois and was buried in the Thornber cemetery at Powellton.  Inherited a farm near Powellton from his father.
    • +     Flora Viola Berdine, married on 12 Sep 1877, Rock Creek township, Hancock, Illinois.  Flora died 28 July 1922, Powellton, Illinois.
      • 4.    Grace Margaret Thornber, 11 Aug 1878, Powellton
      • 4.    Henry Thornber, 6 January 1880; Powellton; buried 6 Aug 1880.
      • 4.    Frank Thornber, 20 Oct 1883, Powellton
      • 4.    Edrie Thornber, 24 Oct 1888.  Edrie was the paternal grandmother of Michael LaCroix, who provided me with much of the information in this section.
      • +     Jesse Raymond LaCroix, on 1 June 1909 at Keokuk, Iowa.
    • 3.     Lucy Margaret Thornber, born 29 Aug 1857, Powellton, Illinois; died 16 Dec 1888.
    • +      Charles Marion McCollum on 14 Sep 1874 at Carthage Illinois and they had four children born near Powellton.
    • 3.     Alice A. Thornber, born 30 Mar 1860, Powellton, Illinois; died 16 Aug 1860, Hancock, Ill.
    • 3.     William Henry Thornber, born 13 Apr 1861, in Rock Creek Township, Hancock, Ill; died on 28 Nov 1932, Hancock, Ill. and buried in the Thornber Cemetery in Powellton. William was a farmer
    • +      Luanna Lewis, dau. of Morgan Lewis and Mary Ann (Downing) Lewis on 10 September 1881.  Luanna died 10 Aug 1937, Powellton.
      • 4.    Mary Ann Thornber, born 16 Mar 1882, Powellton, Illinois
      • 4.    Thomas William Thornber, born 1 May 1884, Powellton, Ill.
      • 4.    Edith Margaret Thornber, born 24 Feb 1886, Powellton, Ill.
    • 3.     James Matthew Thornber, born 23 Nov. 1866, Rock Creek Township,  Ill; James died on 7  Aug 1956 in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Ft. Madison, Iowa.
    • +     1st wife of James Matthew was Cordelia Marie Egan, on 4 July 1888, Burlington Iowa.  She died on 27 October 1910.  They had one daughter:
      • 4.    Cheryl Egan Thornber, born 16 Jan 1892, Powellton, Illinois.
      • +  2nd wife of James Matthew was Mayme Jansen on 19 Jan 1914, St. Louis, Missouri.
      • + 2nd  wife of Henry Thornber was Margaret Pilkington, born Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, in 1868.
    • 3.     Amos Joseph Thornber, born 1 Aug 1869 in Hancock County Illinois.
  • 2.    Richard Thornber, son of Richard and Hannah Thornber, Richard describes as a farmer, baptised on 28 Sep 1817, Downham.
  • 2.    Ellen Thornber, dau. of Richard and Hannah Thornber, Richard described as a weaver, baptised on 1 Oct 1820, Downham. Note that it was common at this time for farmers to have additional occupations during the period when there was less to do on the land.
  • 2.    Alice Thornber is known from family tradition but her baptism has not been identified in the registers. She was born in 1822. She died in March 1842 of cholera on the journey from England while sailing up the Mississippi in a steamboat and was buried on the riverbank.
  • 2.    Jane Thornber, daughter or Richard and Hannah Thornber, weaver, 29 Aug 1824, Downham. She died on 30 July 1901 in Powellton, Illinois. She married Richard Lambert on 10 April 1842 in Nashville, Iowa. Richard Lambert was also a new emigrant. He was born on 17 November 1822 in Gargrave, Yorkshire, England. He died on 4 July 1907 in Rock Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois.
  • 2.    William Thornber, son of Richard and Anna Thornber, farmer, baptised on 25 July 1825, Downham

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