Emigration to Australia
The following is based on information provided by John Henry Thornber in Australia. Family tradition and information in the family bible showed that he was descended from a John Thornber of Gisburn. The family bible showed that John married twice and had a son called John with this first wife. He then married Alice Bank in Gisburn in 1814 and there was a tradition that Alice had a connection with the Peel family. A birth certificate for John and Alice's youngest child, Ellen, born 15 July 1839 at Paythorn (near Gisburn) was obtained. It showed the mother to be Alice Thornber nee Bank. The IGI shows that an Alice Bank was baptised at Gisburn, dau. of Jams (James) and Betty, on 10 November 1795. The record for the marriage of James Bank to Betty Peell (sic) was found in the transcript of the registers of Gisburn, St. Mary on 7 February 1795. This shows that the family legend was correct in that Alice Bank's mother was from the Peel family.
In January 2009, John contacted me again with interesting news on James Henry Thornber in generation 3 below. James wrote a letter from the SS. Chyebassa in the Mediterranean on Sunday 9 October 1881 to his Uncle William and his Aunt in England. He finished the letter the following day as the boat neared Port Said. Later this letter was sent to to James Henry's daughter, Alice Howland, in Australia by William's daughter, Elsie. The letter indicates that William, in generation 2 was still alive in 1881. James Henry was the son of Henry and Nancy Thornber. Henry died when James was 4 years old and he had a guardian, a Mr Skirrow. To reflect the significance of Mr Skirrow in his life, he named his only son Oscar Skirrow Thornber. James married Elizabeth Hess, born in Mackay region in 1865 to German immigrants, which would account for the Oscar.
John has obtained a copy of the death certificate for Henry Thornber which shows he died 8 September, 1865 at the age of 31 at 9 Fish Lane, Blackburn from phthisis. The informant was Sarah Crossley of 21 Warwick Street, Blackburn who was present at the death.
The late Mr. A. H. Kay of Salisbury, who provided me with information on Thornber families in Gisburn, speculated that John Thornber born in 1774, the son of Henry Thornber of Horton Hall, married first Ann Parker in 1803 then Alice Bank in 1814. However there are some problems with this assignment. In the census of 1841, when ages were rounded down to the nearest multiple of five, John Thornber of the family below was said to be 55, pointing to birth in the period 1781 to 1786. There is a burial at Gisburn of a John Thornber in 1846. I have obtained the death certificate which shows that he was a tea dealer of Barnoldswick, aged 73. This seems to correspond with John, son of Henry, born around 1773. This John, also appears in the 1841 census, when he is said to be a tea dealer aged 65 (age rounded down).
Another candidate for the John who married Alice Bank is John son of Paul and Elizabeth, baptised 26 September 1781 at Houghton by Settle. While the birth date is plausible, he can probably be eliminated on the grounds that a John Thornber married Ann Charnley in 1810 and had a son called Paul baptised in Gargrave in 1816. As there are only two Paul Thornbers in the entire records for the area prior to 1830 I think that this points to the idea that the John Thornber naming a son Paul did so after his own father.
Another factor to be considered is that the name Anthony among the Thornbers is a feature of the Slaidburn branches of the family where it is found commonly together with Ralph and Giles. It is not seen in the Gisburn branches except in this case. Possible candidates for John among the Slaidburn families are a little early for his estimated age. There is John son of Ralph, baptised in May 1776 and John son of John baptised in 1772. I have not located marriages for either of these two Johns despite extensive searches in connection with my own branch of the family.
There was also John son of Thomas, baptised on 4 March 1786 at Waddington who fits the dates but there are no other clues to connect with this family. There was also a John son of Anthony, baptised at Waddington on 26 August 1787 and he needs to be investigated as a candidate. As a result of these findings, it has not yet been possible to identify the John Thornber who married Alice Bank. In terms of Christian name patterns we have few clues as with the exception of Anthony all the other names are very common. However, it may be significant that John named his eldest son John and this may have been the name of his own father or grandfather.
The following details of the children of John Thornber are
from the family bible. There was a son by John's first wife, called John, baptised
18 November 1805. I have added the baptisms from Horton in Craven, the
details of John and Alice's marriage and found the family in the 1841 census
as shown below.
John, was said to be 55 (pointing to birth in the period 1781-1786) and his wife, Alice, 45 but ages were rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 at that census for those over 15. Children reported to be Elizabeth, 20; Margaret, 20; Thomas, 15; Henry, 7; Mary, 4 and Ellen, 1.
I am grateful to John Henry Thornber for sending me a link to a site giving details of James Henry Thornber, who became Mayor of Mackay. The site gives the interesting information that James Henry Thornber had a daughter Ilma who married Sir Arthur Fadden, who was briefly the Prime Minister of Australia from 19 August to 7 October 1941. John also sent me a link to a picture of the shop of James Henry Thornber.
"Mackay residents pose for a photograph in front of J.H. Thornber's New Palace Stores. The stores opened early in 1887 replacing the old Palace Stores which were located on the southern side of Victoria Street between Wood and Gregory Streets. John Henry Thornber had previously been in partnership with Samuel Lambert. The new Palace Stores were situated on the northern side of Victoria Street between Brisbane and Carlyle Streets, and twenty years later the Grand Hotel was constructed on the corner (to the left) of what had been a half-acre block. Because of the low-lying nature of the land, the stores were built on nine-foot stumps. Other owners included Pearce and Marryatt, and Brooks & Neill, W.H. Willliams (not in that order) and E de Campo. The last tenant before the stores were demolished in 2005 was Michael Moohin Second Hand store."
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