THORNHILL

Tim's mother was born a THORNHILL. In the course of researching her THORNHILL line we discovered that it had been documented rather thoroughly in a wonderful 1974 book by Barbara Kerr (which focuses on Thornhill and allied BEAUFOY and SIDDONS families): The Dispossessed: an aspect of Victorian social history. Most of what we know about our Thornhill line before it arrived in the U.S. -- with Henry Mark Thornhill, in the 1870s or 1880s -- comes from Kerr's book.

Our other major source is Mark Bensley Thornhill's 1884 book The personal adventures and experiences of a magistrate during the rise, progress and suppression of the Indian mutiny, an original copy of which was passed from son to son, and is now owned by Tim's uncle. (The family was associated with the British East India Company for several generations. Mark, unlike his two brothers who were also serving in India in 1857, survived the slaughter -- by posing as a Muslim woman during his escape.)

According to Kerr's text, quite a few descendants of Cudbert and his son John emigrated -- to New Zealand and the US, among other places. Some Thornhill descendants may still be in India today.

Henry Mark married Mary Clinton WRIGHT (1852-1919), a Philadelphia woman whose ancestry included at least one female Revolutionary War hero and about whom we're learning more all the time. Despite the material available, however, some of Henry Mark's life -- and the lives of his father and younger son -- are still a great mystery.

Our current areas of THORNHILL interest:

• obtaining Mark's book on the Mutiny in microform, and the other two books he wrote (Indian Fairy Tales; Haunts and Hobbies of an Indian official) in any form
• finding Henry Mark's date of immigration
• finding any records at all of Henry Mark in the US (he doesn't appear in the 1880 Soundex, didn't live as long as the 1900 census, doesn't appear in 1873 or 1881 city directories)
• learning what happened to Henry Mark's younger son, Mark B. (the "B." probably stands for "Beaufoy"), who disappeared at the end of World War I, under a financial cloud, leaving three young daughters by two different women (one of those daughters is still living, and would really like to know!).

A rough chart of our lines of interest is below -- it's by no means complete, as we actually have spouse/descendant information for a lot of these folks. We're happy to share notes on request.

Cudbert Thornhill
  b. 1722
  d. 1809
& Maria Ursula UNKNOWN
|  John Thornhill
|    b. 1773
|    d. 1841
|  m(1) Henrietta Sarah Craigie
|    d. 1811
|  |  John Thornhill
|  |  Mary Thornhill
|  |  Emily Thornhill
|  |    d. 1877
|  John Thornhill
|  m(2) 1817 Henriette Philippine Beaufoy
|    b. 1784
|    d. 1866
|  |  Robert Bensley Thornhill
|  |    b. 1818
|  |    d. 1857
|  |  Cudbert Bensley Thornhill
|  |    b. 1820
|  |    d. 1868
|  |  Mark Bensley Thornhill
|  |    b. abt 1821
|  |    d. prob. 1900, Isle of Wight, UK
|  |  m(1) 1852 Anne Kirke
|  |    d. 1867
|  |  |  Henry Mark Thornhill
|  |  |    b. 1853, prob. in British East India
|  |  |    d. abt 1891
|  |  |  & Mary Clinton Wright
|  |  |    b. abt May 1852, PA
|  |  |    d. 1919, PA
|  |  |  |  William Henry Taylor Thornhill
|  |  |  |    b. abt Jul 1888, PA
|  |  |  |    d. abt Jul 1965, Maine
|  |  |  |  & Eleanor Marie Spence
|  |  |  |    b. May 1889, OH
|  |  |  |    d. abt Nov 1963, Deerfield Beach, FL
|  |  |  |  |  (living son)
|  |  |  |  |  |  (living daughter)
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  Timothy William Lord Pierce (living)
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  & Ellen Keyne Seebacher
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  (living son)
|  |  |  |  |  |  (living son)
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  (two living sons)
|  |  |  |  Mark B. Thornhill
|  |  |  |    b. Mar 1890, PA
|  |  |  |  m(1) UNKNOWN
|  |  |  |  |  Mary Thornhill
|  |  |  |  |    b. bef 1914
|  |  |  |  Mark B. Thornhill
|  |  |  |  m(2) UNKNOWN
|  |  |  |  |  Dorothy Thornhill
|  |  |  |  |    b. abt 1915
|  |  |  |  |    d. abt 1925
|  |  |  |  |  (living daughter)
|  |  |  |  |    (living children, grandchildren)
|  |  |  Edith Thornhill
|  |  |  Annie Thornhill
|  |  |  Margaret Thornhill
|  |  |  Kitty Thornhill
|  |  |  Ellen Thornhill
|  |  Mark Bensley Thornhill
|  |  m(2) 1872 Mary Birkett
|  |    d. 1901
|  |  Henry Bensley Thornhill
|  |    d. 1857, India