Thornton, David G.
David G. Thornton (1872-1944)
Winchester, NH
In 1889, David Thornton moved to Winchester, New Hampshire. The 18-year old Black teenager was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1872 but had spent part of his youth in Boston, MA. Within a couple of years in Cheshire County, NH, Thornton married Ida M. (Shaw) White, a white mother of two children, Girtie White (2) and Nora White (newborn).
The young family struggled to make ends meet, as Thornton tried to find work as a blacksmith. The Thornton family appear in the Cheshire County pauper records by September 1893, seeking assistance. Within a few months, son George E. Thornton was born. Son Albert D. Thornton joined the family in October 1895 as the family’s fourth child. Unfortunately, both of the Thornton sons died as babies in 1894 and 1895 respectively.
In 1900, the Thorntons appeared in the US census, still living in Winchester. Father David worked as a farmer and mother Ida at home with the children. The Keene Sentinel reported in 1903 that the selectmen in Winchester made Thornton a policeman. In October of that year, he was involved in arresting Oliver Patinode, accused of punching and killing a man. David Thornton ran into some trouble in August 1907 when Rose Welch of Hinsdale, NH, gave birth to his son. David and Ida, however, remained together into the 1920s.
By 1920, David Thornton was in his 40s and worked as a “barn man” at the New England Box Company in town, a manufacturing firm that employed at least two other men of color in the early 20th century. His work in the community continued to change. A Keene Sentinel article from Feb. 1930 eludes to David Thornton’s work as an ice man, where he “escaped serious injury when he became trapped between two large ice cakes at the Forest Lake Ice House. It tore the muscles in his shoulder and ribs.” In his 50s, Thornton worked as a mason’s helper and the family resided in their own home on Elm Street.
Ida (Shaw) Thornton died in 1930 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Winchester. David Thornton would later remarry a young widow of color, Elizabeth “Bessie” (Hazard) Juniper in 1940. He was 70 years old at the time of his second marriage and still working for wages, earning about $330/year. Bessie moved into the Elm Street house with her children: Charles Juniper (13, b.VT) and in grade 5, Elizabeth Juniper (12, b.VT) and in grade 4, Lawrence (7, b.NH), and James (4, b.NH).
The second marriage would only last for about four years. David Thornton died on August 1, 1944. He is buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Winchester, NH.
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY
DAVID G. THORNTON was born in Louisville, KY, in 1872. He married IDA SHAW WHITE (1873-1930) in Winchester, NH, in 1892. She had: Gertie White (1890-1893) and Nora L. White (1892). David and Ida had: George E. Thornton (1894-1894) and Albert D. Thornton (1895-1895). David also fathered a child with Rose Welch in 1907. Ida (Shaw) Thornton died in Winchester in 1930. David married second ELIZABETH “BESSIE” HAZARD in 1940. They had: David G. Thornton (1940-1972). David Thornton Sr. died on August 1, 1944 in Winchester, NH.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Keene Sentinel, July 20, 1898, p.3
Keene Sentinel, March 26, 1903
Knudson, Millie S. Obliged to Ask for Relief: The Journal of Cheshire County NH Pauper Records, 1885-1900.- Historical Society of Cheshire County archives
New Hampshire Vital Records, Births, 1894, 1895- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, 1917 - Ancestry.com
Struthers, Clifford. “Evergreen Cemetery Winchester 1739-2003”- Historical Society of Cheshire County archives
U.S. Federal Census Records, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940- Ancestry.com