This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: THORNTON, Braxtan, Ward, Robertson, Long, Carlton, Mitchell, Barlow, Montgomery,
Wallace, McDougall, King, Bayliss, Woodward, Graystone,
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3h.2ADE/1595
Message Board Post:
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the
insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just
thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE:
I don’t know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no
index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches:
Surnames in this biography are: THORNTON, Braxtan, Ward, Robertson, Long, Carlton,
Mitchell, Barlow, Montgomery, Wallace, McDougall, King, Bayliss, Woodward, Graystone,
EDMUND BRAXTAN THORNTON. In the career of the late Edmund Braxtan Thornton, formerly one
of the pioneer stone men of Bedford, Lawrence County, Indiana, is shown what can be
accomplished by one who always held to the opinion that nothing succeeds like success, and
possessed within him the qualities, which secure success, no matter what may be the line
of endeavor. He was born at Bedford, January 11, 1856, a son of George A. and Mary
(Braxtan) Thornton. He died in Bedford, Indiana, June 28, 1929. George Thornton was born
at New Albany, Indiana, October 16, 1821, and came to Bedford as deputy clerk of Lawrence
County. Later he became a lawyer, and cashier of the Bedford State Bank. A stalwart member
of the Presbyterian Church, in the course of years he became an elder. His
parents, grandparents of Edmund Braxtan Thornton, were Henry P. and Martha (Ward)
Thornton. Henry P. Thornton was also a lawyer and a member of both the Kentucky and
Indiana Constitutional C!
onventions, and for two terms a member of the Indiana State Assembly. North
Carolina was his native state, and he was born at Salisbury, in 1783, and his
parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Robertson) Thornton. The Robertson family was founded
in the American colonies long prior to the American Revolution. When war was
declared with England by the colonists there were eight brothers in the Robertson family,
and nearly all of them became soldiers, patriots fighting for their rights. One of these
eight brothers, James Robertson, rose to the rank of a general, and fought with Generals
Marion, Sumter and Lee. He participated in the battles of Kings Mountain, Eutaw Springs
and Cowpens. Thomas Thornton, great-grandfather of Edmund Braxtan Thornton, and husband of
Elizabeth Robertson, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1755. Coming to America when
he was eighteen years old, he settled in North Carolina, and from that colony he twice
enlisted for the Revo!
lutionary war, and he, too, served with the generals above mentioned. After the close of
the war he went to Bourbon County, Kentucky. The date of his death is unknown, but he is
buried in that community. He had one son, Henry Presley Thornton, who was a member of the
Kentucky Rangers, known as the “Coonskins.” Henry Presley Thornton studied law under a
prominent Kentucky jurist, was a major in the United States Army, serving under Maj. Gen.
William Henry Harrison as a member of his staff; and he also served under the famous Dick
Johnson, who killed the Indian chief Tecumseh. Edmund Braxtan Thornton first attended a
private school and later the public schools, and he was one of four who comprised the
first graduation class at Bedford. He then entered the normal school at Medina, Ohio. From
that school he returned to Bedford, and passed his majority, and almost immediately
thereafter he was elected superintendent of the Lawrence County schools, which office he
!
held, by reelection, for two terms. For several years thereafter he was in the lumber
business at Enterprise and Ford, Kentucky, in partnership with Henry P. Long. Once more he
returned to Bedford, and from 1885 to 1888 he was superintendent of the Hoosier Stone
Quarries, which were then the largest holdings in Lawrence County. In 1888 he organized
the Bedford Steam Stone Works, of which he was president. This company was one of the
first to introduce machinery into the business, and the plant, one of the largest at
Bedford, is on the Monon Railroad. Mr. Thornton sold this business to Bedford
parties in 1923, just prior to the merger of the stone companies in Lawrence County. In
addition to this interest he was president of the Imperial Company, which comprised the
famous Blue Hole, which was the first quarry opened at Bedford and made the name Bedford
famous as connected with the stone which is sold all over the world. Mr. Thornton was also
president of the Indiana !
Limestone Association, a large organization of this part of the state. Still expanding, he
organized the Silica Sand Company, at Ottawa, Illinois, and was its president, and it was
his largest undertaking, and is still operated by his family. In addition to being his
crowning organization, it has the distinction of being the largest of its kind in the
world. As was but natural, a man in control of so many and important enterprises was
called upon to lend his name to financial projects, and he was president and a director of
the Citizen National Bank and a director of the Citizens Trust Company. He was a member
and elder of the Presbytenan Church, in whose welfare he took a deep interest. Mr.
Thornton was married to Mary Louise Carlton, who was born March 19, 1857, a daughter of
James C. and Caroline (Mitchell) Carlton, very prominent people. James C. Canton was born
June 17, 1832, a son of Robert M. and Laviana (Barlow) Carlton; and Robert M. Carlton was
a son of Ambrose and!
Jean (Montgomery) Carlton. Ambrose Carlton was born in North Carolina, in March, 1763, a
son of John Carlton and grandson of John Carlton, the latter of whom was lost at sea in
the latter part of the eighteenth century, after having settled in Virginia. His son, John
Carlton, married Elizabeth Wallace, a native of Virginia, and they had five children,
namely: Thomas, Levi. John, Elizabeth and Ambrose. Ambrose Carlton, already
mentioned, served in the American Revolution, seeing service in Virginia and Georgia, and
had the distinction of being under the command of General Washington, and held the rank of
sergeant. He came to Bedford, Indiana, after the close of the war, and was one of the
founders of the city, and his remains lie in its cemetery. James Canton, father of Mrs.
Thornton, was a Democrat, and was appointed postmaster of Bedford, first by President
Pierce, then by President Buchanan. With the accession of Andrew Johnson to the presidency
after the assassin!
ation of President Lincoln, Mr. Canton was once more appointed postmaster, and President
Cleveland also placed him in the same office. At the same time he was postmaster he was
also the leading druggist of Bedford. When only fifteen years old he had enlisted for
service during the war with Mexico, and served with the army as a drummer boy, and the
youngest in that war. His commanding officer was Gen. Lew Wallace. Later on he became a
charter member of the National Society of Mexican War Veterans, and was the last survivor
of the organization at the time of his death. In the early 50’s he was editor of the
People’s Advocate, one of the pioneer newspapers of Bedford. At the time he died he was
seventy-two years old, and he and his wife lie side by side in the Bedford Cemetery. Mr.
and Mrs. Thornton had five children born to them, as follows: Caroline, who is deceased;
Mary Louise, who married Philip Sidney McDougall, general manager of the Silica Sand
Company o!
f Ottawa, Illinois, and they have one child, Phyllis, the only grandchild in the
family; James C., who married Lillian King and lives in Connecticut; Eddie E., who
married Lester Yates Bayliss, a prominent attorney of Huntington, Long Island, New York;
and George Abram, who married Suzanna Woodward, and is secretary and treasurer of the
Silica Sand Company. Mrs. Thornton maintains her beautiful home on Lincoln Avenue,
Bedford. In addition to all of the other activities already mentioned in which Mr.
Thornton was interested, the following ought to be added, for they all benefited by his
acumen, his foresight and his executive ability. He was an officer of the Thornton-Levy
Company, of Indianapolis; secretary and director of the Central Veneer Company, Bedford;
president of the Graystone Realty Company, which built the Graystone Hotel at Bedford;
secretary and treasurer of the Bedford Cemetery Association; a member of the
Bedford Public Library board; a!
charter member of the Rotarians; a member of the Country Club and the Chamber of
Commerce; a director of the American Security Company; president of the Temperance League,
and he gave the site for the playgrounds and swimming pool of Bedford, and was always
trying to forward the welfare of the young people. Edmund Braxtan Thornton has passed to
his last reward but what he accomplished, and the influence of his useful, honorable and
successful life remain, and this and following generations yet to be born are and will be
the better for his having passed through this world. His character created respect
and invited confidence. His deep interest in constructive community enterprises bore
effective results, and because of what he accomplished many of today are endeavoring to
just as faithfully perform the duties assigned to them so that when they too pass on it
may be said of them, as it was of him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.