Jonathan (Thorn) Thorne (1724 - 1777)

Born 1724 in Kingston, Ulster, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Catharine (Livingston) Thorn — married 12 Jun 1751 in Croton, Westchester, New York

Descendants

Died 14 Nov 1777 at about age 53 in Hartford, Connecticut, United States

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Biography

Jonathan Thorn, born in 1724, married Catharine Livingston, born in Kingston, July 17, 1734, the daughter of Gilbert Livingston and Cornelia Beekman. They lived on land in Beekman Precinct in Lot No. 17, (now in the Town of LaGrange and at one time owned by Mr. John L. Buck), which had come to Catharine through her mother, the daughter of Henry Beekman, the patentee. Her brothers, Henry, Gilbert and James were already living at Poughkeepsie. Jonathan and Catharine were the parents of at least eight children. All these children, except Johannes Rutsen, was living at the time Jonathan made his will September 30, 1776.

Records, public and private, show that the first Jonathan Thorn was a citizen of Duchess County; was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Militia in the Births service from Beekman Precinct, February 1st, 1758, in the company of Myndert Viele; that he was a Tory to the extent of refusing to sign the "Articles of Association," and was listed first among the disaffected persons of Duchess County, and later as a prisoner.^[1]

Jonathan, the elder, was apparently possessed of some of the traits of character displayed by his grandson and namesake, Captain Jonathan Thorn, some sixty years earlier. Because he had married a daughter of Gilbert Livingston and Cornelia Beekman, it might have been assumed that he would sympathize with the American cause. Along with other military officers and those holding public office in Dutchess County, on April 1, 1758, as a second lieutenant, and on June 14 of the same year, as first lieutenant, Jonathan signed the oath of allegiance to King George and the Declaration of Belief in the Protest Faith. And, in 1776, he refused to sign the "Articles of Association," or Revolutionary pledge, together with Robert Thorn, Gilbert Thorn and Jesse Thorn, among others. In October of that year Jonathan, Nathaniel, Stephen and Robert Thorn, and a number of other Dutchess County men who were listed as "notoriously disaffected and inimical to the measures pursuing for the safety and defense of the United States of America," were sent by the Committee for Detecting Conspiracies to Exeter, New Hampshire, as prisoners. They were held there until February of the following year when they were permitted to return to Dutchess County to visit their families, having given bonds to return to Exeter by the first day of May, unless they should obtain leave to reside at home. On the 20th of March they were granted six days to consider of their taking the oath and on the expiration of this interval announced their determination not to do so. The committee resolved on May 15 that they be confined on the prison ships stationed in the Hudson River at Esopus. Dr. Stephen Thorn was paroled on June 7 and ten days later he subscribed to the oath of allegiance. In the fall, threatened by a British invasion, the Commission for Detecting Conspiracies was charged with the removal of prisoners from Kingston to Connecticut. Jonathan Thorn died at age 53 in Hartford on November 14, 1777^[2], and was buried there as a prisoner of war in the burying ground of the Center Church^[3]. His wife had died November 3, 1769.^[4]

Will, Abstract of

THORN, Jonathan, of Beekmans Prect., Dutchess Co. Children Gilbert, Stephen, Samuel, Cornelia, Jeames, Cornelius, Robert and Catharine. Real and personal estate. Executors sons Stephen and Gilbert with John Cooke. Witnesses Robt. van Rensselaer, Samuel Smith of Charlotte Prect., merchant, and Killian van Rensselaer. Dated 20 unclear month 1776, probate 20 May 1784. Calendar of New York Wills page 393.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 49
2. ↑ * The Connecticut Quarterly (Hartford, Conn., 1898) Vol. 4, Page 417: List of Burials, or "Sexton's List" of the Center Church Burying Ground, Hartford.
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 16 December 2020), memorial page for Jonathan Thorn (1724–14 Nov 1777), Find a Grave Memorial no. 40322171, citing Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by V. Nareen Lake (contributor 46613568) .
4. ↑ http://www.henrylivingston.com/bios/gilbertlivingstoncornelia.htm#cathjon
5. ↑ Calendar of Wills 1626-1836 https://ia802703.us.archive.org/27/items/calendarofwillso01fern/calendarofwillso01fern.pdf