He was born in May 1859 in Germany, and died 24 Dec 1925 in Hubbard, Nebraska.

I have a distant cousin who sent me these pictures this past month.  I am so thankful and am looking forward to sharing them with the rest of my family.

These pictures are of James Patrick Thornton (1824-1887), my 3rd great-grandfather.  He came to the U.S. (first to Illinois and then Nebraska) from Ireland.

These photos were scanned from an album in my cousin’s possession.  The album has a stamp that says “Patent June 6, 1882″ in it.

He is buried the small Hubbard Cemetery on a hill in Hubbard, NE.  He was the first person buried there.

For some reason, I can’t find the picture of his other gravestone, in the middle of the above on and his wife’s.  Instead, I will include this rubbing.  As you can see, he was born in Rassan, Parish of Creggan, County Louth, Ireland on 2 Feb 1824.

This obituary was from the North Nebraska Eagle, dated 28 July 1887.

Last Thursday night Hubbard precinct lost one of her best citizens, Mr. James Thornton.  He had been to Jackson and after returning home complained to his wife of not feeling very well.  For some years he had been unable to do a day’s work having hurt his back.  Soon after entering the house he retired never to awaken again.  His funeral took place Saturday followed by a large concourse of friends.

This was apparently also from the North Nebraska Eagle, although I”m not sure if it was from the same edition (I don’t have the original, just a transcription):

Jamas Thornton
A pioneer, a patriot, a neighbor
Has done his part, complet’d the labor

An aged parent, an honored chief
Lies dead, and fills the house with grief.

Friends and mourners gathered
And many a fervent prayer rendered.

That the soul which left the shell
May henceforth with its Maker dwell.

Reader, stop!  and shed a tear
For him who went before, who is your pioneer

July 20, 1887, L.E.

Philip’s wife was named Johanna, but I believe she was his second wife, as his first wife was Margaret.  His children were James Paul, Michael, Mary, and Edward Charles.  He lived in Alton, Madison County, Illinois and ran a grocery store.

This was one of the treasures I found in Philip’s probate records.  He owned a grocery store in Alton, Illinois.

It was neat to see his letterhead, even though it seems to have been crossed out for the purpose of this letter.

I looked on Google Maps to see where the store was located. It looks like Belle Street may have moved a little bit over time – and that a residential area is where part of Belle Street used to be. Looking at the corner of Belle and 16th streets, it doesn’t seem like this was a very busy urban area. It must have been a country store. There are a couple of structures there on what was the corner – I wonder if one of these could have been the store??  Probably not, considering he was a grocer in the 1870′s-80′s time period.  The building is most likely long gone.

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I was happy to find these signatures in a probate packet for Sophia Ross Pottgen (my 4th great-grandmother).  It was dated 1877.

Joseph Padgen, Kate Harris, and Louisa Thornton (my 3rd great-grandmother) were her 3 children.  James Thornton was Louisa’s husband and Philip was his brother.  They lived in Alton, Illinois – not too far from St. Louis, Missouri.

It’s always interesting to me to see the different ways that Pottgen is spelled – and it makes me wonder if this is the reason that I have a hard time finding them.  Besides being on both sides of the river (in the St. Louis area and in Alton, Illinois) the name also seems to have been spelled in various ways: Padgen, Potgen, Poettchen, Poettgen, Pottgen, Patkin, Podgen, etc.

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Louisa Mary Pottgen was born in Alton on 30 July 1836 (this still remains to be proven by me, because I don’t have a birth record).  Her parents, Francis and Sophia (Ross) Pottgen were immigrants from Germany.  Louisa married James Patrick Thornton, an Irish immigrant, in the early 1850′s.  They moved to Nebraska probably in the late 1870′s.

Here is a little history of this town that they spent a good deal of their lives in (the majority of this is from Wikipedia)…

Alton was founded in 1818 by Rufus Easton, and was named after his son.  Easton ran a ferryboat service from Alton to Missouri.

It became an important town for abolitionists, since Illinois was a free state and just across the river from Missouri, a slave state. Escaped slaves would cross the river and look for shelter in Alton before moving on to safer places. There were many stations on the Underground Railroad in this little city. You can read more about it here.

On November 7, 1837, the abolitionist printer, Reverend Lovejoy, was murdered by a pro-slavery mob while he was trying to protect his press. Lovejoy became the first martyr of the abolitionist movement.

The Alton and Sangamon Railroad was chartered in 1847 and finished in 1852.  It had service from Alton to Springfield and eventually to Chicago.

On October 15, 1858, Alton was the site of the seventh and final debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.  There were 5,000 people in attendance.  You can read the full transcript of this debate here.

The first penitentiary in Illinois was in Alton, and during the Civil War, it was used to house close to 12,000 Confederate prisoners. Many of them died in a smallpox epidemic and are buried in a cemetery in town. You can actually search through records here to see if your Confederate ancestor was in the prison (they aren’t complete).

And something fun (which has nothing to do with my ancestors since they didn’t live in Alton in this same time period) – Robert Wadlow, the tallest human being, was from Alton.   There is a statue of him in town and a room dedicated to him at the local historical museum.

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I was able to make a very short, rushed visit to Alton last year.  I ended up finding my ancestors’ gravestones, but didn’t have time to stop for anything else, unfortunately.  I’m hoping to make a longer trip there in the future.

I had never really given much thought to the history of Alton before and how it may have affected my ancestors’ lives.  I now have some questions I’ve been thinking about:

• Did they moved to Alton because they were abolitionists?  Did they ever help escaped slaves? I know that this is a long shot, but with the large amount of abolitionist activity in the area, I have to wonder.
• They were living in Alton in 1858.  Did they attend the Lincoln-Douglas debate?  How exciting!!
• How were their daily lives during the Civil War?  Were they scared of having such an overcrowded prison in their town?  I know that Louisa Pottgen Thornton’s brother, Henry Pottgen was killed during the War.  He had fought at Vicksburg, but ended up dying of chronic diarrhea – which I have noticed was quite common amongst the soldiers of this era.
•  Did they travel to St. Louis very often?  It was only a ferryboat ride away.  Did they have family that lived there?  The majority of Pottgen names I’ve found in the US happen to be in the St. Louis area.  Makes me wonder.
• James Thornton was a RR agent in 1870 in Alton.  Did the railroad bring him to Alton?

I wonder why my grandpa is in a suit and tie, while the rest of the guys are dressed more casually.

This photo was actually labeled, but the names are hard for me to read.

Here is my best guess, left to right: Don Salem, Bob Salhajan?, Bud Fahay, Charlie Hart, Al Thornton Jr.

My grandpa is the Marine in the middle  – the one holding the pineapple.   My guess is that this was taken in Hawaii.

I thought in honor of my birthday, I’d share my hospital picture.  I was 8 lbs, 11 oz.

Have you ever seen one like it before? Too funny!

I never met Darwin – actually I never even spoke to him or his family.  I was given a copy of a copy of a copy of his genealogy research by my aunt though, and I am very thankful for that.  He did a ton of great research in the years before Ancestry.com and online databases.  Not only did he do a lot of research, but he also put it into a narrative format which makes it so easy and enjoyable to read.  I was very excited to receive the copy of his work early on in my family history quest.  Even though I can find most of the names and dates on my own now online,  what is invaluable in his work is the stories.  It’s not just names and dates, but memories and pictures.

So, if Darwin’s family is out there in Internet-land and finds this, I just want them to know that his work is appreciated!  It has inspired me to do the same sort of writing for other lines of my family.  I hope that some day I am able to write my own family history books for my descendants to read.

Mrs. Ellen Thornton
A resident here for 30 years, Mrs. Ellen Thornton, 79, died Thursday in the home of a son, Clarence J. Thornton, 816 16th street.
She was born in Dubuque February 22, 1863.  She was a member of the Royal Neighbors of America.
Surviving are four sons, Alonzo, Edward, Joseph, and Clarence, all of Sioux City, and James E. of Chicago; three daughters, Mrs. Marie McHale of Portland, Ore., Mrs. Ella Thompson and Mrs. Irene Underscheid, both of Sioux City, and a sister, Mrs. John Sullivan of Jackson, Neb.
Funeral services will he held at 9 a.m. Saturday in Cathedral of the Epiphany with Rev. T. M. Parle officiating  Burial will be in the Catholic cemetery at Hubbard, Neb., under the direction of Larkin’s funeral home.  The body will be taken to the home this afternoon, where a rosary will be said at 3:30 o’clock.

{Her husband, Edward Joseph Thornton, died almost 40 years before her in a farming accident. She never remarried and was left to raise 8 children on her own. }

Hopefully someday, a researcher will be able to find their ancestor.

I’m so proud of my “Papa” as we always called him.  He saw so much action by the time he was 20, but it was that way with many men during WWII.  I can’t imagine what a stressful time this must have been for his mother, having four sons all gone to war at the same time.  Thankfully, they all came home!

Here he is on the left, with a friend.  I really wish that I had a picture of all 4 brothers together.  I wonder if they took one after the war.

I don’t ever remember going to see the “Mall Santa”. Probably because that cost money. Our elementary school had a Christmas party, complete with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. I don’t know if they’re allowed to do that anymore, are they?

This is a picture of me (on the floor), my sister Andrea and brother David.   Love the shag carpet and just noticed that Santa is in black tennis shoes and plastic “boot” leggings.   This must have been taken in December of 1982, making me 6 years old.

Last Christmas, we took the kids to see the REAL Santa Claus at the Santa Claus house in North Pole, AK.  They unfortunately weren’t in the best of moods, but oh well.

I wish that I had some of the Christmas lists I sent to Santa.  I’m sure there was some really cool stuff on there!  I have made sure that I’ve saved the lists that my kids have made, because I’m sure that they will enjoying reading them 50 years from now.