[4] He received a letter of support from residents in New York for nomination to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court after the 1865 death of John Catron.
To his disappointment, he was withdrawn from school at age 16, and put to work in a wholesale dry goods house.
After several years, he joined a brokerage firm, experienced the volatility of the market, and finally, in 1836, relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, to clerk in a bank.
Hornor joined Durant in Washington DC in 1872, where he practiced law, including trying cases before the Supreme Court, until an advanced age.
Hornor had a lively intellect and after retirement, occupied himself pursuits as varied as studying medicine and translating Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s Lectures on Aesthetics from German to English.