Joseph Williams Thorne (December 25, 1816 - 1897) was a politician in North Carolina.
[3] He succeeded a deceased member of the North Carolina House in 1874.
[2] In a letter he stated he was for temperance and against all use of alcohol and never played cards.
[7] During the 1874 session there were four African American state senators and 13 African Americans in the North Carolina House of Representatives, both bodies having large Democratic Party majorities.
In 1914, Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac Hamilton as the last "carpetbagger"in the legislature and as someone "not suffered to remain long" in the office he held.