His parents, John and Mary Johnston Thornton, raised twelve children in central Ohio and were respected farmers in the local communities.
[2] Thornton subsequently moved to southern Indiana and read law in the office of prominent local attorney, John A. Brackenridge.
When Abraham Lincoln was reading law, the future president visited the courtroom to hear Brackenridge’s oratory and later borrowed books.
[4] However, by the end of the 1840s, Thornton began hearing glowing reports from family members and friends who had travelled to Texas and told of the availability of land and new opportunities.
Over the next decade, Thornton’s business boomed: he served as clerk to the mayor and board of aldermen and was county representative to the state temperance society.
[2] Upon returning to Texas, which was under a provisional government, Thornton was appointed judge of the 24th District Court and oversaw the re-imposition of federal authority, including forcing former Confederates to swear allegiance to the United States in order to conduct business and to vote.