Thornton, Solon

Born: 1821-07-07 Alstead, New Hampshire

Died: 1902-01-29 Chicago, Illinois

Flourished: Boston, Massachusetts

Solon Thornton was a businessman, bookkeeper, merchant, clothier, and tailor. Thornton married Melancy C. Bryant in September 1846. In July 1849, Thornton married Cordelia A. Tilton, with whom he had two children. In 1850, Thornton was working as a bookkeeper and living in Boston's Fifth Ward. Thornton operated, in partnership with Nathaniel Keith, the firm of Keith & Thornton, a wholesale and retail establishment in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in ready-made clothing and furnishings. Keith & Thornton was the successor of the firm Earl Johnson and Company. Keith & Thornton operated their business at 29 and 30 Dock Square from 1856 to 1857, when it became insolvent. In 1860, Thornton was living in Boston's Eighth Ward and owned real property valued at $1,000.

New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Records, 1631-1924 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2021); William Richard Cutter, comp., New England Families: Genealogical and Memorial (New York: Lewis Historical, 1913), 4:2104; New Hampshire, U.S., Marriage Records, 1700-1974 6 September 1846, Lempster (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2021; Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 12 July 1849, Marshfield (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 5, Boston, Suffolk County, MA, 256; Boston Directory, for the Year 1856 (Boston: George Adams, 1856), 8, 190; Boston Directory, for the Year 1857 (Boston: George Adams, 1857), 8, 198; Daily Evening Stanard (New Bedford, MA), 20 October 1857, 2:3; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 8, Boston, Suffolk County, MA, 102; Illinois Statewide Death Index, Cook County, 29 January 1902, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.