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Who Was Margaret Thorlton Letsinger?
By

F.W. Thorlton

 

Well, for one thing, she was my 2nd Great Grandaunt. She was the daughter of Nancy Alexander Thorlton, the wife of Lewis Pettit Letsinger, the mother of 13 children, the grand-mother of 55 grand-children, and the great grandmother of 65 great-grand-children. And through no fault of her own she has become the center of an internet controversy. I am in part responsible for that controversy, but I feel no guilt. For I am defending her family, a family she loved.

If I could I would stop right now and end it. But if I did I would dishonor her and allow the false information now infused on the internet to have free reign to say whatever they wish with no one to dispute it.

For instance, recently put on one of those Websites is the following statement:

John Thorlton in Tennessee was known as Thornton and Thorlton, is ridiculous Thornton and Thorlton are totally different family names and have absolutely no genealogical connection. People who do not understand the family history often make this mistake, as did the scribes of old.

Well I dispute it and so did she. How did she dispute it,? you may say, she's been dead for over one humdred years. She disputed it in the following document:

What you are looking at is the 1900 Census for Greene Co. Indiana, Wright Township Showing Margaret Thorlton Letsinger.

At this time in history she was living alone. Still vital, still with all of her mental acuity, still the woman she always was.

One day the census taker asked her a series of simply questions!
Where were you born?
Where was your father born?
Where was your mother born?

Simple questions, how did she know that at that point in time and in that place her answers would be of so much importance?

More importantly and reinforcing my position, why would she answer the first two correctly and the last one with a muddled mind. It clearly shows and states that she was born in Tennessee, her father John Thorlton was born in Pennsylvania and her mother Nancy Alexander Thorlton was born in Maryland. This is paramount.

It was written about Margaret Thorlton Letsinger, that during the Civil War, her and her husband stood on their front porch and defied the Knights of the Golden Circle (a pro slavery group) in fear of their lives. Does this sound like a person raised under the early 1800 Virginia mind set of slavery as a way of life, I think not. However it was common in Maryland and East Tennessee.

How could she be the daughter of William Alexander whose children were born in Virginia? It is obvious that she was not. To all who ignore this obvious fact I say Nancy Alexander Thorlton was the daughter of James Alexander and she was born in Maryland, not Virginia and could not have been the daughter of William Alexander and neither was her brother Joseph.
For any who still refuse to accept this fact can check this for themselves by simply taking a look at the 1900 Census for Greene Co, Indiana Wright Township page 284 sheet 1.

My proof is above. So I repeat my warning to the Thorltons and the Letsingers and all the names of my family beware!
Many do not care about genealogy and that's fine, but if you do indeed care, beware!

 

F.W. Thorlton

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