Rev. Walter T THORNSBERRY Jr.

   Other names for Walter were W. T. THORNBERRY and Rev. Walter T. THORNBERRY Jr.

  Birth Notes:

from p328 "A history of the expansion of Methodism in Texas, 1867-1902"

  Death Notes:

19 FEB 1891

  Noted events in his life were:

• Reference: History of Methodism in Arkansas By Horace Jewell, 1848, AR. p135-136
The thirteenth session of the Arkansas Conference at Pine Bluff, November, 1848, Bishop Andrew, President.

Benoni Harris, W. J. Stafford, James B. Thetford, Walter T. Thornberry, James M. Jones, Robert G. Britton, Samuel Morris, James E. Cobb, David H. Caruthers, Richard Martin, James S. Kemp and H. G. Carden were received on trial. The reader will notice in this list a number of names that after years became prominent in the Conferences, and to whom we will again have names to refer.

• Occupation: pastor - Methodist Church in Clarksville, 1852, Johnson County, AR. 1852, W. T. Thornberry

[Johnson County, Arkansas, the first hundred years, p77]

• Legal: Thornberry et al vs Baxter et al, 1856, Washington County, AR. Reports of cases at law and in equity argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Volume 24
Published by B.J. Borden, 1867

Thornberry et al vs Baxter et al , p76-78

Appeal from Washington Circuit Court in Chancery
Hon John M Wilson Circuit Judge
Watkins for the appellants
Mr Justice Fairchild delivered the opinion of tho court

On the 21st of April 1856 Martin W Thornberry conveyed unto Walter T Thornberry a large amount of lands a number of negroes a stock of merchandize accounts and evidences of debt and other personal property in trust for the payment of all debts which he owed. The debts were divided into two classes and those of the first class were to be fully paid and in the order in which they were specified in the deed while those of the second class comprising the residue of his indebtedness were to be paid ratably as money conld be procured for their payment from the property conveyed. The creditors included in the second class were named but provision was made for any that might be omitted from specification the expressed intent of the deed being that all of the creditors of Martin W Thornberry except the preferred ones of the first class should stand upon an equal footing. There were many provisions in the deed which need not be noticed as the only question now to be considered is whether the demurrer that was interposed to the bill filed in this case should have been sustained for want of proper parties.

The bill was brought by a large number of creditors of the second class who had not accepted the provisions of the deed against Martin W Thornberry and his wife tho grantors and against Walter T Thornberry the grantee in the deed and did not attempt to bring before the court other creditors of the second class or any of the numerous class of preferred creditors. The bill alleged that several of the pieces of land contained in the deed had been conveyed by the trustee to persons named and that other property as negroes had also been sold to persons known to the plaintiffs. Without any recognition of the interests of other creditors beneficiaries of the deed of trust or of the claims that could be set up by the vendees and buyers of the trust property the bill sought to have the deed set aside for being fraudulent and void. If the bill had clearly shown that the sales made by the trustee would not bo disturbed and that the plaintiffs elected that the proceeds of the sales should go into the fund instead of the property sold and conveyed the plaintiffs might perhaps have been excused from making the purchasers of the property parties but in no event could the preferred and omitted creditors have been passed by without having been brought into court for an opportunity to protect their interests.

The defendant Walter T Thornberry raised these points in a demurrer as objections to the bill but it was overruled and in default of answers the circuit court of Washington county sitting in chancery declared the deed to bo fraudulent and void and required Walter T Thornberry to account for his dealings with the trust property and turn over that remaining to a receiver appointed by the court.

The demurrer should have been sustained the decree is reversed the case is to be sent back with instructions to sustain the demurrer with leave to the plaintiffs to amend their bill.

• Reference: La Vernia United Methodist Church, 1858, Wilson County, TX. In 1858, a new schoolhouse-Masonic Lodge building was completed at Bethseda (later known as Concrete, near La Vernia.) Here the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians were privileged to hold alternating religious services. Church reports for that year include this item:

"W. T. Thornberry, Lavernia Circuit, 40 conversions and 31 accessions." A fruitful harvest for the Methodists, evidently! Around the turn of the century, at Bethesda they were still holding Methodist Sunday School and occasional preaching in the school house because for many people it was too far to go to La Vernia where the church was built.
[...]
On April 7, 1881, the trustees, N. M. Newton, W. B. Newton, H. N. Graves, R. Kingdon and T. P. Camp, led the congregation in buying 973/1000ths of an acre of land from Mrs. G. H. McMahon for $50.00, along with one-half acre of land from Mrs. E. S. Leach for $12.50, on which to build their own church house. Rev. W. T. Thornberry, of the Cibolo Circuit, was "supplying" La Vernia at the time. The Rev. H. S. Thrall reports in his "A Brief History of Methodism in Texas" (1894), "And in 1881 a neat frame church was dedicated at La Vernia by J. B. Dibrell, a former pastor," apparently on October 9^th. Rejoicing may be seen in the beautiful handwriting of the new (now the oldest!) Sunday School Record Book which includes these words, "Organization of Asbury Chapel Sunday School at La Vernia, Oct. 9^th, 1881."
[...]
PAST PASTORS
LA VERNIA UMC PASTORS (1876 to the present)
John E. Vernor 1876-1877
Unknown 1877-1878
J. B. Dibrell 1878-1879
Unknown 1879-1880
W. T. Thornberry 1880-1883
[...]

[http://www.laverniaumc.org/Our_History.htm]

• Tax List, 1865, TX. Name: W F Thornberry
State: Texas
Tax Year: 1865
Roll Title: District 3; Annual, Monthly and Special Lists; Dec 1865-Dec 1866
NARA Series: M791
NARA Roll: 2

• Occupation: Methodist Minister, 1868, Uvalde County, TX. Utopia United Methodist Church
200 Cypress Street
Utopia, Texas 78884

In 1868 Mr. Potter came back to conduct the first camp meeting ever held in the Sabinal canyon. The people came from as far as forty miles camping in covered wagons and tents. He was assisted by J. A. J. Smith, local preacher, who supplied the circuit that year. There were also present at this meeting Irvin Jones, and Mr. Newton, local preachers. W. T. Thornberry was then presiding elder of the district.

• Legal: Fort Worth daily gazette, 1888, TX. October 24, 1888
Rev. Mr. Thornsbury, an aged Methodist minister, secured a judgment against the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway for $4000 for personal injuries.

The evidence showed that there were five persons to get off the train at a certain point, and when the first one was off the train began to move. Mr. Thornsbury was the last to alight, and by the time he did so the train was moving so rapidly that he was thrown with great violence against a telegraph pole, breaking his leg and otherwise injuring him and, he says, "shivering the pole".

• Reference: Andrew Jackson Potter, the noted parson of the Texan frontier: six years of Indian warfare in New Mexico and Arizona, many wonderful events in his ministerial life .., 1888. p205
Mr. Potter had good meetings that year; the Rev. W. T. Thornberry
being his presiding elder greatly helped him. Mr. Thornberry is a man of great zeal and of wide-spread popularity.
p210
Now we copy from Mr. Potter's journal: "This
circuit was in the bounds of Brother Thornberry's
district, and he had visited it the previous year, and
hold several meetings, and the people were greatly
carried away with him. He was in everybody's
mouth. Thornberry was the greatest preacher that
had ever visited these mountains. Everywhere I
would go it was 'Thornberry, Thornberry.' I
preached away the best I could, but it was nothing
like Thornberry's preaching. Of course, I would
say, 'Yes, Brother Thornberry is a good preacher:'
it would not do to say otherwise. At the time I
thought it time they were beginning to think that
Potter was some preacher\emdash at least some of them.
So one night I was preaching at a certain place. I
warmed up to a lively temperature, and a good old

214-215
Mr. Thornberry is a cheerful traveling companion,

215
and is fond of "rigging" Mr. Potter. When he
would be driving along the long, lonesome roads
through the mountains, and Mr. Potter would be
in his buggy in the rear, Mr. Thornberry would rise
up in his buggy, and reproduce that grand saying,
"Rivers may roll and mountains rise up between
us;" and told on him to the preachers at Conference.
[...]

• Cemetery: Texas Methodist historical quarterly, Volumes 1-2.
Walter Thornberry buried at Benton, Medina county
p189

• Reference: History of Methodism in Arkansas, 1892, AR. Walter Thornberry tarveled in the Arkansas Conference until 1859, when he was transferred to the Texas Conference.
p135

• Reference: History of Methodism in Arkansas, 1892, AR. The eleventh session of the Arkansas Conference met at Van Buren, November 25, 1846. Bishop Payne presided. The following preachers were admitted on trial : John Stephenson, Walter Thornberry, William L. Guthrey, Wil- liam G. Bell, James M. Rogers. By transfer from the Ala- bama Conference, William Moores ; from the Tennessee Con- ference, James Rice, Charles P. Turrentine, Robert M. Kirby, Joseph Tinnan, and Abram D. Overall ; from the Memphis Conference, Lewis P. Lively.

John Stephenson traveled for a few years and located in 1850. Walter Thornberry traveled in the Arkansas Con- ference until 1859, when he was transferred to the Texas Conference. James Rice transferred to the Texas Confer- ence in 1856. Charles Turrentine located in 1858. R. M. Kirby transferred to the Texas Conference in 1865. Joseph Tinnan located in 1849. Lewis P. Lively transferred to the Texas Conference in 1865.

• Note. Birth: 8 FEB 1822 in Alabama ¹
Death: 19 JAN 1891 in Benton, Medina Co., Texas ¹

Married: 1854 in Arkansas

Title: Minutes of the annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, p.45

Walter married Isabella J. MOORE, daughter of William MOORE and Unknown. (Isabella J. MOORE was born about 1838 in AL.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Alt. Marriage, 1854, AR.