Cheesy Grits: The Thornes of Charleston before the Civil War

Having found Rebecca Thorne's parents, Philip and Elizabeth Thorne, and several siblings in the federal censuses for 1880 and 1870, it was time to see if we could break through the wall of the Civil War and find them in the 1860 federal census for South Carolina before that state seceded from the Union in December, 1860.



And here they are, on a census page for Charleston dated June 6, 1860:

Image from 1860 federal census

Philip Thorne (you'll see how we know that this is the proper spelling a few posts from now) is the head of the household; he's 47 years old, male, "M" for "mulatto" and is a carpenter by trade. The final column lists the value of his real estate: $2,000.

Next is Elizabeth Thorne, who we already know to be his wife. She's 39, female, "M," and is a "Mantua Maker."

And now their children as of 6 June 1860:

John Thorne, age 20, identified as a "Mill Wright" (This description turns out to be pretty well synonymous with our current understanding of "machinist"; to wit, they are the general mechanics of heavy machinery. In South Carolina around this time, these machines were often cotton gins.)

William Thorne, age 16, identified as a "Carpenter's Apprentice."

And  the rest apparently at home:

Philip, age 14.
Rebecca, age 12 (this is Jane's great-great-grandmother—Valeria's mother).
Frances, age 10
Weston, age 8
Harriet, age 6
Thomas, age 4.

Of course, the biggest finding is that they are in the census at all. It means that the Thornes were not slaves, because, as we mentioned, slaves were not enumerated anywhere except on the slave schedules, and there only as bodies of a certain age, gender and color.

So for the entire Thorne family to be enumerated in the federal census of 1860 means that in 1860, they were free.

Do we dare check the 1850 census? Do you even need to ask?!

Image from the 1850 federal census

Still there, which means still free.

Here the head of the household is John Thorne, who is a tailor. As we soon discovered, John is Philip's brother and therefore Rebecca's paternal uncle.

Next comes our Philip, again identified as a carpenter. The Sarah Thorne below Philip turns out to be John Thorne's wife. Philip's wife, Elizabeth, is next.

Now come the children:
John Thorne, age 12,  is Philip and Elizabeth's son—the one who is a millwright in the 1860 census.
Miller Thorne, age 10,  is William Miller Thorne—he's the "William" in the 1860 census who is also a son of Philip and Elizabeth.
Philip Thorne, age 8.
Rebecca Thorne, age 5 (and this is Jane's great-great-grandmother again—Valeria's mother.)
John Thorne, age 4. Since the 1860 census doesn't show a "John Thorne" living with Philip and Elizabeth and the rest of the family, we'll assume for the time being that this is John and Sarah Thorne's son: Rebecca's first cousin.

 The 1850 census was the first federal census to list all household members by name. So if we find the Thornes in the 1840 census, we would only find Philip, along with a numerical tally of the number of Free Persons of Color in his household. 

He's in the 1840 census, all right. His household consists of two males, one under age 10 and one between the ages of 24 and 36, two females between the ages of 10 and 24, and one female between the ages of 36 and 55.

We can guess about the identities of these unnamed person, but they are only guesses. The young male under age 10 might be Philip and Elizabeth's oldest son, John, while the male between the ages of 24 and 36 is Philip himself. One of the two females between the ages of 10 and 24 is likely Philip's wife, Elizabeth, but their first daughter was Rebecca, who by all other accounts wasn't born until after 1840. So the second female in this category remains a mystery. The other female, who is between the ages of 36 and 55 is also unknown. It wouldn't be surprising if she were either Philip's mother or his mother-in-law, but we can't tell from the census.

There are Thorns in the earlier census pages for Charleston, but the picture gets somewhat murkier in the census, so we'll rely on some other records for those earlier times.

But I hope you see by now how interesting the picture has become. Jane and Jake's Thorne ancestors were mulatto/mixed-race and they were free at least as far back as 1840. Not only are they free, but in 1860, Philip owned real estate in Charleston that was valued at $2,000. I'm not smart enough to know how much that real estate would be worth today, but am just smart enough to suspect that it would be considerably more than $2,000. And a third item of interest: their occupations: Philip was a carpenter, his wife Elizabeth was a mantua maker, his brother John was a tailor, Philip's son John was a millwright, son W. Miller was a carpenter's apprentice. and, in 1880, Rebecca's husband Robert Howard was a tinsmith. These are all skilled artisans; they are not unskilled/manual laborers.

The Thornes were not alone in their class in Charleston; indeed, there was a whole group of pre-Civil War Charlestonians called "Free Persons of Color" and their lives are fascinating—and not just because Jane and Jake's ancestors number among them.