I'm going to use this post to cobble together any peripheral pieces of information about the Ball. One interesting snippet was from the Countess of Granville's diary where she moans about having to attend. It would be interesting to know if she had a personal issue with Herman and Jane, or it was simply part... Continue Reading →
The accounts I have read about Colonel Thorn's famous costume ball held on March 3rd, 1840 at Hotel de Monaco, rival anything F. Scott Fitzgerald imagined for Gatsby. Invited guests were told visit the Versailles museum to study the court life of Louis X1V and the costumes from that period. Countess Granville diarised the upcoming... Continue Reading →
I am hoping to build up a picture of the times. Not just politically, but the everyday moments. What did the Colonel and his family do? Who did they talk to? What would those conversations have been about? This post will be devoted to documenting some of their lunch and dinner guests. Though it is,... Continue Reading →
I can only surmise why Colonel Thorn relocated the entire family to France in the 1830's. However, Paris was, at that time, the cultural and social epicentre of the world. It was the place to find his daughters and sons the kind of marriages he desired. The place of noble and wealthy suitors. The research... Continue Reading →
Since I began to blog about Colonel Thorn, I have been contacted by relatives from America, France and Ireland. I'd like to welcome them to my journey, and thank them, not only for getting in touch, but for sharing some of their personal archival material. From the Mansfield/de Ferussac connection through Alice Thorn in Ireland,... Continue Reading →
Throughout this process, I want to spend some time detailing specific homes and their architecture. So much history is to be unearthed from 'place', and I feel that in order to honour past lives, it's necessary to visit the homes they built to value the lives they lived in them. The ghosts of lives and... Continue Reading →
Herman and Jane Mary had thirteen children. I will place their dates on the timeline page, for the sake of having the information in one place, but I will also provide a snapshot of each one in this post. In time, I may break this record into sections; until then, I apologise for the length.... Continue Reading →
This is an under-researched period for me so far. Most of the information I have gathered pertains to Thorn's decade in France and his subsequent return to New York. But it's time that I constructed some kind of timeline, which, at the very least, charts the arrival of their many children. (I will keep the... Continue Reading →
So the reading/researching of this story is the delicious part of this process. I just plunge in and swim around, wallow in the shallows of what is readily available on Google Books and Wiki. Thorn is mentioned extensively in literature of the time. After all, men of his ilk - Astors, Waldorfs, Stuyvesants, Livingstons, and... Continue Reading →
Colonel Thorn Today marks the beginning of the journey of my first creative non fiction piece, a sprawling family saga based on my ancestor Colonel Herman Thorn (1783 - 1859) and his wife, Jane Mary Jauncey and their children. I'm using this blog as a way of organising my thoughts and research material, while I... Continue Reading →
The Colonel and Mrs Thorn 
I noticed that too..nicknames add even more color to the picture
Oh, yes I found the photo amd put it on the poat about the Thorn granchildren! From Jane's letters it…
I shared her portrait and her father James with you…James is the black framed portrait vs the giant gold framed…
Dear Jacqueline, I feel the same as you. It has brought so much to life. Jane is clearly very fond…
How wonderful to hear the voices of the family..the daily life, the visits the boredom…first hand accounts from woman are…