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 →
[…] royal equipages of the King not excepted. He entertained the nobility at his house in Paris, and at the…
Hi Matt, thanks for your message. Can you point me to any research saying they were both called Ots Toch?…
From my research, it seems there were 2 people with the name Ots Toch, both Mom and Daughter. They are…
le fils décédé le 1er SEPTEMBRE
[…] Mr Maurer […]