FIFTH GENERATION

310. Samuel Thorne was born on 11 Apr 1762 in Colestown, Gloucester Co, NJ. He was buried in 1825 in Friends Burial Ground, Haddenfield, NJ. He died on 25 Feb 1825. Notes from Jeremy Pine:

SAMUEL THORN, oldest son of Thomas and Abigail (Borough) Thorn, was born 4/11/1762, in the Thorndale farmhouse where it is likely that all his boyhood days and years of his youth were passed. So long a period has passed by since his decease that almost all recollections of him as a man have also vanished, there being no one now living in 1902 who ever saw him. We who are living in the early part of the twentieth century may never know his personal characteristics, whether he was a social person, a popular individual or otherwise, for memory dies, and beyond simply the dates recorded in his family bible and in the books of the monthly meeting of Friends of which he was a member there is little to write about him.

Samuel Thorn was born in the days when New Jersey was a colony of the English king, and three years before the infamous Stamp Act stirred the colonists to indignation and resistance. He had just attained his 21st year when the days of the Revolution were over and the Treaty of Paris told the world that the United States had written her name on the Roll of
Nations. About 11 years later he married Sarah Collins, daughter of Job Collins, by his first wife, Mary Haines. Sarah was 12 years younger than her husband and lived 31 years after his death.

Samuel and Sarah had 11 children, of whom 7 were sons and 4 were daughters, their eldest son, named for his grandfather, Job, dying in early childhood, during July, 1809. the remaining large family of 10 children kept unbroken until 1819 when Mary, the oldest, married and left the household. Within 18 months of her marriage, the second daughter,
Elizabeth, died in the bloom of womanhood and was buried in the Friend's Burial Ground at Haddenfield, New Jersey, Aug. 28th, 1820. She was unmarried and only a few days past her 26th birthday. Four years later Abigail, the third daughter, and likewise unmarried, also died, Oct. 14th, 1824, and was interred in the same graveyard. The next change in the
household of Samuel Thorne was one that affected its welfare more greatly than any that had preceded it, for on the 25th of Feb., 1825, Samuel's own death occurred after a long illness. Elizabeth Collins, a minister among Friends, and a stepmother to Sarah, thus speaks in her journal of his death;---"The latter end of the second month, our son-in-law, Samuel
Thorn, departed this life, after a tedious, afflicted confinement of nearly three months; neither my husband nor myself was able to attend his funeral; it was trying, as I felt much for the family, having buried two daughters, young women, sometime before, and I was not able to go see them, nor attend their funerals.

Samuel was buried at Haddenfield in the same graveyard where he had placed the mortal remains of his children. His widow, Sarah, was thus left with the care of a large family of children four of whom were less than 16 years old. During the passage of the summer of the same year, 1825, Clayton, a bright boy of 12, was accidently drowned, June 11th, and
shortly afterwards the following was published in one of the newspapers of the time;--- "Was drowned on the 11th inst, Clayton Thorn, son of Samuel late of the township of Waterford, deceased, aged 12 years. By the premature death of this child society is deprived of one of its brightest gems; he was a lad of more than ordinary capacity, was active, social, intelligent, and possessed everything to render him near and dear to his widowed mother, who to alleviate her grief, must have the consoling assurance that her loss is his gain. He was going from school and with some other small lads went in to the mill pond to bathe; he procured a rail as a buoy on which he went out over his depth; by some casualty, the rail slipped from him and the fatal catastrophe soon ensued; he was taken out of the water in about 10 minutes after drowning, and considerable efforts were used to endeavor to restore life, but all was unavailing. ---Waterford 6th No. 14th, 1825.

Death once more visited Samuel's family while the children were young and in 1832 Sarah S., the youngest daughter, died unmarried at the age of 25 years. But, after her death, many years passed by, the sod growing old above her moldering young form before the pale messenger again visited the family.

The family of Samuel Thorn was in membership with the Society of Friends and lived in Waterford Township of Gloucester County (now Camden) New Jersey. The farm on which Samuel lived is said to have been the one called "Cherry Hill Farm", located midway between Merchantville and Haddenfield. William Thorn Lippincott remembers when Samuel's son, Thomas Thorn, visited his father, Asa R. Lippincott, who, at Thomas's desire,
drove over to the "Cherry Hill Farm" so that he might see once more the spot where he had spent his boyhood days.

He was married to Sarah Collins (daughter of Job Collins and Mary Haines) on 12 Mar 1794 in Upper Evesham MM, Burlington, NJ. Sarah Collins was born on 15 Nov 1774. She died on 4 Mar 1856 in Upper Greenwich, NJ. She was buried on 3 Jul 1856 in Hicksite Friends Burial Ground, Greenwich, NJ. Notes for SARAH COLLINS (from Jeremy Pine)

Sarah Collins Thorn, wife of Samuel, was the daughter of Job and Mary Collins of Upper Evesham, Burlington Co., New Jersey. Her mother died when Sarah was very young, and her father married again in the year 1778 when his little daughter was about 4 years of age, so her stepmother was the only mother she really knew. Job's second wife was Elizabeth
Ballinger. Sarah was about 21 during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia.

Sarah gave her oldest children the names of the older generations, her eldest daughters being called for her mother and step-mother, while other family names of the Thorn family also appear among them. Sarah lived to the advanced period of 81 years, three months, and 17 days. During her last years she lived usually with her son William, such being the information given to the writer of this note, but she died and was buried from the residence of her son-in-law Joshua Pine, the funeral taking place on July 6, 1856. She was interred Upper Greenwich, New Jersey, in the Hicksite Friend's Burial Ground, although she had been a member of the Orthodox Friends from the time of the "separation" in 1827. In 1902 there are 110 living descendants of Samuel and Sarah. More than half of these live west of the Mississippi River chiefly in Kansas. A few are in the neighborhood of Baltimore, Md, two live in Boston, Mass., while the remainder, excepting one family that resides in the west-central part in New Jersey, are Philadelphians, or are in that vicinity. There are none of them very wealthy and a few are decidedly humble in circumstances.

Success without advancement has been the general condition of the branch, and social and unassuming manners are attached to its members in general, although in a few instances a touch of haughtiness has, in a measure, separated some of the cousins from many of the family. With some of the family, education has not been very easily attainable, but among all, its value is appreciated and the younger generations have all had the
advantages which the older ones lacked. Although Samuel and Sarah Thorn were members of the Society of Friends, there are only a very few of their descendants in 1902 who are enrolled in membership with that religious organization. Several of this branch have been or are farmers, but the removal of Samuel's widow to Philadelphia was the means of starting her
children into other kinds of employment and their descendants, in general, have been variously engaged in business.
Samuel Thorne and Sarah Collins had the following children:

+584 i. Mary Haines Thorne.
585 ii. Elizabeth Thorne was buried on 28 Aug 1820 in Friends Burial Ground, Haddenfield, NJ. She was born in Evesham, Burlington, NJ. Never married.
586 iii. Job Thorne was born on 11 Jun 1798 in Evesham, Burlington, NJ. He died on 15 Jul 1800. Died as infant.
+587 iv. William Thorne.
588 v. Abigail Thorne was born on 16 Jul 1802 in Evesham, Burlington, NJ. She was buried in 1824 in Friends Burial Ground, Haddenfield, NJ. She died on 14 Oct 1824 in Haddonfield, Gloucester Co, NJ. Never married
+589 vi. Samuel Collins Thorne.
590 vii. Sarah S. Thorne was born on 15 May 1805 in Evesham, Burlington, NJ. She died on 4 Jun 1832. Never married
+591 viii. Thomas Thorne.
+592 ix. Charles Haines Thorne.
593 x. Clayton Thorne was born on 22 Sep 1813 in Evesham, Burlington, NJ. He died on 11 Jun 1825. Died young - drowned.
+594 xi. Chalkley Thorne.