I am new to the list so please pardon me if this has been asked before. I am trying to trace down any possible information about an Edward Thornburgh who supposedly died in Randolph County October 13, 1790. I know very little about him, but this is what I am told. Edward was born in 1741 in Frederick, Va., to Walter Thornburgh and Margaret Beeson. Edward married Elizabeth Mendenhall April 5, 1769 in New Garden, Guilford, NC. They had a son named John Thornburgh (Thornsberry), who was born August 2,1773, in Greene County, TN., as well as a daughter named Elizabeth. According to family lore (and some internet stories) John and his sister Elizabeth were both excommunicated from the Quaker faith because they married non members of the faith. John married Susannah Starnes and Elizabeth married Susannah's brother John Starnes. John changed the spelling of his name from Thornsburgh, which was a well know Quaker name, toThornsberry to avoid any further embarrassment to his family. John's father Edward Thornsburgh was so angry after his son John and daughter Elizabeth' marriage out of the faith, that he was also excommunicated. He moved to Randolph County, Indiana. From here the spelling of the name became Thornburg, Thornbury, Thornsberry and Thornberry. Does anyone have any knowledge of this family, of Edward's move to Randolph County and his death or burial. Any help - even tidbits - would be greatly appreciated. I have found absolutely nothing. Deb Woolley

I would say that early you would need to look at Arba Friends, that would be the earliest settlement in Randolph County, and many settlers came from that area of North Carolina and were Quakers, You need to contact a professor, who's name escapes me at the moment (Max ???) at Gilford College to get a copy of the original minutes on the family's details and disownmanship for marring out of the Quaker Faith, this happened often during this time period, but you may also find a minute where they then came before the meeting and expressed their guilt and sorrow and were let back in, again common. So they may of stayed friends but moved away as because of all of this. To get minutes here you need to contact Tom Hamm, at the Lilly Library, Earlham College, Richmond, IN. Tom is the custodian of records for Indiana Yearly Meeting, there should be transcriptions of the meeting minutes as wells as originals, which are really neat to see. There are many many Thornburgs here in Randolph County. You might contact Laura Thornburg at the Extension Office to see what she might have for you. She has a lot of family history done. The office is located on US 24 at the Randolph County 4-H fair grounds. She's on-line if you go through the Purdue University web-site. Andrea