Jessy Quinn Thornton (also written as Jesse Quinn Thornton), known as J. Quinn Thornton during his life, was born in 1810 in Point Pleasant, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1833, and in 1835 opened a law office in Palmyra, Missouri. In 1838, he married Nancy M. Logue (1811-1889). In 1846, the couple emigrated to Oregon, and were among the first emigrants to use the Scott-Applegate Trail, also known as the Southern Route. Following their emigration, J. Quinn Thornton was bitter towards wagon party leaders Jesse Applegate and David Goff over the hardships the party had suffered on the trail. He was a judge for Oregon's Provisional Supreme Court, but resigned in 1847 to go to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the establishment of the Oregon Territory in 1848. After he returned to Oregon, he practiced law in Oregon City, Albany, and Portland, before moving to Salem in 1871. J. Quinn Thornton died in 1888.
Sources: "Dictionary of Oregon History," edited by Howard McKinley Corning, 2nd edition, 1989; obituary in the Oregonian, February 7, 1888; vital records via Ancestry.com.
The bulk of the collection consists of handwritten essays and speeches by Jessy Quinn Thornton, a lawyer in 19th-century Oregon known in his life as J. Quinn Thornton. These writings cover a variety of topics, such as the legal profession, education, Oregon history, the Oregon Bible Society, temperance, and Thornton's own autobiography. Some of these works have words or lines crossed out, indicating that they may have been drafts. The collection also includes a bound volume with typescript copies of these writings, possibly compiled by Thompson Coit Elliott.
The collection also includes a scrapbook of newspaper clippings compiled by Thornton, made from a repurposed printed government report. These clippings include letters to the editor, the text of speeches, articles about Thornton and Oregon history, and reviews on books about Oregon history. An inscription in the front indicates that Thronton gave this scrapbook to Samuel A. Clarke, and the scrapbook also includes brief handwritten commentary by Clarke's daughter, Sarah Clark Dyer, that she wrote in 1929.
Other materials in the collection include: A handwritten historical sketch by an unidentified author about John McLoughlin's departure from the Hudson's Bay Company, which notes that Thornton worked as McLoughlin's legal representation; a receipt from James Moffet for $1,000 for a lot in Oregon City, Oregon; a complaint that Thornton lodged in court against Justus Wells and Edward Morgan; a letter from Samuel R. Thurston, concerning accusations that Thornton had made against Thurston; a printed pamphlet by Thornton about the history of real estate in Salem, Oregon; a typescript of a poem that Thornton had written in Cornelia Spencer Greer's autograph book; and a printed new year's poem addressed to the patrons of a newspaper, The Political Examiner, probably based in Missouri.
Collection is open for research.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
J. Quinn Thornton papers, Mss 371, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Scrapbook, gift of the Sarah Clarke Dyer, July 1933 (Lib. Acc. 9364); Handwritten essays and speeches, gift of Willamette University Library, August 1978 (Lib. Acc. 14548); typescript volume of essays and speeches, gift of the estate of Thompson Coit Elliott, August 1946 (RL2024-073-RETRO); receipt from James Moffett purchased from Fred Lockley, March 1947 (RL2024-092-RETRO); other materials acquired prior to 1971, most likely in the late 19th or early 20th century.
Collection includes materials previously designated Mss 371-1. In 2016, a photocopy of Thornton's handwritten autobiography was made for preservation and legibility purposes.
For preservation purposes, researchers are asked to use the photocopy of the handwritten autobiography in the collection rather than the original.
Other collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library containing materials of and relating to J. Quinn Thornton include: the James Willis Nesmith papers, Mss 577; the Addison Crandall Gibbs papers, Mss 685; the Joseph Lane papers, Mss 1146; the Oregon Imprints collection, Coll 400; a handbill against Thornton, "To the world!!," Coll 464; and a vertical file, Biography - Thornton, Jesse Quinn.