Contents
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Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · William Thornhill
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationWilliam Thornhill
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- about 1787
- Died
- Not found
- Children
- Emily M. Thornhill
- Sources
- 3
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED as Emily M. Thornhill's father — her own 1868 Page County death register gives her parents as
Wm. and Mary Thornhill and her husband as David C. Coffman
S335, and a William Thornhill of the right age lived in her household in both the 1850 and the 1860 census, both read from the page images
S829S830 Life in the order the records give it
Birth1787
Born about
1787, Virginia, by his ages in the two censuses: 63 in 1850 and 73 in 1860
S829S830Census1850
In
1850, aged 63, a farmer, he lived in the household of his son-in-law
David C. Coffman in District 49, Page County, Virginia, with Emily and her four young children (enumerated 6 September 1850)
S829Census1860
In
1860, aged 73 and entered as “Gentleman”, he was still in David C. Coffman's household near Luray, with a
Rachael Thornhill, 47 (enumerated 14 August 1860)
S830. Neither census has a relationship column, so Rachael's kinship is not known
Death1860
His death date is not found. He was alive on 14 August 1860, so the death in 1860 given in some online trees is not supported, and nor is the middle initial “S” that some trees give him
Record1868
FamilySearch indexes Emily's 1868 death register twice, as 1:1:6ZG8-J469 and 1:1:XRSG-546; both give her parents as Wm. and Mary Thornhill
S335Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Children—
Father of
Emily M. Thornhill; his wife is named only as Mary in that register
S335. Her maiden name is not known; no record read gives it
In the record
Generation 7 — Earl's earliest known
- S335Page County, Virginia death register, 1868 — Emily M. Coffman. FamilySearch
1:1:6ZG8-J469. Emily M. Coffman, spouse David C. Coffman; parents Wm. and Mary Thornhill. - S8291850 U.S. Federal Census — David C. Coffman household, District 49, Page Co., Virginia, p. 318. Ancestry collection 8054, record 16052296 (image 4206389_00207); enumerated 6 September 1850, dwelling 686. Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Confirmed David C. Coffman, 37, farmer, $4,500; Emily, 30; Susan M., 6; William S., 3; Ann B., 1; Jane C., ½; William Thornhill, 63, farmer; Susan Coffman, 69, $3,500. No relationship column. William Thornhill's age fits the father of Emily named in her 1868 death register (S335); Susan Coffman's fits the Susanna Coffman of the 1799 bond (S104), but the page does not say who she is.
- S8301860 U.S. Federal Census — David C. Coffman household, District 3, Page Co., Virginia (P.O. Luray), p. 811 (125). Ancestry collection 7667, record 34367278 (image 4298864_00249); enumerated 14 August 1860. Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Confirmed Continuing David C. Coffman's household: Emily M. Coffman, 40; Susan M., 16; William S., 13; Anna B., 11; Jane C., 10; David E., 2; William Thornhill, 73, “Gentleman”; Rachael Thornhill, 47, $3,000 personal; Jane Tobian, 50; and William Hoffmayer [?], 8. No relationship column. It shows William Thornhill alive on 14 August 1860, so a death in 1860 cannot be assumed.