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Elisha Thornton's page
Anna was raised in the far north of Providence County, Rhode Island, probably on a farm on Great Road north of what is now Slatersville. In 1807 she moved with her husband and younger children to New Bedford. They probably lived at the corner of Seventh and School Streets until Elisha died in 1816. It may have been then that she moved back to Smithfield, perhaps to take care of her elderly father, although he isn't in her household in the 1820 census. Neither is her brother Daniel, who, by inference in her grandson Daniel Ricketson's memoir, was living there. Her mother had also died in that year, further suggesting she may have wanted to at least be near her father. Ricketson reminisced about a boyhood visit there, and mentioned that his close Read relatives lived nearby. John Read was "formerly of Smithfield" when he died in 1826, and no evidence of him has been found anywhere in the 1820 census. Comparing the 1810 and later censuses confirms that he lived close to the Thornton property. There is a very old house still standing near what was the Thornton property that further research may show to have been owned by the Reads.
Whatever the reason for her move back to Smithfield, Anna died and is buried there rather than next to her husband in New Bedford. She was interred in the Upper Smithfield Friends cemetery, now in the city of Woonsocket. This information probably comes from the Grace Tillinghast survey of the cemetery in 1932, which has yet to be checked. No stone for Anna was found on a site visit, but it may be hidden or partially buried amidst thick leaf cover and underbrush. Her brother George's stone is still visible there.
children of Anna Read and Elisha Thornton:
Rachel
Stephen
Moses
Elisha, b. 3, 6 or 11 April 1780
Daniel
John
Anne
Mary
Hannah
Phebe
George
James
Lydia
vital records sources: Anna's birth date comes from the Smithfield Friends records. She supposedly was married in Mendon (source?). Her death date appears in the New Bedford vital records and was reported in the New Bedford Mercury issue of 12 May, which says she died "Friday morning last," confirming the day. A transcription of the Friends Cemetery in Woonsocket apparently includes a stone for Anna. It is likely the Grace Tillinghast work of 1832, which is in the Arnold Coll. at the Providence Public Library.
all text and photographs © 1998-2005 by Doug Sinclair unless where otherwise noted