Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 725-726; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Hon. Stephen Y. Thornton is editor and proprietor of the Fulton
County Ledger, one of the leading Democratic journals in Central
Illinois and one of the oldest. It is the outgrowth of the
Illinois Public Ledger, which appeared in Lewistown in October, 1850,
and after a change in name and ownership, was brought to Canton in
1854. In the spring of 1857 Mr. Thornton became sole
proprietor. Since that time he has remained steadily and
faithfully at the helm of affairs, securing a liberal advertising
patronage and a large circulation. The Ledger is a six-column
paper, issued weekly, presenting a neat appearance and abundantly
supplied with the foreign and general news with which the public
desires to become acquainted, with fresh, crisp local items, and able
editorials. Political movements are discussed fearlessly yet
dispassionately, the editor being guided by what he conceives will best
subserve the true interests of the nation. He advocates the best
means of developing trade, fights against monopoly, fraud and
everything which will tend to lessen or retard the public welfare.
Mr. Thornton was born in the city of Philadelphia, December 13,
1831, being the eldest son of Theodore and Mary (Yerkes)
Thornton. He attended the common schools in his native city,
further advancing his knowledge by a course of study at the Coffeyville
Boarding School in Maryland, near Baltimore. At the age of
seventeen years he began the printer’s trade in the office of the
Democrat, at Doyleston, Pa., and in 1854 spent several months in that
of the Washington Globe, at Washington D. C. On June 2, of the
same year he came to Canton and after working as a journeyman until the
fall of 1856, he assumed an interest in the Ledger as before noted.
The keen intellect and public spirit of Mr. Thornton were early
recognized by the citizens here, who elected him to the position of
County Commissioner of Schools in 1859 and two years later re-elected
him. They have called for his service in other capacities
also. He was sent to the Council from the Fourth Ward in 1865 and
again in 1867 and from the Third Ward in 1870 and subsequently served
another term in the same ward. From 1869 to 1876 he was a member
of the Board of Education and during the last two years served as its
President and subsequently as a member of the Board of Education one
term, which comprised five years. In 1872 he was elected to the
State Legislature, two years later was re-elected, and in 1876 was a
candidate for Secretary of State. These facts are indicative of
the position which he holds in the ranks of the Democratic party and
the opinion which his confreres have of his ability to advance their
interests. In 1888 he was appointed a member of the State
Democratic Central Committee and reappointed at the expiration of his
term of two years.
Mr. Thornton is of English descent in the paternal line and
German in the maternal. Both his parents were born in the
Keystone State. His grandparents were John and Mary (Moon)
Thornton, and William and Letitia (Long) Yerkes. The marriage of
our subject and Miss Ann Adelaide Bandouine was solemnized in the
Baptist Church of Canton February 14, 1858. Mrs. Thorton is a
daughter of Abraham and Cordelia (Stout) Baudouine. Our subject
and his estimable wife have had five children, three of whom are now
living, viz: Ella Irene, Carrie, and William E. Theodore R.
and Mary L. died of scarlet fever in the spring of 1862, breathing
their last within ten day of each other.
