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Thornton, Anna Maria Brodeau

American, died 1865

Brodeau, Anna Maria

Biography

Little is known about Anna Maria's life prior to her marriage to William Thornton in 1790. Her obituary in 1865 stated that she was 100 years old at her death and that her father was Dr. Dodd, of London, who was executed for forgery in 1777. However, both of these facts are contested, the first by her supposed age of 15 at her marriage in 1790 and the second by a letter from her friends published four days after her obituary. Anna Maria came to Philadelphia in 1777 with her mother, and met William Thornton there. After their marriage, the Thorntons moved to his family plantation on Tortola in the West Indies; they returned to Philadelphia in 1792, and moved to Washington two years later. Thornton, trained as a physician, never fully pursued his career in medicine. He is best known, in fact, for his architectural designs, including that of the United States Capitol (1793), the Octagon in Washington (1798-1800) and Woodlawn plantation in Fairfax, VA (1800). Mrs. Thornton's diaries (now at the Library of Congress) attest to their place within Washington society.

Bibliography

n.d.
Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton, "History and Life of Dr. William Thornton," unpublished manuscript, unpaginated, Thornton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
1865
Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC): 18 August 1865 [obituary]
1865
"The Late Mrs. Anna T. Thornton." Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC): 22 August 1865.
1907
"Diary of Mrs. William Thornton 1800-1863." Records of the Columbia Historical Society 10 (1907): 88-226
1995
Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 243-244

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