Years ago, whilst searching for Abraham Thornton who died in Edgefield, South Carolina during 1797, I continuously encountered Abraham Thornton, who was charged with the murder of Mary Ashford in 1817 England.
This Abraham Thornton, ended up sailing from Liverpool to New York in 1818, where he “worked as a bricklayer, married and had children.”
Besides the interest in the name Thornton, the legal strategy is fascinating because Thornton claimed the right to “Trial by Battle”: settle the matter by physical combat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_v_Thornton
Thornton Roots 
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