Uniting Families is my Passion
The Agee-Thornton Connection
Above:  William Oliver Agee (1816-1881) & Hannah Marinda Thornton Agee (1824-1854) with their first three children, James Milem Agee (1837-1827), John Wiseman Agee-seated on his mother's lap (1843-1906) & Salete Frances Agee (1841-1915)  They had 7 children all together.
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(Although I do professional research, anything concerning my own family trees is done with no charge.)
When  William was less than two years old his father, Matthew Agee Jr. and mother, Sarah
Mary Coats Agee moved with their family from their home in Smith County Tennessee to the
newly formed territory of Missouri.  Sarah's father & mother moved their family to MIssouri
at this time as well.  The year was 1817.  They settled on the prairie which has since borne
the Coats name (Coats Prairie).  This area eventually became Callaway County when it was
formed in 1820 from Montgomery County.

The lure of rich farmland at a cheap price must have enticed the Thornton families from their
12 years in Kentucky. In 1816 or 1817, when William was 50, the families hitched the oxen
and packed the wagons for the new territory across the Mississippi River. Willi, age 23, his
wife, Sallie, age 22, and their infant child, Cordillia, joined the Thornton clan for a trip that
would take them more than twice the distance previously covered when they moved from
North Carolina to Kentucky.

It might seem that the Agee's and Thorntons were "Born Under a Wandering Star" as they
migrated west.  But upon examination, one can see that they lived in one place for several
years before moving on.   As the land opened up to the west, the temptation for a better
life was probably much too strong, so they followed the migration.  Thus some of them
ended up going to Oregon.

By 1819 William Thornton and his family are recorded on the Montgomery County, Missouri,
tax roll. Soon after the 1820 census that part of Montgomery County became Callaway County
where the Thornton family was identified.

The Thornton clan chose as a location for a new  life, a farming area in the center of
Missouri called AuxVasse Prairie in Callaway County, southeast of Fulton and just north
of the Missouri River. Once settled, William and Willi bought several parcels of land. In
nearby farms lived the Agee and Coats families, who would become future close friends
of the Thornton family members. The Thornton families settled down for a lengthy 23 years.

It was only natural that the Agee's and Thornton's would find love and marriage amoung the
two familes.  William fell in love with the  sweet young  Hannah Thornton and they had a
summer wedding on the 15 of August 1837.  William's older  brother, Isaac married Hannah's
older sister, Cordillia.

Hannah was only 13 years old when she married 21 year old William.  The first day after her
marriage her husband went out to work.  When he wasn't summoned to breakfast he went to
see what was wrong, and found his bride sitting on the floor playing with her dolls. 

William and Hannah had 7 children together.   She died young leaving him to care for the
children himself.  He no doubt recieved help from family members to lighten his burden.  
The next year he married Mary Elizabeth Verdot.  She not only nurtured his seven children
from his marriage with Hannah, but she bore him 10 more children. 


This background picture is of the William Oliver & Mary Agee
farm near Foose, Dallas, Missouri courtesy of  Nancy Norris