San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1307
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 3/6/2010
MRS. CLARA B. LAWTON
An honored resident of Thornton, San Joaquin County, where she was born and reared, is Mrs. Clara B. Lawton, a daughter of that old and honored pioneer, Arthur Thornton, for whom the town of Thornton was named, and whose sketch also appears in this history. Clara B. Thornton attended the grammar school in the New Hope school district of the county, then was a student at the San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge, and later attended Mills College in Oakland.
The first marriage of Clara B. Thornton occurred at Fairfield, Solano County, Cal., in November, 1889, and united her with Alec Thompson, a native of Virginia, who came to California in an early day and engaged in farming. He first settled at Santa Cruz, and later removed to Dixon, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were the parents of two children: Emma Pauline, Mrs. Al T. Longton, of Los Angeles; and Henry Arthur.
Henry Arthur Thompson was born on a ranch west of Lodi, San Joaquin County, March 13, 1892, and received his education in the schools of the county, afterwards graduating from Boone Academy, Berkeley. After reaching young manhood he was employed for four years in the contracting department of the construction of highways at Arbuckle, and later at Santa Rosa. In 1919 he came to Thornton and opened a garage, which he still operates. On February 8, 1916, he married Miss Catherine Quenell, a daughter of Nelson and Mary Quenell. He is the owner of an eleven-acre orchard in the vicinity of Thornton and is a popular citizen and a member of the Knights of Pythias of Stockton.
On June 1, 1896, in San Francisco, Mrs. Thompson was married to Robert C. Lawton, a son of Capt. M.C. and Charlotte Lawton. Mr. Lawton is a civil engineer. Mrs. Lawton is a professional nurse and was with the Southern Pacific Hospital in San Francisco for seven years. During the San Francisco fire she was in private practice, which covered a period of ten years; and she was also nursing at the asylum at Stockton for over two years. She has her interest in the fine orchard property which belonged to her father, called the old Thornton ranch.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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