I don’t have very much information on Henry Thornton. I know that he was born in 1866 to James Patrick and Louisa Pottgen Thornton. He died on 31 Oct 1918 and was buried in Hubbard, Dakota, NE.
The rest of his life was a mystery to me, until I found this short blurb in the newspaper about him:
2 Dec 1910, Dakota County Herald, Dakota City, NE
Henry Thornton of Hubbard was brought to this place last Saturday and a charge of insanity lodged against him. He was taken to Norfolk Wednesday by Deputy Sheriff Fueston and placed in the asylum.
In the 1910 census, he was living in Hubbard, NE as a boarder and working as a laborer. His mother was living as a boarder with another family. His sister Ellen Thornton (my line) had recently moved to Sioux City, Iowa with her children as she was a widow with many kids to take care of and wasn’t getting enough business in Hubbard (she worked as a milliner).
I looked online and found that “Norfolk” was the state insane asylum. And now I’m really curious as to what happened to him. He died in 1918, so I can’t look in the next census to see where he was living. I’m not sure how long he was in the asylum (or if it was a permanent thing). Any ideas of where I should look? I’ve never looked through that type of record before and am not even sure what might be available. Thanks!
