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Firsthand Accounts: John T. Thornton

John T. Thornton, the son of William Mynn Thornton (Chairman of the Faculty), was twenty years old at the time of the Great Fire. He recorded his eyewitness account on the evening of the fire, Sunday, October 27, 1895, in a letter to his mother, Rosalie Thornton, who was living in Berlin. The photograph of Dr. Thornton, taken in 1945(?) is on loan from his son, John T. Thornton, Jr. of Charlottesville, Virginia and shows (from left to right) Rosalie Thornton Byron, George Byron, Helen Thornton, John T. Thornton, and the family dog, Robin.

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