Thursday, July 1, 2010 Thornhill Relatives at the Alamo Edna
(Edney?) Thornhill, born in Virginia circa 1769, the middle
daughter of three girls of William (1735–1788) and Sarah
Thornhill (1740–Sept 1802), married widower Henry Dearduff
(Deardorf) in September of 1802. It was Henry’s and Edna’s son
William, born c1811, who was killed at the Alamo along with his
brother-in-law, James George, husband to Elizabeth Dearduff.
William was probably named after his grandfather William
Thornhill, and had followed his sister and her husband to south
Texas. There the two men joined DeWitt's Rangers to go to the
aid of the men at the Alamo. To me, the fact that their small
unit of 32 men under the command of a Major Williamson chose
almost certain death as they marched past the Mexican army of
possibly 7,000 men to join about 150 Texians already inside the
Alamo. That’s courage way beyond the call of duty. You can get a
more detailed account of the Dearduff and George families before
and after the battle at these links: