A Warren County historian was not a fan of J. Williams Thorne.
Manly Wade Wellman does not write much about the expelled legislator in "The County of Warren," a history of Thorne's adopted county.
On page 170, he notes that Thorne and another Radical Republican (who was "considered especially spiteful toward old Confederates") were candidates in 1875:
Thorne was elected, and though in February he was expelled from the State House of Representatives and ejected by the sergeant-at-arms, became high in the councils of the depleted Republican party of the State.
The author tips his hand again later when he writes that a few years later "the chafing rule of carpetbaggers and Radicals was only an unhappy memory."
A footnote also kicks some dirt on Thorne's grave.
"Thorne is almost unremembered in Warren County today," it reads.
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Re: Almost unremembered in Warren County
Two quick notes:
1. Some sources say his name was J. Williams, others J. William. The Warren County history goes with William.
2. The footnote cites the Warrenton Gazette on Dec. 8, 1874, and Jan. 8, 1875.
— RTB