Finding aid to the G.W. and W.M. Thornhill Physician's Records 1887-1931

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
G.W. AND W.M. THORNHILL PHYSICIAN’S RECORDS, 1887-1931
The collection includes physician’s copies of birth and death certificates including:
Return of a birth (1886-1890), Return of a still birth (1885-1892), Certificate of birth (19101912), Physician’s record – Births (1915-1931), and Copy of a certificate of death (1887-1896).

[Finding guide available with the collection.]

MS1089

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
G.W. AND W.M. THORNHILL PHYSICIAN’S RECORDS, 1887-1931
The collection includes physician’s copies of birth and death certificates including:
Return of a birth (1886-1890), Return of a still birth (1885-1892), Certificate of birth (19101912), Physician’s record – Births (1915-1931), and Copy of a certificate of death (1887-1896).
BOX 1

1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7

Copy of Certificate of Death (1887-1896)
Return of a Birth (1886-1890)
Return of a Birth (1890)
Return of a Still Birth (1885-1892)
Certificate of Birth (1910-1912)
Physician’s Record – Births (1915-1921)
Physician’s Record – Births (1922-1931)

MS1089

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
GEORGE WILLIAM THORNHILL (1828-1893)
George William Thornhill, son of Joshua T. Thornhill and Judith Reveley, was born in
Campbell County, near Concord Depot, 27 June 1828. After graduating from the medical
department of the University of Virginia in 1847, he began his medical practice at Campbell
Courthouse (now Rustburg, Virginia) in 1851.
On 16 November 1854, George W. Thornhill married Cornelia Lucy Bibb, daughter of
William A. Bibb and Sarah Bramham of Albemarle County, Virginia. They moved to Concord
Depot in 1855 where he remained until 1861. During the Civil War, he served as surgeon of the
11th Virginia Regiment of Infantry for one year and was then transferred to the hospitals in
Lynchburg and cared for large numbers of sick and wounded soldiers. After the war, he returned
to his farm at Concord Depot and resumed the practice of medicine.
In May, 1874, Dr. Thornhill moved to Lynchburg and was associated with Dr. D. E.
Bass, who had come from Campbell Court House for that purpose. Following the death of Dr.
Bass in 1886, Dr. Thornhill continued his medical practice until his death on 6 January 1893. He
was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.
[Obituary, News (Lynchburg, Va.), 7 Jan 1893, p. 4 col. 3; “George William Thornhill,” University of Virginia,
Students of the University of Virginia: a Semi-centennial Catalogue (Baltimore: Harvey, 1878); William L. Norford,
Marriages of Albemarle County & Charlottesville, Virginia 1781-1929, (Charlottesville: Jarman, 1956), p. 206. ]

WILLIAM BIBB THORNHILL (1862-1945)
William Bibb Thornhill, son of George William Thornhill and Cornelia Lucy Bibb, was
born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on 22 April 1862. He graduated from the Lynchburg (Va.) High
School and Richmond College, now the University of Richmond. He also graduated from the
University of Virginia and the Hospital College of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky, and
worked at one time in New York Polyclinic Hospital.
Dr. Thornhill served on the old Lynchburg Board of Health for 13 years and was a
member and a trustee of Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church. He also belonged to the Lynchburg
Academy of Medicine, the Virginia State Medical Society and the Masonic Lodge.
On 17 October 1889, Dr. Thornhill married Lily Hewitt Hancock, daughter of Ammon G.
Hancock and Elizabeth Charlotte Hewitt Lynchburg
Dr. William Bibb Thornhill died on 3 April 1945 and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery
in Lynchburg, Virginia.
[Obituary, News (Lynchburg, Va.), 4 Apr 1945, p. 8 col. 5]

MS1089