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FALL HILL "ALL HILL was built about 1738 by Colonel Francis € [/ Thornton, whose family was a very ancient one, tracing direct descent from William Thornton, a Lord of East Newton, Yorkshire, 1313. It was side of Fredericksburg, was eminently suitable. [his property on the hill, and for many miles along the valley of the Rappahannock, was inherited by Colonel Thornton from his father, Francis Thornton I, who lived in the Falls house, half a mile from the river. Colonel Francis Thornton II married Frances Gregory, in about 1736, she being the daughter of Mildred Washington, sister of Augustine Washington, the father of America’s first president. When Colonel Thornton died, in 1749, he left a large property in different parts of Virginia to each of his two younger sons, and to his eldest son, Francis III, he bequeathed the Falls plantation and Fall Hill. He dowered his daughters handsomely, especially Mildred, upon her coming of age, when she married Charles Washington, youngest brother of the General. In the old graveyard at The Falls eleven generations of the Thornton family are sleeping through eternity. Among the graves are those of Colonel Thornton and the infant daughter of Mildred and Charles Washington. After the death of Colonel Thornton, his family lived for some years in both houses, but when the Falls dwelling was destroyed by fire they moved to Fall Hill. Curiously enough, the latter house was not then finished, though the white panelling and fine mantel-pieces testify to the infinite care and taste with which it was being planned. Francis Thornton III married Ann Thompson, the daughter of Lady Spotswood by her second marriage, to Parson Thompson. [213]
