Pulaski-Lawrence County ArArchives Biographies.....Thornburgh, George 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 31, 2009, 6:56 pm

Source: Full Citation Below Biography
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

HON. GEORGE THORNBURGH.
    Hon. George Thornburgh, lawyer, author and editor, who since the 1st of
January, 1919, has been superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Blind, was
born in Havana, Mason county, Illinois, January 25, 1847, a son of Eli and
Elizabeth (Thoman) Thornburgh. The father was born in Harpers Ferry, Virginia,
August 11, 1809, and the mother's birth occurred in Pennsylvania, September 20,
1810. They were married in Ohio, November 30, 1830, and became residents of
Smithville, Arkansas, where the father followed mercantile pursuits. His
political allegiance was given to the democratic party. He died November 14, 1884.

    The son, George Thornburgh, was but eight years of age when the family
removed to Smithville, Arkansas, in December, 1855, and there he was reared to
adult age. He attended law school at Cumberland University and was admitted to
the bar in 1868, devoting several years to the practice of law. In 1886 he
became identified with newspaper publication through the establishment of the
Walnut Ridge Telephone and the following year he founded a Masonic paper known
as the Masonic Trowel, of which he was the editor until July, 1919, when he
transferred it to other hands. In November, 1889, he took over the business
management of the Arkansas Methodist, published at Little Rock, and removed to
the capital city. For fourteen years he continued as manager of that publication
in partnership with Rev. Z. T. Bennett, D. D., and later with Rev. J. E. Godbey,
D. D. On retiring from active connection with that paper he concentrated his
efforts and attention exclusively upon his editorial work in connection with the
Masonic Trowel and other Masonic publications. He had been extremely successful
in his work as manager of the Arkansas Methodist, increasing its subscription
list from about seven thousand to nearly twelve thousand.

    Mr. Thornburgh early entered actively upon the work of the church. He first
confessed Christ in a country church at Shady Grove, a few miles south of
Smithville, in Lawrence county, in 1863, and soon afterward was received into
the membership of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in Smithville. Almost
continuously since reaching the age of nineteen years he has served as one of
the church stewards, was Sunday school superintendent for more than forty years
in Smithville, Powhatan, Walnut Ridge, and in the First church and Winfield
Memorial church at Little Rock. He is the author of a Sunday school catechism
and a catechism of church government, has also compiled class books and a Sunday
school record, which have been widely used. He is the author of the stub form of
reports of preachers to be made at the annual conference and. for fifteen years
he served as the secretary of the Batesville district conference, while for a
decade he acted in a similar capacity in connection with the White River annual
conference. Twice he was a lay delegate to the general conference from the White
River conference and once from the Little Rock conference.

    Mr. Thornburgh's activities have covered a very wide scope. He has always
felt that to live in the world one should be a part of it, should find a place
of activity where his efforts would prove of benefit to his fellowmen and
further the interest of community, commonwealth and country at large. In early
manhood he served for four terms as a member of the state legislature of
Arkansas and in 1881 was speaker of the house. In the Brooks-Baxter war he was
commissioned a colonel, first by Elisha Baxter, governor, and afterward by
Governor Augustus H. Garland. He has not been an active factor in politics since
18S5, though frequently urged to become a candidate for governor. In more recent
years his activities have been directed into other channels which have more
closely affected the general interest of society, especially in uplift work. He
was one of the organizers of the Anti-Saloon League in Arkansas and for many
years has filled the office of president. When the executive committee of the
Anti-Saloon League agreed upon the bone dry measure he prepared the bill and
gave it to Senator Great-house to introduce into the senate. The house bill was
copied from it. During the final passage of the bill in the house Mr.
Thornburgh, by courtesy of the speaker, occupied the stand with him. Mr.
Thornburgh was also one of the organizers of the Methodist Orphanage, became its
first secretary and has been president thereof since October, 1906. He was the
president of the Arkansas Press Association and was the first president of the
Lawrence County Sunday School Association, filling the office in 1885. He
assisted in organizing the State Sunday School Association, was honored with its
first presidency and thrice has been reelected to that position. At the request
of the trustees of the Methodist Orphanage he undertook to raise funds to build
a home for the orphans and was eminently successful in this work, raising more
than fifty thousand dollars and building a commodious home for the little ones
in Little Rock, accepting no compensation for his service in that connection.

    On the 30th of September, 1868, Mr. Thornburgh was married to Margaret C.
Self, who was born in Missouri, January 27, 1847, a daughter of the Rev. J. M.
Self. They became the parents of six children: Lillie and Daisy, both deceased:
Margaret Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. J. M. Workman; Celestine and Edna Georgie,
who are deceased; and Agnes Eva, the wife of R. P. Ramsey. Mr. Thornburgh was
married again in 1903, when Mrs. L. B. Green became his wife. She, too, is a
daughter of a Methodist preacher, the Rev. W. P. Gibson of the St. Louis
conference.

    Mr. Thornburgh has long been prominently known in Masonic circles and was
elected to the highest office in the gift of the Masonic grand bodies of
Arkansas. By request of the Grand Lodge of the state he wrote a book known among
Masons as The Monitor, which was adopted by the Grand Lodge as the exclusive
work for the lodges of this jurisdiction. It has been remarkably popular and
twenty-one editions of a thousand each have been published. In 1914 he wrote a
history of Freemasonry, which has found a ready sale, the seventh edition having
already been published. The honorary thirty-third degree of Masonry has been
conferred upon him and to him is given credit of leading the Grand Lodge in its
advanced legislation against the liquor traffic and of putting the Masonic
fraternity of the state on record as favorable to prohibition. His life has been
devoted to service for his fellowmen, and on the 27th of December, 1918, he was
chosen superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Blind, though not an
applicant for the position, and he took charge on the 1st day of January, 1919.
On the 1st of October, 1921, he entered upon another term of service to cover
two years. He is doing splendid work in this connection, greatly improving
conditions for the unfortunates under his charge. His life has ever been
actuated by the highest ideals and in every possible way he has reached out a
helping hand to his fellowmen and has labored untiringly in support of those
things and interests which are looking toward the uplift of the individual, the
betterment of the community and the adoption of those high principles which find
their root in Christian teachings.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922



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