Imperial County
Biographies
HILLIARD E. THORNTON
Hilliard E. Thornton is a successful funeral director of Brawley, where he conducts an up-to-date and handsomely equipped undertaking establishment. He was born in Coleman County, Texas, August 6, 1888, a son of H. J. and Amanda (Wagner) Thornton. The father, also a native of Texas, devoted his attention to farming and sheep raising throughout his active career. He passed away in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother, who is still living, now makes her home in Santa Ana, California. Seven of the eight children of the family also survive.
Hilliard E. Thornton acquired his education in the public schools of the Lone Star state, where he was subsequently identified with various lines of business, including the grocery trade. It was in 1922, when a young man of thirty-four years, he came to California, locating in Brawley, Imperial County, where he has been actively connected with the undertaking business to the present time. In January, 1932 he embarked in business as a funeral director on his own account and has since offered to the public the highest class of funeral service, having splendid equipment for his work. His property at the corner of Plaza and North Imperial Avenue includes a fine chapel.
In 1911 Mr. Thornton was united in marriage to Viola Perry, of Austin, Texas, and they are the parents of a son, Robert C., who is twenty-one years of age. Mr. Thornton is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a trustee of the Woodmen of the World. He loves the desert and God’s great out-of-doors, and he has won an extensive circle of warm friends in the California city of his adoption.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on April 25 16,
2013.
Source: California of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 683, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los
Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Michele Y. Larsen.
Golden Nugget Library's Imperial County Biographies