The famous Doomsday Book states the Thornborough surname originated at the Manor of Thornborough in the north central part of Yorkshire. The earliest ancestor in the male line that I'm aware of is from an ancient pedigree of the house of Curwen, which gives Ivo de Tailleboise, of Viking ancestry and a Norman of the house of Anjou, (born 1036 in France, died 1094 in York, England). It was his descendant who first had the surname Thornsburgh (pronounced thornzburee). Another common variant of the name is Thornberry. I have chosen to stick to Thornburgh for clarity.

According to the chronicles of Hereward the Wake, Ivo de Tailleboise saved William the Conqueror's life at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 when an arrow shot by Hereward the Wake went through William's shield and pinned it to his breast. After this battle, which made William the King of England, William made Ivo the Earl of Holland in Lincolnshire, and the first Baron of Kendal, and gave Ivo a lot of land in England. The ruins of Kendal Castle provide our edge motif.

"A proud man was Ivo de Tailleboise as he rode next morning out of Spalding Town with a hawk on his fist, hound at heel, and a dozen men-at-arms at his back...An adventurer from Anjou, brutal, ignorant, and profligate, low-borne too...valiant he was, cunning, and skilled in war. Called 'thou old butcher' by King William, he and his group of Angevin rutters had fought like tigers by William's side at Hastings". "Hereward, the Wake" Volume II, Chapter XXI, page 1.

Sounds like a pleasant chap.

For thirteen generations, Thornburghs served the kings of England. Then, during the Reformation of Henry 8, they fell into disfavor for refusing to abandon the Catholic Church.

William Thornburgh (5520) paid the price for this refusal being forced to sell most of his lands and estates. His son, Charles Thornbugh (2760) moved his family from England to Ireland where he resumed the original family spelling of Thornborough. Charles and Elizabeth were Quakers but whether this was the cause of their move is unknown at this time. Charles' son, Robert (1380) was content to remain in Ireland but his son Walter Thornburgh (696) emigrated to America with his two brothers, Thomas and Edward, and sister Judith, between 1715 and 1718, first to Chester Co, Pennsylvania, where, in 1739, he is listed as a landowner. Then after 1750, Walter and many other Quakers moved just over the line into northern Virginia in what is today Loudon County, but was all part of Frederick County at that time. On November 18, 1752, Walter obtained a patent to 368 acres on the North Run of Middle Creek according to the Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book H of Northern Neck Grants. Thomas Thornborough was granted an adjacent plat of 862 acres on the same day. Walter and others traveled to Frederick County and joined the Hopewell Monthly Meeting. Later, Walter and his family then moved to north central North Carolina and were settled in Deep River near the New Garden Monthly Meeting in Rowan County (Guilford County later). New Garden was established in 1754. There is a record of Walter's son Henry being married there in 1758. Walter died there in February 1783, having survived his wife.