Thomas Jones Thorp

Thomas Jones Thorp was born in Granger, New York on 26 May 1837, a son of Montgomery Thorp and Bethiah (Jones) Thorp. His siblings included Alexander Kelsey Thorp, who was killed in action during the war and Simeon Montgomery Thorp, a Kansas politician and government official who was killed by Confederates during the Lawrence Massacre. He then began attending Union College; he was scheduled to graduate in 1861, but joined the military before the formal ceremony. Family On 6 September 1862, Thorp married Mandana Coleman Major in Portage, New York. They were married until his death and were the parents of five children, three of whom reached adulthood. A graduate of Alfred University, during the war Mrs. Thorp's singing was a major attraction at Union recruiting drives and rallies, and she worked as a nurse while traveling with her husband's regiment. After the war, she rode with her husband at the head of the 130th New York Volunteer Infantry during the Grand Review of the Armies and was active in the Woman's Relief Corps. ==Start of career==

After leaving college in the spring of 1861, Thorp assisted in raising a company in Granger; it was accepted for service as Company E, 85th New York Infantry Regiment in August, and in September Thorp enlisted for three years as a private. In November, he was commissioned as a captain and appointed to command the company. Thorp's speech on the right of the people to crush the rebellion roused the prisoners to such an extent that Confederate officers entered the camp and halted him. During his imprisonment, Thorp attempted several escapes, including one that nearly succeeded when he jumped from a train between Savannah and Charleston; he was recaptured only because his pursuers used bloodhounds to track him. Thorp was paroled in March 1865. He then returned to New York to recuperate, and he was there when the war ended in April 1865. He took part in the Grand Review of the Armies in May and received his discharge in June. Thorp was promoted to colonel in March 1865, and in July 1889 this promotion was made retroactive to December 24, 1864. Wounded five times in total, in October 1865, he received the brevet of brigadier general of United States Volunteers in recognition of the superior service he rendered during the war. ==Continued career==

Following the Civil War, Thorp became the owner and operator of a farm in Livingston County, New York. In 1871, he moved to Thorp, Michigan, a now-abandoned town in South Branch Township. He began studying engineering and mechanics while farming in New York and he subsequently patented several inventions while living in Michigan and Chicago. Among his creations were a variation on the horse collar, running gear for wagons, an improved fencepost, a fencepost manufacturing machine, a bicycle, an electric trolley, and a steeper for brewing tea and coffee. In the late 1880s, Thorp became a resident of Arizona Territory, where he raised sheep and sold wool near Flagstaff while continuing to invent. As a result of his prominence in Flagstaff, the city's Thorpe Park was named for him. After his wife's death, he was buried next to her at River View Cemetery in Portland. ==Notes==