Thornhill family-all of them nobility?

Question:

Thornhill family-all of them nobility?

my great great grandmother's name was eliza innes thornhill. i do not know her parents' names, nor siblings' names. i have heard most of the thornhills were blueblooded nobility. the name is mentioned in burkes peerage. does anyone know about this family, were they all nobility?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Nobility denotes a certain social strata and obligations. It does not mean that a title is granted to one member of a family then passes to all of his descendents equally. Here's the full definition of "nobility", see if it fits you:

The upper social class in feudal Europe. They were characterized by the following: a. Ownership of land, as a vassal to another lord; b. A military obligation to the king; c. An administrative obligation to the king; d. Possession of heraldry. Nobility was roughly divided into two classes: Noblesse de epee (of the Sword) - Knights; and, Noblesse de robe (of the Robe) - administrators.

Let's assume just for a second that your Eliza descends from "the" Thornhill family. At any point, Eliza's ancestors may have fallen from grace. They may have lost their ancestral lands, fallen on very hard times, and one of the grandfathers in the line was not the oldest son of the oldest son, but rather was the 5th son of an 8th son. Your family no longer possesses any of the criteria to continue considering itself "noble".

Just from the definition above, letter D. of the criteria can't be met. The reason? Because heraldry does not pass to all children of a man. It passes solely to the oldest son...and then only to his oldest son. As soon as your line broke from oldest son of the oldest son...no more heraldry. When lands passed to the oldest son of the oldest son...no inheritance passing to the 5th son of the 8th son...no more nobility.

As for "blueblooded"...you have a great deal of research to do in order to prove it's true or not.

The reality is what it is. Their lineage is immutable. They either were nobles or they weren't. But you have to do significant research to uncover the truth about them. Finding a similarity to a name in a book is a big leap in logic from tracing back each generation of your family and proving a link between that lineage and the name you found in the book. The good news is...if they were truly nobility, the records exist to prove the lineage and your task is simple. If they weren't nobility, you'll find out soon enough by pulling wills and land records.