THROCKMORTON, WILLIAM EDWARD (1795–1843). William Edward Throckmorton, Collin County pioneer, the son of Albion Throckmorton, a Revolutionary War soldier, was born in Virginia in 1795. He was reared and educated in Virginia and there married Susan Jane Rotan. In 1817 he graduated with a degree in medicine, and in 1821 he moved to Sparta, Tennessee. He later moved to Illinois and in 1837 to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where his wife died, leaving five children. In 1840 Throckmorton married Melina Wilson. In 1841 he moved to Texas and settled near Melissa, Collin County. He died on October 2, 1843, and was buried in the Throckmorton Cemetery, two miles northwest of Melissa. In 1936 the Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations erected a monument at his grave. Throckmorton County, which was established on January 13, 1858, was named in his honor, probably as a compliment to his son, James W. Throckmorton, then senator and later governor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zachary T. Fulmore, History and Geography of Texas As Told in County Names (Austin: Steck, 1915; facsimile, 1935). J. Lee and Lillian J. Stambaugh, A History of Collin County (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1958).
