When Alvin Cornell Thornton, Jr was born on 15 July 1929, in Harnett, North Carolina, United States, his father, Alvin Cornell Thornton, was 32 and his mother, Lucy Margaret Hargrove, was 21. He lived in Dunn, Harnett, North Carolina, United States for about 5 years and Cheeks Township, Orange, North Carolina, United States in 1940. He died on 20 December 1991, in Burlington, Alamance, North Carolina, United States, at the age of 62, and was buried in Chapel Hill, Orange, North Carolina, United States.