When Allen Thurman Thornton Jr. was born on 20 February 1921, in Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Texas, United States, his father, Allen Thurman Thornton, was 21 and his mother, Freda Ashbuagh Ford, was 19. He married Wanda Bell Bailes on 3 November 1945, in Stephens, Texas, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. He lived in Justice Precinct 1, Stephens, Texas, United States in 1940. He died on 7 April 1971, in Breckenridge, Stephens, Texas, United States, at the age of 50, and was buried in Breckenridge, Stephens, Texas, United States.