Mrs. Thornton Timeline and Summary

Mrs. Thornton hears from her son John that he has just met a young woman named Margaret Hale. Mrs. Thornton immediately tells John not to think about marrying her, since she knows that the girl is poor.
Later, Mrs. Thornton visits the Hales' house on her son's request. She dislikes Margaret every bit as much as she thought she would.
Later on, Mrs. Thornton pays a visit to the Hales when Margaret's mother, Mrs. Hale, is dying. Mrs. Thornton gets trapped into making a promise to look out for Margaret and give her motherly guidance when Mrs. Hale is gone.
Mrs. Thornton hears from her servant about Margaret Hale walking around the Milton train station late at night with a young man. This is really inappropriate in Victorian culture, so Mrs. Thornton takes it upon herself to confront Margaret and tell her she's acting wrongly.
Margaret is mortified by Mrs. Thornton's mistake, since the young man she was walking with was her brother Frederick. She can't say this to Mrs. Thornton, though.
Mrs. Thornton finds out that her son John has been doing things around his mill to make life more comfortable for his workers. She doesn't approve, but John goes ahead and does it anyway.