Thunderbird: Change default sort order and threaded view settings

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/config-editor

Menu Edit > Settings > General > Config Editor…

Sort By Date
   Advanced Preferences   mailnews.default_sort_type   18

Sort Order   1 (ascending)   2 (descending)
   Advanced Preferences   mailnews.default_sort_order   2

Enable Threaded View   0 (unthreaded)   1 (threaded)
   Advanced Preferences   mailnews.default_view_flags    1