The Matthew Thornton homestead in Merrimack, NH is now a restaurant "The Common Man". It was formerly a restaurant called "Hannah Jack" his wife's maiden name. |
Matthew Thornton was born in Northern Ireland and settled as a doctor in Londonderry, New Hampshire (did you know three of the signers were born in Ireland?). He became a colonel of the Londonderry militia, and led his men to Louisburg, Nova Scotia in 1745. As a doctor he was able to keep his casualties down to only six men, although the army suffered great losses in that expedition. During the American Revolution he was too old to serve again in the army, but served instead in the many provincial congresses and was chairman of the Committee of Safety in 1775. He was elected to the Continental Congress but did not arrive in Philadelphia until November of 1776, and was allowed to sign the Declaration of Independence after the fact.
Across the street from the Thornton homestead is this grand memorial. Matthew Thornton is NOT buried here, but is buried several yards south in the family plot, with his wife and several children. |
The actual Thornton family plot |
Erected To the Memory of the Honble MATTHEW THORNTON who died june 27th 1803 Aged 89 Years The Honest Man |
After his retirement from public life he removed to Merrimack, New Hampshire. He farmed and operated a ferry across the Merrimack River. This part of Merrimack is still known as Thornton's Ferry. He died while visiting his daughter in Newbury, Massachusetts. He is buried in Merrimack in a simple grave that reads "An Honest Man". The large memorial obelisk was raised in his honor many years later.
A previous blog post about Matthew Thornton:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/07/fourth-of-july-matthew-thornton-signer.html
A webpage about the Thornton Cemetery from Janice Webster Brown's website:
http://www.nh.searchroots.com/HillsboroughCo/Merrimack/thornton-cemetery.html
-----------------------
To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "4th of July ~ Celebrate the Signers of the Declaration of Independence", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 4, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/07/4th-of-july-celebrate-signers-of.html: accessed [access date]).
Thanks for posting this Heather-- I wasn't too familiar with Matthew Thornton. But Josiah Bartlett was a 2nd cousin of mine. :-)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post! Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDelete