Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. IV, Part 129

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 878

USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. IV > Part 129

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

twenty-six years. These children were all born at Gilmanton Iron Works.

(VI) Jonathan Titcomb Parker, second son and child of Oliver and Anna (Gilman) Hunt, was born April 7, 1809, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, and died February 23, 1865, in his fifty-sixth year, in Manchester. During his short life he accom- plished much. He was a man of great ambition and industry, and early in life went to Lowell, where he became a mason contractor and built the Booth mills. Upon the organization of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company he was induced to come to Manchester, then a small village. 1837-38, and was among the leaders in building up the present city. He built the mills of the Amoskeag Manufac- turing Company, of Stark Corporation and the Print Works, and was continuously employed in that line of work until his retirement, in 1851-52, on account of failing health. He organized the Manchester Gaslight Company, built the entire plant, and became its agent and manager, in which capacity he continued until his death. He was a director of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, and was interested in various industries, including the scale factory and the iron foundry. He was one of the committee, in 1842, which built the town house of Manchester, on the present site of the City Hall, and after its destruction by fire he built the City Hall. For a time he engaged in the construction of the Manchester & Lawrence rail- road, and after its completion was its superintend- ent until its operation was thoroughly organized. He was a director of the Manchester Bank from the time of its organization until its re-organization as a national bank in 1865, about the time of his death.

Mr. Hunt was an attendant of the Universalist Church, and constructed its house of worship. He was a member of Hillsborough Lodge and Mt. WVonolancet Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was identified with Lafayette Lodge, Mt. Horeb Royal Arch Chapter, and Trin- ity Commandery, Knights Templar, of the Masonic Order. In early life he was an enthusiastic sup- porter of the Free Soil movement, and upon the or- ganization of the Republican party was a leader in its affairs, and so continued until his death. At the first election carried by that party, in 1858, he was elected representative to the state legislature, re- elected in 1859, and shortly after that he served three years as a railroad commissioner of the state. He was at different time chief engineer of the fire department, and held that office in 1859. during the celebrated muster.

Mr. Hunt married, September 27, 1835, Irene Drew, born June 28, 1813, at Alton, New Hamp- shire, daughter of Nathan Drew, of Alton, whose wife was an Elliott. She survived her husband thirty-four years, dying February 25, 1899, in Man- chester. Their children were: Irene Augusta. mar- ried Dr. Thomas Wheat, of Manchester. Nathan Parker, see forward. Annette, married William E. Drew, of Manchester. Oliver. Gilman, deceased. Abbie Maria, deceased, married Frank D. Everett.

(VII) Nathan Parker, eldest son and second child of Jonathan T. P. and Irene (Drew) Hunt, was born July 5. 1814, in Manchester, where his life has been spent. He has been active in develop- ing all the best interests of the city, in whose founding his father took a prominent part. He was graduated from the high school of Manchester, and from Dartmouth College in the class of 1866. He took up the study of law with Samuel N. Bell. Esq., of Manchester, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1869. Immediately thereafter he began the prac- tice of his profession, sharing the office of his pre-

2008

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ceptor, Mr. Bell, which office he still occupies. His time was given to general practice until the de- mands of various interests prevented further activ- ity in that direction. In 1876 he was appointed judge of the police courts by Governor Cheney and served until 1895, when he resigned. He was city solicitor two years, treasurer of Hillsborough county for three years, served upon the school committee many years, and in 1876, when the Democratic party lost control of the state government, he was elected representative from his ward, which was one of the Democratic strongholds of the city.

In 1879 he was made a director of the Mer- chants' National Bank at Manchester, and upon the death of Governor Weston, in 1895. he succeeded him as president of the bank. As one of the or- ganizers of the Hillsborough County Savings Bank, he was made its treasurer, and has so continued to the present time. For many years he served as vice-president of the New Hampshire Fire Insur- ance Company, a most prosperous and worthy Manchester enterprise, and upon his election as treasurer of that company, to succeed the late George Byron Chandler, in August, 1905, he re- signed the vice-presidency. He served as trustee of the City Library from September, 1873, until his resignation in May, 1906, and was treasurer of the board from 1879 until his resignation. He was one of the executors of the estate of Mrs. Mary G. Gale, and assisted in the organization of the Gale Home. one of the leading benevolent institutions of Man- chester, of which he has been president down to the present time. He was one of the organizers of the Masonic Home at Manchester, and is now treasurer of that institution. For the past ten years he has been trustee of the State Industrial School, and is now president of the board. He has been a member of Wildy Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, since 1866, and one of the charter members of Mt. Washington Encampment, having passed through all the chairs of both orders. He has passed all the chairs of the Council, Chapter and Commandery, and is a member of the Consis- tory up to and including the thirty-third degree. He was for twenty-five years a member of the com- mittee on jurisprudence, trials and appeals of the Grand Lodge. He is an active member of the Ma- sonic Order as is indicated by his connection with the Masonic Home, and his connection with the of- ficial bodies of the school and city libraries indi- cates his interest in education and the general wel- fare of the community.

Mr. Hunt married, November 22, 1870, Eliza- beth S. Bisbce., born in Derby, Vermont, 1844 daughter of David and Sarah (Albie) Bisbee. They are the parents of three children: Samuel Parker, who was an electrical engineer in Boston on the Old Colony railroad up to April, 1907, and since then has been assistant general manager of the Manchester Machine, Light & Power Company. Sara, married Albert L. Clough, one child, Eliza- beth Louise Clough. Agnes, an instructor in Smith College.

HUNT The Hunt family is a numerous and prosperous one in the United States. The ancestry of this line cannot now be discovered, though diligent search has been made.

(I) John Hunt, son of Levi Hunt, was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, in 1821. He was a farmer and lived in Carroll, New Hampshire, from 1855 till 1894, when he moved to Whitefield. He was a Democrat in politics, and was selectman of the town in 1858-59-60-62-70. and represented Carroll in the legislature of 1874-75. He attended the Baptist

Church, and was a respected citizen. John Hunt married Mary Ann, daughter of Samuel and Sa- brina Ash, of Lisbon. They had ten children: An unnamed infant. Sabina, deceased. George H., de- ceased. Henry J., now living at Whitefield. Mary E., who married Hal E. Jenness. Samuel D., whose sketch follows. Ida E. John W. Mildred J., de- ceased. Augusta. John Hunt died at Carroll, New Hampshire, 1899, and his wife died March, 1891.

(II) Samuel Delbert, third son and sixth child of John and Mary Ann (Ash) Hunt, was born at Bethlehem, New Hampshire, August 24, 1852. He was educated in the common schools, and has farmed since then. His father moved to Carroll when he was three years old, and the son remained there till 1899. when he bought his present place in Whitefield. He is a Democrat in politics, and served as selectman in Carroll for four years, and is now (1907) holding his second term as select- man in Whitefield. He attends the Baptist Church. On August 2, 1877, Samuel Delbert Hunt married Alice M., daughter of Hosea and Annette Whit- comb. of Bethlehem. They had one child, Minnie, born 1878, and died at five months old.

The families of Dowd or O'Dowd,

DOWD Doody. and so on, as the name was va- riously anglicized, are of one stock, and descended from the princes and chiefs of Con- naught. Many of them have been soldiers. The ancient Dowds were unusually tall, and all the O'Dowds even to the present day are so.

(I) Oliver Dowd was born in county Kerry, Ireland and there spent his life. He married Mary Sullivan.

(II) John, son of Oliver and Mary (Sullivan) Dowd, was born in county Kerry, in 1821, and died in Lewiston, Maine, in 1871, aged fifty years. He was a farmer and came to America after the "great famine" in Ireland in 1847-48. He was engaged in railroad work in New Haven, Connecticut, for a time, and went from there to Banger, Maine. Be- fore the Civil war he assisted in the construction of Fort Knox at Bucksport, Maine. He was aft- erward in a wholesale grain firm in Bangor, Maine, He married Margaret Hannifin. Their children were: Thomas, Mary, Oliver, John, James, Pat- rick, Daniel, John H. and Cornelius.

(III) John (2), eighth child and seventh son of John and Margaret (Hannifin) Dowd. was educated in the common schools of Bangor and Lewiston. At an early age he entered the employ of the Lin- coln Cotton Mills at Lewiston, Maine, where he worked four years. He then went to Bangor, where he spent three years learning marble cutting. From Bangor he went to Boston where he was em- ployed in the same business by Enoch Wentworth, and later by Henry Murray. August 6, 1883, he entered the employ of John S. Treat, the proprie- tor of the oldest marble and granite cutting busi- ness in New England, where he remained four years. In 1887 he formed a partnership with Low- ell Jenness, and they established themselves at Portsmouth in the business at which years of expe- rience had made them proficient. Four years later Mr. Dowd bought his partner's interest in the busi- ness of which he has since been sole proprietor. Mr. Dowd has managed his affairs successfully and prospered. He has been active in public affairs and has been elected to positions of trust and honor. He served as assessor of taxes, as representative in the legislature. and as water commissioner of the city of Portsmouth. He married, January, 1886, Lena M. Hutchins, who was born in Portsmouth, daughter of George W. Hutchins. They have four

2009

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

children : Oliver H., Anna M., John F. and Law- rence.

(I) Jolin Daley was born in county

DALEY Cork, Ireland, in the year 1839. His only educational opportunities were a few days of schooling in the old country. He came to America about 1858. He worked on a farm in Lowell, Massachusetts, and for six years lived in the town of Tewksbury. He then went to Austra- lia, where he remained for two years and where he worked at farming. When he returned to this country he settled in Londonderry. New Hampshire, where he hired a farm for three years. He then bought the Titcomb farm where he lived till his death. When he started in for himself he had twenty dollars in money, a cook stove worth five dollars, a hand-cart worth three dollars, and fur- niture to the value of five dollars more. He lived to be a respected citizen in the old town of Lon- donderry, where he held the office of road surveyor, and also served on the school committee. In poli- tics he was a Republican. He belonged to the Ro- man Catholic Church. He married Julia Royal, daughter of Daniel Royah, and they had three chil- dren: James P., born December 18, 1866. John W., mentioned below. Daniel J., born August 3, 1874. Daniel was educated in the schools of Nashua, New Hampshire. at Pembroke Academy, and at the Bos- ton Law School. He married Josephine C. Burke, of Manchester, New Hampshire. He was a lawyer in Manchester six years, and had a fine office in the Kennard, the best building in the city at the time it was burned. Daniel Daley died March 5, 1905. John Daley died March 31, 1901, at Londonderry. His wife is still living.

(II) John William, second son and child of John and Julia '(Royah) Daley, was born on Can- dlemas Day, February 2, 1868, at Londonderry. He was educated in the district schools of Windham, New Hampshire. and worked on the home farm till he was twenty-nine years of age. He then came to Manchester and hired some land of the Mercy Home, and raised market vegetables for three years. On December 30, 1900, he moved across the river to Bedford and bought the John E. Underhill farm of twenty-five acres. His occupation is mar- ket gardening. He is a charter member of General Stark Grange, and has held office. He is a Republi- can in politics, and belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the early records this name ap-

THORNE pears interchangeably Thorn, or Thorne. The latter seems to be the preferred modern spelling. Several of the family are found among the earliest American immigrants, especially in Virginia. February 16, 1623, Henry Thorne was living in the household of "Ensign Isack Chaplaine, Chaplaine's Choise, Charles Cittie, Virginia." Thomas Thorne, aged thirteen, embarked in the "Safety" for that colony, and Henry Thorne arrived in the "James" in 1622. The ancestor of the New England Thornes is probably Peter, who at the age of twenty sailed from England in the "Eliza- beth" of London, April 10, 1635, and settled either in Lynn or Salem, Massachusetts. John Thorne, probably the son of Peter, with his brother, Israel Thorne, was in King Philip's war in 1665. Ten years later, August 21, 1675, he was enrolled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, under Captain Daniel Henchman, in another expedition against King Philip. It is thought that Samuel, mentioned in the next paragraph, may have been a son of John. As

it has been impossible fully to authenticate these carly ancestors the line begins with a later genera- tion.

(I) John, son of Samuel and Abigail (Barbour) Thorn, was born in Boston, February 10, 1697. His mother was the daughter of Captain George Bar- bour, a Puritan of distinction who came to this country in 1635 and was one of the first settlers of Dedham and Medfield, besides being the chief military officer of his district and a member of the colonial government. John Thorn moved to Kings- ton. New Hampshire, where his will was proved November 12, 1790, showing that he lived to the ad- vanced age of ninety-three. In this will he men- tions his wife Elizabeth, his daughter Elizabeth, three children of his daughter, Jemima Loveren, his son Jacob, who was executor, and his son John, to whom was given but five shillings, "he having re- ceived his part of my estate in his lifetime." Abra- ham, the youngest child, born January 31, 1757, was not mentioned in the will, and perhaps was not liv- ing at the time.

(II) John (2), son of John (1) and Elizabeth Thorn. always known as the "Old Quartermaster Thorn" from the office he held in the French and Indian wars, came up from Kingston, New Hamp- shire, in 1765, and settled on what was afterwards known as "Thorn Hill," in Sanbornton, this state. When at Kingston he served in Captain Marston's company, Colonel John Goffe's regiment. in the ex- pedition against Crown Point, being enrolled Sep- tember 30, 1762. The name of his wife is unknown. There were seven children: Phinehas, John (3), Mercy, Henry, Abram, Mary and Jeremiah. In his later years Quartermaster Thorn went to live with his son, Dr. John, at Sullivan, Maine, but he re- turned to Sanbornton, where he died in September, 1807. If his wife survived him, she was probably the Widow Thorn who died in Sanbornton, Au- gust 16, 1812. Quartermaster Thorn's eldest daugh- ter Mercy married Samuel C. Dudley, of Sanborn- ton, and lived to be nearly one hundred years old.

(III) Phinehas, eldest son and child of John (2) Thorn, was born in Kingston in 1762, and moved with his parents to Sanbornton. He was a noted teacher in his day, and in his later years was known as "Schoolmaster Thorn." He had many men of mark in adult life among his pupils, and it is said that he taught Daniel Webster in his youthful days. Phinehas Thorn married Miriam Lovejoy, daughter of Chandler and Miriam Lovejoy, who was born July 25. 1767. Their children were: Sarah, Chand- ler, Harriet, Myra and Calvin, whose sketch follows. Sarah, born March 22, 1797, married Henry Love- joy, and died in Tremont, Illinois, in January, 1867. Chandler, born January 28, 1800, went to Canada. where he died November 3. 1888. Harriet married Royal Gibson, a native of Canterbury, New Hamp- shire, on August 17, 1825, removing with him to Lind, Waupaca county, Wisconsin, Myra, born May 23, 1807. married Benjamin Pitts, August 31, 1840, and died in Waterboro, Maine, April 18, 1867. Some of this family are remarkable for their longe- vity. Schoolmaster Phinehas Thorn died in San- bornton, April 29, 1853, aged ninety-one. His wife died in 1844, aged seventy-seven. The granite monument in Tilton Highlands cemetery to their memory was erected by their grandson, John C. Thorne, of Concord, in 1896.

(IV) Calvin, second son and fifth and youngest child of Phinehas and Miriam (Lovejoy) Thorn, was born November 24. 18II, at Sanbornton, New Hampshire. His education was gained in the pub- lic schools and at the academies in Hopkinton and

2010

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Franklin, New Hampshire. When a young man he taught several terms of district school in Bow and Salisbury, also at Millville and Horse Hill, in Con- cord. In 1834 he began the manufacture of shoes for Richardson and Company, and in 1835 he formed a partnership with Joel Frazier for the man- ufacture and sale of shoes at Concord. This estab- lishment, which Mr. Thorn conducted independently after 1844 and which he left to his son, is the oldest store in Concord remaining in one name, and in 1910 will celebrate three-quarters of a century of honorable existence, a record which probably can- not be equalled in the state. Mr. Thorn was a member of the First Congregational (Old North) Church in Concord for fifty-one years. He was a Republican in politics, but had no ambition for political honors. On August 31, 1836, Calvin Thorn married Cynthia Morgan, third daughter and child of Jeremiah and Nabby (Johnson) Morgan, who was born at Pembroke, New Hampshire. December 9. 1804. (See Morgan Genealogy, Second Family. IV). There were two children: John Calvin, whose sketch follows, and Charles Henry, born No- vember 30, 1848. Mrs. Thorn was a member of the First Congregational Church for fifty-four years, and a woman of saintly life and character. Calvin Thorn died of paralysis at his home in Concord, August 12, 1884, in his seventy-third year. Mrs. Thorn outlived her husband eight years, dying De- cember 22, 1892, at the age of eighty-eight years.

(V) John Calvin, elder son and child of Calvin and Cynthia (Morgan) Thorn, was born November 6, 1842, at Concord, New Hampshire. He was edti- cated in the public and private schools of his native town, including the high school, and was graduated from Kimball Union Academy at Meriden in 1864. He then entered into the shoe business with his fa- ther, in which he has been continuously engaged ever since, with the exception of a short interval which he passed in business in the city of Chicago and was a witness of the great fire of 1871. Al- though Mr. Thorne has had a long and prosperous business carcer he has also had wide outside inter- ests, and has rendered large public service, particu- larly along religious and historical lines. He is a Republican in politics, and was a member of the common council in 1877 and 1878, serving as pres- ident during the latter year. He was alderman in 1883-4-5-6. He is a member of the Council of As- sociated Charities, and vice-president of the Con- cord Commercial Club. He is one of the oldest trustees in point of service of the New Hampshire Savings Bank, serving since 1880, and he was a member of the Board of Education for five years from 1883 to 1888. He joined the First Congrega- tional Church in 1875, and has been its treasurer for nearly thirty years, beginning in 1879. He was li- brarian and superintendent of the Sunday school for several years, and was made deacon of the church in 1891. "He has been a director of the Young Men's Christian Association of Concord, is chairman of the directors of the New Hamp- shire Bible was treasurer of

Society,

and

Charitable Fund the Ministers' and Widows'

of Congregational Churches New Hamp- shire from 1880 to 1896, receiving the fund of $10,000 from former treasurer and passing it over to his successor, amounting to upwards of $45,000. Mr. Thorne became a member of the New Hamp- shire Historical Society in 1885, and has been miost active in promoting its interests. He has served for years on the standing committee, and has had much to do with arranging the field days and other mneet- ings, and it was through his efforts that the valu-

able Sabine Library of four thousand volumes be- longing to the estate of Lorenzo Sabine. of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, was secured for the so- ciety. Mr. Thorne was chairman of the committee which purchased additional land for the use of the society, and he secured the gift of five thousand dollars from the Pearson Fund for the erection of a new building, also a like sum from Sherman Bou- ton, of Chicago, eldest son of Rev. Nathaniel Bou- ton, D. D., the historian of Concord. Mr. Thorne has compiled the (1907) History and Manual of the First Congregational Church in connection with the pastor, which is one of the most complete ever issued and has published several historical pamph- lets, including an address delivered at the one hun- dredth and fiftieth anniversary of the First Congre- gational Church of Concord, and monographs ( with many illustrations) on Rev. Enocli Coffin, the first preacher in Penacook, now Concord. and on Rev. Israel Evans, a chaplain during the entire period of the Revolution and the second settled minister of the first Congregational Church at Con- cord. Mr. Thorne also secured a portrait of Mr. Evans and a bronze tablet for this church, a work that involved much labor and research, as the clergyman left no descendants. The original, from which the portrait was reproduced, was a miniature on ivory painted by Kosciusko. Besides these sep- arate publications Mr. Thorne has written many foreign letters for the Concord Daily Monitor, and has contributed important articles, both historical and descriptive to the Granite Monthly. Mr. Thorne has been an extensive traveler, visiting New Orleans in 1889, Florida in 1894. Mexico in 1902, and making comprehensive European tours in 1891 and 1906. Perhaps the culmination of Mr. Thorne's historical service has come in his connection with the Society of Colonial Wars in New Hampshire. He joined this society in 1895, was its secretary for several years, deputy governor from 1901 to 1903, and governor from June, 1903, to June, 1906. Dur- ing his term as governor three important and inter- esting field days were held. The first one was at Newcastle, June 17, 1903, and was made the oc- casion of placing a bronze tablet upon Fort Wil- liam and Mary in commemoration of the first vic- tory of the American revolution, December 15, 1774. The second was at Charlestown, and was held August 30, 1904, the hundred and fiftieth an- niversary of the Indian Raid when Mrs. Johnson and her companions were carried into captivity. A bronze tablet, set in a large boulder, on the main street of the village, was dedicated at this anni- versary. In 1906 the society held a field day at Exeter, where they were entertained at the club houses of the Colonial Dames and the Society of the Cincinnati. The society always makes a point of observing June 17, the anniversary of the cap- ture of Louisburg, and on one of these occasions they renewed the tablet on the tomb of Captain William Vaughan at the Point of Graves, Ports- mouth, one of the heroes of 1745. Mr. Thorne is a gentleman of polished and courtly manners, a ready speaker with a fund of quiet humor, and an agree- able companion.

On July 8. 1873, John Calvin Thorne married Mary Gordon Nichols, daughter of Nathaniel Gor- don and Lucia (Lovejoy) Nichols, of Tremont, Illinois, and great-granddaughter of Phinehas Thorne III. (See Nichols Genealogy, Second Fam- ily. III). Mrs. Thorne was born April 8, 1852, at Elm Grove. Illinois, and was educated at the State Normal University at Bloomington. Since her coming to Concord she has taken a prominent part

20II

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

in the religious, philanthropic and social life of the city. She is one of the active workers in the First Congregational Church, which she joined at the time of her marriage. Mrs. Thorne's outside inter- ests have in no way interfered with her domestic duties, and her attractive home at the North End is the scene of generous hospitality and refined en- tertainment.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. IV, Part 129

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 878

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 878