Merrimack Historical Society

MATTHEW THORNTON

Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland about 1714. In his lifetime, Matthew Thornton was president of the Provincial Convention in 1775, was the 1776 New Hampshire delegate to Congress, was judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire (he was a self-taught lawyer), and successfully ran Thornton's Ferry after retiring from public life.

He was distinguished as a physician, judge, statesman, patriot of the Revolutionary War, and as one of New Hampshire's delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was in his 60's when he served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War.

At the age of 48 Matthew Thornton married Hannah Jack of Chester, NH who was 18 at the time. Over the course of the next seven years they had five children together, many of whom became prominent in their own right.

In 1784, after he signed the Declaration of Independence, he retired from politics and in 1789, at the age of 75, moved with his family to Merrimack. He settled on the farm formerly owned by Edward Lutwyche and operated the ferry. From this time on the ferry was called Thornton's Ferry, and that section of town is still referred to as Thornton's Ferry. Matthew Thornton's home was a large three story house with peaked roof. It stood on the bank of the Merrimack River near the railroad tracks. It was torn down about 1840 when the railroad depot was built.

He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts June 24, 1803 at the age of 89 and is buried in Thornton Cemetery in Merrimack. A simple stone inscribed "An Honest Man" Marks his grave.

In 1892 a monument was erected near the cemetery on route 3 in his honor.