Thornton, Matthew, House - Derry Village, NH
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nomadwillie
N 42° 53.624 W 071° 18.773
19T E 311152 N 4751609
Matthew Thornton House was the home of Matthew Thornton, a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
Waymark Code: WM6P8J
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2009
Views: 6
Matthew Thornton (1714 – June 24, 1803), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Hampshire.
He was born in Ireland: his family immigrated to America when he was three years old, settling first at Wiscasset, Maine, and removing shortly thereafter to Worcester, Massachusetts. Thornton became a physician and was appointed surgeon to the New Hampshire Militia troops in the expedition against Fortress Louisbourg. He had royal commissions as justice of the peace and colonel of militia. He became Londonderry Town Selectman, a representative to, and President of the Provincial Assembly, and a member of the Committee of Safety, drafting New Hampshire's plan of government after dissolution of the royal government, which was the first state constitution adopted after the start of hostilities with England.
He was first President of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. He was elected to the Continental Congress after the debates on independence had occurred, arriving just in time to actually sign the Declaration of Independence.
He became a political essayist. He retired from his medical practice and in 1780 moved to Merrimack, New Hampshire where he farmed and operated a ferry with his family. He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts, while visiting his daughter. Matthew Thornton is buried in Thornton Cemetery in Merrimack, New Hampshire and his grave reads "An Honest Man." The town of Thornton, New Hampshire is named in his honor, and a Londonderry elementary school as well. Thornton's residence in Derry, which was part of Londonderry at the time, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His descendants live in South Carolina and North Carolina.
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