Matthew Thornton, Signer of U.S. Declaration of Independence - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Matthew Thornton, b. 1714 d. 1803
Signer of the US Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Buried in Merrimack, NH

Matthew Thornton was the 4th signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was Irish by birth but Scottish by ancestry. His parents left Ireland to settle in the present state of Maine when he was about four years old. Later they moved to the more settled community of Worcester, Massachusetts, where he attended school. Ambitious to become a doctor, he studied in Leicester, Massachusetts, and then began a successful practice in the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, where there was a colony of Scots-Irish immigrants.

Dr. Thornton became active in his community as a member of the New Hampshire legislature and adopted the cause of the colonists from the start. He took a prominent part in the protests against the Stamp Tax in NH, and was president of the revolutionary provincial congress set up by the patriot party. When he took his seat in the Continental Congress in November of 1776, Dr. Thornton was sixty-two years old, a very serious-minded man with a naturally grave expression. He remained at the Congress for little more than a year, then returned to NH where he became an associate justice of the state superior court and later a member of the state senate. One of his most important services was in helping to settle the boundary dispute between NH and Vermont.

Dr. Matthew Thornton died in 1803 at the age of 89 and was buried at Merrimack, NH. The town of Thornton's Ferry was later named in his honor. His homestead stands directly across the highway from the small cemetery (Thornton's Ferry Cemetery) where he is buried. His house, the "Signer's House," and the cemetery are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Description: Matthew Thornton was the 4th signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was Irish by birth but Scottish by ancestry. His parents left Ireland to settle in the present state of Maine when he was about four years old. Later they moved to the more settled community of Worcester, Massachusetts, where he attended school. Ambitious to become a doctor, he studied in Leicester, Massachusetts, and then began a successful practice in the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, where there was a colony of Scots-Irish immigrants. Dr. Thornton became active in his community as a member of the New Hampshire legislature and adopted the cause of the colonists from the start. He took a prominent part in the protests against the Stamp Tax in NH, and was president of the revolutionary provincial congress set up by the patriot party. When he took his seat in the Continental Congress in November of 1776, Dr. Thornton was sixty-two years old, a very serious-minded man with a naturally grave expression. He remained at the Congress for little more than a year, then returned to NH where he became an associate justice of the state superior court and later a member of the state senate. One of his most important services was in helping to settle the boundary dispute between NH and Vermont. Dr. Matthew Thornton died in 1803 at the age of 89 and was buried at Merrimack, NH. The town of Thornton's Ferry was later named in his honor. His homestead stands directly across the highway from the small cemetery (Thornton's Ferry Cemetery) where he is buried. His house, the "Signer's House," and the cemetery are on the National Register of Historic Places. Date of birth: 07/04/1714 Date of death: 06/24/1803 Area of notoriety: Politics Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Fee required?: No Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Not listed Web site: Not listed

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