(Deacon) Peter THURSTON

HUSBAND:
[F248]. (Deacon) Peter THURSTON. [PC W3].
Born 10 December 1761 at Hollis, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, son of Moses THURSTON [F496] and Hannah JOHNSON [F497].

He was in the battle of Lexington. (S10).

He married (1) Eunice CHADWICK on 22 APR 1787 . They had several children. He lived in Fletcher till after his first wife's death. (S10).

" Mr. Thurston was a remarkably strong and tough man, with double teeth all round both jaws. He was always cheerful and very agreeable to his friends, and was the champion of all his region at 'pulling sticks,' a game in vogue in those days to test the strength. Many experiences and tests of his strength and endurance are told by his children. He was, withal, a great and successful hunter and trapper, paying for his farm in Vermont by these means. Moose, deer, beaver, sable, marten, otter, and other game were plenty there. (S10).

He was once taken prisoner by the Indians and with others carried to Montreal, kept some three weeks, when he made his escape and found his way back to Vermont, on foot, to a place since called Fletcher, which attracted his attention by the fertility of the soil, then a wilderness with only a few white settlers at long distances and no reads. He marked the trees and went on to Haverhill, where he married, and took his wife, with such effects as they could carry on horseback, and started for Vermont. They arrived in course of time, with no way-marks for much of the distance save the spotted trees. He erected a log-cabin, laid out his farm, began work with a will, and soon made the place attractive, so that several of their friends and relatives came and settled in that place, in Fairfax, and in Cambridge. (S10).

His descendants tell this curious incident in his life. He was told that if he would bite a live adder his teeth would never ache or decay. So on his journey from Montreal to Vermont he found adders swimming in a pond, caught one and bit it. The result was, his mouth was very sore and his teeth became loose. A friendly Indian squaw made him some tea and prepared a wash for his mouth from leaves and roots, which soon relieved him. His teeth never troubled him and remained perfectly sound till his death. (S10).

He married (2) Hannah BUTLER [F249] in 1802.

Peter and Hannah moved from Vermont in 1813, during the war with England, and settled in Granville, Licking County, Ohio. He sold his property in Vermont to his son Rufus, gave Edward a portion near by, and moved to Ohio with the rest of his family, his sister Wheeler, Samuel Chadwick, and several others. They fitted up long wagons, covered them with a coarse cloth manufactured by themselves, and attached two horses to each; supplied them with bedding, so they could be used for camping in nights, and with cooking utensils for baking bread and cooking game and fish, which they found in abundance on the way. These operations, together with fording streams, encounters with copperhead and rattle snakes, which were numerous, rendered the journey lively and often exciting. There were but few settlers on the route, and no hotels, making it necessary to camp out most every night during the two months it required for the journey. When they arrived at Buffalo, N.Y., the place had been burnt by the British and all the people fled. He probably obtained land in Ohio as a result of his service in the Revolutionary War. (S10).

It is said that some years thereafer he returned home to visit his brother Moses (S10a), but Moses died in 1809.

Peter and Hannah were both members of the Baptist church, and Peter was a deacon. She joined the Methodist church in Ohio." (S10a).

He died (on 29 AUG-S10)(OCT) 1827 in Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio; and was buried in thge Old Colony Burial Ground in Granville, Licking County, Ohio.

WIFE (1):
Eunice CHADWICK.
Eunice CHADWICK was born in Haverhill, MA and died circa 1800

CHILDREN of Peter THURSTON [248] and Eunice CHADWICK:
  1. Edward THURSTON
  2. Rufus THURSTON.
  3. Peter THURSTON.


WIFE (2):
[F249]. Hannah BUTLER. [PC W3].
Born 18 AUG 1772 at (Fairfax, Fairfax County, Connecticut-S5)(Hollis, Hillsboro County, Vermont)(Hollis, New Hampshire); the daughter of Thomas BUTLER [F498] and Jane WHITE [F499]. She married (1) Zalmon WHEELER. Zalmon Wheeler was born in 1762 probably in Fairfield, Connecticut; son of Joseph Wheeler and Francis Hill. His parents were among the first settlers of Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, Zalmon died on 29 DEC 1799 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. She married (2) Peter THURSTON [F248] in 1802. "Mrs. Thurston was a woman of great energy, endurance, bright intellect, and social culture; having remarkably uniform good health, a sound and strong physical body, which, together with similar qualities in her husband, produced a wonderfully healthy, vigorous, and hardy family of children. She would weave fourteen yards of cloth a day after she was sixty years of age." (S10a). She died (23-S5,S8, S10)(28) MAY 1866 at (Granville-S10)(Centerburg-S5,S8), Knox County, Ohio at the home of her son, Johnston. She was said to have been age 97, but this does not agree with the dates for her birth and death. She was buried in the Robbins-Thurston Cemetery in Centerburgh, Ohio. (S10).

CHILDREN of Zalmon WHEELER and Hannah BUTLER [249]:
  1. Polly (Mary) Wheeler. Born on 23 APR 1788 IN Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. She married Samuel JOHNSON. She died on 20 MAY 1853.
  2. Almon WHEELER. Born on 1 OCT 1789.probably in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. He was of Malone, Franklin County, New York. He married (1) ?. He married (2) Eliza Woodworth. His son, William Almon WHEELER, was Vice-President of the United States from 1877 to 1881, under President Hayes. Almon died in 1827 in Malone.
  3. Alfred Wheeler. Born on 4 AUG 1791 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. He married Maria BUCK on 2 MAR 1817. He died on 11 NOV 1850.
  4. Salmon Wheeler. Born on 7 JUL 1792 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. He married Gillen CHIPMAN. He died on 1 APR 1874.
  5. Thomas Wheeler. Born on 9 FEB 1796 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont.
  6. Fanny Wheeler. Born on 8 APR 1798 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont.


CHILDREN of Peter THURSTON [248] and Hannah BUTLER [249]:
  1. Johnston THURSTON. Born 20 OCT 1803. He married Julia EVERETT.
  2. George Washington THURSTON. Born, a twin, 12 FEB 1805 at Fletcher, Franklin County, Vermont. He married Charlotte JACKSON on 20 MAY 1832. He died 30 JUN 1835.
  3. [F124]. Thomas Jefferson THURSTON. [PC W3]. Born, a twin, 12 February 1805 at Fletcher, Franklin County, Vermont. He married Rosetta BULL on 28 March 1828. He died 4 MAY 1885.
  4. Reuben Harris THURSTON. Born on 11 DEC 1806 in Fletcher, Vermont. He married Mary Morse BROOKS on 15 Mar 1827 in Granville, Ohio. He appeared on the census in 1840 in Berlin Township, Delaware Co., OH. He moved to Garden City, Minnesota. He was a farmer in Garden City at the time of his death. " In religion a free thinker; having a fertile mind, he writes essays and poems upon religious and moral subjects, discrediting the bible as a revelation, but holding to the great first cause, God, as revealed in nature only. He always advocates morality, 'and is a most genial gentleman, a man of good judgement and taste." (S10). He died on 13 APR 1880 in Garden City, Blue Earth County, Minnesota at age 73; and was buried in Garden City.
  5. Jane THURSTON. Born, a twin, AUG 1807. She died age 1 year, 6 months.
  6. Caroline THURSTON. Born, a twin, AUG 1807. She married Henry CHARTER in 1839. She died at the birth of her first child.
  7. Siata (legally changed to Maria) THURSTON. Born 15 APR 1809. She married Orrin CHIPMAN on 2 NOV 1828. She died 4 MAR 1860.
  8. Cordelia THURSTON. Born in 1810. She married Calvin WOODS in 1829. She died in 1860.


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