Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
May 3, 1894
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.
CXIV – MATTHEW THORNTON-Continued.
With the exception of Magna Charta, perhaps there is no historical document of greater interest to the English speaking world than the United States Declaration of Independence. It broke the tie that bound the colonists to the empire, sealed and perpetuated their enmity towards the mother country, and drove the Loyalists from their homes to found another British America in which British laws and institutions, then on their trial, might work out the problems of a free colonial government.
If the Declaration of Independence was the blow which welded the thirteen colonies into one, it also welded the first and strongest link in that chain of empire that encircles the earth, bearing in all its varied flags the Union Jack of Britain.
Without it there would have been no Dominion of Canada-possibly no British America to-day; for with the attainment of responsible government by pacific means before the age of the ocean steamship and the telegraph, the American provinces would soon have proved too broad and unwieldy to be ruled by a central government in Europe, and a peaceful separation, as in the case of Brazil, would have made the Atlantic ocean the dividing line. The Declaration of Independence lopped off the wayward branch before it had seriously injured the symmetrical growth of the tree.
The document was written by Thomas Jefferson. Some of its most exaggerated expressions were toned down by Franklin and John Adams, to whom it was submitted for approval, and it was adopted by the Congress at Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776. Afterwards it was engrossed, and the signatures added from time to time, as found convenient. The last signature attached was that of Matthew Thornton, who, though not a member of congress at the time of its adoption, was allowed to add his name.
It has been supposed that the Matthew Thornton who signed the Declaration was Dr. Thornton; and a monument recently erected to his memory bears an inscription to that effect; but the descendants of the other Matthew Thornton, who came to St. Andrews with the Castine Loyalists, or earlier, and who died at the old homestead over the hill at Oak Point, believe he was the signer.
All the probabilities seem to be in favor of the generally accepted opinion. Those who raised the monument to the memory of Doctor Thornton profess to have no doubt about the matter. He had done important service in the Louisburg expedition, he lived near the centre of population, held a high position, and had long been a prominent man in New Hampshire; while his nephew, though a man of property and influence, lived in a remote town, and was, therefore, so far as we can judge, much less widely known. Besides, the nephew, as the younger man, might have been expected to write his name Matthew Thornton, junior.
Yet, if Dr. Thornton were indeed the signer, it is a remarkable circumstance that for so many years, in a land where such a distinction would be esteemed the highest honor, his grave should have remained without a record of the fact. This inclines us to listen to the other story, which is thus told by a resident of Dufferin1 whose late wife was a granddaughter of the Loyalist:
It has always been known in the family that Matthew Thornton, of the Penobscot Association, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; though, for obvious reasons, very little was said about it during his lifetime. As a Loyalist among Loyalists, he would, of course, prefer that the fact should be forgotten; and it would have been more in accordance with his wishes if it had still remained a family secret.
Soon after I became acquainted with the family, which was nearly seventy years ago, I first heard it mentioned. This was but a year or two after Matthew Thornton died, and while his widow was still living.
A little incident that convinced me of the truth of this story took place at the house of his son, (afterwards my father-in-law,) who was also named Matthew Thornton.
A friend had sent me a group of portraits of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Showing this to Mr. Thornton without letting him know what it was, I asked him whether he knew any of the faces. He pointed to one and said, ‘Why, that’s Father Thornton,’ and showed it to his wife, who also recognized the likeness. Then I told him the pictures were those of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the one he had pointed out bore his father’s name; and he said, ‘Yes; he was a signer.’
There has been much correspondence on the subject; but, though the descendants of the younger Matthew Thornton are not very anxious to establish their claims, they have as yet seen nothing to make them doubt that their ancestor was the signer.
McClintock’s History of New Hampshire says:
Dr. Matthew Thornton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, removed to Massachusetts soon after 1784 from New Hampshire.
The tradition in the family of the younger Matthew Thornton is that Dr. Thornton took possession of his nephew’s property at Thornton’s Ferry, N. H., and hence was supposed to be the same person.
It has been suggested that Matthew Thornton, the nephew, might have been the signer of some other declaration or protest, and not of the Declaration of Independence. While discussing this, and the possibility of his son having been misled by a mere family resemblance, some skeptic proposed to settle the matter by a comparison of his signature with a fac-simile of the signature on the famous document. The comparison was made, and, much to his surprise, it failed to show conclusively that they were not in the same handwriting. We will put the signatures in evidence, and leave the whole matter for the reader to decide.
[From a fac-simile of the Declaration of Independence.]
[From a document belonging to N. Marks, Esq., witnessed by Matthew Thornton soon after the coming of the Loyalists.]
[From a note of hand given to the late Aaron Upton in 1813, now in possession of Mr. A. M. Hill.]
If the first of these signatures was written by the same hand that wrote the other two, it was by the hand of nephew, who lived in exile for nearly half a century to rue it, and, we may well suppose, considered it the greatest misdeed of his life.
1Joseph Donald, Esq., J.P., ex-M.P.P.