Historical records matching Jean Thoreau
view all
Immediate Family
-
wife -
son -
son -
wife
-
father
-
mother
-
brother
About Jean Thoreau
Jean Thoreau, anglicized name from Jean to John. Born about 1754, in St. Helier, Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Emigrated to America in 1773, shipwrecked; privateer; served for a time as a private in the American Revolution under Paul Revere; merchant; m. (1) Jane (Jennie) Burns in 1781 (d. 1796); m. (2) Rebecca Kettell in 1782. In 1799, he bought part of what is now the Colonial Inn building in Concord and moved his large family there in 1800. He died there in 1801 possibly of tuberculosis; left a large estate but it was squandered by 2nd wife.
Parents: Philippe Thoreau and Marie Le Gallais
Children of Jennie Burns and Jean Thoreau included:
- Elizabeth (1782-1839)
- Jane (1784-1864)
- Mary (1786-1812)
- John (Henry Thoreau’s father; 1787-1859; m. Cynthia Dunbar 1812)
- Nancy (1789-1815; m. Caleb Billings 1810)
- Sarah (1790-1829)
- Maria (1794-1881)
- David (1796-1817)
Father told me about his father ...
... the other night, -- that he remembers his father used to breakfast before the family at one time, on account of his business, and he with him. His father used to eat the under crusts of biscuits, and he the upper. His father died in 1801, aged forty-seven. When the war came on, he was apprentice or journeyman to a cooper who employed many hands. He called them together, and told them that on account of the war his business was ruined and he had no more work for them. So, my father thinks, his father went privateering.
After the war he went into business as a merchant, commending with a single hogshead of sugar. His shop was on Long Wharf. He was a short man, a little taller than my father, stout and very strong for his size. ...
-- Henry David Thoreau, "I to Myself" [1]
Citations
Links
- Castles of Sand: Thoreau on the Seashore
- Family Tree of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
- Ahnentafel Genealogy Of Henry David Thoreau
- American Revolution and Great Writers of Early America
Sources
- Concord Free Public Library: Vault A45, Thoreau, Unit 3: Thoreau Family Correspondence, 1836-1878
- Salt, Henry S. Life of Henry David Thoreau. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Grandfather of Henry David Thoreau, by his first wife.
Rebecca Kettell, bapt. Oct. 31, 1762; m. at Concord, June 6, 1797, as his second wife, John Thoreau of Boston, who was b. in the Island of Jersey, England, about 1754, and who had married first, at Boston, Aug. 19, 1781, Jenny Burns (Trinity Church). He d. at Concord, Mar. 7, 1801 ; and she d. there. May 22, 1814. His will, dated Feb. 20, 1801, was probated Apr. 15, 1801.
Children by first wife, born in Boston :
1. Betsey Thoreau; d. at Concord, Nov. 15, 1839, never married.
2. Jane Thoreau: she was living in 1811.
8. Mary Thoreau, b. 1786; d. at Concord, July 24, 1811.
26
4. John Thoreau, b. 1788; in. at Concord, May 11, 1812, Cynthia,
clau. of Asa and Mary (Jones) Dunbar, who was b. inKeene, N. H., May 22, 1787; d. at Concord, Feb. 3, 1859; and she d. there, Mar. 12, 1872.
Children :
1. Helen L. Thoreau, b. 1814; d. at Concord, June 14, 1850.
2. John Thoreau, b. 1815 ; d. at Concord, Jan. 12, 1842.
3. Henry David Thoreau, b. July 12, 1817; d. at Concord, May
6, 1862. He graduated from Harvard College in 1837. Re- sided at Concord, and gave much of his time to the study of botany and nature. He was best known as the Poet- Naturalist of Concord.
Sketches of his life have been written by Ralph "W. Em- erson and William E. Channing.
5. Nancy Thoreau, m. June 20, 1810, Caleb C. Billings ; d. pre-
vious to 1829.
6. Sally Thoreau, b. 1791 ; d. at Concord, Aug. 21, 1829. Her will
was dated Apr. 29, and probated Nov. 17, 1829. It mentions her brother John Thoreau, who was named executor; sister Cynthia Thoreau, wife of her brother John; Rebecca Jane and Mary Ann Thoreau Billings, nieces ; sisters Elizabeth, Jane and Maria Thoreau. Her real estate consisted of a house on Prince Street, Boston, and a house at Concord.
7. Maria Thoreau.
8. David Thoreau, probably d. Aug. 28, 1817, aged 21 yrs., as no
mention is made of him in his sister's will in 1829.
view all
Jean Thoreau's Timeline
| 1754 |
1754
|
St. Helier, Isle of Jersey
|
|
| 1787 |
October 8, 1787
|
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
|
|
| 1801 |
March 7, 1801
Age 47
|
Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
|
|
| ???? | |||
| ???? |