Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland in 1714 and moved to what would become Maine as a child. At age eight, his family fled an Indian attack, escaping by canoe to Casco Bay, and later settled in Worcester, Massachusetts. Thornton received a classical education at Worcester Academy, studied medicine, and began a successful practice in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1740.

In 1745, he served as a surgeon for the New Hampshire militia during King George’s War. During the Battle of Louisburg, he earned a reputation as an excellent doctor by losing only six men to sickness. This led to his election in 1758 to the colonial legislature, where he became a vocal critic of British Parliament.

Following the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775, Governor Wentworth fled New Hampshire, and Thornton was named President of the New Hampshire Provincial Congress. In that role, he urged citizens to take up arms, citing British cruelty and civilian suffering.

Thornton led the committee to draft a new state constitution, chaired the Council of Safety, and served in both the Upper and Lower houses of the legislature.

In September 1776, Thornton was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress. Officially seated on November 4, he became one of the last signers of the Declaration of Independence. Though late, he insisted on being added to the list, wanting the “same privilege as the others… to be hanged for his patriotism.”

In 1777, he left Congress and resumed his earlier role on the New Hampshire Superior Court. Thornton died in 1803, at approximately 89 years old. His original gravestone bore the inscription: “An Honest Man.”