Joseph Pinkham

(1827 – 1903)

 Joseph Pinkham was born in the old Doe garrison house at Newmarket Neck on February 26, 1827.  He was the son of John and Betsey (Smith-Doe) Pinkham and was descended from Richard Pinkham the immigrant through John Pinkham and his wife Rose Otis Pinkham.  He was the grandson of John Moody and Sarah (Hill) Smith, an dthe great grandson of James Hill,  Captain of the New Hampshire Militia. 

(photo of the Old Doe Garrison (built around 1650) on Newmarket Neck, Lamprey River before it was demolished in 1937)

Joseph Pinkham received his early education in the public schools of his native town. When a young man he entered the employ of Col. James B Creighton, a merchant of Newmarket, and later was in the employ of Dow Creighton.  In the 1850s he engaged in the daguerreotype business and later opened a general store to which he soon added the manufacture of clothing.  He continued in his store until the early 1870s when he retired from active business life.

For over half a century Mr. Pinkham was prominent in the business social and political affairs in town, and was a man of well known integrity and uprightness of character.  He was a Justice of the Peace for more than twenty five years and a Notary Public since 1893.  He represented the town in the Legislature of 1895-6.

Through his efforts Lamprey River Grange Patrons of Husbandry was instituted in 1896, and he was its first Worthy Master.  He was also Chancellor Commander of Pioneer Lodge Knights of Pythias at the time of his death.  He took a deep interest in historical and genealogical matters and was well versed in local history. He was a member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of Colonial Wars.  Mr Pinkham  resided at the corner of Dearborn and Chapel Streets,  never married, and he died in Newmarket,  February 27 1903.

(Source: Ernest Percy Pinkham,  The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 58, “Memoirs”, 1904)