Josiah Thurston   (1814-1886)   

Josiah Thurston was born  in Freedom, N.H., June  9, 1814,  and  died suddenly of apoplexy, in Boston, November 13, 1886. He was the tenth child of Oliver and Anstress (Cross) Thurston.  Oliver was born in Brentwood, May 10, 1773 and in 1792 married Anstress Cross, born in Exeter, November 3, 1775. They removed to Freedom,   and were among the early settlers of the town and resided there until their deaths. Mr. Thurston was one  of the best farmers  in the town.  They had 12 children:  Mary,  Oliver,   William (1),   William   (2), Sally (1),  Martha,   Nathaniel, Josiah (1), Sally (2), Josiah (2), Eunice, and Isaac.

Josiah's early  training  was on his  father's   farm; his  educational  privileges were limited to the district school, which  he laid  the  foundation for an  active business career. He  married  first Mary  Ann, daughter  of William and  Mary  (Robinson) Thurston, of Eaton, September 10, 1840, who died November 16, 1875. For his second wife he married, April 23, 1877, Julia  Anna   Roberts, daughter of Daniel and Abigail Pierce of Hiram, Maine; she  was   born February 3, 1843 and has one child, Hattie P. Thurston.  Mr. Thurston had two children by adoption Nathaniel H. and Josiah Thurston.

Mr. Thurston became involved with lumbering on a small scale buying timber lots and operating them, disposing of his lumber in the log at the river bank and on the cars. His  business  gradually  developed   to large  proportions,  extending through eastern New Hampshire and   western Maine. At his death he was considered the largest landowner in Carroll County, and one of the largest in the state.