Rev. BOUTON Nathaniel^[1]

1799 - 1878  (78 years)

• Name	BOUTON Nathaniel
  Prefix	Rev.
  Birth	20 Jun 1799	Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States   [2]
  Gender	Male
  _UID	22E80D38EB9ED5118A064445535400007EB2
  Death	6 Jun 1878	Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States   [3]
  Notes	On the authority of an Autobiography published by his son, John Bell Bouton, of the Journal of Commerce, New York, it is learned that Nathaniel Bouton, the subject of this record, attended school at Norwalk, and at the age of nine years was so proficient in the rudimentary branches that the teacher frequently sent other scholars to him to be assisted in their studies. As grammar and geography were not at that time taught in the district schools, he studied the rudiments of English grammar, with but little, if any, more assistance than that obtained from a book called "Murray's Abridgement." Between the ages of thirteen and fourteen he began to think of learning a trade. An advertisement appearing in his father's newspaper, Republican Farmer, of Bridgeport, for a boy to learn the printing business, he at once resolved to ask his father to allow him to go and learn that trade, to which he readily consented, and the lad was regularly apprenticed by his father to Stiles Nichols, proprietor of the Republican Farmer, for seven years. A strong attachment mutually grew up between employer and employee, and soon not only his hands but his mental capacities were called into exercise in the work of conducting the paper. During the spring of 1815, special religious services were held in Bridgeport, at which, with many others of about his age, he attended, and became deeply impressed with the subject of religion; and on the morning of June 20, 1815, his sixteenth birthday, he resolved to give himself, without reserve, to the service of God; and pursuing that purpose until the first sabbath in December, 1815, he with ninety-eight others, were received into the First Congregational church in Bridgeport, Rev. Elijah Waterman, pastor. During the year that followed a desire came upon him to preach the gospel, and consequent upon that a college education, and, here again the thought of four years of apprenticeship to be completed, presented to his mind a difficulty, the only solution of which, that seemed practicable was, to purchase his unexpired time of his employer, which was done for $175.00; his father raising the amount by the sale of some land and the help of a friend; thus securing a release and a cancellation of the indentures. In the month of September, 1816, he left Bridgeport and returned home to study and prepare to enter college, when an invitation came from the Rev. Mr. Bonney, pastor of the Congregational church at New Canaan, to attend the academy there and which (board and tuition) was offered free. Again an invitation was received and accepted to attend a school at Wilton, taught by Mr. Hawley Olmstead, under whose instruction he was fitted for and entered Yale college in 1818, in a class of eighty-two; and though deprived of advantages that others enjoyed he kept abreast with his competitors in his class, never having received a reprimand or reproof during his college course. Graduating at Yale in the summer of 1820, he visited and labored in a religious revival work at Hotchkistown, two miles from New Haven, and on the opening of the term at Andover Theological seminary he was ready to enter upon a theological course, during which, as in college, he never declined any service required of him or lost any time by reason of ill health. After delivering the valedictory he was met by a committee from Boston, to whom he engaged to commence his ministerial work in a new church in Boston, agreeing to remain for three months. Very soon after he was met by Mr. Fletcher, from Concord, N. H., who presented a call from the Congregational church of Concord, dated Jan. 1, 1825, to become their pastor. On a careful deliberation his mind was at last settled, and on Jan. 29, 1825, he penned his formal acceptance of the call. On or about January 25, 1825, he was on his way by stage to attend the funeral of the wife of Hon. Wm. Bartlett, at Newburyport, when, in conversation on the subject of missions in the west, with Aaron Foster and Hiram Chamberlain, the thought flashed upon his mind of a need of a national missionary society, which was discussed, and was doubtless the germ from which sprung the organization of the American Home Missionary Society, which came into existence in New York, May 12, 1826. The ordination of Mr. Nathaniel Bouton took place according to appointment, at the court house at Concord, in the presence of a large assemblage of ministers and delegates, on March 22, 1825. From the ordination until its fifty-third anniversary, Dr. N. Bouton administered his sacred trust at Concord, with a singular equipoise and acceptability, never neglecting the obligations which he owed to the church as its pastor, but by great energy and industry accomplished a vast amount of work on historical and literary topics, which from time to time was rewarded by positions of distinction and honor, the recorded acknowledgments of which will bear the memory of his useful life to many generations.
  Person ID	I36747	Noyes Family Genealogy
  Last Modified	11 Feb 2003

  
  

  Family 1	SHERMAN Harriet   d. 21 May 1828
  Marriage	11 Sep 1825	Lebanon, New London, Connecticut, United States   [3]
  Children	1. BOUTON Elizabeth Ripley,   b. 15 Aug 1826, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   2. BOUTON Nathaniel Sherman,   b. 14 May 1828, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F14403	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2023

  
  

  Family 2	BELL Mary Ann P.   d. 15 Feb 1839, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States
  Marriage	8 Jun 1829	Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States   [3]
  Children	1. BOUTON John Bell,   b. 15 Mar 1830, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   2. BOUTON Harriette Sherman,   b. 25 Jan 1832, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States d. 21 Nov 1920, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States (Age 88 years)   3. BOUTON Mary Ann Persis,   b. 15 Dec 1834, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. 4 May 1865 (Age 30 years)   4. BOUTON Samuel Fletcher,   b. 23 Jun 1837, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   5. BOUTON Christopher Bell,   b. 31 Jan 1839, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F14402	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2023

  
  

  Family 3	CILLEY Elizabeth Ann   d. 6 Feb 1887
  Marriage	18 Feb 1840	Deerfield, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States   [4]
  Children	1. BOUTON Sarah Cilley,   b. 13 Nov 1840, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   2. BOUTON Martha Cilley,   b. 29 Jan 1843, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   3. BOUTON Jane Louise,   b. 17 Jan 1845, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. Yes, date unknown   4. BOUTON William Horatio,   b. 4 Jan 1847, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. 14 Jan 1849, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States (Age 2 years)   5. BOUTON Joseph Bradbury,   b. 30 Dec 1848, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. 1 Mar 1854, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States (Age 5 years)   6. BOUTON Annie Cilley,   b. 10 Apr 1851, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States d. 9 Sep 1854, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States (Age 3 years)
  Family ID	F14405	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2023

  
  

• Sources

  [S1060] Book-Bouton-Boughton Family, p.105-107, R929.2 B781. [S1060] Book-Bouton-Boughton Family, p.105, R929.2 B781. [S1060] Book-Bouton-Boughton Family, p.107, R929.2 B781. [S1060] Book-Bouton-Boughton Family, p.108, R929.2 B781.