Samuel Blodgett (April 1, 1724 – September 1, 1807) (sometimes spelled Blodget, and sometimes Samuel Blodgett Sr. to distinguish him from descendants with the same name) was an early American lawyer, industrialist, and financier who founded the city of

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

. As a lawyer, Blodgett served as a mediator between the sides in the Pine Tree Riot, getting a settlement from anti-Crown mill owners who had hired him to represent their case against the Royalist governor of New Hampshire John Wentworth in 1772. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

he firmly supported the patriot cause. In 1807, Blodgett built a canal around Amoskeag Falls to aid in navigation of ships traveling up and down the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

. He pushed for the renaming of the small rural town of Derryfield, New Hampshire to Manchester, in honor of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in England, a well-known textile-manufacturing center. The renaming of the town, at Blodgett's behest, coincided with the founding of the Amoskeag Mills by his friend and fellow industrialist Benjamin Prichard. The town would later be incorporated as a city and become the most populous city in the state of New Hampshire.

Family

His son, Samuel Blodgett Jr., was similarly important in the foundation of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as the national capital. Having previously served on George Washington's staff during the Revolutionary War, Samuel Jr. served as the chairman of the board of commissioners tasked with designing the capital city, and he also used his wealth to finance the construction of both the U.S. Capitol and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

References

* Businesspeople from New Hampshire People from Manchester, New Hampshire 1724 births 1807 deaths Industrialists 18th-century American lawyers People from colonial New Hampshire {{US-business-bio-1720s-stub