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 a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ha ...

. 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 a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

he firmly supported the patriot cause. In 1807, Blodgett built a canal around

Amoskeag Falls The Amoskeag Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. History "Amoskeag" derives from the Pennacook Native American word "Namoskeag", which roughly translates as "good fishing place". He ...

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 in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

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 Benjamin Prichard was an early American industrialist who founded the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool Manufacturing Company, which would grow to be the largest cotton textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It ...

. 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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 The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...

and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. Other relatives of his include Henry Williams Blodgett, a U.S. Federal Judge, and Rufus Blodgett, a U.S. Senator from New Jersey.

References

* Businesspeople from New Hampshire People from Manchester, New Hampshire {{US-business-bio-stub