Haunted Pubs of New England by Roxie Zwicker

Author:Roxie Zwicker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

THE COMMON MAN TAVERN/HANNAH JACK’S, MERRIMACK

It is said that in 1662, the first tree for the new settlement named Naticook was cut down. The charter for Merrimack (known in the early days as “Merrymac”) was granted in 1746, and it was named after the river that runs through the town. Merrimack is located between the cities of Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire.

In 1714, Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland. His family immigrated to Worcester, Massachusetts, when he was just a toddler. He grew up, studied medicine, became a distinguished physician and surgeon and moved to Londonderry, New Hampshire. He married Hannah Jack in 1760. She was eighteen and also of Scotch-Irish descent.

Dr. Thornton was hand-selected by the governor to accompany the New Hampshire troops in the expedition against Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The army suffered greatly, and Dr. Thornton’s skill was instrumental to the troops. Under his supervision, only six men did not survive. In September 1775, he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress and was the last person to sign the Declaration of Independence. New Hampshire Governor John Wentworth appointed Dr. Thornton as a colonel in the Londonderry militia. He continued to serve the newly established government as a congressman and later as a judge in the Superior Court. In 1780, he moved to Merrimack and purchased a large farm that had been owned by a notorious man who lost the property during the American Revolution.

Edward Goldstone Lutwyche was a resident of Merrimack, and he commanded the local regiment of militia. When the rumblings of the American Revolution began, he swore his loyalty to the British and he fled to Boston, Massachusetts. He accompanied the British army to Halifax when they evacuated the city. In 1778, he was officially banished from Merrimack and his property, the farm, was confiscated.

Dr. Thornton’s son, James, converted the farmhouse into a tavern during the early nineteenth century. The building became a rooming house through part of the twentieth century. It was also a doctor’s office and then later, in the 1970s, a restaurant. The restaurant was named Hannah Jack’s, after Dr. Thornton’s wife. Hannah Jack’s was a favorite establishment for the locals for approximately twenty years, and many were disappointed when the owners decided to retire. In the area you can still find bakeries that sell “Hannah Jack bread,” which was a regular item at the restaurant. The bread was quite popular and was described as semisweet, soft bread with raisins and a variety of nuts. In 2004, the restaurant reopened under the name The Common Man. The Common Man Hospitality Group opened its first restaurant in 1971 and it operates a small number of restaurants throughout New Hampshire.

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