Laura Jewett Trussell

Laura Jewett was raised on Sugar Hill in Hopkinton, NH. The Jewetts were a properous family. In 1810, Laura's best school chum, Mary Whittier, a great-niece of Greanleaf Whittier, married Amos Trussell, son of James Trussell of Boscawen. It is likely that both Mary and Laura met Amos when he came with his family to visit his Uncle John, who maintained a farm in Hopkinton. Mary's story is a tragic one. She bore four sons while married to Amos: one in 1808 that lived only a few months; Benjamin Franklin, who lived to the age of 18; another son that also lived only a short time; and a fourth, Amos, who lived a little less than 3 years. In 1812, Mary died as a result of complications from the birth of little Amos. After Mary died, her husband is reputed to have gone off serve in the War of 1812, returning with the nickname, "Major Trussell". Five years later Laura would find herself marrying Amos. It was a successful marriage. Laura and Amos raised thirteen children including a majority of boys. When the family moved to the Ohio River in 1838, all these boys would come in handy for building a new farm in the wilderness. A Free Will Baptist in New Hampshire, Laura joined the Presbyterian Church in Ohio. Her husband did not follow. Laura lived in Long Bottom, OH until 1879 when she died at age eighty-four. She was particularly fond of fresh fruit from the family orchard and suffered significantly, waiting while the Ohio orchard reached maturity.