Charles Stratton Family from Walpole As It Was and As It Is (1880)

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Surname: STRATTON
Source: Walpole As It Was and As It Is by George Aldrich, 
        The Claremont Manufacturing Co., Claremont, N.H., 1880, pages 365-367

STRATTON, CHARLES, was a descendant of Peter Stratton, who immigrated to this country from 
England with the colony under John Winthrop, numbering about three hundred, and landed at Salem, 
Mass., in 1630, where he settled. He had a numerous family, and the descendants of his children were 
also numerous, furnishing more or less men to every military expedition that was fitted out from the old 
Bay State, for many years. They were all of genuine Puritan stock, large in size, Herculean in strength, 
and tenacious of life, many of them dying at the age of four score years. It is said that one of them, at the 
siege of Louisburg, in 1745, carried a mortar from a vessel to the shore, on his back, there being no 
other way of landing it, on account of shoal water. One of Peter’s numerous family named Ezra, 
removed to Concord, Mass., and settled there. One of his children, named John, was born Feb. 3, 
1740, and m. Mar. 1, 1768, Ruth Wright of Concord, who bore him four children. The oldest, named 
Abigial, b. Jan. 30, 1769; m. Paul Faulkner of Lancaster, Mass., and had five children, two of whom 
died in infancy, one in middle life, and two, Augustus and Horace, are now living. She died in 1809, and 
Mr. Faulkner subsequently m. her sister, Hannah, b. Feb. 26, 1771, who died leaving no children.
Charles Stratton, was born in Concord, Mass., Jan. 24, 1775. It is said that John Stratton’s family were 
startled, early on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, 1775, by hearing the report that the 
British soldiery were marching on the town. The wife immediately took her infant, Charles, in her arms 
and his brother John, jr., by the hand and fled to a distant part of the town for safety, while the two 
elder children (girls) drove the cow. The husband spent the day in defending his home and pursuing the 
retreating enemy. Mr. Augustus Faulkner has in his possession an old gun barrel which did good 
execution that day.
When the Continental army was raised, John Stratton became a soldier, and continued in the service of 
his country till he was taken prisoner, in a skirmish near New York, and confined in the prison ship 
"Jersey," lying in New York harbor, where, with many others, he died of starvation. Soon after his wife 
died, and the four orphans were tenderly cared for till of age, by a maiden sister of their father, who also 
took charge of her brother’s farm. John jr., b. Oct. 21, 1772, lived to manhood, and is supposed to 
have been murdered in Chittenden, Vt. Charles learned the trade of a cooper, a business he followed 
during life. He married Mary Jones, of Acton, Mass., May 10, 1803, and removed to Walpole, 
influenced to do so, by Hon. Thomas Bellows. He purchased himself a home, where he lived with his 
wife nearly fifty years, enjoying more domestic happiness than is shared by most married people. He 
was a plain, unobtrusive man in demeanor, and filled well the description given by the poet Pope of an 
honest man. He was one of the six corporators of the new Congregational church and society, a 
consistent member of the church, and an efficient supporter of the society. His wife died Aug., 1852, 
and he died Aug. 18, 1858. He was the last of Ezra Stratton’s descendants bearing the name--a family 
that had occupied a place in New England more than two hundred years. He had two children.
I. Mary, d. early.
II. Harriet, m. Augustus Faulkner, Oct. 1, 1829. Ch. 1st Charles Stratton, b. June 29, 1836; m. 
Mary E. Abbott, of Boston, Sep. 11, 1856. 2d, Ann L., b. Aug. 7, 1835. Mrs. Faulkner d. 
Aug. 25, 1861. (See John Maynard.)