Minot, Josiah

Born: 1818-09-17 New Hampshire

Died: 1891-12-14 Concord, New Hampshire

Flourished: Washington, DC

Josiah Minot was a lawyer, judge, and federal government official. Born in Bridgewater, New Hampshire, Minot matriculated to Dartmouth College, graduating in 1837. After graduation, he read law, receiving admission to the bar in 1840. He opened a law practice in Bristol, New Hampshire. Minot later relocated to Concord, New Hampshire. He married Abigail P. Haines in August 1843, and the couple had at least three children. In 1850, Minot was practicing law in Concord and owned real property valued at $4,000. In September 1852, Minot accepted an appointment as judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but resigned in March 1855 to accept appointment as commissioner of pensions in Washington, DC. After his stint with the Pension Office, Minot returned to his law practice in Concord. In 1860, he owned real property valued at $6,000 and had a personal estate of $20,000. He was also once law partner of President Franklin Pierce and president and director of the Concord Railroad.

New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Records, 1631-1920 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2021); Portage Daily Democrat (WI), 15 December 1891, 1:3; Andrew Mack Haines and Thomas Van Buren Hines, Deacon Samuel Haines of Westbury, Wiltshire, England, and his Descendants in America, 1635-1901 (Boston: Stanhope Press, 1902), 158; George T. Chapman, Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College (Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1867), 292; Nathaniel Bouton, The History of Concord, From Its First Grant in 1725, to the Organization of the City Government in 1853 (Concord, NH: Benning W. Sanborn, 1856), 722; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1855), 91; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Concord, Merrimack County, NH, 26; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 5, Concord, Merrimack County, NH, 134; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Ward 5, Concord, Merrimack County, NH, 35; Gravestone, Old North Cemetery, Concord, NH.