By Muriel Bristol | January 25, 2026
Jonathan Dore was born in Lebanon, ME, in 1757, son of John and Charity (Wentworth) Dore. (He was a sibling of Daniel Dore, Benaiah Dore, Charity Dore, John Dore, Jr., Andrew Dore, Wentworth Dore, and perhaps others).
When he was aged nineteen or twenty years, Jonathan Dore spent several years of Continental land and naval service in the Revolutionary War. He described his military service years later (in March 1833):
I, Jonathan Dore of Milton, testify that in the second summer after the revolutionary war commenced, either in the year 1776 or 1777 as well as I can now recollect, I enlisted a a soldier in Captain John Brewster’s Company of infantry and immediately after I enlisted was marched to Great Island (so called) in Portsmouth harbour and I remained in said Company until the Company marched to the Western part of New York. These became A few old men, and myself and another, on account of our youth, did not accompany Capt. Brewster’s Company; but soon afterwards I was marched to Rhode Island and served in a Company commanded by Captain Grant the remainder of my term of enlistment which was for twelve months.
I next enlisted on board the Continental ship Ranger commanded by Captain Thomas Simpson for one cruise which continued, according to my best recollection, about four or five months.
Jonathan Dore continued with a description of his service at West Point, NY, which took place in 1780, and then his service on the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition, which took place in 1779. Those paragraphs are here rearranged in their correct chronological order.
As soon as I returned home, I enlisted in Captain [John] Goodwin’s Company to go on an expedition to Penobscot river. I was marched to Portland and from thence, in the Company in which I was, was transported to the mouth of the Penobscot river – where after being landed, some skirmishing and other small incidents, the Warren, ship of war, & two or three transports were burned by our own commander, and whether the Maria, another ship of war, whi which accompanied us, was taken by the enemy or burned, I do not recollect. After the shipping was burned our Company was disbanded, and I made the best of my way home, having been absent about two months. During this last mentioned service our Company belonged to a Regiment commanded by Colonel [Samuel] Cobb.
I next enlisted or volunteered from Captain William McDuffee’s Company in Rochester, New Hampshire, as a militia man to go on service to North River in New York. Jonathan Heard, Amos Spencer, Tristram Richards, David Wingate, Stephen Tebbets, Joseph Clark, Benaiah Dore, and one other person whom I do not recollect Paul Ricker, entered as volunteers from the same company.
We performed this tour of service under Captain [Timothy] Emerson of Durham, New Hampshire, for three months, excepting Paul Ricker. We were all then discharged, excepting Paul Ricker, who a short time before was missing, having either deserted or been drowned in the river, it was never ascertained which was the fact.
While I was in the Continental service under my first enlistment for twelve months I think Colonel [Oliver] Titcomb commanded the regiment to which our company belonged while I was in service in Rhode Island.
I do not recollect the name of the Colonel commanding the Regiment in which Captain [Timothy] Emerson’s Company was at West Point.
My present place of residence is Milton in the County of Strafford & State of New Hampshire, and have lived in that portion of territory now called Milton upwards of fifty years. It was formerly a part of the Town of Rochester.
I am now wholly blind and have been so sixteen months and have been partially blind five years. My general health is feeble, and my memory is also much impaired, so that I am not able to state the facts of my service particularly as to dates with much distinctness.
Fellow veteran Ralph Farnham of Shapleigh, ME, now Acton, ME, testified that he and Jonathan Dore had been brought up in the same Lebanon, ME, neighborhood, and that Dore had enlisted in Capt. John Brewster’s Company in spring or summer of 1776, and served at Great Island into 1777, and that they had served together in Capt. Samuel Grant’s Company, in Colonel [Oliver] Titcomb’s Regiment in Providence, RI, in the summer of 1777.
… and we returned back home together to the town of Lebanon in the County of York aforesaid, where we both then lived. Ralph Farnham. Attest Gilman Jewett.
Jonathan Dore’s younger brother, John Dore, Jr., of Lebanon, ME, swore an affidavit regarding the service of his father, John Dore, Sr., and brother, Jonathan Dore, at Great Island, i.e., Newcastle, NH, in 1776-77, and his brother Jonathan’s service at Providence, RI, in 1777.
I, John Dore, of lawful age, living in Lebanon in the County of York and State of Maine, testify that I am the brother of Jonathan Dore, of Milton in the County of Strafford and State of New Hampshire, that I know that my said Brother Jonathan Dore and my father John Dore enlisted into the Revolutionary army in the Company of Capt. John Brewster at an early period of the Revolutionary War, for the period of twelve months, that my said Brother and father both served out their periods of enlistments, – that my father was at home twice during said term of twelve months on furlough, – but my said Brother did not return home until his period of enlistment had expired, – that my father and brother were both stationed at Great Island, near Portsmouth as I was informed at the time, – that I well recollect that my brother left Great Island on an expedition to Rhode Island a short time before his term of enlistment expired, – but my father remained at Great Island, being unable from infirmities to endure the hardships of the expedition, – that I resided during all the time my father and said Brother Jonathan Dore were absent in the service, – in Lebanon aforesaid aforesaid about thirty miles from Great Island and that I often heard from them, – that during the term of their service another brother of ours was at the Island, – and from information I had at the time I well know that both my father and Jonathan Dore aforesaid were stationed on said Island during the time I have above mentioned, and that they served out their whole term of enlistment of twelve months. John {his x mark} Dore. Attest, William Allen.
Strafford, Ss. On the sixteenth day of November A.D. 1829 came John Dore and made oath, that the above affidavit subscribed by him is true. Before me, Wm G. Webster, Justice of the Peace. New Hampshire.
Fellow veteran David Corson of Milton deposed that he and Jonathan Dore had served together on the Continental ship Ranger on a cruise in 1778.
I, David Corson of Milton in the County of Strafford and State of New Hampshire, aged seventy one, depose and say, that in the Fall of the year A.D. 1778 I enlisted on board the Ranger, a Continental Ship, that Jonathan Dore, then of Lebanon of the County of York and then State of Massachusetts, now Maine, belonged to the same ship, Thomas Simpson Commander and Elijah Hall late of Portsmouth deceased first lieutenant, David Callum second & Timothy Mumford sailing master, that some time after our enlistment we sailed from Portsmouth, N.H., on a cruise with the Warren and Queen of France two Continental ships, after cruising for some time we took a British privateer, the next day we came in contact with the Georgia fleet of no less than eleven sail and took seven sail, we then mand [manned] the said British vessels and returned again to Portsmouth aforesaid. I do further depose and say that the said Jonathan Dore is now a resident of Milton aforesaid, that I think he enlisted about the same time I that did, and was with me during the whole Cruise, that from the time of my enlistment was no less than five months. David Corson.
Strafford. August 23rd A.D. 1832. Subscribed and Sworn to before Me, James Roberts Justice of the peace.
Fellow veteran Timothy Roberts of Milton deposed too, September 15, 1832, that he and Jonathan Dore had served together on the Continental ship Ranger in the autumn of 1778.
Fellow veteran Thomas Applebee of Milton deposed, August 23, 1832, that he and Jonathan Dore had served together on the failed Penobscot Expedition of 1779.
I, Thomas Applebee of Milton in the County of Strafford and State of New Hampshire, aged seventy five, testify and say, that in June about the year 1780 [1779] I enlisted in the service of the war of the Revolution for two months under Capt. John Goodwin then of Lebanon in the County of York and then State of Massachusetts, (now Maine) that Jonathan Dore then of Lebanon aforesaid now of Milton in the County of Strafford and State of New Hampshire aforesaid, belonged to the same Company, that we marched by land to Portland, and thence took shipping and sailed to Penobscot river at or near a place then calld Bagaduce Island near where lay some British which made some fires upon us to no effect, we landed and was under General Lovel [Lovell] in the Regiment Commanded by Major Little Field [Littlefield] then acting as Colonel, that after staying a number of weeks and having some small engagements with the enemy, had news that a large British Vessel had Blockaded the Harbor, we then burn several of our own vessels and returned home after having been absent not far from two months, I do further say that said Jonathan Dore was with us all the time aforesaid. Thomas Applebee.
Strafford, Ss. August 23rd A.D. 1832. Personally appeared the within named Thomas Applebee who I know to be a man of general good reputation for truth and veracity and made oath to the within deposition before me ~ James Roberts Justice of the Peace.
Brother Daniel Door (1754-1831) married in Lebanon, ME, November 22, 1781, Dorcas Garland (1760-1836) , both of Lebanon, ME. Rev. Isaac Hasey performed the ceremony. She was born in Durham, NH, in 1760, daughter of Dodivah and Mary Garland. They had sons, George Door (1798-1880) and John Door.
Jonathan Door married in Lebanon, ME, August 22, 1786, Rebecca Garland, both of Lebanon, ME. Rev. Isaac Hasey performed the ceremony. She was born in Durham, NH, in 1760, daughter of Dodivah and Mary Garland.
(The known children of Jonathan and Rebecca (Garland) Door were: Daniel Garland Door (1785-1869), and others [?]).
Jona Door headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the First (1790) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 16-plus years [himself]. three males aged under-16 years, and one female [Rebecca (Garland) Door]. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Gilbert Pinkham and Daniel Door.
Jona Door headed a Northeast Parish, Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Second (1800) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 26-44 years [himself], one female aged 26-44 years [Rebecca (Garland) Dore], one male aged 16-25 years, one male aged 10-15 years, two males aged under-10 years, and one female aged under-10 years.
Jonathan Dore headed a Milton household at the time of the Third (1810) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 45-plus years, one male aged 26-44 years, one female aged 26-44 years, two males aged 16-25 years, three females aged 16-25 years, one male aged 10-15 years, two males aged under-10 years, and one female aged under-10 years. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of James Robers [Roberts] and Josiah Willey.
Son Daniel G. Door married in Lebanon, ME, February 15, 1810, Margaret “Peggy” Clark. Rev. John Blaisdell performed the ceremony.
Jonathan Dore and his brothers, Daniel Dore and John Dore, were among those that petitioned the NH General Court, in or around June 1814, seeking incorporation of the Milton Congregational Society. (See Milton Congregational Society Petition – 1814).
County of Strafford, Ss. On this 23rd day of October 1829 personally appeared in open court being a Court of Record in said County, Jonathan Dore resident in said County, aged Seventy three years, who being first duly sworn according to Law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the provision made by the Acts of Congress, of the 18th March 1818, and the first of May 1820, that he the said Jonathan Dore enlisted for the term of twelve months some time in the summer of 1776 in the State of New Hampshire in the Company commanded by Captain John Brewster in the Regiment commanded by Colonel [Pierce] Long in the line of the State of New Hampshire on the Continental establishment; that he was stationed at Great Island where said Company continued until the Spring of 1777, at which time the principal part of said Company under command of said Brewster marched on to the frontier in the Western part of New York & joined the army under Gen. Gates; the remaining part of said Brewster’s Company in which he was included continued at the Island until sometime during the summer of that year, at which time he marched to Providence in Rhode Island under the command of Captain Grant and composed a part of Colonel Titcomb’s regiment and continued in the Service near Providence until his term of Service enlistment expired and he was discharged at said Providence. In the fall of 1777 he enlisted on board the Ranger, a Continental Ship, and served aboard said Ship about four months during which time she took the Georgia fleet of Seven sail out of Eleven. In the Spring of 1778 [July 9, 1780] he enlisted for three months under Captain Emerson and went to West point on the North river and was there at the time General Arnold attempted to betray that fortress ~ when after serving the term of his enlistment he was discharged ~ He then returned home & immediately took his brother Daniel Dore’s place in Captain Goodwin’s Company in Colonel Cobb’s regiment, (his said Brother having become disaffected [about] the service) and he marched to Penobscot & remained there about two months when the shipping being burned & after other disasters they were disbanded & he returned home.
Jonathan Dore submitted the following property schedule or inventory, as a part of his October 1829 Revolutionary War pension application.
A Schedule of Jonathan Dore Property ~ to wit, 42 acres of Land with a Small house & barn on the same ~ 2 steers, 2 cows, 1 heifer & calf, 7 Sheep, 1 hog & three Shoats, a few articles of house hold furniture & a few farming tools. Jonathan {his x mark} Dore.
Jona Dore headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifth (1830) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 70-79 years [himself], one female aged 60-69 years [Rebecca (Garland) Dore], and one female aged 20-29 years. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of John Dore and Danl G. Dore.
Danl G. Dore headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifth (1830) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 40-49 years [himself], one female aged 30-39 years [Margaret (Clark) Dore], and one male aged 5-9 years [Brackett Dore]. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Jona Dore and Danl W. Horne.
Rebecca (Garland) Dore died after 1830.
Jonathan Dore appeared in the NH Revolutionary War Pension Roll, as having been paid a Private & Seaman’s semi-annual pension allotment of $36.33½, in two semi-annual (March and September) payments, from an initial (retroactive) payment from March 1831 through to September 1848.
Jonathan Dore headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixth (1840) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 80-89 years [himself], one female aged 30-39 years, and one male aged 20-29 years. One Revolutionary veteran, Jonathan Dore, aged eighty-two years, was recorded in his household. One member of his household was engaged in Agriculture; and one member of his household was Blind. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of John M. Dore and Samuel Clement.
DEATHS. In this town, Sunday the 12th inst., of Lung fever, Mrs. Lydia M., widow of Mr. Nathaniel Clark, late of Milton aged 62 yeas. Also on the same day, of Consumption, Mrs. Lydia Ann, daughter of the above, and wife of Mr. Jonathan Dorr, aged 20 years (Dover Enquirer, November 21, 1848).
Jonathan Dore appeared in the NH Revolutionary War Pension Roll, as having been paid a Private & Seaman’s semi-annual pension allotment of $36.33½, in two semi-annual (March and September) payments, from March 1849 through to March 1851.
Franklin Orange, a farmer, aged forty years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Mary [(Runnells)] Orange, aged forty years (b. NH), Jonathan Dore, none, aged ninety-three years (b. ME), Elliott F. Dore, a farmer, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), Adaline [(Harris)] Dore, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), and Elliott E. Dore, aged one year (b. MA). Franklin Orange had real estate valued at $800. Elliot F. Dore had real estate valued at $1,000. Jonathan Dore was blind. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Levi Dorr, a farmer, aged forty-three years (b. NH), and George Dorr, a farmer, aged fifty-two years (b. NH).
Daniel W. Horne, a blacksmith, aged forty-one years (b. ME), headed a Lebanon, ME, household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Sarah A. [(Dorr)] Horne, aged thirty-nine years (b. ME), Elijah Horne, a blacksmith, aged nineteen years (b. ME), Henry Horne, a shoemaker, aged sixteen years (b. ME), James W. Horne, aged thirteen years (b. ME), George S. Horne, aged five years (b. ME), Daniel G. Dorr, a farmer, aged sixty-seven years (b. ME), and Margaret [(Clark)] Dorr, aged sixty-five years (b. ME). Daniel W. Horne had real estate valued at $1,600. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Joseph Saywords, a joiner, aged thirty years (b. ME), and Edward Cowell, a farmer, aged eighty-four years (b. NH).
Jonathan Dore died in 1851. The NH Revolutionary War Pension Roll recorded no payments after March 1851, although the Roll did not include his death date, as it did for many pensioners.
Granddaughter Sarah A. (Dore) Horne died in 1855.
Daniel W. Horn, a smith, aged fifty-one years (b. NH), headed a Lebanon (“West Lebanon P.O.), ME, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Rachel D. [(Berry)] Horn, aged forty-four years (b. NH), James W. Horn, aged sixteen years (b. ME), Sarah Horn, aged three years (b. ME), Mary A. Horn, aged five months (b. ME), Daniel Dore, a laborer, aged seventy-six years (b. ME), Margaret [(Clark)] Dore, aged seventy-one years (b. ME), and Tamsund Bery, aged fifty years (b. NH). Daniel W. Horn had real estate valued at $2,000 and personal estate valued at $500.
Daughter-in-law Margaret (Clark) Dore died in Lebanon, ME, October 18, 1867. Son Daniel G. Dore died of ascetes in Lebanon, ME, December 28, 1869, aged eighty-four years.
Grandson-in-law Daniel W. Horne died March 7, 1876.
References:
Find a Grave. (2013, May 8). Daniel G. Dore. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/110231183/daniel-g.-dore
Milton Observer 