William Dunton was born here in May, 1824, and for twenty years before the war worked at the manufacture of wooden-ware for N. & J. Howe. He enlisted in April, 1861, in the 2d N. H. Vols., and went South in defense of the Union. He followed the fortunes of his regiment through the peninsula campaign unscathed, until the second Bull Run battle, when he was struck in the left cheek by a gall which came out under his left eye, shattering his upper jaw and knocking out every tooth. He was left on the field for dead, where he remained for seven days, alone. The rebels came over the field and robbed him with the dead, but left him where he fell. With his jackknife, he cut away the fragment of his shattered jaw. He was finally picked up and removed to the hospital, and lived to reach his native town, where he now resides. His grandfather was James Dunton, who came here from Southboro, Mass., about ninety-four years ago, and his father was Abel Dunton, a farmer who was born in Troy, August 24, 1792. He married Ruth Phillips and had a family of eight children, five of whom are now living, and. died April 10, 1882.
