Charles F. M. Stark, a wellknown resident of Dunbarton, Merrimack County, was born in this town, February 18, 1848, son of John and Caroline J. (Morris) Stark. He is a great-great-grandson of General John Stark, the famous victor of Bennington. John Stark, the father, was a lawyer, who practised his profession in Galena, Ill., and in New York City. He died in Washington, D.C., at the age of forty-two years. His wife, Caroline, was the youngest daughter of Thomas Morris, and a grand-daughter of Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence and first Secretary of State of the United States.
Charles F. M. Stark was a student at St. Paul’s School in Concord. After leaving school, he resided for a number of years in New York City, and for a time was interested in insurance in New York and Boston. He finally returned to the family homestead in Dunbarton, where he has since resided, it having become his property through inheritance. The house was built by his great-grandfather, Major Caleb Stark, a son of General John Stark, and who did good service to his county in the Revolutionary War. It was built after the model of an English manor house, and is a quaint and interesting piece of architecture. Every room it contains is replete with historic memories. Heirlooms and relics both of the Stark and Morris families abound on every hand. In the north-west corner room, on the second floor, is the four-posted mahogany bed, with canopy top, in which Lafayette slept while on a visit here. About half a mile away from the house is the old cemetery, where rest the remains of Major Caleb Stark, and in which others of renown are buried.
Mr. Stark married Miss Annie McNeil, daughter of John and Cynthia McNeil, at that time of Winchester, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Stark have one child-John McNeil, who is now a student at a boarding-school at Belmont, Mass. Mr. Stark is an enthusiastic sportsman.