John Dinsmore, Jr.
(1766-1814)
John Dinsmoor was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1766. Little is known of his life, but it is believed that he did not attend Dartmouth like his younger brother, Silas. He married Susannah Bell, the sister of two later governors of New Hampshire. In his community, he was considered a well-to-do farmer and innkeeper and served his neighbors as Justice of the Peace. The couple had three sons and five daughters, of which James was the second child and eldest son. In 1807, John altered the spelling of his last name to the more American 'Dinsmore'. Several of his siblings did the same, but his brother, Silas, refused to change. The same year he changed the spelling of his last name, Susannah died. John remarried to Mary Rogers and they had two more children. Three Dinsmore children died in 1812. While there was mention of a spotted fever outbreak that year, family lore suggests that they (as well as Susannah Bell in 1807) died of tuberculosis. John Dinsmore also ended up dying of tuberculosis in 1814, leaving each of his children a nice legacy.