Nathan McKenney

• General Notes
  • Excerpt from History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1915:
    
    Page 1136
    
    Nathan A. McKenney, after many years of business activity at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is now living in practical retirement, giving his attention only to personal realty investments. He engaged extensively in carpentering and contracting for many years, and also for a few years was in the lumber business in association with Mr. E. J. F. Littlefield. He is a man of ability and substance and has always occupied a position high in the regard of his fellow men.
    Mr. McKenney was born in Eliot, Maine, August 4, 1845, and is a son of Nathan and Caroline (Spinney) McKenney, both natives of Maine. Mrs. McKenney having been born in Eliot. Both are deceased. The father was lost at sea when Nathan was but six months old. The other children of the family are Mary Elizabeth, Anna and Julia A., the two last named being twins.
    Nathan A. McKenney received but meager schooling in the public schools, as it was necessary for him to start work at the early age of ten years. He learned the carpenter's trade with B. F. Webster with whom he continued four years. He followed his trade in the navy yard, and for a period of twenty-five years was in business for himself, engaged in carpentering and contracting. In September, 1910, with E. J. F. Littlefield as a partner, he purchased the Thomas Call and Son Lumber Company. In 1913 he sold out his interest in this company, retiring from active business life. His operations have been extensive, and he well merits the success which has been his.
    In 1867, Mr. McKenney was joined in marriage with Rose Powell, who died in 1882, leaving the following daughters: Anna Gertrude, Esther Maude, Bertha Emma, and Susan Lillian. In March, 1885, he was married to Mary Ellen Burke, who was born in Portsmouth, and is a daughter of David and Hannah (Orne) Burke, her father being a native of Nova Scotia and her mother of Durham, New Hampshire. Religiously, they attend the Hanover Street Advent Church.