Jonathan Danforth
Jonathan Danforth
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1660 - 1660 |
| Succeeded by | John Parker |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1665 - 1668 |
| Preceded by | Thomas Foster |
| Succeeded by | Simon Crosby |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1670 - 1685 |
| Preceded by | George Farley |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Walker |
| Town Clerk | |
| In Office | 1665 - 1685 |
| Preceded by | William Tay |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Manning |
| Representative to the General Court | |
| In Office | 1685 - 1685 |
Jonathan Danforth was Billerica's renowned early surveyor. For forty years he probably surveyed every land grant in town, and much of the surrounding region as well (Haverhill, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Townsend, and as far as Amherst and Litchfield, New Hampshire), leaving some 200 pages of his own careful survey descriptions on record. Beyond surveying, he served as town clerk, selectman, a Representative, and Captain of the militia company. He was the youngest son of Nicholas Danforth of Framlingham, Suffolk, England, born there February 29, 1627-8; his elder brother Thomas Danforth became Deputy Governor of Massachusetts.
Danforth's marriage to Elizabeth Poulter was the first recorded in Billerica, though it took place in Boston. Her mother's second husband was town clerk John Parker, which is why the two men called each other father-in-law and son-in-law. Danforth died September 7, 1712, aged 84. A memorial poem attributed to his nephew, Rev. John Danforth of Dorchester, reads in part: "He rode the circuit, chain'd great towns and farms, to good behavior; and by well marked stations, he fixed their bounds for many generations."