Printer, Skilled Mechanic, Singer, Composer, Visionary

Born in New Hampshire in 1813, Jesse Jr came from a family of hard laboring farmers, though found that he had not the temperament for that kind of work.

After marrying his sweetheart, Susan W. Hartshorn, he relocated to Lynn, MA in 1836. He built their home there known as High Rock. Considered by some in the Hutchinson family as the most brilliant of the brothers, Jesse Jr became the inventor of an improvement on the air-tight stove, many of which he successfully sold at his self-owned shop.

Musically inclined, Jesse Jr had begun composing songs and became the choir director at his local church. He became the driving force behind The Hutchinson Family Singers, convincing them to take on active roles in the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements.

Although Jesse Jr was a skilled vocalist, his role in the definitive line up of the Hutchinson Family Singers (John, Asa, Judson, Abby) was as manager and songwriter.

The songs composed by him are of a very distinctive and original character, among which are the "Old Granite State," "Good Old Days of Yore," "Slave's Appeal," the "Congressional Song," and many others.

While Jesse Jr's professional life flourished, his personal life was rife with sadness, as most of his children died in infancy, the oldest one only reaching two years of age. Soon after suffering from frail health herself, Jesse Jr's beloved wife passed on as well.

Finding himself single again, he visited California during the gold rush and became the manager of another vocal group known as the Alleghanians. John and Asa from the Hutchinson Singers had severed business ties with Jesse Jr after his conversion to spiritualism, which they believed was causing their other brother, Judson, to become unstable. (In reality, it was schizophrenia ailing Judson.)

Thankfully there was a reconciliation between the brothers while Jesse Jr was staying at a water-cure establishment, in the hope of recovering from Malaria. Unfortunately, he succumbed soon after.

Jesse Jr was buried near his home at High Rock.