Thoreau family.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)--American author, lecturer, naturalist, student of Native American artifacts and life, land surveyor, pencil-maker, active opponent of slavery, social critic, and almost life-long resident of Concord, Massachusetts--was one of four children born to storekeeper and pencil-maker John Thoreau (1757-1859) and his wife, Cynthia (Dunbar) Thoreau (1787-1872), who were married in 1812. John and Cynthia Thoreau's other children were Helen (1812-1849), John (1815-1842), and Sophia (1819-1876). Henry Thoreau's mother, sisters, and aunts were ardent abolitionists. His musical younger sister Sophia played the piano. None of the four Thoreau children married.