Henry Freeman Dearborn was born on May 27, 1846, in Raymond, New Hampshire, to Samuel and Betsey Dearborn. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate and $525 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Raymond, and he married a woman named Martha around 1866. Their daughter Nara was born around 1867. Dearborn worked as a shoemaker in Raymond, and by 1870, he owned $5,000 of real estate and $100 of personal property. By 1900, he was working as a farmer. He remained in Raymond for the rest of his life, and he died there of “abdominal ascites” on June 19, 1915.