Provincial and State Papers

824

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN PAPERS.

WOLFEBOROUGH.

[Was incorporated in 1770.]

Petition for Incorporation.

Province of New To his Excellency John Wentworth Esq' Hampshire Capt. General, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the Province aforesaid, and the Honorable his Majesty's Council for said Province:

The Humble Petition of Ammi Ruhamah Cutter, Physician and John Parker, Merch' both of Portsmouth in said Province as a Committee of the Proprietors of Wolfeborough in said Province shews:—

That there are in the Township of Wolfeborough upwards of Thirty Families settled and more coming to settle there, which makes an Incorporation necessary in order to transact their common affairs with ease & dispatch, and in that case many wou'd be induced to settle there, who would be backward without that advantage.

That the Proprietors aforesaid are desirous of obtaining this Privilege as it will enable them to carry on the settlement with more Regularity and enable them to carry into Execution any of their Resolutions in which all are concerned, with Justice as well as with dispatch, and have therefore chosen your Petitioners with another person now absent to apply to your Excellency & the Honble Council for this purpose.

Wherefore they humbly Pray that the said Inhabitants & Proprietors may be Incorporated with the usual Franchises, Privileges & Emoluments: that they be authorized & Intitled to use the Powers with which other Corporations are Invested, and your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall pray &c. A. R. CUTTER JNo PARKER

}

Commtee

To call 1st Town meeting
Mr. Jonathan Rindge.
1st Meeting 21st Sept.
Annual meeting

last Tuesday in M'ch.

ADDENDA.

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

Readers of the foregoing Papers relating to TOWNS, will have noticed that no mention is made of a very considerable number of Towns in the State, some of which hold an important place in our history. In relation to some of the towns thus omitted, the reason may be, that they never had occasion to make application to the Legislature by petition or otherwise; or that making such application, the Papers were not preserved or have not been found: Other towns are of modern date, i. e. subsequent to 1784, and therefore not properly included in this volume. The Editor, however, has carefully printed every paper which he has found on file or on record, relating to early towns. The following notices of towns omitted, are given as supplementary;-the facts stated being derived from such authorities and documents as were accessible to the Editor (1).

Towns not included among the foregoing Papers.

ALEXANDRIA, granted March 13, 1767; incorporated, Nov. 23, 1782; its first settlement was made in December 1769, by Jonathan, John M. and William Corliss.

ALLENSTOWN, so named from Gov. Samuel Allen, the purchaser of Mason's claim; the tract was reserved for Allen's children. (See Prov. Pap. Vol. 4, p. 42.) A settlement was begun by John Wolcutt, Andrew Smith, Daniel Evans, Robert Buntin and others, about 1740.

ANDOVER was granted by the Masonian proprietors in 1746, to Edmund Brown and others, and was called New Breton in honor of the capture of Cape Breton, 1745. It was incorporated, with its present name, June 25, 1779.

ANTRIM derives its name from a county of that name in Irelandthe original settlers being mostly of the Scotch-Irish stock that settled Londonderry in 1719. The first settlement was made by Dea. James Aiken, about 1768; it was incorporated, March 22, 1777.

BARNSTEAD was granted May 20, 1727. Settlements commenced in 1767.

BATH. The original charter of Bath was granted Sept. 10, 1761, to Rev. Andrew Gardner and 61 others. It was re-chartered to John Sawyer and others, in March 1769, on the ground of the forfeiture of the first charter; settlement was made in 1765, by John Harriman, from Haverhill, Ms.

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BRADFORD was granted to John Pierce and George Jaffrey, in Settlement was made in 1771, by Dea. William Presbury or Presby. Incorporated Sept. 27, 1787.

BRIDGEWATER formerly comprised the whole of New Chester (now Hill), Bridgewater and Bristol; the first settlement was made in 1766, by Thomas Crawford, Esq. BRISTOL was taken from Bridgewater and

(1) Much reliance has been placed on statements found in the N. H. Gazetteer, by Farmer & Moore, 1823. ED.

New Chester; first settlement, about 1770, by Col. Peter Sleeper, Benj. Emmons and others.

BROOKLINE was formerly a part of old Dunstable. It was incorporated March 30, 1769, by the name of RABY. The name was altered in November, 1798.

BENTON was granted Nov. 6, 1766, to Clement March, Joseph Senter and others.

CAMPTON was granted in Oct. 1761, to Capt. Jabez Spencer of East Haddam, Ct.; first settlement made in 1765, by two families of the name of Fox and Taylor; it derives its name from a camp built by the first surveyors of the town.

CANAAN was granted by charter, July 9, 1761, to 62 persons, mostly from Connecticut, and took its name from Canaan in that State. The settlement was begun in the winter of 1766-7, by John Scofield, who, it is said, drew his effects from Connecticut river by hand-sled, 14 miles, over a crust of snow.

CANDIA was originally a part of the township of Chester, incorporated Dec. 17, 1763; said to have been named by Gov. Benning Wentworth, who was once a prisoner on the island of Candia (the ancient Crete). A settlement was begun as early as 1748, by William Turner; and in 1755, by John Sargent and a few others.

CENTRE-HARBOUR, or rather Senter Harbour, so named for Col. Joseph Senter, a prominent man, who settled there in 1767.

CHATHAM was originally granted to Col. Peter Livius and others, Feb. 7, 1767.

CLAREMONT was granted October 26, 1764, to Josiah Willard, Samuel Ashley and 68 others; it received its name from the country seat of Lord Clive, an English general; a settlement was begun in 1762, by Moses Spofford and David Lynde; in 1767, new settlers came in from Connecticut. The early settlers were about equally divided as Episcopalians and Congregationalists.

COLEBROOK was originally granted to Sir George Colebrook-and hence the name; incorporated 1790.

COVENTRY was granted January 31, 1764, but not settled till after the commencement of the Revolutionary war.

DANBURY was first settled in Nov. 1771, but not incorporated till June 18, 1795.

EAST KINGSTON was incorporated Nov. 17, 1738. Among the early settlers were William and Abraham Smith, who settled near the center of the town.

EFFINGHAM, formerly Leavitts-town, was settled a few years before the Revolution.

ELLSWORTH, formerly called Trecothick, was granted May 1, 1769. ENFIELD, formerly called Relhan, was incorporated by charter, granted to Jedediah Dana and others, July 4, 1761.

ERROL, granted Feb. 28, 1774.

FITZWILLIAM, formerly Monadnock, No. 4, incorporated May 19, 1773, and took its present name from the Earl of Fitzwilliam, Eng.

GILFORD was formerly a part of Gilmanton; it was settled in June, 1778, by James Ames and S. S. Gilman, but not incorporated until June 16, 1812.

GRAFTON was granted Aug. 4, 1761, to Ephraim Sherman and others; first settlement was made in May, 1772, by Capt. Joseph Hoyt, from

Poplin. Capt. Alexander Pixley and wife were the second family which settled there.

GREENFIELD was first settled in 1771, by Capt. Alexander Parker, Major A. Whittemore, Simeon Fletcher and others; and was incorporated June 15, 1791.

HANCOCK, so named in honor of Hon. John Hancock, of Boston, who was one of the original proprietors, was incorporated Nov. 5, 1779. A settlement was begun there by John Grimes in May, 1764.

HAVERHILL was known in early times by the name of the Lower Cohos. It was granted by charter May 18, 1764, to John Hazen and 94 others; Mr. Hazen began the settlement the same year on what is called Little Ox Bow. The first court was held there Oct. 21, 1773; Rev. Peter Powers, from Hollis, was settled as the firs: minister in 1765.

HAWKE, now Danville, derived its name from Admiral Hawke of the British navy; was incorporated Feb. 22, 1760; but settlements were made by Jacob Hook, Jonathan Sanborn and others, as early as 17351739.

HENNIKER was first granted by the Masonian Proprietors under the name of Number 6, to James and Robert Wallace and others from Londonderry; settlement commenced in 1761; incorporated Nov. 10, 1768, and called Henniker, by Gov. John Wentworth, in honor of his friend, John Henniker, a merchant in London and member of the British parliament. This town was formerly classed with Hillsborough.

KEENE, whose original name was Upper Ashuelot, was incorporated April 11, 1753, by its present name, in honor of Sir Benjamin Keene, British minister in Spain, and contemporary with Gov. Benning Wentworth, who in early life visited that country. Settlements were begun as early as 1736; being a frontier town, it was repeatedly attacked by Indians.

LANGDON, SO named in honor of Gov. John Langdon of New Hampshire, was first settled by Seth Walker in 1773; by Nathaniel Rice and Jonathan Willard in 1774; but it was not incorporated until Jan. 11, 1787.

LEBANON was granted July 4, 1761, to sixty-two proprietors from Norwich, Mansfield and Lebanon, Ct..-friends and some of them parishioners of Dr. Eleazer Wheelock; this was the first town settled on Connecticut river north of Charlestown, No. 4. A Congregational church was formed in 1771, and Rev. Isaiah Potter installed in 1772. LEE was originally a part of Durham, and was incorporated Jan. 16, 1766.

LINCOLN was granted Jan. 31, 1764, to James Avery and others, but not settled till after the Revolution.

LOUDON was formerly a part of Canterbury; was incorporated Jan. 23, 1773: but settlements had been made in 1760, by Abraham and Jethro Bachelder and Moses Ordway. It derived its name from the Earl of Loudon, Eng.

LYMAN was granted to Daniel Lyman and others, Nov. 10, 1761. MANCHESTER, formerly known as Derry-field (which was incorporated Sept. 3, 1751,) was formed from a part of Londonderry and a part of Chester. It was famous in early times for a fishing place at the Amoskeag Falls; was incorporated by its present name in 1810, and is now distinguished as the most populous and opulent city in New Hampshire.