Carroll County
NHGenWeb
CARROLL COUNTY was created by an act of the state legislature approved
December 23, 1840, which also formed Belknap county. The language of the
act concerning the towns embraced in Carroll county is " the said county
of Carroll shall contain all the lands and waters included within the
following towns and places, which now constitute a part of the county of
Strafford, to wit: Albany, Brookfield, Chatham, Conway, Eaton,
Effingham, Freedom, Moultonborough, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonborough,
Ossipee, Wakefield, and Wolfborough, and the said towns be, and the same
are hereby, severed and disannexed from the county of .Strafford."
By an act of the legislature approved January 5, 1853, Bartlett,
Jackson, and Hart's Location were disannexed from the county of Coos and
annexed to Carroll county.
Boundaries between Belknap and
Carroll counties were established in 1841 thus: "Beginning at the
easterly termination of the line dividing the towns of Meredith and
Moultonborough; thence running easterly to the southerly point of Long
Island in Winnipisseogee lake; thence easterly to the westerly
termination of the line dividing the towns of Wolfborough and Alton; and
all the lands and waters lying northerly of said line and between that
and said towns of Moultonborough, Tuftonborough, and Wolfborough shall
constitute a part of said county of Carroll."
The town of
Madison was incorporated from the western part of Eaton in 1852.
Carroll county received its name in commemoration of Charles Carroll
of Carrollton, one of the most distinguished of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, and by the diversified and lovely character
of its bewitching scenery is keeping the name a household word in the
cultured minds of both the old and new worlds. No other county in the
state presents more attractions to the traveler, and none other has
received such a wealth of tribute from pen of poet or gifted
litterateur.
Strafford county, from which Carroll was formed,
was one of the five original counties of New Hampshire, being made by
the same act which created Rockingham, Hillsborough, Cheshire, and
Grafton, March 19, 1771. Many of the towns in Carroll have a much older
corporate existence than the county, and some of them are as old as the
five first counties. The early or pioneer stage belongs here rather to
the towns than to the county, and will receive attention in their
history.
Carroll county contains an area of nearly six hundred
square miles, is surrounded on the north by Coos and Grafton counties,
east by York and Oxford counties in Maine, southeast by Strafford
county, southwest and west by Belknap and Grafton counties, and lies
between 43° 28' and 44° 35' north latitude, and 3° 20' and 6° 10'
longitude east from Washington.
Population, agricultural and
manufacturing statistics from census of 1880. — The entire population of
Carroll is 18,291, an improvement over 1870, which showed 17,332, and a
falling off from 1860, which gave 20,465, and from 1850, which was
20,157. Albany had in 1880, 361; in 1870, 339; Bartlett and Hailes
Location, 1,044 in 1880; Brookfield 1880, 428; 1870, 416; Chatham 1880,
421; 1870, 445; Conway 1880, 2,094; 1870, 1,607; Eaton 1880, 629;
1870,657; Effingham 1880, 865'; 1870,904; Freedom 1880, 714; 1870, 737;
Hart's Location 1880, 70; 1870, 26; Jackson 1880, 464; 1870, 474;
Madison 1880, 586; 1870, 646; Moultonborough 1880, 1,254; 1870, 1,299;
Ossipee 1880, 1,782; 1870, 1,822; Sandwich 1880, 1,701; 1870, 1,854;
Tamworth 1880, 1,274; 1870, 1,344; Tuftonborough 1880, 923; 1870, 949;
Wakefield 1880, 1,392; 1870, 1,185; Wolfeborough 1880, 2,222; 1870,
1,995.
In 1880 Carroll county had 2,753 farms, with a total of
168,232 acres of improved land, while 158,019 acres were mountain,
woodland, and forest, and 10,213 acres additional were unimproved. The
aggregate value of these farms was $4,431,572, including land, fences,
and buildings; of farming implements and machinery, $164,626 ;
livestock, $703,680; estimated value of farm products, $844,849.
There were raised 733 bushels of barley, 1,046 bushels of buckwheat,
86,455 bushels of Indian corn, 35,227 bushels of oats, 1,337 bushels of
rye, 14,713 bushels of wheat, 310,937 pounds of maple sugar, 9,874
gallons of maple syrup, 40,869 tons of hay, 229,610 dozens of eggs,
7,970 pounds of honey, 241,050 bushels potatoes, 6,974 fleeces of wool,
weighing 32,100 pounds, an annual value of orchard products of $82,032,
and 7,778 bushels of beans.
There were 3,402 horses on the
farms, June 1, 1880, 4,035 working oxen, 6,082 milch cows, and 8,294
other cattle, 6,974 sheep (excluding spring lambs), 3,476 swine, 32,100
pounds of wool clipped in the spring, 33,238 gallons of milk sold and
sent to factories, 465,476 pounds of butter made, and 19,684 pounds of
cheese.
Tin' assessed valuation of real estate was $4,374,291,
of personal property, $1,439,936. There were 96 manufacturing concerns,
with $2,056,245 capital; employing 780 operatives, who were paid
$251,300 annually, and producing $1,707,626 in goods. The financial
condition of the county at the end of the last fiscal year is thus given
by the county commissioners: —
The County debt May 1, 1889, was:
—
Bonds at 6 per cent. $9,100.00
Bonds at 4 per cent.
10,000.00
Interest on Bonds, 557.86
Call Notes at 4 per cent.
16,029.97
Interest on Notes to May 1, 1889, 660.16
Bills and
orders outstanding, 200.00
$66,547.99
The County has
assets: —
County Farm and Buildings, $20,000.00
Personal
Property at the Farm, 5,626.43
Cash in hands of Treasurer, 5,804.98
Costs and Fines due County, 200.00
Cash due from the towns of
Albany and Chatham, 202.69
The debt, less fines, cash in
treasury, and cash due from Albany and Chatham, is $60,340.32, and the
reduction of the debt for the year is $11,007.22.
In 1880 the
county had a bonded debt of $198,370, and a floating debt of $269,019,
making a total indebtedness of $467,389.
Altitudes. — Mt
Washington, 6,293 ft; Mt Adams, 5,794 ft; Mt Jefferson, 5,714 ft; Mt
Clay. 5,553 ft; Mt Monroe, 5,384 ft; Mt Little Monroe, 5,204 ft; Mt
Madison, 5,365 ft; Mt Franklin, 4,904 ft; Mt Pleasant, 4,764 ft; Mt
Clinton, 4,320 ft: Mt Jackson, 4,100 ft; Mt Webster, 4,000 ft; Mt
Crawford, 3,134 ft; Mt Willey, 4,300 ft; Mt Nancy, 3,800 ft; Giant's
Stairs, 3,500 ft; Boott Spur, 5,524 ft; Boott Deception, 2,448 ft; Mt
Carter, north peak. 4,830 ft; Mt Carter, south peak, 4,702 ft; Mt
Moriah, 4,653 ft; Mt Royce, 2,600 ft; Mt Wildcat, 4,350 ft; Mt
Whiteface, 4,007 ft (the northern elevation 175 higher); Mt
Passaconaway, 4,200 ft; Mt Osceola, 4,397 ft: Sandwich Dome (Black
Mountain), 3,999 ft; Mt Resolution, 3,400 ft; Trimountain, 3,393 ft:
Silver Spring Mountain (est.), 3,000 ft; Green's Cliff, 2,958 ft; Table
Mountain. 3,305 ft; Mt Israel, 2,880 ft; Mt Chocorua, 3,540 ft; Mt
Kearsarge (Pequawket), 3,251 ft; Red Hill, south peak, 1,709 ft; Red
Hill, north peak, 2,038 ft ; Ossipee Mountain, 2,361 ft; Mt Shaw, 2,956
ft ; Green Hills, 2,390 ft; Copple Crown, 2,100 ft; Great Moose
Mountain, 1,404 ft; Tin Mountain, 1,650 ft; Mt Baldface, 3,600 ft;
Double Head, 3,120 ft; Iron Mountain, 2,000 ft; Mote Mountain, 3,200 ft;
Mote Mountain, south peak, 2,700 ft; Lake of the Clouds (Blue Pond),
5,009 ft; White Mountain Notch, 1,914 ft; Saco Pond (head of Saco
River), 1,880 ft; Saco River (at Willey House), 1,300 ft; Fabyan's,
1,571 ft; Base of Mt Washington, 2,668 ft; Ossipee Lake, 408 ft;
Mountain Pond, 1,300 ft; Six-mile Pond, 456 ft; Chocorua Lake, 550 ft;
Bear Camp Pond, 600 ft; Dan Hole Pond, 775 ft; Pine River Pond, 550 ft;
Province Pond, 525 ft; East Pond (Lake Newichawannock), 499 ft; Horn
Pond, 479 ft; Lovell's Pond, 550 ft; Smith's Pond, 525 ft; Red Hill
Pond, 590 ft; Long Pond, 505 ft; Squam Lake, 510 ft; Lake Winnipiseogee,
496-502 ft; Wakefield Summit, 690 ft; Wolfeborough Junction, 574 ft;
West Ossipee, 428 ft; Conway, 466 ft; North Conway, 521 ft; Upper
Bartlett, 660 ft; Jackson, 759 ft; Drakesville (Effingham), 381 ft;
Freedom, 396 ft; South Tamworth, 630 ft; Sandwich, 648 ft;
Tuftonborough, 889 ft; Moultonborough Centre, 581 ft; Water Village
(Ossipee), 745 ft.
Contributed 2022 Jul 05 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Carroll County, New Hampshire by Georgia Drew Merrill, published in 1889, pages 1-4.
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This page was last updated 05/03/2024