Coos County
NHGenWeb
The act establishing "The County of Cooss " was approved December 24, 1803,
and took effect March 5, 1805. It contained the towns of Dalton, Whitefield,
Bretton Woods, Bartlett, Adams, Chatham, Shelburne, Shelburne Addition, Durand,
Kilkenny, Jefferson, Lancaster, Millsfield, Northumberland, Stratford, Wales'
Gore, Cockburne, Colebrook, Stewartstown, Piercy, Paulsburg, Mainesborough,
Dummer, Errol, Cambridge and Success, with a population of about 3,000 in 1803.
The General Court had a defective knowledge of the line they undertook
to make the southern boundary, for, in describing it, it is made to go to the
northwest corner of Tamworth, and from thence on the line of the county of
Strafford to the Maine line. To reach the northwest corner of Tamworth, it had
to follow the west line of Albany south the whole width of the town, and then,
to reach the north line of Strafford county, which it was to follow, it had to
go back north on the same west line of Albany without including any land.
June 18, 1805, Nash and Sawyer's Location was annexed to Coos county, and
January 5, 1853, Bartlett, Jackson (Adams), and Hart's Location were annexed to
Carroll county. Not long after the formation of Coos county, Chatham was annexed
to Strafford county, and upon the erection of Carroll county, Chatham was
included in that county.
Coos was taken from Grafton, one of the five
original counties of the State — Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire,
Grafton — and comprises all New Hampshire north of the present counties of
Grafton and Carroll. Its western boundary is the western bank of the Connecticut
river, and it extends from latitude 48° 58' to the extreme north part of the
State, being seventy-six miles in length, with a mean width of about twenty
miles. It contains about one million acres of land. The distance by traveled
highway from the north line of Grafton county at Littleton to the Canada line at
West Stewartstown is about sixty-two miles. On the Maine line, it is
seventy-three miles from Carroll county to the iron post on the highlands, in
the wilderness on the northern boundary.
It is bounded north and
northwest by Canada, east by Maine, south by Carroll and Grafton counties, and
west by Vermont.
The census of 1880 gives the total population of the
county as 18,580. By the same census we learn that in that year Lancaster has a
population of 2,721; Whitefield, 1,828; Colebrook, 1,580; Gorham, 1,383; Berlin,
1,144; Northumberland, 1,062; and Stratford, 1,016. Jefferson only wants 49 to
make a round 1,000, while Stewartstown only 42. The other towns exceeding 500
are: Milan, 892; Columbia, 762; Stark, 690; Carroll, 632; Pittsburg, 581;
Dalton, 570. The remaining towns and grants give the following: Dummer, 464;
Clarksville, 328; Shelburne, 252; Randolph, 203; Errol, 161; Nash and Sawyer's
Location, 101; Millsfield, 62; Wentworth's Location, 55; Cambridge, 36; Martin's
Location, 33; Dixville, 32; Crawford's Grant, 28; Thompson and Meserve's
Purchase, 20; Second College Grant, 18; Green's Grant, 8; Dix's Grant, 4; and
Sargent's Purchase, 2.
There are in this county 1,939 farms, having a
total of 139,089 acres of improved land; aggregate value of said farms,
including buildings, fences, etc., $4,350,042; implements and the machinery
thereon, $192,544; stock, $774,838; estimated value of annual farm products,
$943,427. The vegetable productions: potatoes, 623,183 bushels; barley, 1,893;
buckwheat, 43,431; Indian corn, 10,129; oats, 228,698; rye, 923; wheat, 31,464;
tobacco, 1,000 pounds; hay, 49,734 tons; orchard products, annual value, $3,979.
The number of horses raised in the county, 3,941; mules and asses, 4; working
oxen, 1,615; milch cows, 6,474; other cattle, 10,723; sheep, 16,832; swine,
2,784; wool, 71,504 pounds; butter, 632,822; cheese, 36,795. The assessed
valuation of real estate and personal property is $5,911,552. There are 194
manufacturing establishments, using $2,107,250 capital, paying $336,010 annually
to 1,262 operatives, and turning out products valued at $2,490,356. The next
census will show a change.
Locations, Grants and Purchases. — In
addition to the towns which are organized in this county there are the following
unorganized grants, purchases, locations, etc., which contain between three and
four hundred inhabitants, and lie mostly among wild mountains, and whose chief
value is in the timber they produce and the incentive they present of romantic
scenery to the summer traveler: Bean's Purchase, Carlisle, Cambridge, Hubbard,
Webster, Chandler's Purchase, Crawford's Grant, Crawford's Purchase, Cutt's
Grant, Dix's Grant, Ervin's Grant, Gilmanton and Atkinson Academy Grant, Green's
Grant, Lowe and Burbank's Grant, Martin's Location, Nash and Sawyer's Location,
Odell, Pinkham's Grant, Sargent's Purchase, Second College Grant, Thompson and
Meserve's Purchase, Wentworth's Location. Millsfield and Cambridge, after being
organized as towns for some years, gave up their organization.
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; Giant's Stairs, 3,500 ft.; Boott Spur, 5,524 ft.; Boott
Deception, 2,448 ft.; Carter Dome, South Peak, 4,830 ft.; Carter Dome, North
Peak, 4,702 ft.; Mt. Moriah, 4,653 ft.; Mt. Wildcat, 4,350 ft.; Mt. Kearsarge,
3,251 ft.; Mt. Moat, North Peak, 3,200 ft.; Mt. Moat, South Peak, 2,700 ft.; Mt.
Starr King, 3,800 ft.; Mt. Pilot, 3,640 ft; Boy mountain, 2,278 ft.; Mt.
Prospect. 2,090 ft.; Mt. Percy, North Peak, 3,336 ft.; Mt. Percy, South Peak,
3,149 ft.; Cape Horn, 2,735 ft.; Twin Mountain station, 1,446 ft.; White
Mountain House, 1,556 ft.; Fabyan's, 1,571 ft.; White Mountain notch, 1,914 ft.;
base of Mt. Washington, 2,668 ft.; Cherry mountain, 3,500 ft.; Randolph
mountain, 3,043 ft.; Pliny mountain, 2,900 ft.; Mt. Royce, 2,600 ft.; Pond of
Safety, 1,973 ft.; Lake of the Clouds (Blue Pond), 5,009 ft.; Jefferson mills,
1,180 ft.; Whitefield, 931 ft.; Jewell hill, 1,467 ft.; Connecticut river at
Dalton (high water), 832 ft.; Dalton station, 866 ft.; South Lancaster, 867 ft.;
Lancaster, 870 ft.; Groveton depot, 901 ft.; Stark, 972 ft.; Milan summit, 1,087
ft.; Berlin falls, 1,035 ft.; Gorham 812 ft.; Shelburne, 723 ft.; Mt. Ingalls,
2,520 ft.; Mt. Forest, 1,950 ft.; North Stratford, 915 ft.; Stratford Hollow,
877 ft.; Sugarloaf, est., 3,470 ft.; Mt. Lyon, 2,735 ft,; Dixville Notch, 1,858
ft.; Table rock, 2,454 ft.; Colebrook, 1,030 ft.; West Stewartstown, 1,055 ft.;
Mt. Carmel, 3,711 ft ; Crescent mountain, 2,700 ft.; Connecticut lake, 1,618
ft.; Mt. Dustan, 2,575 ft.; Half Moon mountain, 2,526 ft.; South hill, 2,000
ft.; South peak, Kilkenny. 3,827 ft.; Green's ledge, 2,708 ft.
Contributed 2025 Apr 04 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Coos County, New Hampshire by Georgia D. Merrill, published in 1888, pages 17-19.
Copyright © 1996 - The USGenWeb® Project, NHGenWeb, Coos County
This page was last updated
04/04/2025