STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
TOWN CHARTERS
GRANTED WITHIN THE PRESENT
LIMITS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
BEING THE CONTINUATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE. GRANTS OF TOWNSHIPS
ISSUED BY THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, PRESENTED
IN ALPHABETICAL ARRANGEMENT, AND INCLUDING
ALL SUBSEQUENT TO THE LETTER E, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE
MAPS, PLANS, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
CITATIONS AND COMPLETE
INDEXES,
AND AN APPENDIX
CONTAINING DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE MOST ANCIENT TOWNS OF THIS
STATE, AND HISTORICAL NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS.
VOLUME XXV.
TOWN CHARTERS, VOLUME II.
ALBERT STILLMAN BATCHELLOR,
EDITOR OF STATE PAPERS.
CONCORD:
EDWARD N. PEARSON, PUBLIC PRINTER.
1895.
JOINT RESOLUTION relating to the preservation and publication of portions of the early state and provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
That His Excellency the Governor be hereby authorized and empowered, with the advice and consent of the Council, to employ some suitable person, and fix his compensation, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to collect, arrange, transcribe, and superintend the publication of such portions of the early state and provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire as the Governor may deem proper, and that eight hundred copies of each volume of the same be printed by the state printer, and distributed as follows: namely, one copy to each city and town in the state, one copy to such of the public libraries in the state as the Governor may designate, fifty copies to the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the remainder placed in the custody of the state librarian, who is hereby authorized to exchange the same for similar publications by other states.
Approved August 4, 1881.
PREFACE.
The character of the papers published in the series of which this is the second volume, and their relations and value in the documentary history of the state, were the subjects of comment in the preface to the volume immediately preceding this. In that publication were included the township charters or grants issued by the government of Massachusetts in the period when its jurisdiction was asserted over territory north of the present boundary line, and a part of the charters emanating from the provincial government of New Hampshire. An alphabetical arrangement was adopted as one that would render the documents most readily accessible to such as might have occasion to consult them in the printed form. It was found that only a part of the New Hampshire charters proper, could be included in the preceding volume. Those. falling under the letters A to E inclusive, however, found place there. Those remaining are included in the present volume. Important historical documents and the results of researches in the early history of the state by eminent students of that epoch are given in the appendix. The motes under each town title are of the same character as those which are found in the former volume. They contain numerous citations to authorities in local and general history relative to the several towns. While it is not to be presumed that a complete exposition of titles in our local history has been accomplished in these notes, it may be said that they are the result of a careful examination of the best accessible collections of works devoted to local history, and of an extensive correspondence with those supposed to be the best informed in this class of literature. The plan of illustration and indexing is that previously followed. The Blanchard and Langdon, Jeffries, and Holland maps of the province were reprinted for volume XXIV, and accompany it. They are useful as aids to an understanding of the grouping of the towns which were the subjects of grants by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or Masonian authority, and which appear in the current series of publications. The volumes to follow will include, first, the grants made in the disputed territory west of the Connecticut River and known in history as the New Hampshire Grants, and next in order, the so-called Masonian Grants.
In the prosecution of this work the editor has realized the value of official co-operation from His Excellency Charles A. Busiel and all the members of his council. To the other gentlemen named and to the many to whom, on former occasions, a more general allusion was made as efficient coadjutors in connection with the preparation of preceding volumes, the assurance of a continuing sense of obligation is most cordially renewed.
THE EDITOR.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Farmington 3
Fitzwilliam 3
Francestown 5
Franconia 6
Franklin 16
Freedom 16
Fremont 16
Gilford 16
Gilmanton 17
Gilsum 21
Goffstown 30
Gorham 33
Grafton 33
George King 43
Grantham 46
Green's Location 54
Greenland 59
Greenville 59
Groton 59
Hale's Location 70
Hampstead 73
Hampton Falls 77
Hanover 77
Dartmouth College and Eleazer Wheelock 85
Dartmouth College Ferry 89
Harrisville 90
Hart's Location 91
Haverhill 93
John Parker 99
Johnson's Ferry 102
Porter's Ferry 103
Benjamin Whiting 104
Hebron 106
John Fenton 107
Henniker 110
Hillsborough 113
Hinsdale 115
Holderness 124
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Hollis 134
Hudson 137
Jackson 139
David Gilman 140
Richard Gridley 144
Charles Rogers 148
Wentworth, Rogers, and Treadwell 152
Jaffrey 158
Jefferson 160
Keene 169
Kensington 173
Kilkenny 174
Kingston 179
Kingswood 183
Laconia 186
Lancaster 187
Joshua Barker 194
Landaff 197
Langdon 209
Lebanon 209
Lee 214
Lempster 214
James Hickey 230
Lincoln 233
Gilman and Waldron 238
Lisbon 241
Litchfield 255
Littleton 257
Livermore 268
Stephen Holland 269
Londonderry 272
Loudon 278
Lyman 279
John Hurd 285
Lyme 287
Benjamin Grant 293
Greene's Ferry 296
Matthew Stanley Parker 297
Lyndeborough 300
Madbury 302
Madison 302
Blair, McNeal, et als. 303
Manchester 306
Goffe's Ferry 312
Merrill's Ferry 314
TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix
Marlow 315
Martin's Location 325
Mason 330
Meredith 332
Merrimack 334
Lutwyche's Ferry 338
Milan 339
Milford 343
Millsfield 344
Milton 349
Monroe 349
Monson 349
Mont Vernon 353
Nashua 353
Nelson 356
New Boston 358
New Castle 361
New Durham 364
New Hampton 366
Newington 366
New Ipswich 366
Newmarket 372
Newport 372
Newton 383
Northfield 392
North Hampton 392
Northumberland 393
Northwood 401
Nottingham 402
Orange 404
Orford 409
William Simpson 415
Simpson's Ferry 418
Pelham 419
Pembroke 422
Peterborough 423
Piermont 427
Thomas Martin 432
Pittsburg 436
Pittsfield 436
Plainfield 436
Jonathan Chase 442
Lemuel Smith 446
Plaistow 449
Plymouth 452
X
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Plymouth
John Atkinson 457
Samuel Holland 460
Randolph 464
Raymond 468
Richmond 469
Rindge 476
Rochester 479
Rollinsford 480
Roxbury 480
Rumney 481
Elias Warner 490
Rye 493
Salem 493
Salisbury 501
Sanbornton 503
Sandown 505
Sandwich 507
Seabrook 513
Shelburne 513
South Hampton 521
South Newmarket 524
Springfield 524
Stark 528
John Winslow 533
Stewartstown 537
Stoddard 541
Strafford 543
Stratford 543
Stratham 552
Success 553
Sullivan 557
Sunapee 557
Surry 562
Swanzey 562
Tamworth 567
Temple 571
Thornton 573
Tilton 582
Troy 582
Unity 582
Wakefield 591
Walpole 593
Theodore Atkinson 598
Bellows's Ferry 600
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
Warner 601
Warren 603
Waterville 609
Weare 610
Webster 612
Wentworth 612
Wentworth's Location 619
Westmoreland 621
Whitefield 628
Wilmot 633
Wilton 633
Winchester 637
Windham 642
Woodstock 643
John Goffe 652
APPENDIX.
Boycott of John Hurd and Asa Porter 659
Notes on First Planting of New Hampshire 661
Thompson Indenture 711
Combinations for Local Government in N. H. 741
Origin, Organization, and Influence of Towns in N. E. 749
Index.
GRANTS
OF
NEW HAMPSHIRE.TERRITORY
BY THE
GOVERNMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.