xt7rv11vj12h https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7rv11vj12h/data/mets.xml Historical Records Survey Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration New Hampshire Historical Records Survey Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration 1939 196 l.: maps, diagrs. 27 cm. UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries. Call Number: FW 4.14:N 42h/no.3 books  English Manchester, N.H.: the Survey  This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. New Hampshire Works Progress Administration Publications Archives--New Hampshire--Cheshire County -- Catalogs Cheshire County (N.H.) -- History -- Sources Cheshire County (N.H.) -- Genealogy. Inventory of the County Archives of New Hampshire. No. 3, Cheshire County, 1939 text Inventory of the County Archives of New Hampshire. No. 3, Cheshire County, 1939 1939 1939 2020 true xt7rv11vj12h section xt7rv11vj12h ' Kl NVENTORY or THE I
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_ No.3 WW
CHESHIRE COUNTY

 

 INVENTORY OF THE COUNTY ARCHIVES

OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Prepared by

The Historical Records Survey
Bivisicn of Professional and Service Projects
work Projects Administration

Noe 3, CHESHIg COUNTY

*$#*¢$$

Manchesterg New Hampshire
The Historical Records Survey
August‘l939

 

 The Historical Records Survey

Luther H. Evans. National Director
Sargent B. Child, Regional Supervisor
Richard G. Wbod. State Director

Division of Professional and Service Projects

Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner
Robert Y. Phillips. Regional Supervisor
Mary H. Head. State Director

WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION

F. C. Harrington, Commissioner
John J. Mobonough, Regional Director
William P. Fuheyg State Administrator

n~»~ , wm _ _ , _,, _ . _.

 

 F O R E W O R D

The Inventory of the County Archives of New Hampshire is one of
a number of bibliographies of historical materials prepared through-
out the United States by workers on the Historical Records Survey of
the Wbrk Projects Administration. The publication herewith presented,
an inventory of the archives of Cheshire County, is number 3 of the
New Hampshire series.

The Historical Records Survey was undertaken in the winter of
1935—36 for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy unem-
ployed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers.
In carrying out this objective, the project was organized to compile
inventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished govern-
ment documents and records which are basic in the administration of
local government, and which provide invaluable data for students of po-
litical, economic. and social history. The archival guide herewith
presented is intended to meet the requirements of day-to-day adminis—
tration by the officials of the county, and also the needs of lawyers,
business men and other citizons who require facts from the public rec-
ords for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so de-
signed that it can be used by the historian in his research in un-
printed sources in the same way he uses the library card catalog for
printed sources.

The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey attempt
to do more than give merely a list of records--they attempt further to
sketch in the historical background of the county or other unit of
government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organization
and functions of the government agencies whose records they list. The
county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country will,
when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local government as well
as a bibliography of local archives.

The successful conclusion of the Work of the Historical Records
Survey, even in a single county, would not be possible without the sup-
port of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and many
other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknow-
ledged.

The Survey was organized and has been directed by Luther H. Evans,
and operates as a nation-wide project in the Division of Professional
and Service Projects, of which Mrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner,
is in charge.

F. C. HARRINGTON
Commissioner

 

 P R E F A C E

The Historical Records Survey was initiated in January 1936 as a
nation-wide undertaking of the Wbrks Progress Administration, but did
not begin operations in New Hampshire until April 7. The purpose of
the Survey is to make accessible to lawyers, historians, and students
of government the records of state, county, municipal, and town offices.
In conjunction with this listing of public records, the church records,
including those of defunct organizations, will be inventoried so that
the ground work may be laid for research in this neglected field of
social history.

This is the third published volume of a series of publications by
the Historical Records Survey concerning the county archives of New
Hampshire. A volume on church records has already appeared and volumes
on town records will be published also. The Historical Records Survey
made the first listing of the Cheshire County records in the summer of
1936; the recheck was made in the autumn of 1937. The list of records
was brought up to date in February 1939.

The Inventory of the County Archives of New Hampshire will, when
completed. consist of a separate numbered volume for each county in the
state. The units of the series are numbered according to the position
of the county in an alphabetical list of all counties of the state.
Thus, the inventory herewith presented for Cheshire County is No. 3.
The various county volumes of the inventory will be issued in mimeo-
graphical form for free distribution to state and local officials in
New Hampshire and to a number of libraries and governmental agencies
outside the state.

The Survey wishes to express its appreciation for cooperation
given by Cheshire County officials. The Survey is further indebted
to the Secretary of State and the Attorney-General for information re-
ceived. Legal research for the essays was expedited by facilities
granted by the Manchester City Library, the Nashua City Library, the
New Hampshire State Library and the City of Concord. The work Projects
Administration of New Hampshire has been generous in its grant of space
for our editorial activities.

Requests for information concerning publications should be ad—
dressed to the state director, Hoyt Administration Building, Manchester»

New Hampshire.
Richard 9. ‘Wood '

Manchester, New Hampshire state Director
August 1939 The Historical Records Survey

 

 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

 

 

 

Page
A. Cheshire County and its Records System
1. Historical Sketch ................. , ....................................... mmummmmS
Settlement Map of Cheshire County MMWWWWWHWWmelO
‘ Original Counties of New Hampshire l77l

(Af‘+ er BeJ_knap) .................................... “WM. ll

Boundary Changes of Cheshire County .WWHWWMWMWWWWJZ

2. Governmental Organization and Records System ..................................................... 13
Chart of Cheshire County Offices in 1772.. 20

Chart of Cheshire County Offices in lSjOMMMMWMWMWWmeZI

Chart of Present Cheshire County Offices ................................. . ....... 22

3. Housing, Care. and Accessibility of the Recordswmmmewmmmmw23
Recommendations " “www.mmmmm125

4. Abbreviations. Symbols. and Explanatory Notes .WWHWMWMM26

B. County Offices and their Records

I. County Convention ............................................................................................. . ........................................ 29
II. County Commissioners ..................................................................................................................................... 33
Minutes and Reports. Welfare: Affidavits;

Active Cases—Direct Relief; Paupers; Claims;

County Farm; Orders, Bills, Receipts; Misceln

laneous. Financial: Orders; Bills. Purchases,
Receipts; Payrolls; Checks, Check Stubs, Bank
Statements. Highways. Maps. Plans, Deeds.
Prisoners. Miscellaneous.
III. Register of Deeds W.umwwwmewwwwwumwmmWWWmH50
Deeds. writs of Attachment. Maps and Plans.
Tax Sales of Real Estate. Miscellaneous.
Development of the Superior Court in New Hampshire,
IV. Clerk of the Superior Court .,www.mmwwwwwwwwm63
Indexes. Court Dockets. Judgments. Court
Documents. Jurors. Mittimus. Writs and
warrants. Naturalization. Petitions and
Orders. Wills. Court Proceedings. Attach-
ment of Property. Elections, Appointments,
Oaths. Financial. Adjustment of Titles and
Accounts. Certificates and Licenses. Miscel-
laneous.
V. Justices of the Peace (Trial Justices) "WWWWmIOI
Justice Documents. Petitions. Writs. warrants.
Justice Proceedings. Appointments. Financial.

 

 VI.

VII.
VIII.
IX-

XI-
XII.

XIII.
XIV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents Page
Register of Probate 112
Probate Court ”112
Register of Probate p 118
Probate Dockets. Probate Documents. Wills.
Inventories and Accounts. Homestead. Sale
of Real Estate, Securities. Personal Property.
Petitions. Licenses. Letters: Administration;
Guardianship; Trusteeship and Conservatorship;
Adoption and Change of Name. Insolvent Estates.
Probate Bonds. Claims. Miscellaneous.
sheriff (County Crier) 134
Medical Referee (Coroner) . lhh
Solicitor “an” 150
county Treasurer 152
Reports. Receipts and Payments. Tax Receipts.
Bonds. Orders.
Auditors" 160
Superintendent of the County Farmumm 161
Mittimus. Prisoners and Inmates. Deaths.
Financial. Inventory. Miscellaneous.
flospital Records
Sealer of Weights and Measures 169
Commissioners of Jail Delivery 170
Appendix ‘ 171
Bibliographyw‘ , ”m173
Publications by the New Hampshire Historical Records
Survey 174
Addenda 175
Chronological Index to Records 176
Subject Index to Inventory. 179

 

 

 (First entry, p. 33)

A. CHESHIRE COUNTY AND ITS RECORDS SYSTEM
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH

Cheshire County, New Hampshire. was named after Cheshire County,
England. "celebrated for its manufacture of cheese."1 The Indians who
occupied the lands which became Cheshire County were known as squakheags
and their domain extended as far east as Mount Monadnook. They were
probably allied to the Nashaways who were located in the vicinity of
the Nashua and Merrimack Rivers. The Squakheags appear to have dis-
banded abcut 1720 when, it is thought, many of them emigrated to Canada
and joined the St. Francis tribe. Some years afterward, the latter
tribe played a prominent part in the raids which wsought havoc among
the early white settlements along the Connecticut Valley and retarded
the development of the entire Cheshire County region, Many of the early
attempts at colonization failed; yet the work continued despite set-
backs. In l?34 pioneers came to the present site of Keene, then called
Upper Athuelot.2 but the early Keene settlements were abandoned in 1746
because of Indian hostility. Permanent settlemenZS in the Keene locality
did not occur until 1750.J

In the meanwhile in 1737 a settlement had been made in what is now
the town of Hinsdale; Daniel Shattuok had built a large log house in
Merry's Meadow, and other houses in the vicinity were erected soon
afterward.4 Charlestown was settled by Dav1d, Samuel; and Stephen
Farnsworth in 740.5 other relatively early permanent settlements were
walpolc, 1749; Swanzey (Lower Ashuelot), 1750; and Winchester
(Arlington), about 1751. Charlestown is now a part of Sullivan County;
but walpole, Swanzey, and Winchester are within the present confines of
Cheshire.

County division in New Hampshire did not receive legislative en-
actment until 1769. Since Cheshire was one of the original New Hamp-
shire counties, it is proper at this time to trace the events that re-
sulted in that act of county division. In the early years of the colony
Portsmouth was designated as the place where the courts should meet.

1. D. H. Hurd, History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, (Phila.,
1886), l.

2. Ibid., 8, 9.

3. New Hampshire Manual for the General Court 1917, 17-18.

4. Ibid.. hO-hl; Hurd, op. cit., 357-358.

5. Hurd, op. cit.. 23.

6. New Hampshire Manual for the General Court 1917, 66.

7. Ibid., 64.

8. A. J. FOSS. The Statistics and Gazetteer of New Hampshire, (Concord,
1871+) . 375.

 

 -4.
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 33)

Such an arrangement at that time was entirely convenient, owing to the
fact that settlements were limited to the coastal region. This practice,
however, turned out to be very inconvenient when the interior became
inhabited, and an agitation was begun to have the courts more centrally
located or held in different towns. An effort was made in this direc-
tion during the administration of Governor Belcher, who served 1730-hl,
when two of the courts were held quarterly at Portsmouth, Exeter, Dover,
and Hampton. This new arrangement lasted only until 1735, however,
since in that year the home government signified its disapproval, with
the result that all courts were again held in Portsmouth.

Those in the interior continued to be dissatisfied with the exclu-
sive Portsmouth arrangement, and lost no opportunity to point out the
inconvenience and added expense of such a procedure. The conservative
element along the coast and the Council, generally speaking, were con-
tent for the courts to be held in Portsmouth, while the Assembly, being
more representative of the province in its entirety, was inclined to
support the contention of the inhabitants in the interior. The question
of salaries for the judiciary became involved in the controversy. The
Governor in 1755 urged upon the Assembly the necessity of providing the
justices with a salary not inconsistent with the dignity of their office.
The Assembly indicated its compliance on condition that the province be
divided into two counties; the object of this condition was to bring
about the abandonment of Portsmouth as the exclusive meeting place of
the courts. It was impossible, however, to secure an agreement at that
time. The matter dragged along until 1769 when an act of county organi-
zation was finally passed, with the proviso that it should not be ef-
fectiYS until royal approbation should be received. This occurred in
1771.

While the act of organization marked the boundaries of five
counties in the order named -- Rockingham. Strafford. Hillsborough,
Cheshire, and Grafton —- only three of these were to receive their full
legal status by virtue of the enactment. Two of them. Strafford and
Grafton. were not to receiVe such status until the Governor and Council
should deem the population sufficient.ll

Provision was made in the organization act for the Cheshire County
courts of common pleas to be held at Keene the second Tuesdays of July
and October and at Charlestown the second Tuesdays of January and April.
The courts of general sessions of the peace were to be held "at Keene
on the thursdays next after the Second Tuesdays in October & July And
at Charlestown on the Thursdays next after the Second Tuesdays of Jan-
uary & April Annually."l2 It is apparent, therefore, that both Keene
and Charlestown were regarded as shire towns. Charlestown does not
appear to have had a courthouse, at any time, however; and the earliest

 

9. NA H. Fry, New Hampshire as a Royal Province, (New York, 1908),
459-460; New Hampshire Manual for the General Court 1891. 118.

10. Fry, op. cit., 460-464.

11. Laws of New Hampshire, 3:525-528 (1769).

12. Ibid., 3:527 (1769).

 

 -5-
Historical Sketch . (First entry, p. 33)

court sessions in Keene were held in meeting-houses. In 1796 there was
constructed in Keene a building planned definitely for service as a
courthouse. In this edifice, built largely as a result of individual
contributions, courts met for a period of twenty-eight years.13 Town
meetings were also held there.“L When a new courthouse was built in
182A. the old structure "was sold to Silas Angier and Eliphalet Briggs,
and was hauled away to Prison street by James Keith with sixty yoke of
oxen, and used for a boarding and tenement house."15 It was later pur—
chased by John H. Fuller who divided it into two buildings: one was
moved to railroad squarZ and used for commercial purposes; the other be-
came a dwelling house.1 The section that was moved to railroad square
is now owned and operated by the Farm Service Stores, a subsidiary of
General Mills, Inc. The section used for a dwelling house is now owned
by the Heald Brothers of Keene and is rented to tenants. (For informa-
tion concerning subsequent courthouses, see figusing, Care, and Accessi—
bility of the Records).

The history of this county was turbulent in the years immediately
following its organization. Owing to a long series of differences,
Cheshire and Grafton Counties became more and more out of sympathy with
the rest of the state. When Vermont declared its independence from
New York, there was started in a number of the Cheshire and Grafton
towns an agitation to join the new state west of the Connecticut River.
Sentiment for joining Vermont, however, was far from unanimous: some of
the inhabitants preferred to keep their New Hampshire allegiance; others
wished to form an independent Connecticut Valley state which would owe
allegiance neither to New Hampshire nor to Vermont. If this latter pro—
posed venture had actually been oarried out, it is probable that a num-
ber of towns on the western as Well as the eastern bank of the Connec-
ticut River would have been included within the state thus formed.

Space here is not sufficient to trace the details of the controversy
that raged during the closing years of the Revolution. It should be
stated, however, that a number of the disaffected towns on the New
Hampshire side of the river were actually admitted to the Green Mountain
State by act of the Vermont Assembly and their representatives were re-
oeived in the Assembly at Windsor. For a time in the disputed region
there were officers representing both Vermont and New Hampshire. Before
the matter was finally adjusted the governments of New Hampshire, Ver-
mont. New York. and Massachusetts, in addition to the Continental Conguess,
were concerned in one way or another. Finally, the Connecticut River
was confirmed as the boundary and the disaffected Cheshire and Grafton
towns were forced to remain with New Hampshire, but many of the inhabi—
tants indicated their resentment by adopting an obstructionist policy in

 

 

 

13. Hurd, op! cit., 6.

14- S. G. Griffin, A History of the Town of Keene, (Keene, l90h), 302.
15. Ibid., 388.

16. id.

17. J. Belknap, History of New Hampshire, (Farmer Edition, Dover,

1831), 385-388; Vermont state Papers, 3:9, 2h; New Hampshire State
Eapers, 10:276.

 

 . - 6 _
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 33)

the courts. But the "Well judged combination of firmness and lenity"
displayed by the authorities kept the situation in hand.1 Matters
were considerably improved by the 1784 constitution which gave the
western counties a more liberal representation in the Legislature.
Gradually, the bitterness caused by the controversy subsided.

Cheshire County lost a small amount of territory to Hillsborough
County in 1778,20 and again in 1787.21 It was divided in 1827; the
northern section became Sullivan County, and the southern section re-
tained the name of Cheshire,22 There are twenty-two towns within the
present confines of Cheshire County: Alstead. Chesterfield, Dublin,
Fitzwilliam, Gilsum, Harrisville, Hinsdale, Jeffrey, Marlborough, Marlow,
Nelson, Richmond. Ringe, chbury, Stoddard, Sullivan. Surry, Swanzey,
Troy, walpole. WEstmoreland, and Winchester. Jaffrey is the largest
town; its population in 1930 was 2,845. There is one city, Keene, the
county seat, which had a population in 1930 of 13,794. The population
of the county in 1930 was 33,685.23 Its area is 728 square miles.24

The Connecticut River, serving as the western boundary of Cheshire
County, was at one time an important lane of commerce. "Present resi—
dents along the course of the Connecticut river can hardly imagine the
fact that a century ago this river was teeming with both freight and
passenger boats, and that it furnished the only means of transportation
north and south except the cumbrous ox teams over the most primitive
roads imaginable."2 In 1903 Charles Davenport, then more than ninety
years old, and one of the Connecticut River captains, furnished some
reminiscences of his boating days: "When 19 years of age * * * I
ran away. I hired out to the captain of a river boat as a deck hand.

I followed boating on the Connecticut continuously for 30 years with the

exception of a few years experience on the Mississippi river. The

larger part of the time I was captain of different boats, and my boating

on the Connecticut was confined to flat—boats. Most of the boats on the

Connecticut were 72 feet long and 11% feet wide, and when loaded to their
capacity of 30 tons would draw two to three feet of water."2

0f certain boats on the Connecticut it has been said: "They were
flat-bottomed boats, having a cabin at the stern, a mast in the centre,
around which the freight was packed, and with a gunwale extending around
the entire boat. The main sail was about twenty feet square * * *

A top sail was about eight feet wide at its bottom, narrowing toward the

 

18. Belknap, op. cit.. 391-395.

19. B. P. Poore, Federal and State Constitutions, (washington, 1887),
2:1284-1287.

20. Laws of New Hampshire, 4:189 (1778).

21. Ibid.. 5:280-281 (1787).

22. Ibid.. 9:649-653 (1827).

23. New Hampshire Manual for the General Court 1932. 119.

24. New Hampshire Register 1937, 28.

25. L. S. Hayes. The Connecticut River Valley in Southern Vermont and

New Hampshire, (Rutland, Vt., 1929). 31.
26. Ibid., 31-32.

 

 - 7 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 33)

top.‘ In addition to these a third sail was placed above the top sail in
very light winds * * * When the wind was not available as a motive
power, the men used long stout poles in pushing the boats along * * *."27

Not always, however, was navigation on the Connecticut confined to
sail or propulsion by means of poles. steam navigation was practiced
at times. Among the steamboats on the Connecticut was the "William Hall,"
built at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1831, which on at least one occasion
came as far north as Bellows Falls on its own power. This "was a stern
wheel boat similar to those in use on the Mississippi * * *."

Naturally the coming of the railroads removed much of the necessity
for navigation on the Connecticut, The Cheshire Railroad was a product
of the eighteen-forties. It began to operate from South Ashburnham,
Massachusetts, to Keene in 1848. other early railroads in this county
were the Monadnock, the Ashuelct, and the Manchester and Keene Railroads.
of the Manchester and Keene Railroad it was written in 1885: "That por-
tion of the road lying in Cheshire county is built upon hills and over
deep ravines; but its wooden trestles are rapidly being replaced by iron
trestles or by fillings."29

Cheshire County comprises the southWest corner of New Hampshire.
The land is well watered by the Connecticut River on the western border,
and the Ashuelot and other streams in the interior. Mount Monadnock
situated in the eastern part of the county is the highest elevation in
southern New Hampshire. This mountain appeared on a map as early as
1677, though merely as an unnamed height of land; it was referred to by
1704 as "Manadnuok Hill."30 Thoreau, the sage of walden Pond, made
four trips to Monadnook in 1843 or 184u, 1852. 1858, and 1860.31 An
abridged account of his ascent of 1858 follows:

Arrived at Troy Station at 11.5 and shouldered our
knapsacks, steering northeast to the mountain, some four
miles off, - its top. It is a pleasant hilly road, lead-
ing past a few farm-houses, where you already begin to
snuff the mountain. or at least up-country air * * *

Almost without interruption we had the mountain in
sight before us, - its sublime gray mass - that antique,
brownish—gray Ararat color * * * that gray color of
antiquity, which nature loves; color of unpainted wood,
weather—stain, time-stain; not glaring nor gaudy; the
color of all roofs, the color of things that endure * * *
Methought I saw the same color with which Ararat and
Caucasus and all earth's brows are stained * * *

 

27. Ibid.. 162.

28. Ibid., 165-168.

29. Hamilton Child, Gazetteer of Cheshire County. N. H.. (Syracuse.
N. Y-. 1885). 56. 57.

30. Helen Cushing Nutting. Monadnock Records of 3 Centuries. (Ashburn-
ham. Mass., 1925), 9, 13-16.

31. Allen Chamberlain, The Annals of the Grand Monadnock, (Concord,
1936). 70.

 

 - 8 -
Historical sketch (First entry, p. 33)

we left the road at a schoolhouse, and, crossing a
meadow, began to ascend gently through very rocky pastures
* * *

The neighboring hills began to sink, and entering the
wood * * * we took our dinner by the rocky brook-side
* s *

Having risen above the dwarfish woods (in which moun-
tain-ash was very common) * * * we proceeded to prepare
our camp * * * perhaps half a mile from the summit * * *

Having left our packs here * * * we went up to the
summit * * * Our path lay through a couple of small
swamps and then up the rocks * * *

As it was quite hazy, we could not see the shadow of
the mountain well, and so returned just before the sun set
to our camp * * *

Notwithstanding the newspaper and egg-shell left by
visitors, these parts of nature are still peculiarly unhand-
selled and untracked. The natural terraces of rock are the
steps of this temple, and it is the same whether it rises
above the desert or a New England village * * *.32

Apparently the Monadnock region was at one time terrorized by wolves.
Thoreau, writing of a certain thicket on Monadnock, made the following
statement: "A man in Peterboro told me that his father told him that
[wolves] came down at night, killed sheep, etc., and returned to their
dens, whither they could not be pursued before morning; till finally 3
they set fire to the thicket, and it made the greatest fire they had
ever had in the county, and drove out all the wolves, which have not
troubled them since * * *."33 -

Many kinds of articles have been manufactured at one time or another
in the towns of Cheshire County. For example: bits, augurs, brush-
handles, doors, and blinds in Chesterfield;34 shoe-knives in Jaffrey;35
tubs, boxes, hoops, pails, and buckets in Swanzey;3 sharpening-stones
in Winchester; and gaterwheels, mill castings, carriages, edge tools,
and soap in Hinsdale.3

A glass factory was established in Keene about the time of the war
of 1812. 9 Bottles, decanters, and similar glassware were manufactured
in Keene by Perry & Wbod n 1822;40 and about lBhO three glass factories
were in operation there.“ The last makers of glass in Keene were J. D.
Cgéony2& Company who carried on the manufacture of window glass about
1 O.

32. Bradford Torrey, ed., Thoreau's Journal, (Boston, 1906), 10:u52-458.
33. Ibid., 4:345-346. (This is from the entry for Sept. 6, 1852).
3L}. Child, 02. Cite. 97c

35. Ibid., 207.

36. Ibid.. A30, 431.

37. Ibid., 529.

38. Ibid., 185.

39. Griffin, op. cit.. 348.

40. Ibid., 392.

41. Ibid., 432.

42. Ibid., 576.

 

 

 - 9 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 33)

An example of a manufacturing enterprise that has continued for more
than a century is furnished by the Faulkner and Colony Company of Keene.
In 1815 Francis Faulkner and Josiah Colony purchased some mills on the
Ashuelot River.43 These mills were burned in 1823, but were rebuilt so
rapidly that later in the same year the company stated that they were
"ready to receive wool to Card and Cloth to Dress."44 In 1838 this
company suffered another loss from fire, but rebuilding operations com—
menced immediately. The new structures consisted of a brick mill for
manufacturing flannels, a saw mill. and a grist mill.u5 It is interest-
ing to note that in 1867 "Mr. George K. Wright and his brother, Charles
2d. cut and hauled to Faulkner & Colony's mill fourteen logs from a
single white pine tree and its two main branches. The tree measured 121
feet in height. eighteen and one-half feet in circumferance four feet
from the ground, and contained 9,000 feet of lumber * * * Its age
was calculated from its rings to be abgut three hundred years * * *
the largest tree in Cheshire ccunty."h In 1889 Faulkner & Colony became
a corporation.

One of the products of this corporation until 1895 "was a flannel
cloth 27 inches wide, colored in primary colors * * * The 'Forty-
Niners' illuminated the western scenery with Faulkner and Colony red
flannel. Some of it was blue, and that, in turn, was worn by the long-
shoremen and stevedores of New Orleans."48 White flannel was the prin-
cipal product of Faulkner and Colony from about 1900 until the World
war; the vogue of red flannel failed to survive the Gay Nineties. During
the Wbrld war, this corporation manufactured a fuse cloth used in high
powered shells. At the present time a large variety of fabrics are
manufactured by this concern.

When the raising of grain was a matter of course in New Hampshire,
grist mills were a frequent sight in Cheshire County. At the present
time three of the principal sources of livelihood of the inhabitants of
this county are manufacturing. farming, and the entertainment of summer
visitors.

This county is bounded on the north by Sullivan County; on the
east by Hillsborough County; on the south by the Massachusetts counties
of Franklin and Wbrcester; and on the west by the Connecticut River
which separates Cheshire County from Windham County in Vermont.

 

43. Ibid. . 369.

ha- Ibid.. 39A.

45. Ibid.. 429.

46. Ibid. . 531.

47. _I_13_i_q. , 691

A8. Anon. "A Brief Sketch of a Yankee Wbolen Mill" in Yankee. Oct.

1935. 45-
49. Leg.

 

 

 

 

 

 -10..

SETTLEMENT MAP OF CHESHIRE COUNTY

fl! 1714-1739
|:] 1740-1763
176h—l775
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ORIGINAL COUNTIES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 1771
J. BELKNAP, HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

 

 v 12 —

BOUNDARY CHANGES OF CHESHIRE COUNTY

  
 
 
 
  
   
     

CEDED TO
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L222: HILLSBOROUGH

COUNTY 1778

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~;~:— HILLSBOROUGH /4//, NEWBURY
COUNTY 1787 22/ //

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COUNTY 1827 <:22??i_-1

      

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(First entry, p.33)

2. GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND RECORDS SYSTEM

New Hampshire was without county organization for almost a century
and a half after the first settlement. For many years there was no need
for a division of the province since the population was clustered about
Portsmouth, the colonial capital. As the settlements began to reach
the Merrimack River, the inconvenience of journeying to Portsmouth for
court sessions became more and more of a burden. An agitation for the
division of the province into counties began about 175531 the actual
division, however, did not occur until 1771 when royal approval was re-
ceived for an act of 1769 which set up five counties: Rockingham, Hills-
borough, Cheshire, Strafford, and Grafton. Three of them. Cheshire,
Rockingham, and Hillsborough were to be established as soon as the act
became effective; the other two were to be organized when the Governor
and Council decided they were sufficiently populated. Courts were insti-
tuted on a county basis, and the provincial offices of sheriff, coroner,
register of probate, and register (recorder) of deeds became county of-
fices.

As a political unit the county stands at the half-way station be-
tween the state and the town, and in some ways represents an advantage of
centralization over the town. The county, for instance, represents a
more economical unit for the administration of relief as shown by the
abolition of town poor farms and the growth of the county farms. It also
represents a convenient unit for a division of the superior court; and
is a centralized depository for land records, as manifested by the office
of the r