Notes on Early History of Strafford County New Hampshire
As parts of Massachusetts Bay Colony (1641-3 to 1679) the towns of Dover, Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), Hampton and Exeter were comprised within Norfolk county, which was one of the four shires, viz.: Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk and Norfolk into which the Bay Colony was separated from "3d month, 10th day, 1643."
The name New Hampshire was first applied to these towns in 1679, as a province separate from Massachusetts Bay Colony, but it remained under the same Governor, having a Lieutenant-Governor of its own until 1742, when it was completely separated from Massachusetts, and Benning Wentworth was appointed Governor and held the office until 1767. During Governor Wentworth's rule the territory was all one, no counties; in his first quarter of a century he granted a great many townships in all parts of the province and on both sides of the Connecticut river. All the courts were held at Portsmouth during his term, so the inhabitants of these new towns had to travel long distances, over bad roads, to attend courts and transact business with the Governor and Council and the Assembly. Of course this caused them much inconvenience and no little expense.
As early as January, 1755, a proposition to divide the province of New Hampshire into counties was entertained in the Assembly. The Merrimack river was to be the dividing line and there were to be two counties — Portsmouth and Cumberland. The Council rejected the bill because it provided for a court at Exeter, as well as Portsmouth, and they "could by no means consent to that." The two branches of the Assembly continued to consider this question in various forms and failed to find grounds of agreement as to details until 1769, when the government was under control of the young Governor John Wentworth, who had succeeded his uncle, Benning Wentworth, in 1767. The agreement as finally reached, April 29, 1769, established five counties, subject to the Crown's approval of the act, which was done March 19, 1771. (Laws of 17771, ch. 137, p. 204.) The five counties were named Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Grafton; the names were conferred in honor of the Governor's friends in England. The Earl of Strafford was the Wentworth ancestor of the Governors Wentworth, uncle and nephew, so he gave the name to Strafford county.
Rev. Dr. Jeremy Belknap, in his history for the years 1770-71, after speaking of the first commencement at Dartmouth College, in the summer of 1771, says:
"Another improvement was made about this same time, by dividing the province into counties. This had been long sought but could not be obtained. The inconvenience to which the people in the western parts of the province were subject, by reason of their distance from Portsmouth, where all the courts were held, was extremely burdensome; whilst the conveniences and emoluments of office were enjoyed by gentlemen in that vicinity. Some attempts to divide the province had been made in the former administration, but without effect. The rapid increase of inhabitants for several years made a division so necessary that it had become one of the principal subjects of debate in the Assembly, from the time of the Governor's (John Wentworth) arrival (June 13, 1767). Several sessions passed before all points could be adjusted. The number of counties and lines of division were not easily agreed to, and a punctilio of prerogation, about the erecting of courts, made some difficulty; but it was finally determined that the number of counties should be five; and the courts were established by an act of the whole Legislature. It was passed with a clause suspending its operation until the King's pleasure should be known. The royal approbation being obtained, it took effect in 1771. The five counties were named by the Governor after some of his friends in England, Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Grafton. The counties of Strafford and Grafton, being much less populous than the others, were to remain annexed to the county of Rockingham until the Governor, by advice of his council, should declare them competent to the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, which was done in 1773."
The act of the General Assembly, March 19, 1771, gives the boundary lines for Strafford county as follows :
"Beginning at the northwest corner of Canterbury, and from thence to cross the river, then down the river to Pemigewasset; then to run up Pemigewasset river to Campton; thence round the westerly end of Campton, and by the northerly side lines of Campton, Sandwich and Tamworth; and thence easterly to the province line on the same course with the northerly side line of Eaton; thence down said province line to the line of the first county (Rockingham), hence by the same to the bounds first menioned."
So Strafford county consisted originally of the towns of Dover, Durham, Lee, Madbury, Somersworth, Rochester, Barrington, Strafford, Farmington, Barnstead, Gilmanton, Alton, Sanbornton, Meredith, New Hampton, New Durham, Milton, Brookfield, Gilford, Wolfeborough, Moultonborough, Tuftonborough, Ossiper, Effingham, Freedom, Tamworth, Eaton, Conway and Chatham. It retained this size practically for nearly 70 years, up to December 22, 1840, when the northerly towns were separated from it and made into two counties, Belknap and Carroll, since when its territory has remained as at present, and consists of Dover, Durham, Lee, Madbury, Somersworth, Rollinsford (which was set off from Somersworth in 1849), Barrington. Strafford, Farmington, New Durham, Milton and Middleton. The most northerly point is in New Durham.
The county seat was established at Dover and the inhabitants of those towns had to come here long distances to attend courts until 1797, when Gilmanton was made an additional county seat, and the courts for that part of the county were held in the new Academy building which had been completed in 1796. The courts were held alternately in Dover and Gilmanton, which at that date had 200 inliabitants in the center village where the academy was located; it was then a lively place of business, and the school has been kept up in a good, working condition to the present time. In those days it was a great event in a farmer's life to serve on the grand jury.
Indian trails, kept somewhat warm by hunters and trappers, were better than a trackless wilderness but they did not meet the demands of the pioneers. In 1722 a road had been cut out to the eastern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, a block house erected and a guard stationed there. This is the first road of which we have record. No more roads were undertaken until after the peace of 1760.
In June, 1786, the Assembly enacted that a "post set off every other Monday from Portsmouth and from thence proceed through Newmarket, Durham, Dover, Rochester, Wakefield, Ossipee, Gore and Tannvorth to Moultonborough, thence through Meredith, Gilmanton, Barnstead, Barrington, Dover, Durham and Newmarket to Portsmouth.
The fourth State post route, established December 6, 1791, came from Portsmouth once a fortnight via same route to Dover, Rochester, Wakefield, Ossipee, Tamworth, Sandwich, Centre Holderness, Plymouth, Meredith, etc., as before. The only postoffice in Strafford county until 1800 was at Dover, and the Dover papers of that period frequently contained advertisements of letters for residents of Tamworth, Sandwich, Wakefield and as far north as Conway, and the White Mountain region. The post rider (on horseback) received £12 a year for service on the above route, which it required a week for him to traverse. Samuel Bragg, afterwards newspaper publisher at Dover, was one of the early post riders, beginning about 1795. Postage on letters was 4 pence under forty miles, and 6 pence for every forty miles.
Strafford cnunty remained a part of Rockingham countv from March 19, 1771, to February 5, 1773, in accordance with the act of the Assembly which says: "That the said counties of Strafford and Grafton shall be for the present (March, 1771) annexed to and deemed and taken as parts and members of the county of Rockingham and subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the courts, magistrates and officers of the said county of Rockingham to all intents and purposes and shall remain so annexed, deemed and taken and subject until the Governor by and with advice and consent of the Council shall declare them respectively sufficient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions and no longer."
At the beginning of 1773 Governor Wentworth and his Council reached conclusion that these counties had reached the point where they were "sufficient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions,' and the Assembly February 5, 1773, passed the following law:
"An Act for fixing the times and places for holding the courts in the county of Strafford and Grafton.
"Whereas, by the act for dividing of this province into counties, Strafford and Grafton were to be counted and taken as parts and members of the county of Rockingham until the Governor and Council should declare them respectively sufficient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions;
"And Whereas, the Governor by and with advice and consent of His Majesty's Council of this province, has declared the said counties sufficient for the exercise of said jurisdiction ; therefore,
"Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and Assembly, that the several courts in the county of Strafford shall be held as follows, viz.: A Court of General Sessions of the Peace on the second Tuesday of January, July and October at Dover annually; and an Inferior Court of Common Pleas on the first Thursday next following the second Tuesdays of January, July and October at the same place, annually. And one Court of General Sesssions of the Peace on the second Tuesday of April, shall be held at Durham, in said county, annually; and one Inferior Court of Common Pleas on the first Tuesday next following the second Tuesday of April at said Durham annually, and that a Superior Court of Jurisdiction be held at Dover, aforesaid, on the last Tuesday of May annually. This regulation shall continue for the term of seven years and after that time the said Superior Court to be held at Dover and Wolfeborough alternately; and the said Courts of General Sessions of the Peace and the said Inferior Courts of July and October to be held at Wolfeborough."
Governor John Wentworth had established a grand country seat for himself at Wolfeborough, on Lake Wentworth, a branch of Lake Winnipesaukee, soon after he came into office. He had erected a mansion house there of the old English style of grandeur, and at great expense had constructed a road to it. He had grand plans in view to develop the country around there and in the towns north of it. Hence in the act of the Assembly just quoted he had provision made that the higher courts should be held there after 1780. Had Governor Wentworth been permitted to carry out his grand plans the conditions in Wolfeborough, Strafford county and New Hampshire in general would have been far different from what they were from 1773 to 1800. But the Revolution began two years later and in three years Governor Wentworth was a fugitive, out of power, and the mighty conflict of eight years was in full swing. Governor Wentworth's grand estate at Wolfeborough was confiscated; his mansion house became the abode of commoners, and Lake Wentworth was converted into the plebeian "Smith's Pond," which title it bore for more than a century, but the ancient and proper name has been restored in these later years. So it came to pass that Wolfeborough did not become a county seat; no courts were held there. And the courts were held at Dover and Durham, until Gilmanton was honored in 1797 and courts were held there until Strafford county was divided in 1840.
The "act to constitute the counties of Belknap and Carroll," approved December 22, 1840, contained these provisions:
"Belknap shall contain all the land included within the following towns and places which now constitute a part of the county of Strafford, to wit: Alton, Bamstead, Centre Harbor, Gilford, Gilmanton, Meredith, New Hampton and Sanbornton.
"Carroll county shall contain all the land and waters included within the following towns and places which now constitute a part of said county of Strafford, to-wit: Albany, Brookfield, Chatham, Conway, Eaton, Effingham, Freedom, Moultonborough, Sandwich. Tamworth. Tuftonborough, Ossipee. Wakefield and Wolfeborough."
This act reduced old Strafford county to the towns already mentioned as its present limits. The original county contained what is now one of the most popular summer resorts in New England, or in the whole country for that matter. Governor Wentworth foresaw all this when he was the last Colonial Governor, but it has been developed in a way entirely different from what he had planned. It is interesting to speculate what he would have done had he been permitted to remain in control a third of a century.
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