New Hampshire Town and County Development, Part II

This concludes the two-part series on New Hampshire town and county developments. Part one of this list covered the first five counties established in the state: Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Chesire, and Grafton. Initially, New Hampshire was one province with an individual town government. In 1769, an act proposing the establishment of five counties to handle growing demand on government administration was sent to England for confirmation. The Crown confirmed the act in 1771 and the new system was established a year later.

What follows are descriptions of the remaining counties, their original boundaries, and the towns founded within those bounds. Each town list includes:

• The name of town with the date it was adopted
• All known previous names and date name was adopted, when known
• Date of town grant or incorporation
• Parent town set off from, when applicable and known
• Date settled
• Date of affiliation with county or counties

All information in this article regarding the formation of counties, their bounds, the towns in each county with dates, and county seats is taken from the preface of Otis G. Hammond, ed. Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire vol. 39, State Paper Series (State of New Hampshire: 1941), viii. For a statewide alphabetical list of New Hampshire town names see this volume. Also Isaac W. Hammond, ed. Town Papers, Documents Relating to Towns in New Hampshire vol. 6-8, State Paper Series (Concord, NH, Parsons B. Cogswell, State Printer: 1891) was used to obtain information about former names and dates of settlement. When information from these sources conflicted, or dates of settlement were missing, various town histories were consulted. In addition, a list of old town names found in the New Hampshire Vital Record office, Hazen Drive, Concord, NH, was incorporated. This list is not sourced and when information from the list conflicted with the State Papers series, or did not make sense, it was not used.

Coos County was established by an act passed December 24, 1803, to take effect March 1, 1805, to contain all the lands and waters northerly of a line beginning on the west bank of the Connecticut River at the southwesterly corner of Dalton and running on the westerly and southerly line of Dalton to Whitefield, then on the westerly and southerly line of Whitefield to Bretton Woods (Carroll), then on the westerly and southerly line of Bretton Woods to the southeasterly corner thereof, then southerly on a straight line across the unallocated lands to the line of the county of Strafford at the northwesterly corner of Tamworth, then on the line of the county of Strafford to the line of the district of Maine. Records for the towns of Coos County after February 1805 are kept at Lancaster.

Towns in Coos County

* Includes some village names under given towns.

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Merrimack County was established by an act to take effect August 1, 1823. It was to include specific towns listed below, ten taken from Rockingham County and thirteen taken from Hillsborough County. Merrimack County records are kept at Concord.

Towns in Merrimack County

Belknap County was established by an act to take effect January 1, 1841, to consist of eight towns from Strafford County. Belknap County records are kept at Laconia.

Towns in Belknap County

Towns in Carroll County