Goffstown, New Hampshire in the 1760s

Work

Axes, oxen, and mills

The town is being made from farms cut out of valuable timber¹. Pine goes by the Mast Road along the Piscataquog⁴, while grain and boards pass through Job Dow’s grist mill and saw mill before 1770⁴.

Faith

Worship before a church

Before a regular meeting-house, the Sabbath gathers in barns and private houses⁸. By 1769, the town can assemble in the partly completed meeting-house⁸, and it votes public money for preaching almost every year⁸.

Law & power

Town meeting and Crown

Local men act through annual March town meetings called under the charter². Yet the same charter keeps Royal Navy rights in white pine^2,5, and only adult male landowners can vote³.

In the air

Where should worship stand?

The meeting-house is not just a building: in 1766 residents protest that the proposed site is far from the center and inconvenient⁷. The town is also divided between Congregationalists and Presbyterians⁸.

What people feared

The King’s marked trees

A winter’s labor in boards could be threatened by the Crown’s claim to mast-worthy white pine^2,5. Across New Hampshire pine country, unlawful cutting could mean forfeiture and fines of £5 to £50⁵.

Home & table

Scattered land, hard starts

A settler’s holding may be inconvenient from the first, because three lots were randomly assigned³. The sources found here do not yet describe ordinary 1760s houses in detail.

Money

Taxes and preaching rates

The town’s 1761 province tax was £150 7s. 1d.². Religious costs were public business, with votes from £300 for preaching in 1764 to £4 10s. lawful money in 1768⁸.

Roads & news

Road, river, bridge

News and strangers follow the road along the Piscataquog⁴. After the 1766 bridge⁴, West Village begins to grow near the river crossing.

Year by year

1. 1761Goffs Town was incorporated by royal charter under Governor Benning Wentworth. here^1,2
2. 1761The Mast Road was formally laid out along the Piscataquog River. here⁴
3. 1763The Peace of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War and confirmed British control of Canada, easing the frontier war fear that had shaped New Hampshire settlement. the country
4. 1765The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament, and resistance to imperial taxation became a subject across New Hampshire and the colonies. the country
5. 1766A bridge was built over the Piscataquog River, encouraging the rise of West Village near the crossing. here⁴
6. 1768The first Goffs Town meeting-house project was under way after years of delay and dispute. here⁷
7. 1769Hillsborough County was created as one of New Hampshire’s original counties. nearby⁶
8. 1769The Goffs Town meeting-house was far enough completed for town assembly and preaching votes. here⁸

What the sources say

• Goffs Town was incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth on June 16, 1761, and named for Colonel John Goffe. from the sources^1,2
• The 1761 charter described the town as seven miles long and five miles broad, bounded partly by the Merrimack River and the Sowhegan line. from the sources²
• When Goffs Town was founded, each settler was randomly assigned three lots, so a family’s land could be scattered across town. from the sources³
• The 1761 charter empowered John Goffe to call the first town meeting within twenty days, and the annual meeting was to be held on the first Monday in March. from the sources²
• A main road parallel to the Piscataquog River existed by 1756, was formally laid out in 1761, and was known as the Mast Road because white pine for British naval masts traveled that route. from the sources⁴
• Goffstown’s town account says the 1760s settlement was farming country, and timber cleared from the land was hauled by oxen to Piscataquog and rafted toward Newburyport, Massachusetts. from the sources¹
• The 1761 charter reserved all white pine trees fit for Royal Navy masts to the Crown. from the sources^2,5
• Under the provincial pine-tree rules discussed in Goffstown’s history, cutting reserved white pine without license could bring forfeiture of the lumber and fines ranging from £5 to £50. from the sources⁵
• The town paid a province tax of £150 7s. 1d. for the year 1761, according to a receipt noted in the town history. from the sources²
• The first concentration of settlement was on the north bank of the Piscataquog River at Goffstown Center, the area later known as Grasmere Village. from the sources⁴
• The town built a bridge over the Piscataquog in 1766, and a small West Village, later Goffstown Village, began to develop near it. from the sources⁴
• At the falls near the bridge, Job Dow had built a grist mill and saw mill sometime before 1770. from the sources⁴
• Hillsborough County did not exist at the start of the decade; it was created in 1769 as one of New Hampshire’s original counties. from the sources⁶
• In 1766 the town considered a meeting-house 45 feet long, 38 feet wide, and 22 feet post, but residents protested that the chosen site was too far from the center and inconvenient. from the sources⁷
• Before the meeting-house could be used, Goffs Town voted preaching money for services at places including John Smith’s, Captain James Karr’s, Deacon Thomas Karr’s barn, and James Eaton’s barn. from the sources⁸
• In 1769 the meeting-house was far enough completed for assembly, and the town voted £60 for preaching. from the sources⁸
• The town voted £300 for preaching in 1764, £300 again in 1765, £150 in 1766, £9 in 1767, and £4 10s. lawful money in 1768, reflecting both local religious priorities and shifting currency values. from the sources⁸
• The 1769 preaching committee chose to keep Mr. Currier four Sabbaths, and later chose a committee to treat with him about settlement as minister. from the sources⁸
• A proposed 1770 ministerial contract offered Joseph Currier the minister’s land right, £30 sterling per year for five years, plus £10 sterling yearly paid in corn and labor, rising later to £45 sterling. from the sources⁸
• Goffs Town’s religious population was divided between Congregationalists and Presbyterians, with the town history later noting antagonism between the two groups. from the sources⁸
• All adult men who owned land could vote in New Hampshire town meeting; women and enslaved people could not. from the sources³
• No online source found here gives a reliable population count for Goffs Town during the 1760s. not known
• No detailed online description found here says what ordinary Goffs Town houses looked like in the 1760s. not known

Sources

1. Town Information. Town of Goffstown, 2024
2. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH, Chapter XIII: Incorporation of the Town. NH-Roots
3. Learn It! Building a Colony, 1720–1775. New Hampshire Historical Society
4. Goffstown Main Street Historic District. LivingPlaces
5. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH, Chapter XIV: Revolutionary War. NH-Roots
6. New Hampshire: Individual County Chronologies. Newberry Library
7. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH, Chapter XXXII: Meeting Houses. NH-Roots
8. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH, Chapter XXXIII: Congregational Church. NH-Roots

Goffstown in other decades

Nearby, about the same time