Goffstown, New Hampshire in the 1810s

Work

Water turns the work

The telling figure is 20 sawmills, seven grain mills, two textile mills, two carding machines, and a cotton factory in 1817⁴. Farming is still central because the river intervals are fertile and easier to cultivate¹.

Faith

Two meetinghouses, one society

The old religious center is the meetinghouse completed in 1769², but western residents have a new one dedicated July 3, 1816⁷. The Religious Union Society incorporated in 1816³ tries to support preaching across the divided town.

Law & power

Town meeting governs

Local authority runs through town meeting: the first one in the township appointed a committee to lay out highways². By the 1810s, voters are still deciding public matters directly, including how school-interest money should be divided⁶.

In the air

Revival and school money

The decade’s local arguments include religion and education: after years without a settled pastor, Abel Manning’s 1819 preaching was remembered as a powerful revival³. In the same year, factions disputed whether school money should follow property or families⁶.

Home & table

Books, wool, and flax

Children meet a narrow printed world of Primer, Testament, Spelling Book, English Reader, arithmetic, grammar, and Pope⁶. Older household work still points to wool and flax spun, woven, colored, and made into garments at home².

Money

Cash is not everything

Local obligations could be mixed: an earlier ministerial salary was paid partly in corn and partly in labor². A remembered bounty of $100 for wool and flax² shows how leaders tried to push local production.

Who lived here

About two thousand residents

Goffstown is not a city but a town of about 2,000 people in 1810⁵. Its 1810s map is broader than the later town, because it still extends east to the Merrimack River¹.

Roads & news

Roads carry everything

Roads are public business from the start: the first local meeting appointed men to lay out highways². During the War of 1812, people here would have heard wider news through newspapers, militia calls, taverns, post riders, and travelers.

Year by year

1. 1810Goffstown counted about 2,000 residents in the federal census. here⁵
2. 1811Rev. David L. Morril was formally dismissed, leaving Goffstown without a settled minister until 1820. here³
3. 1812War with Britain began, and people in Goffstown would have followed reports through newspapers, militia networks, taverns, post riders, and travelers. the country
4. 1815Residents in western Goffstown moved to build a second house of worship. here⁷
5. 1816The west village meetinghouse was dedicated on July 3, and the Religious Union Society was incorporated on December 11. here³
6. 1816The Year Without a Summer brought crop anxiety across northern New England after volcanic dust from Tambora disrupted weather worldwide. the world
7. 1817Goffstown’s water-powered economy included 20 sawmills, seven grain mills, two textile mills, two carding machines, and a cotton factory. here⁴
8. 1819Abel Manning’s preaching stirred a powerful religious revival in Goffstown. here³

What the sources say

• In the 1810s Goffstown still extended east to the Merrimack River; Hooksett was not cut off until July 2, 1822, and the eastern section was not annexed to Manchester until July 1, 1853. from the sources¹
• The town surface was described as uneven, with the valley of the Piscataquog River and high elevations on either side. from the sources¹
• The intervals along the Piscataquog were called fertile and easy to cultivate, while the higher land was harder to work but still productive. from the sources¹
• The Piscataquog River entered Goffstown from the west and flowed through the town toward the Merrimack at Manchester. from the sources¹
• A later town description says that in 1817 Goffstown had 20 sawmills, seven grain mills, two textile mills, two carding machines, and a cotton factory. from the sources⁴
• Goffstown’s 1810 population is given in historical census tables as about 2,000 people. from the sources⁵
• The first local town meeting in the township was held on August 28, 1750, and one of its acts was to appoint a committee to lay out highways. from the sources²
• The old meetinghouse at the Center was completed for use in 1769 and remained there through the 1810s. from the sources²
• Residents in western Goffstown moved in 1815 to build a second house of worship, which was completed in 1816 and dedicated July 3, 1816. from the sources⁷
• In 1816 the Religious Union Society in Goffstown was incorporated for supporting the Gospel, with signers from the East and West meetinghouses. from the sources³
• After Rev. David L. Morril’s dismissal in 1811, Goffstown had no settled minister until 1820, though money was still appropriated for preaching. from the sources³
• Rev. Abel Manning preached in Goffstown for several months in 1819, and church records remembered his preaching as producing a powerful revival. from the sources³
• The town history lists the New England Primer, the Testament, the Spelling Book, the English Reader, Pike’s Arithmetic, Lindley Murray’s Grammar, and Pope’s Essay on Man as schoolbooks. from the sources⁶
• In 1819 Goffstown voters disputed how school-interest money should be divided, and the side favoring distribution by number of families in a district prevailed. from the sources⁶
• In 1770 Goffstown’s first settled minister was promised a salary partly paid in corn and partly in labor, showing how local obligations could still be reckoned in produce and work rather than cash. from the sources²
• Samuel Blodget, an early Goffstown resident and judge, offered a $100 bounty to encourage the growth of wool and flax in town. from the sources²
• The town history says that in earlier Goffstown clothing was commonly domestically manufactured from wool and flax, with spinning wheels and looms in houses. from the sources²
• No online source opened here gives a detailed street-by-street description of Goffstown village buildings in the 1810s. not known
• No local price list for ordinary Goffstown store goods in the 1810s was found in the sources opened here. not known
• During the War of 1812, New Hampshire towns such as Goffstown would have heard war news through newspapers, militia calls, taverns, post riders, and travelers, though the opened local sources do not detail Goffstown’s wartime daily experience. inferred

Sources

1. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH: Chapter I, Physical Features. NH-RAB Roots
2. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH: Chapter XL. NH-RAB Roots
3. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH: Chapter XXXIII. NH-RAB Roots
4. History and Description of New England: New Hampshire, 1859
5. Goffstown, New Hampshire: Historical Population Table. WikiZero
6. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH: Chapter XXII. NH-RAB Roots
7. History of the Town of Goffstown, NH: Chapter XXXII. NH-RAB Roots

Goffstown in other decades

Nearby, about the same time