New Hampshire, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, is known as the Granite State. Its motto, “Live Free or Die,” represents the fierce independence of its people. And its first-in-the-nation status in presidential primary elections reflects its historical significance—its legislature was the first to approve an independent state constitution, breaking rank from Great Britain in January 1776. This guide will lead you through a wealth of sources and repositories for researching your New Hampshire ancestors.
Indigenous peoples first arrived in New Hampshire about 11,000 years ago. Their descendants included the Cowasuck, Ossipee, Pennacook, Pigwacket, Sokoki and Winnipesaukee. Europeans brought diseases that nearly wiped out the native communities, with some Native people captured and sold into slavery. New Hampshire doesn’t officially recognize any tribes within the state today, though some 4,000 residents have indigenous heritage. European settlement and exploration were sparse until the late 1620s. Englishmen Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason received a large land grant from the Council for New England in
1622. They divided their land along the Piscataqua River a few years later; the northern region became the Province of Maine, and the southern evolved into New Hampshire.
In 1623, brothers Edward and William Hilton of London established the first permanent European settlement at Hilton Point (Dover). Other early settlements include Strawbery Banke and Odiorne’s Point. Puritan leader John Wheelwright founded the town of Exeter in 1638 after being forced to leave Boston by court order.
These overlapped with land claimed by the new Massachusetts Bay Colony. Matters were only further complicated when Mason died suddenly, and the province fell under Massachusetts jurisdiction beginning in 1641. The towns of Portsmouth, Dover, Hampton and Exeter were part of Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Old Norfolk County from 1643. Unlike settlers in neighboring Massachusetts who emigrated to escape religious persecution, early New Hampshirites were primarily adventurers seeking to establish trading centers. Through the mid-17th century, settlement was confined to the coastal region along the border with Massachusetts.
Regional conflicts between Native groups and colonists led to the former’s even greater marginalization. After King Philip’s War in 1675, New Hampshire’s court sought to capture Native Americans who came to settle among the Pennacook (who had not fought). Major Richard Waldron gathered some 400 individuals for supposed “war games,” only to turn them over to Massachusetts militia. Many of them were later executed or enslaved. (The Pennacook later killed Waldron, partially
for his deception.)
Later, local Abenaki tribes sided with the French in “Queen Anne’s War” against Britain. The Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713 ended the war and punished the Native Americans who participated in it, saddling them with new restrictions on land-ownership and commerce. Many fled north to Quebec. In 1679, New Hampshire became its own colony when King Charles II issued it a separate royal charter. But the colony was part of the short-lived Dominion of New England with Massachusetts
from 1686 to 1689, and had a Massachusetts governor again after 1698.
The tug-of-war with Massachusetts continued until 1740, when the Crown firmly established the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire and granted the latter its first royal governor. Border disputes with New York and Vermont continued, however. Most early settlers were Congregationalists. But beginning with the Great Awakening in the 1740s, many other denominations gained prominence in the colony. Over the next few decades, Free Will Baptists, Separate Baptists, Shakers, Catholics, Methodists and Christian Scientists had sizeable populations.
The French and Indian War ended in 1763, prompting rapid inland expansion. Manufacturing attracted settlers, including French Canadians from Quebec and New Brunswick.
A STAKE IN REVOLUTION
New Hampshire played an important part in the Revolutionary War. Prior to Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride in 1775, Revere sounded a similar alarm in Portsmouth on 13 December 1774, warning that the British were approaching Fort William and Mary (now Fort Constitution). John Langdon and about 400 men formed a mob, successfully seizing the fort and taking the British flag with them upon retreat. The colony further supported the war effort with troops and supplies, especially at the Battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington. New Hampshire was the first state to adopt its own constitution and the ninth to ratify the Constitution, officially ending the government under the Articles of Confederation.
The state’s first cotton mill opened in New Ipswich in 1804 and marked the beginning of a burgeoning manufacturing industry. Other mills (including the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester) opened later, spurred on by the War of 1812 and an embargo on foreign textiles. The granite industry boomed in the 19th century, with New Hampshire granite used in notable buildings such as the Library of Congress and Boston’s Quincy Market. Railroads made their way through the White Mountains by the mid-1850s, and stagecoaches manufactured in Concord were shipped out west in the 1860s. Paper production
emerged as another leading industry, with the Forest Fibre Company in Berlin opening the first mill that used chemicals rather than mechanics to create wood pulp.
New Hampshire today thrives on its tourism industry, attracting families and sports enthusiasts year-round. Shoppers flock to the state’s tax-free shops. From the cities of the south, to the rolling hills of the Lakes Region, to the state’s scenic mountain ranges, New Hampshire offers something for everyone. New Hampshire is also home to Yankee Publishing, which (in addition to classics The Old Farmer’s Almanac and Yankee Magazine) has published Family Tree Magazine since 2019.
1623 Hilton Point (modern
Dover) becomes
the first permanent
European settlement 1629 New Hampshire is divided from Maine
1631-1741
1641 Massachusetts Bay officially governs New Hampshire 1679 The Province of New
Hampshire is formed, but comes under Massachusetts governance again from 1689 1741 New Hampshire secures
its own governor once and for all
1742-1788
1764 The Crown attempts to
establish a boundary
between New Hampshire and New York; local opposition results in the creation of Vermont 1776 Representatives in
New Hampshire’s
legislature adopt a
constitution independent of British rule 1788 New Hampshire is the
ninth (and decisive)
vote in ratifying the
Constitution
1789-1853
1835 The short-lived “Indian Stream Republic” is annexed by New Hampshire 1853 Carroll County gains land from Coos County, the last major change to New Hampshire’s
county borders
Vital records have been maintained at the town level from the colony’s earliest days, although compliance was inconsistent
until about 1881. Since 1905, towns have sent copies of vital records to the state division of vital records office, which has maintained a card file. Because of the potential for transcription errors, verify all information with original town records.
Birth records are restricted for 100 years, as are death, marriage and divorce records for 50 years. (But there are workarounds—see below.)
FamilySearch and Ancestry.com each offer digitized records for various years. The FamilySearch Wiki offers a comprehensive article with links to these and other digitized vital records. Vital records can also appear in town reports, first published in the mid-1800s. Many towns currently publish their vital records in these annual reports, circumventing state restrictions. The reports include town officers, local churches, paupers, school records, militia payments, and other business of the citizenry. They have been digitized as part of the University of New Hampshire’s Scholars Repository.
Vital information (especially of early communities) may have been collected and published in printed form. The Internet Archive offers a sizeable collection of published vital records.
A word of caution: Be sure you are searching in the right county and municipality! You may be searching for an 1800
ancestor in a town that wasn’t created until 1820. Check New Hampshire Community Profiles for links to town and county websites for formation dates and parent counties and towns.
New Hampshire was included in the federal census beginning in 1790, though portions of the 1800 and 1820 censuses are missing for some counties. Surviving records are available at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch and MyHeritage. Note that (as in most of the country) the 1890 census for New Hampshire was destroyed by fire. However, the state’s 1890 Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War survives.
New Hampshire didn’t take colonial or state censuses, but researchers have access to a few valuable substitutes. Local tax lists were taken every year. You will find them in town record books, although some were maintained separately. Search the FamilySearch Catalog, first under your town, then town records and taxes.
In addition, an “association test” in 1776 enumerated all males aged 21 and older, except for “Lunaticks, Idiots, and Negroes.” The document required a loyalty oath to the United Colonies; those refusing to sign were named at the end of the document. Search it at Ancestry.com.
These are maintained at the county level. NHDeeds.org offers access to many high-quality digitized records; availability varies by country. Explore each site for detailed instructions. (Note: Not all images are indexed.) As with probate records, Rockingham County holds pre-1771 land records for the entire province. For older records not available at NHDeeds.org, search the FamilySearch Catalog by county.
New Hampshire’s first newspaper, the New Hampshire Gazette, began publishing in Portsmouth in 1756. In 2022, New Hampshire became the 50th state to join the National Digital Newspaper Program, whereby newspapers are digitized and added to the free Chronicling America website. Other publications are available through the Community History Archive or subscription websites.
STATE PAPERS
This 40-volume set includes provincial papers, colonial grants, town papers (especially relating to settlement), transcribed provincial court and probate records, Revolutionary War records (including the “Association Test” in Volume 30), and transcriptions of pension rolls of 1835 and 1840.
Individual people were named in documents created at the town level: charters, early land grants, vital records, business licenses, tax registers, “warnings out” (which required newcomers to leave town) and records of the poor. Many early records are available at FamilySearch. The state library’s every-name card index, known as Sargent’s Index, covers records to about 1830. It should be used in conjunction with the digitized record collection. However, several towns (notably including Keene, Manchester and Nashua) were not included.
*FamilyTreeMagazine.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. It provides a means for this site to earn advertising fees, by advertising and linking to Amazon and affiliated websites.
