Hampton history
Karen K | Tuesday, February 14, 2012 I've started reading History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire by Joseph Dow (1807-1889), which was published in 1893 by the author's daughter.
Hampton (settled in 1638) is a small seaside town in what is now Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Many of its founding citizens were my ancestors-- hence my interest in the book.
There's just something about reading about the everyday lives and happenings of people from whom you know you're directly descended. They go from being names and dates to being actual people.
This book also contains valuable history of New Hampshire in general... for example, in the 1600's, Hampton and a few other nearby towns were at times under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and the towns in what are now Essex County, Massachusetts and Rockingham County, New Hampshire had strong connections; this explains why so many of my New England forebearers of the colonial period moved between New Hampshire and Massachusetts so frequently.
So I'm going to be posting a series of entries about 17th century Hampton, something I've been wanting to do anyway, using Dow's book as a cited source.
If you want to read the book yourself, there are a few options, two of which are free:
Amazon has a newly reprinted paperback one-volume version for about $35, though you can order it a bit cheaper if you check the independent sellers. Amazon has other editions as well.
It's also available in a free digitized format via Google Books. You can't actually download it to your computer, unfortunately, but you can save it to your Google Books library online. I downloaded the GoogleBooks app to my e-reader and am reading it that way.
Another source is the University of New Hampshire Library, which has it online. This version you can download in PDF version or on the Kindle for free.
Books, Hampton, New Hampshire
Reader Comments (2)
I have Volume II, which is the genealogies and biographies, and I'm on the lookout for Volume I, the real history. Every time I ask about it in a bookstore someone says "We just sold a copy!" I'll find one someday!
Hi Heather! I know it was originally two volumes, and the edition that was published a couple of years ago is also two. I believe that this newest one is both volumes in one-- hopefully unabridged.