Dr. Adams Moore, who had married into the family of Moses Little, of Newbury, Massachusetts, a son of Col. Moses Little, the proprietor of Littleton, conceived a purpose of writing a history of the town in 1855. He gathered material, interviewing aged people familiar with the early settlement, and shortly before his death, in 1863, had put this material in shape for publication. Had he lived to partly execute his purpose, the town would have possessed an authentic history of great value. His manuscripts would have made a volume of about fifty pages of this work. Two of its chapters, those on Proprietary Meetings and Surveys, appear as he prepared them. The addition of much new material rendered it impossible to use the remainder in the form in which it was left.
The work was attended by many difficulties. Visits were made to the home town of the proprietors, in Essex County, Massachusetts, to the frontier homes of many of the first settlers, and to Canada, where some of them had gone in the first years of the nineteenth century. Court and county records were, of course, thoroughly examined, and old residents were visited, and their information, personal and legendary, obtained.
In 1876, by vote of the town, Harry Bingham, John Farr, and James J. Barrett were made a committee to procure the Moore manuscripts and to consider and report upon the advisability of the preparation and publication of a town history. Nothing came of this for several years. In 1880 John M. Mitchell suggested to the writer that he undertake the work of collecting material and preparing a history of the town. The proposition was attractive, and was followed.
In 1883 Albert S. Batchellor brought the matter before the town at its March meeting, and a committee consisting of George Farr, Albert S. Batchellor, Charles F. Eastman, Edward Kilburn, and James R. Jackson, was chosen to take the matter in hand, and was given full powers. They came into possession of the Moore manuscripts as a gift from the heirs, and entered upon the work of gathering material from all known sources of information for a history of the town from 1770 to the close of 1903.
It would fill pages were the names to be given of all to whom the committee is indebted, but those of a few cannot be omitted. Mrs. Martha (Nurs) Goodwin, who lived on Mann’s Hill, was a native of the town, born in 1795. In early life she lived near the first meeting-house, and from her much of the information concerning that building, its pastor and membership, was obtained. Solomon Whiting came to the town in 1802, when he was a lad of twelve years. He knew the early settlers at the west, and especially the members of the Rankin family. The committee has been under special obligations to Luther B. Town. He has furnished from the stores of an accurate memory material of great value in regard to the north end, once the Littleton of the maps. He has never given erroneous “notes” concerning events within the range of his personal knowledge. Though past fourscore and ten years, his health is still sound, and his memory as firm as the granite of the hill where he was born.
It is also under obligations to Mr. and Mrs. George F. Morris, of Lisbon, the Rev. M. V. B. Knox, Stella B. Parr, and Flora S. Bean, for assistance and for information incorporated in Professor Weed’s chapter on the botany of the town.
The officers of the committee at its organization were George Parr, chairman, Charles P. Eastman, secretary and treasurer, and James R. Jackson, historiographer. Captain Parr died in 1895, and A. S. Batchellor was his successor as chairman. Mr. Eastman is still at his post, and that fact is a sufficient guarantee that its affairs have been prudently conducted.
There have been many changes in the committee. Edward Kilburn passed away, and was succeeded by his brother, Benjamin W. Kilburn, who for a time was in active charge of matters relating to illustrations. Mr. Batchellor subsequently took charge of this, as well as the matters in regard to information. In respect to these he gave much time for a quarter of a century, and there are but few persons who will ever know the full extent of his tireless and unrewarded labors in the prosecution of this work. Beside the continuous service in charge of these subjects, he is the author of several chapters in the narrative. Thanks are also due Harry M. Morse for valuable suggestions and proofreading.
Ray T. Gile has been in charge of surveys and maps, and is to be credited with the making of maps as complete and accurate as any similar work contains.
The Rev. Joseph Robins became a member of the committee while residing in Littleton as presiding elder in his church, and has been a constant aid in the preparation of the ecclesiastical history.
Chauncey H. Greene, George C. Furber, and Daniel C. Remich have for a long time acted as members of the committee as proxies.
We have elsewhere spoken of the work performed by George C. Furber in the compilation of the genealogy, and of Chauncey H. Greene in gathering material and constructing the historical tables.
That part of the work not credited under chapter heads or in foot-notes to others (forty-six chapters) has been written by me, and all has passed under my editorial supervision. It embraces many subjects and doubtless has many faults, but such as it is it is the best contribution I could make to the history of Littleton from its settlement in 1770 to the close of 1903.
James R. Jackson
Volume 1
Volume 1 contains the annals of the town from 1770 to the close of 1903.
- Topography
- The Geology of Littleton
- Botany
- Vertebrate Animals of Littleton
- Vertebrates Continued: The Birds of Littleton
- Climate and Weather
- Indians
- Charters – Chiswick
- Apthorp and its Proprietors
- Proprietary Meetings
- The Settlement
- The Pioneers
- The Organization of Littleton
- The Closing Years of the Eighteenth Century
- The First Decade of the Nineteenth Century
- Church and State, 1810-1820
- Annals, 1810-1820
- Annals, 1820-1840
- The Railroad
- Anti-Slavery, 1840-1860
- Political Annals, 1840-1860
- War Annals, 1860-1870
- Annals, 1860-1870
- Annals, 1870-1903
Volume 2
Volume 2 contains a multitude of histories broken down into subjects.
- Manufacturing, 1870-1903
- Merchants
- Banks and Bankers
- The Profession of Medicine
- Craftsmen
- Ecclesiastical History
- Congregational Church
- Methodist Episcopal Church
- The Protestant Episcopal Church
- Three Free Baptist Society
- The Roman Catholic Church
- The Unitarian Society
- Baptist, Adventist, and Christian Science
- Young Men’s Christian Association
- Native Ministers
- Men and Women of Prominence Abroad
- Temperance
- Schools
- Libraries
- Music and Musical Associations
- Taxation
- Surveys
- Highways and Bridges
- Cemeteries
- The Fire Department
- Soldiers of the Resolution and the War of 1812
- The Militia in Northern New Hampshire
- Freemasonry
- Odd Fellows and other Fraternal Orders
- Agriculture
- Courts
- Statistical History
Volume 3
The genealogy of Littleton was compiled by George C. Furber in 1896 and printed in 1897-8. A fire destroyed the work in 1898 and made necessary a reprint, which was prepared under the supervision of Ezra S. Stearns. The extent of the errata is chiefly due to incorrect material furnished by individuals concerning their ancestry.
Surnames of Genealogies Only
While all three volumes are individually indexed, those indices are not an every name reference to each volume. I highly suggest you start with the index for each volume, and then do a cursory search for the surname of your ancestor. Items like the appendices are not usually included in the index.
The names below only reference the surnames of those who have genealogies specific to them in volume 3.
Abbey, Abbott, Adams, Ainsworth, Alard, Albee, Aldrich, Alexander, Allaire, Allard, Allen, Allison, Andrews, Andrus, Angier, Annis, Applebee, Armstrong, Arnold, Ash, Ashland, Astell, Atwood, Audibert, Audibut, Austin, Bagley, Bailey, Baillargeon, Baker, Balch, Ball, Bard, Barnes, Barnum, Barrett, Bartlett, Bass, Batchelder, Batcheller, Batchellor, Bayley, Bean, Beard, Beattie, Beck, Bedell, Beebe, Belanger, Belknap, Bellows, Bemis, Bent, Berkley, Berman, Bero, Berry, Bickford, Bidwell, Bingham, Bishop, Blake, Blakslee, Blandin, Blodgett, Boisvert, Bolles, Bond, Bonney, Bostwick, Boutwell, Bowles, Bowman, Brackett, Brennan, Brickett, Bridge, Briggs, Brodie, Bronson, Brooks, Brown, Bryant, Buchanan, Buck, Buckley, Bugbee, Bullard, Bunker, Burgin, Burleigh, Burley, Burnham, Burns, Burt, Burton, Buswell, Buzzell, Cailler, Caldwell, Calhoun, Callahan, Campbell, Carbee, Carbonneau, Cardinal, Carey, Carleton, Carpenter, Carr, Carrier, Carter, Caswell, Cate, Cayer, Chaffee, Chamberlain, Chamberlin, Chandler, Charlton, Charpentier, Chase, Cheney, Choate, Choquette, Choqute, Church, Churchill, Chutter, Clark, Clarke, Clay, Cleasby, Cleveland, Clogston, Closson, Clough, Cobb, Cobleigh, Coburn, Cochrane, Cofran, Colburn, Colby, Cole, Conant, Condon, Cooley, Cooper, Copeland, Copp, Corey, Corning, Cote, Coty, Courchene, Cowen, Cowing, Cram, Cramer, Crane, Crawford, Crooks, Crosby, Crouch, Cudworth, Cummings, Curl, Currier, Curtis, Cushing, Cushman, Cutler, D’Ooge, Dailey, Daisy, Dalton, Dame, Danforth, Daniel, Davis, Day, De Fosse, Dean, Defosses, Delany, Denison, Desruisseaux, Dickson, Dion, Dixon, Dizy, Dodge, Donaghy, Douglass, Dow, Drew, Drohen, Duffy, Dufort, Dunbar, Dunn, Dunton, Durgin, Dyke, Eames, Eastman, Eaton, Edmands, Edson, Elkins, Elliott, Elmer, Ely, Emerson, Emery, English, Eudy, Everett, Fairbank, Farmer, Farr, Ferguson, Finnigan, Fisher, Fisk, Fitch, Fitzgerald, Flanders, Fletcher, Flint, Fogg, Foss, Foster, Fournier, French, Frost, Frye, Fulford, Fuller, Furber, Gagnon, Gale, Galer, Garand, Gaskill, Gates, George, Gibb, Gile, Gilman, Glazier, Gleason, Glode, Glover, Goin, Gonyer, Good, Goodall, Goodell, Goodenough, Goodrich, Goodwin, Gordon, Goss, Gould, Graham, Granger, Graves, Gray, Green, Greene, Greenleaf, Greenwood, Griggs, Guilford, Guy, Hadley, Hadlock, Hale, Hall, Hallett, Hamilton, Hardy, Harriman, Harrington, Harris, Hartshorn, Haselton, Haskins, Hastings, Hatch, Hawes, Haynes, Hazeltine, Heald, Heath, Henry, Hibbard, Higgins, Hildreth, Hill, Hilliker, Hinds, Hodge, Hodgman, Hoffman, Holland, Holman, Holmes, Hopkinson, Hoskins, Hosmer, Houle, Howard, Howland, Hoyt, Hubbard, Hudson, Humphrey, Hunkins, Hunter, Huntington, Huntoon, Hurd, Hurlbutt, Hurley, Huron, Huse, Hutchins, Hutchinson, Hyde, Ide, Ingraham, Jackman, Jackson, Jarvis, Jeffrey, Jennison, Jewett, Johnson, Jones, Kelley, Kellogg, Kelsea, Kelsey, Kenerson, Keneson, Kenney, Kent, Keyes, Kidder, Kilburn, Killam, Kimball, King, Kinne, Kitchen, Knapp, Kneeland, Knight, Knox, L’Escuyer, La Riviere, Ladd, Laflamme, Lakeway, Lane, Lang, Langdon, Langford, Langley, Langlois, Lanois, Laplante, Larned, Lathrop, Latulippe, Leach, Learned, Leavitt, Leblanc, Lefebvre, Lehoux, Leighton, Lemay, Lenway, Lewis, Libbey, Litchfield, Little, Lougee, Lovejoy, Lucas, Lucia, Lucier, Lyford, Lynch, Lyster, Lytle, Magoon, Mailhot, Mann, Marcy, Markley, Marsh, Martin, Martineau, Mason, Masse, Massey, McCarthy, McCarty, McCoy, McDonald, McGregor, McGroray, McIntire, McLaughlin, McLoud, McMillen, McPherson, McRae, Merrill, Meserve, Metcalf, Millen, Miller, Milliken, Mills, Minard, Miner, Mitchell, Moffett, Mooney, Moor, Moore, Morgan, Morrill, Morris, Morrison, Morse, Moulton, Mozrall, Mudgett, Mulliken, Myott, Nelson, Nichols, Noble, Nobles, Noiseux, Northy, Norton, Noyes, Nurse, Nute, Nutting, Oakes, Osgood, Ouellet, Ouvrand, Paddleford, Page, Palfrey, Palmer, Paradis, Parker, Partridge, Patten, Patterson, Peabody, Pearce, Pearson, Peavey, Peck, Peckett, Pennock, Perkins, Pettingill, Phillips, Pickett, Pierce, Pingree, Place, Plant, Plante, Pollard, Porter, Potter, Powers, Pratt, Presbrey, Presby, Prescott, Prince, Pringle, Pushee, Quessy, Quimby, Rainey, Rand, Rankin, Ranlet, Reagan, Redington, Redwood, Remich, Remick, Renfrew, Richardson, Riley, Rines, Ring, Rivers, Rix, Robins, Robinson, Roby, Ross, Rounsevel, Rowe, Rowell, Ruland, Russell, Salois, salway, Sanborn, Sanders, Sanderson, Sanger, sanschagrin, Santy, Sargent, Sartwell, Savage, Sawtell, Sawyer, Scott, Sellingham, Sgobel, Shaw, Shay, Shepherd, Shute, Silsby, Simino, Simonds, Simoneau, Simpson, Sinclair, Sinkler, Smalley, Smillie, Smith, Snapp, Snow, Soames, Southworth, St. John, Stearns, Steere, Stevens, Stinchfield, Stoddard, Stowe, Strain, Stratton, Streeter, Strong, Swett, Sylvestre, Symonds, Taft, Tarbell, Temple, Terrett, Terrien, Thayer, Thom, Thomas, Thompson, Tibbetts, Tifft, Tilton, Timson, Titus, Town, Towne, Trask, Tremblay, Trombley, Tulip, Tunney, Tuttle, Twombley, Underwood, Van Ness, Vandecar, Veigue, Veilleux, Veniou, Vignau, Wadleigh, Walker, Wallace, Wallis, Ward, Warner, Waterman, Watson, Webster, Weeks, Weller, Wellman, Wells, West, Wetherbee, Wetherell, Wheeler, Wheelock, Whitcher, Whitcomb, White, Whiteside, Whiting, Whitmore, Whittaker, Whittier, Wilder, Wilkins, Willard, Willett, Willey, Williams, Willis, Wilmot, Wilson, Winch, Winslow, Wise, Witham, Woodrow, Woods, Woodward, Woolson, Wooster, Worcester, Wright, and Young.
Source
Jackson, James R.; Furber, George C.; Stearns, Ezra S.; History of Littleton, New Hampshire, 3 vols.; Cambridge, Mass. : Pub. for the town by the University Press, 1905.
