PROMINENT EVENTS in Early America, New England and New Hampshire (including the American Revolution)
The following was gleaned from the History of Barnstead NH from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872, by Jeremiah P. Jewett, Lowell Mass., Marden & Rowell, printers; 1872; page 208
Print from History of Barnstead NH from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872, by Jeremiah P. Jewett, Lowell Mass., Marden & Rowell, printers; 1872; page 10
1492 — Columbus discovered America.
1586 — Sir Francis Drake visited the New England shores.
1600 — Canada was settled by the French.
1607 — Virginia was settled by the English.
1614 — Capt. John Smith explored this part of the New World.
1620 — A Dutch ship brought negro slaves to Virginia.
— Pilgrims landed.
1623 — New Hampshire had settlements at Dover and
at Little Harbor. [**EDITOR’S NOTE: This is incorrect. According to Robert Charles Anderson’s “Great Migration,” Edward Hilton did not migrate to the American colonies until 1628 and so that would be the correct date of New Hampshire’s first permanent settlement–Hilton’s Point later known as Dover, New Hampshire. SEE Nutfield Genealogy for the background story].
1624 — First cattle imported to New England.
1628 — The foundation was laid for the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.
1635 — Roger Williams is banished from Massachusetts
Bay.
1638 — June 1st. There was a great earthquake in New England.
1639 — First printing in New England.
1641 — The use of tobacco was prohibited in Massachusetts.
1642 — First Commencement at Harvard College ; nine graduated. — Great training in Boston ; 1200 men, and none drunk.
1642 — Darby Field, bewildered, was lost on Mt. Washington.
1643 — James Britton and Mary Latham are executed, charged with adultery.
1644 — Ana-baptists are banished.
1652 — First money made at Boston.
1658 — Death penalty as against Quakers.
1659 — Wm. Robinson and M. Stevenson executed on Boston Common.
1662 — Children of respectable parents although non-professors allowed baptism.
1663 — The Indian Bible, by Eliot, is printed in Cambridge.
1663 — Baptists are imprisoned for holding meetings.
1670 — The title Reverend is first applied to clergymen.
1675 — Phillip’s war commences, 650 settlers in New England lose their lives.
1675 — First public fast is held in New England.
1677 — Fine and imprisonments is imposed for attending Quaker Meetings.
1677 — Price for labor £10 per year, — for a woman’s work £4.
1679 — New Hampshire is made a separate government by a commission from England.
1680 — Baptists are forbidden to hold meetings in Boston, the doors of the church are nailed up by the magistrates.
1680 — Major Waldron killed in Dover, by the Indians.
1681 — Mason comes and asserts his title to lands in New Hampshire, but is resisted and leases the state.
1682 — New Hampshire has four towns and 4000 inhabitants.
1692 — Twenty persons are executed at Salem, for witchcraft.
1693 — First post-office is established in Boston, and common drunkards are posted there.
1696 — There are thirty Indian churches in New England.
1701 — Kidd, the pirate, is sent to England to be executed.
1702 — Small-pox prevails in Boston, 500 die.
1704 — The News-Letter, the first newspaper in America is printed.
1712 — Paper money is made a legal tender.
1715 — Singing books are introduced here for the first time.
1715 — Population of New Hampshire, 9500. It issues £15,000 in paper money.
1719 — Potatoes were first raised at Andover.
1720 — Tea was first used in New England.
1721 — Inoculation for smallpox was first practised.
1724 — The highest tides in the midst of a violent storm.
1725 — A reward is offered for Indian scalps.
1730 — Seven million dollars in goods are imported to New England.
1731 — George Washington was born.
1735 — An epidemic, a putrid sore throat, prevails in New Hampshire.
1739 — George Whitfield visits America, and is the leader in a great revival.
1746— Concord was invaded by Indians.
1750 — Paper money is discarded. New Hampshire has 24,000 inhabitants.
1752 — Benjamin Franklin experiments with electricity.
1756 — War between the French and English.
1759 — Sept. 13, Quebec is taken by the English, and Wolfe and Montcalm are both killed.
1759 — George II dies, and George III succeeds him.
1765 — The stamp act was passed. Boston had 15,500 inhabitants.
1768 — British troops arrive in Boston.
1770 — Several are killed at the Boston Massacre. Tea is no longer in general use.
1773 — Tea is destroyed in the Boston harbor.
1774 — Shakers increase. Ann Lee was their leader.
1774 — Population of New England was 102,000.
1775 — Fight at Lexington, April 19.
1775 — Battle at Bunker’s Hill, June 17.
1775 — Washington takes command of the army at Cambridge, July 2.
1775 — Paper money was issued by Congress.
1775 — Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General.
1776 — The British evacuate Boston.
1777 — LaFayette joins the Americans in their struggle for independence.
1777 — General Burgoyne surrendered.
1778 — The Sandwich Islands were discovered by Capt. Cook.
1779 – Siege of Charleston, S. C.
1780 — Charleston surrenders.
1780 — Major Andre is executed as a spy.
1781 — New London was burnt by the British.
1781 — Yorktown, by Lord Cornwallis, is surrendered to Washington.
1782 — A provisional treaty with the United States, signed by England at Paris.
1783 — Independence of the United States acknowledged by Sweden ; Feb. 25, by Denmark ; March 24, by Spain.
1783 — The American army is disbanded.
[end]
Thank you for a nice place to absorb some New Hampshire history.
(PS – Major Richard Waldern (Waldron) died in 1689. Also, potatoes were first planted in Londonderry, NH)