Coos County New Hampshire - Genealogy and History
 

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MAP OF COOS COUNTY | TOWNS/CITIES IN COOS COUNTY

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BRIEF HISTORY OF COOS CO., NEW HAMPSHIRE
(pronounced "CO-ahss" with two syllables)

The act establishing "The County of Cooss" was approved December 24, 1803. It contained the original towns of Dalton, Whitefield, Bretton Woods, Bartlett, Adams, Chatham, Shelburne Addition, Durand, Kilkenny, Jefferson, Lancaster, Millsfield, Northumberland, Stratford, Wales' Gore, Cockburne, Colebrook, Stewartstown, Piercy, Paulsburg, Mainsborough, Dummer, Errol, Cambridge and Success, with a population of about 3,000 in 1803.

Coos was taken from Grafton County, one of the five original counties of the State--Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire, Grafton--and comprises all New Hampshire north of the present counties of Grafton and Carroll. Its western boundary is the western bank of the Connecticut river, and it extends from latitude 48 degree 58 minutes to the extreme north part of the State, being seventy-six miles in length, with a mean width of about twenty miles. It contains about one million acres of land. The distance by traveled highway from the north line of Grafton county at Littleton to the Canada line at West Stewartstown is about sixty-two miles. It is bounded north and northwest by Canada, east by Maine, south by Carroll and Grafton counties, and west by Vermont.

The census of 1880 gave the total population of this county as 18,850, with the town of Lancaster having the largest population within that county of 2,721 (Berlin at that time had 1,144 citizens). As of 2000, the population is 33,111. On June 18, 1805, Nash and Sawyer's Location was annexed to Coos county, and January 5, 1853, Bartlett, Jackson (Adams), and Hart's Location were annexed to Carroll county. Not long after the formation of Coos county, Chatham was annexed to Strafford county, and upon the erection of Carroll county, Chatham was included in that county.The name "Coos" is derived from the Abenaki dialect--the word "Cohos," or "Coo-ash" signifying 'pines." The tribe occupying this region was known as the 'Coo-ash-aukes,' or 'dwellers in the pine tree country,"

The county seat of Coos County is Lancaster NH.

  • There are MANY covered bridges in Coos County, including:
    • Columbia-Lemington - Built in 1912, this bridge is the northernmost covered bridge spanning the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont. Located west of New Hampshire State Route 135.
    • Lancaster-Lunenburg - 266 foot bridge built in 1911. Crosses Connecticut River and joins New Hampshire and Vermont. This bridge is located west of New Hampshire State Route 135, 5 miles west of Lancaster Village.
    • Lancaster-Mechanic Street - Built in 1862 and crosses the Israel River. Located east of the junction of U.S. Routes 2 and 3 in Lancaster Village.
    • Northumberland-Groveton - This foot traffic only bridge was built in 1852. It crosses the Upper Ammonoosuc River and spans 126 feet. Located east of U.S. Route 3.
    • Pittsburg-Clarksville - Built in 1876, crosses the Connecticut River. This 88'-6" bridge is located South of U.S. Route 3, one mile west of Pittsburg Village.
    • Pittsburg-Happy Corner - This 60 foot bridge spans the Perry Stream and is located 1 mile south of U.S. Route 3, 6 miles northeast of Pittsburg Village. One of the oldest bridges in northern New Hampshire.
    • Pittsburg-River Road - This bridge also crosses the Perry Stream and is 50 feet long. Located south of U.S. Routes 3 and 51, 2 miles northeast of Pittsburg Village.
    • Stark-Stark - This 134 foot bridge crosses the Upper Ammonoosuc River located northwest of New Hampshire State Route 110 at Stark Village.
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If you are looking for town/city specific resources, click on the town map.

For other resources within Coos County

If you want to know about general genealogy resources (such as how to find vital records, deeds and other documents), visit the "Genealogical Research" section.

 

Coos County also has the following Unincorporated Areas: Atkinson and Gilmanton Academy Grant, Bean's Grant, Bean's Purchase, Cambridge, Chandler's Purchase, Crawford's Purchase, Cutt's Grant, Dix's Grant, Erving's Location, Green's Grant, Hadley's Purchase, Kilkenny, Low and Burbank's Grant, Martin's Location, Odell, Pinkham's Grant, Sargent's Purchase, Second College Grant, Success, Thompson and Meserve's Purchase, and Wentworth's Location.


Current communities in Coos County include:

Berlin, Cambridge, Carroll [Twin Mountain, and Bretton Woods are actually village districts within the town of Carroll], Clarksville, Colebrook, Columbia, Dalton, Dixville, Dummer, Errol, Gorham, Groveton, Jefferson, Lancaster, Milan, Millsfield, Northumberland, Pittsburg, Randolph, Shelburne, Stark, Stewartstown, Stratford, Wentworth Location, and Whitefield.

Map of Coos County Pittsburg Clarksville Stewartstown Colebrook Dixville Columbia Errol Millsfield Stratford Dummer Cambridge Stark Northumberland Milan Berlin Unincorporated Townships Lancaster Dalton Whitefield Jefferson Randolph Gorham Shelburne Carroll

 
TOWNS / CITIES IN COOS COUNTY, New Hampshire

BERLIN

  • Brief History: Incorporated 1829; First granted in 1771 as Maynesborough, after Sir William Mayne, an associate of Governor John Wentworth in the West Indies trade. The area was not settled by the original grantees, and the town was renamed Berlin in 1829 by new settlers from Berlin, Massachusetts. Berlin was incorporated as a city in 1897. It is the northernmost city in the state, and includes the village of Cascade.
  • Villages and Place Names: Cascade, Berlin Mills
  • Profile & Statistics: Berlin, New Hampshire - PDF
  • GOVERNMENT:
  • OTHER WEB SITES:
  • Genealogy:
    • History & Genealogy: Berlin, N.H. - This history contains the geography and list of early settlers, action of the first town meeting, list of 1829 residents and their birth dates, names of voters in 1837, 1847 and 1857, early businesses, churches, societies, buildings, early town officers, early roads and bridges, early merchants and hotels, unusual phenomenon, and burial places, physicians and lawyers; Brief biographies and genealogies include those of William Sessions, Simon Evans, Joseph Wheeler, Samuel S. Thompson, Samuel Blodgett, Thomas Wheeler, Daniel Davis, Joseph Blodgett, John Chandler, Lorenzo Mason; more extensive biograpies and genealogies of Daniel Green and the Green Family, Amos Green, Sullivan Dexter Green, Dexter Green, Reuben Hobart Wheeler, Henry Hart Furbish, and Eugene William Scribner (among others) -- TXT file
    • Earl Silas Tupper (inventor of Tupperware), born in Berlin NH in 1907
    • Coos County Archives - USGenWeb
    • History & Biography: New Hampshire's Record-Breaking State Representative and "Grand Dame": Hilda C.F. (Johnson) Brungot (1886-1982) - Blog: Cow Hampshire
    • One Upon A Berlin Time - Stories of Berlin's History & Photographs [Archived version]

    Genealogy: Family Group Sheets of Hilda C.F. Johnson and Sivert "Sam" M. Brungot

    Portait of Hilda Brungot at the State House in Concord NH

    Photographs of Hilda C.F. (Johnson) Brungot, courtesy of George Brungot her grandson.

Photographs/Postcards:

MAPS:


CAMBRIDGE (an unincorporated township)

HISTORY:

History: Cambridge is an unincorporated township, located on Umbagog Lake, one of the bodies of water that separate Maine from New Hampshire. In 1880 the census was thirty-six. Umbagog Lake State Park is located here.

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CARROLL [including Twin Mountain and Bretton Woods]

History: Incorporated 1882. Originally granted as Bretton Woods in 1772, for Bretton Hall, an estate of Governor John Wentworth. The town was renamed Carroll in 1832, for Charles Carroll of Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The town includes the villages of Fabyan's, Bretton Woods, and Twin Mountain. Bretton Woods is home to the Mount Washington Hotel, site of the July 1944 International Monetary Conference that resulted in the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Nearby is Mount Washington’s Cog Railway, the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway, in operation since 1869.

Villages and Place Names: Bretton Woods, Fabyan, Quebec Junction, Twin Mountain, Crawford House

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PROFILE & STATISTICS:

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CLARKSVILLE

History: Incorporated 1853. Part of a large tract granted to Dartmouth College, portions of the land were sold to raise cash for the college. Purchased by Joseph Murdock of Norwich, Vermont, and Benjamin Clark of Boston, and cleared for settlement by the Clark family, the town was named Clarksville. It was also known as Dartmouth College Grant until 1872. The town is south only to Pittsburg.

Villages and Place Names: formerly known as Dartmouth College Grant

GENEALOGY & HISTORY:

  • History & Genealogy: Clarksville, N.H. - This document includes the geography and early history of Dartmouth College Grant, later Clarksville, including early settlers, early town records, marriages in Clarksville 1827-1831, and partial genealogies/biographies of Gideon Tirrill, Joseph Wiswall, John Comstock, Benjamin Clark Wiswall, and John Keysar - Txt file

PROFILE & STATISTICS

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COLEBROOK

History: Incorporated 1796. First granted in 1762, the territory was named Dryden, after English poet and playwright John Dryden. Due to the inability of grantees to settle the area, it was regranted in 1770 to new colonizers, who renamed the grant Colebrook, after Sir George Colebrooke of England, the East India Company’s chairman of the board.

Villages and Place Names: Kidderville, Upper Kidderville, Factory Village

GOVERNMENT:

PROFILE & STATISTICS

GENEALOGY & HISTORY:

  • History & Genealogy, Colebrook NH - Txt file - A description and topography of Colebrook NH; brief biographies of original proprietors and early settlers including Joseph Goddard, Isaac Covil, John Whittemore, Ebenezer Hill, Hosea Aldrich, Thomas Atherton, Joseph Gleason, Edmund Chamberlain, Capt. Benjamin Buel, David Titus, Sylvanus Noyes, Frederick G. Messer, Ethan Colby, Caleb Little, Ebenezer Little, Alfred Loverin, Charles Thompson, Timothy Holton, Joseph Loomis, Benjamin Whittemore, John F. Gould, Noah Cummings, Samuel Harriman, Daniel Hutchinson, Benjamin R. Gilman, Jonas Rolfe, Archelaus Cummings, Benjamin Gathercole, Levi O. Hicks and others; early merchants; 1816 list of residents; Education; Societies; Physicians; Post Offices, Mills, Churches; Various civil and town records from 1801-1830; Biographies/Genealogys: the Parsons Family, Dr. Lyman Lombard, Col. Hazen Bedel, Hon. Sherburn R. Merrill, Seneca Sargent Merrill, and Samuel Kelly Remick.
  • Colebrook Village Cemetery, Colebrook NH - some cemetery inscriptions
  • A few facts about Colebrook NH - from official Colebrook web site
  • Colebrook History - from Colebrook Chamber of Commerce

NEWS:

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COLUMBIA

History: Incorporated 1797. First chartered in 1762, and named Preston for Richard Graham, Viscount Preston of Scotland. The town was regranted in 1770 due to the settlers' failure to meet the terms of the grant, and renamed Cockburntown, after Sir James Cockburn of Scotland. It kept that name until 1811, when Governor John Langdon renamed the town Columbia in the spirit of patriotism preceding the War of 1812.

Villages and Place Names: Bungy, Cones, Georges, Meriden Hill, Tinkerville

GOVERNMENT:

  • Government: Columbia NH
  • Columbia Town Clerk
    RR 3
    Colebrook, NH 03576-9803
    (603) 237-5255

PROFILE & STATISTICS

GENEALOGY & HISTORY

  • History & Genealogy, Columbia NH - Txt file - The early history of Cockburn, later Columbia NH including early pioneers, schools, churches merchants, grist and saw mills, including the families of Abel Larnard, Abel Hobart, William Wallace, Noah Buffington, Philip Jordan, and Benjamin Jordan (and others).

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DALTON

History: Incorpoated 1764. Once a part of Littleton, the town went through several name changes. Starting in 1764 as Chiswick, after the Duke of Devonshire's Castle, in 1770 the name changed to Apthorp, honoring the Apthorp family. Finally in 1784, it was changed to Dalton, for Tristram Dalton, one of New England's foremost colonial merchants.

Villages and Place Names: Cushman, Scott

GOVERNMENT

PROFILE & STATISTICS

HISTORY & GENEALOGY:

  • History & Genealogy of Dalton, NH - TXT file - Includes the early history of Dalton NH: Early history and naming of the town of Dalton NH; information and biographies of originators and early settlers including: Tristram Dalton, Moses Blake, Walter Bloss; the First Town Meeting [in 1808]; Lands and Livestock owners in 1809; Names mentioned in the town meeting records of 1809-1842; Early births from 1785-1811; Early marriages in 1810 & 1814; Early residents taxed in 1809; Ear-marks of 1809-1813; Early Merchants; Description of Dalton in 1821; Early Inn-Keepers; Roads; Residents in 1849; Mines; Murder in 1877; Physicians; Brief Personal Sketches of: John Blakeslee Sr. and family, John Tenney, William Wallace, John Crane & Family, Rev. Samuel H. Partridge, Andrew Lang and Family, Jonathan Scott, Jacob Barrows, Jonathan Fisher, Alvin & Asa Taylor, David Sumner & Sumner Family, Lorenzo Farr, The Brooks Family (Benjamin Sr. & Jr.), Horace Cushman/Cashman, John Ladd & Family, Bert Taylor; Ecclesiastical (Church) History and early members; Meeting House history; Civil List from 1808-1826.
  • A Brief History of Dalton NH - Dalton NH Historical Society
  • Dalton Historical Society
  • Cemeteries in Dalton NH

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DIXVILLE

History: Dixville, has an area of 31,023 acres, and is situated immediately east of Colebrook, Columbia and Stewartstown.. It received its name from Colonel Timothy Dix, father of General John A. Dix, the noted war governor of New York, to whom the township was granted in 1805. John Whittemore of Salisbury came to Dixville in 1812, and was employed by Ezekiel and Daniel Webster, attorneys for the Dix Family. John Whittemore farmed and ran a wayside inn here. Dixville's famous scenic "Notch," and the state forest area, along with the Balsams Hotel resort continues to attract visitors from around the world.

Villages and Place Names: Dixville Notch

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DUMMER

History: Incorporated 1848. First granted in 1773, Dummer was named for Governor William Dummer of Massachusetts, whose achievements included a peace treaty with the Indians which lasted nearly twenty years. Fort Dummer, one of New England's earliest forts, was also named for Governor Dummer.

Villages and Place Names: Paris

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PROFILE & STATISTICS:

HISTORY & GENEALOGY:

  • History & Genealogy of Dummer NH - This document describes the geography,; incorporation of the town; early settlers including William Leighton, Charles Bickford, James H. Horn, Hezekiah Cloutman, Peter Leavitt, Daniel Forbush (Furbush), Charles Newell, Jothan Lary, Aaron Wight, William Sessions, William Lovejoy, John M. Bickford, Daniel Forbush Jr., John B. Lovejoy, Thomas Wentworth, John R. Briggs, Horace Chandler, Leonard E. Dunn, and others; Inventory and Polls of Property 1846; Petition for Incorporation, partial Civil List; Schools; Ministers (Francis Lang), Biographical Sketch of Isaac Carlton Wight and Family - TXT file

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ERROL

History: Incorporated 1836. First chartered in 1774, Errol was named for James Hay of Scotland, fifteenth Earl of Erroll, and owner of Linlithgow Castle, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots, and King James V. Sitting on the northern end of Maine border, this sparsely populated town is a popular vacation site for snowmobilers. Errol is home to half of Umbagog Lake, and has more inland water area than any town in Coos County.

Villages and Place Names: none known

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HISTORY & GENEALOGY

  • History of Errol, NH - A general description and early history of the town of Errol NH including geography, information about The Androscoggin River Improvement Company, the Akers House, the Umbagog House, the Errol Dam Company, early petitions, first town meetings, early town officers; list of voters in 1837 - TXT File

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GORHAM

History: Incorporated 1836. First chartered as a part of Shelburne in 1770. The town was incorporated in 1836 and renamed Gorham at the suggestion of Sylvester Davis, a resident from Gorham, Maine, and a relative of the Gorham family who founded that town in 1764.

Villages and Place Names: Mount Washington, Upper Village, Cascade

GOVERMENT:

PROFILE & STATISTICS

GENEALOGY & HISTORY:

  • History & Genealogy of Gorham NH - This document describes the geography and topography, early settlers including Stephen Messer and family, Henry Goodno and family, Joseph Jackson and family, and Simon Evans among others; population and some residents in 1815; arrivals in 1821 and later including Hezekiah Orway; early schools and churches; the "Great Freshet of 1826;" residents in 1836; first mills; act of incorporation; the first town meeting; taxpayers of 1836-1850; Gorham residents in the Civil War; Railroads; Gorham Village; Businesses and Merchants; Lawyers and Physicians; Hotels and Inns; Societies; Post office; Mascot Mine; Biographical Sketches of Andrew G. Lary, John Raymond Hitchcock, Captain Warren Noyes, Timothy H. Hutchinson, Virgil H. Twichell, and Nathaniel T. True - TXT file
  • Genealogy: Tombstone Listings, Heath Family Cemetery, Gorham, NH - TXT file - USGenWeb
  • Coos County Archives - USGenWeb

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GROVETON

Groveton is a village in NORTHUMBERLAND - SEE below

JEFFERSON

History: Incorporated 1796. First granted in 1765, the location was so deep in unexplored territory that few took up their claims. One who did was Colonel Joseph Whipple of Portsmouth, who cut trails through the forests to build a manor house. He named the town Dartmouth after William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth and