Record Group Number 22

Westmoreland

Compiled by Alan F. Rumrill - Keene, New Hampshire

July 1983

This record group includes four series, BUSINESS, GLEBE LANDS, SUBJECT FILE, and NEWSPAPERS. and is filed in two folders. The groups cover the years 1780-1983. The materials are filed chronologically within each subject unless otherwise stated.

Westmoreland was granted as No. 2 by the Massachusetts Colony in 1735. It was later known as Great Meadows. New Hampshire regranted it to Thomas Chamberlain and others in 1752. They incorporated the town as Westmoreland on February 11, 1752. Philip Alexander, Daniel How, Thomas Orissen, and Jethro Wheeler came from Northfield in canoes and made the first settlement in 1741. The early settlement was attacked by Indians several times. Part of the town was incorporated in Surry in 1769. 2000 people lived in Westmoreland by 1790, making Westmoreland the most populous town in the county.

This group is rich in two areas: churches and schools. The church materials deal with Reverand Jeheil Claflin, 1811-93, the Union Church of East Westmoreland, and the Park Hill Meetinghouse, 1895-1965. The bulk of the school material is from the Westmoreland Valley Seminary, 1858-60. Lists of staff and students, programs for rhetorical exercises, reports of teachers, a receipt for tuition, and a catalog for 1860 are included.

Among the Briggs family letters (Folder 2) that signed "Your affectionate Unkle Philander Stephen" was probably written by Philander Stephens Briggs, a brother of Amasa. Alonzo H. Briggs, whose good character was certified by George F. Dunbar in 1860, was a son of Amasa, born in 1840.

The "Miss Veazie" addressed by her rector in 1890 was presumably Hortensia Veazey, daughter of Ortensia Briggs and John Veazey. This Hortensia was probably also the subject of the two letters of condolence in 1904. Lyman P. Briggs was the youngest of Amasa's sons, born in 1847.

This record group also contains five albums of Westmoreland photographs. These albums were added to the group in March of 1985 and given the designation of Series VIII. They were donated to the Westmoreland Historical Society by the Westmoreland Public Library.

Series I, BUSINESS

Series II, GLEBE LANDS

Folder 1, Settlement and Ownership - c.1780-1820

Series III, SUBJECT FILE

Folders 1-6
Artists
Blizzard of 1888
Celebrations
Cemeteries
Churches
Clubs & Organizations
County Farm (See Floods, 1936)
Crime
Deeds
Entertainments
Farms
     Albee
     Edson
     Wilbore
     Aldrich/Hudson
Floods, 1936
Health Care
Historic Districts
History
Houses
Marriages
     (See Churches for list of marriages by Reverend Jeheil Claflin, 1839-1870)
Maplewood Nursing Home
Military
Old Home Day (See Churches)
People
     Craig, Dr. James A. (See Health Care)
     Hogan, Shirley
     Wheelock, Jessie
Probate
Schools
Town Planning
Tourism

Series IV, NEWSPAPERS

Folder 1, Westmoreland Meteor - May 5, 1895