The government structure of New England is unlike that of much of the United States. In that vain, I’ve taken a slight twist on Randy Seaver’s “Saturday Night Fun Challenge” using Randy Majors’ website, http://randymajors.com/p/maps.html. My focus is on the town of Loudon, New Hampshire, rather than on Merrimack County within which Loudon, now lies.
Province of New Hampshire (now one of New England’s six states): On 18 September 1679, King Charles II made New Hampshire a royal colony separate from Massachusetts, but did not stipulate a western limit to its borders.[1]
New Hampshire Vermont Atlas of Historical County Boundaries*
Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps
1770 Effective Saturday, April 29, 1769, ROCKINGHAM created as one of five original counties
1773 Loudon in the province of New Hampshire
The first settlement was begun in 1761. Loudon, formerly a part of Canterbury, was incorporated on 28 January 1773,[2] and was within the jurisdiction of Rockingham County.
1780 Loudon, Rockingham County
1790 Loudon, Rockingham County
1800 Loudon, Rockingham County
1810 Loudon, Rockingham County
1820 Loudon, Rockingham County
1825 Effective 1 August 1823, Merrimack County was created from Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties.[3]
1830 Effective 24 December 1828, Merrimack County gained some area from Strafford when the town of Franklin was created from the towns of Andover, Northfield, Salisbury, and Sanbornton.
1830 Loudon, Merrimack County
1840 Loudon, Merrimack County
1850 Loudon, Merrimack County
1860 Loudon, Merrimack County
1870 Loudon, Merrimack County
1880 Loudon, Merrimack County
1890 Loudon, Merrimack County
1900 Loudon, Merrimack County
How do these boundaries affect my research?
Since vital records are under the jurisdiction of the town in New Hampshire, in addition to looking for records of births, marriage, and deaths for families know to have resided early in Loudon, I need to look at the records of Canterbury, since Loudon was formed from lands formerly in the town of Canterbury.
For probate and deed records for the families living in Loudon, prior to the formation of Merrimack County in December 1828, I need to look for the records in the county of Rockingham.
[1] T.J. Rand, coordinator of “Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire,” NHGenWeb page http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nhmerrim/Loudon/ viewed 26 November 2011.
[2] Marcia D. Melnyk, Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, 4th edition (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999), 150.
[3] Randy Majors, “Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps, ”http://randymajors.com/p/maps.html, viewed 26 November 2011.
* John H. Long, editor, New Hampshire Vermont Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993). [A project of the Dr. William M. Scholl Center for Family and Community History: The Newberry Library.]
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All Rights Reserved
