Rochester Colonial Moments, a historical series highlighting notable moments from Rochester’s past, in collaboration with the Office of Mayor Chuck Grassie, is brought to you by Patrick O. Connelly, Rochester, New Hampshire, historian.
In this edition:
Rochester N.H. First Meeting House Part I
The Town Charter required a meeting house be built by proprietors. Authorized at a proprietor meeting on April 20,1 730, the dimensions were to be “40 feet long, 35 feet wide x 18 feet Ltnd, to be well framed and inclosed…” It is probable that the 18-foot measure refers to the ceiling height in the auditorium section inside the potential second floor balcony area, to be added as congregation grew.
Captain Thomas Miller was made treasurer and charged with the responsibility to collect monies due from each proprietor to defray the cost of the building and also the laying out the second division of land in the town.
Locating the Original Meeting House site in Rochester, N.H.
In the process of researching unrelated items, occasionally we find interesting facts.
During the early ministry of the Rev. Joseph Haven, the town fathers discussed a location for the new burying place for the town.
The town records of June 18,1777 reported that “…we run out and bounded the piece or tract of land given to the Town for a Burying Place for the use of the Town by the Proprietors of the same.”
“Beginning about Twenty feet due east from the northeast corner of the Meeting House a Stake and from thence ran south twenty degrees west nineteen rods then turned and run south sixty-six degrees east fourteen rods then turned and ran north twenty degrees east nineteen rods then turned and ran north sixty six degrees west fourteen rods to the first bound.” The surveyor was Jonathan Dame and accompanying selectmen included Barnabas Palmer and Ebenezer Tebbets.
Since the burying ground persists today atop Haven (or Rochester) Hill, it is possible to visualize the location of the town’s original meeting house. Further, it seems that the DAR placed a plaque on a stone in the area of the first meeting house. As the town moves forward into the 250th Anniversary of the Revolution, one would think it an interesting project for a school practical mathematics class to determine the bounds.
