Native Americans in Gilmanton

Prior to the arrival of English colonists, the native people known as the Suncook (seni kok), which translates, “to the rocks” lived along an area of the Suncook River that would become Gilmanton Iron Works. The Suncook, a subsect of the Abenaki, were descendants of natives that arrived 11,000 years ago. They did not own, but rather accessed this ancestral land according to custom and seasonal need. 

Long Pause to Settle

From 1688-1763, six wars within the French & Indian campaign were fought over control of territory from Canada, through Maine and south to Massachusetts which at the time included New Hampshire. Although the Suncook largely retreated from the area prior to its English settlement, the ongoing French & Indian Wars were responsible for the 34-year pause between the incorporation and settlement of the town.

During this time, Gilmanton’s founding fathers continued to live and conduct the business of the town from their coastal settlements from which most violent skirmishes occurred. In 1732, surveyors were hired to run the boundary lines and apparently did so without incident.

In 1736, perhaps in an abundance of caution or due to native populations on our bounded area known as “the Weirs,” our Proprietors saw fit to construct two blockhouses as fortification.

King George ll and English Rule

• May 20th, 1727 - His Majesty’s Colonial Governor John Wentworth signed the charter for what was to become the town of Gilmanton. The settlement was delayed due to the French & Indians Wars.
• 1736 -  Moses Leavitt, Nathaniel Gilman and Jethro Pearson were appointed to build the first fort. It was called a Block House and was 18 feet square and built of hewn logs. It was named White Hall and was located on the Southeast corner of the first Division of 40 acre lots.
• 1750 - A group of men from Pembroke area spent the winter hunting and felling trees for settling but withdrew from the effort in the spring as “Indian hostilities has not yet ceased.” This location became known as Shell Camp.
• 1761 -  Gilmanton's first settlers Benjamin and Hannah Bean Mudgett arrived at their home on Lot #3 of the 3rd Range of 100-acre lots. Arriving during a snowstorm, they endured the 12-mile trek from Epsom on foot!
• 1762 -  Dorothy Weed was born October 10th, 1762 to Orlando & Sarah Weed. She was the first birth among the settlers.
• 1763 - The Rev. William Parsons became a Proprietor of Gilmanton and was employed by the Corporation to preach to the settlers.  He was also employed as a teacher, traveling to various homes throughout the settlement until the first schoolhouse was built.
• 1763 -  The first grist mill on Mill Brook was operating. The site is down the old road that leads from Rte. 140 (near the School) to the present-day Nighthawk Hollow Brook.
• 1766 - The first Town Selectmen. Prior to 1766 the Proprietors elected their own Selectmen. In order for the town to transition to a publicly elected form of government, a petition requesting a Town Meeting from ten or more inhabitants that were “His Majesties subjects” was required. That meeting, held on July 31st, 1766 elected the first selectmen: Joseph Badger, John Sanborn and Stephen Dudley.
• 1768 - Dr. William Smith, the town's first doctor, arrived October 15, 1768. For some time he was the only doctor north of Concord, and made house calls in Alton, New Durham, Wolfeboro, and Tuftonboro. 
• 1769-1770 - The first schoolhouses were built. The first located near the First Baptist Church on Rte. 107 and the second near Orlando Weeds (Potter Farm).
• 1770 -  Meredith Bridge was built when the Province Road was made. This was a military road built to transport troops and supplies for the defense of Coos County. The village area called Meredith Bridge, Gilmanton on one bank and Meredith on the other, became a large industrial area and is now known as Laconia.
• 1773 -  The First Baptist Church was organized on Nov. 16th. There were 13 original members but no Pastor. Orlando Weed was Standing Moderator, Samuel Weeks was Clerk and Thomas Edgerly, Deacon.

Revolutionary War Years

• 1775 - Gilmanton's population is 775.
• 1775 - Mary Butler rides to Charlestown, MA upon receiving news that her husband has been wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• Seven Gilmanton men die during the war.
• 1776 - The first interment took place at the public Smith Meetinghouse cemetery.
• 1778 - Averytown becomes Gilmanton Iron Works. Iron mining begins in Lougee Pond (Crystal Lake).

Post Revolutionary War Years

• 1786 - Town approved a ten dollar bounty for every grown wolf and five dollars for every whelp.
• 1796 - Gilmanton Academy erected.
• 1800 - Gilmanton population is 3,752.
• 1801 - The first library, the Social Library of Gilmanton, was incorporated in June of 1801 and was kept near the Smith Meetinghouse. After the death of Rev. Smith, it was moved to Gilmanton Iron Works.
• 1808 - Gilmanton Academy destroyed by fire.
• 1811 - Gunstock Parish (today's Gilford and part of Laconia) secedes from Gilmanton due to distances needed to reach town meetings.
• 1815 - Town auctions off care of paupers.

Early 19th Century

• 1817 - Gilmanton has 5 meetinghouses, 20 schoolhouses, a court house, a cotton factory, a nail factory, 9 grain mills, 10 saw mills, 2 clothing mills, a carding machine, an oil mill, and 9 trading stores.
• 1833 - Liquor sales prohibited in Gilmanton.
• 1840 - Belknap County seceded from Strafford County.
• 1859 - Gilmanton and Upper Gilmanton (Belmont) split.

Pre-Civil War and Civil War Years

• 1860 - Town majority votes for Abraham Lincoln.
• 1860 - Town population is 2,073.
• 1861-1865 - Civil War. Of 134 residents who served, 30 died. Battles included Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, Gettyburg, Antietam, and Port Hudson.
• 1864 - Town majority votes for Abraham Lincoln.

Later 19th Century

• 1879 - First Gilmanton baseball team organized.
• 1894 - Academy burns down for the second time.
• 1895 - Academy rebuilt in a year reopens.
• 1895 - Herman Mudgett (H.H. Holmes), born in Gilmanton and America's first documented serial killer, apprehended in Philadelphia.
• 1898 - First Gilmanton Old Home Week.
• 1900: Population of Gilmanton 1,100.