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Epsom was granted to the taxpayers of Rye, New Castle and Greenland in
1727. It wasn't until the land was surveyed that the first
20 men drew the first 20 fifty acre lots. Some of the
last names of these proprietors may sound familiar - Seavey,
Goss, Berry, Locke, Dowst, Berry, Wallace, Chapman, Foss,
Weeks and Marden, to name a few. These were referred to
as the "home-lots." On the 9th of November,
the town which had been divided into 4 equal ranges of
a mile each in length, and after making a list of the
proprietors of the 3 towns (totaling 143) met to draw
their several lots. More familiar names: Haines, Tarleton,
Rand, Philbrook, Perkins, Dowst, Parker, Cate, Sherburne,
Hill, Brackett, Morrill Amazeen, Clark...etc. Money for
hiring a minister began in 1742, but the first minister,
Rev. John Tuck, did not arrive until August 1761. In April
1764, a vote was taken to build a meetinghouse. By 1766
it was in use, but Rev. Tuck's stay was to be rather short-lived.
A dispute developed between he and some of the towns folk
and he was dismissed and the meetinghouse shut up in 1774.
Rev. Benjamin Thurston was in Epsom, 1779, but it was
not until 1784 when a full time clergyman returned - Rev.
Ebenezer Haseltine. As much as he was beloved during his
tenure, which ended 1813 with his death, his congregation
never exceeded the number that Rev. Tuck had. Also of
note is the fact that much of the church records of Rev.
Tuck have made their way to the NH Archives. None of Rev.
Hazeltines records have survived or been found to this
day. This leaves a very large amount of vital statistics
for the town of Epsom missing.
Above Photo - Silver and Hall General Store circa 1890. The G.A.R. Hall (second story) was originally the Epsom Baptist Church. | ||||