An Industrious State

New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s Beginnings

From Traders to Settlers

Money!

The first English people in New Hampshire arrived with the hope of making money!

Native Americans

For a time, a mutually satisfying relationship based on trade was established between Native Americans and the new settlers.

For one thing, Europeans wanted to be able to fish the waters in peace along the coast of North America and up its rivers.

Also, Europeans desired animal pelts, particularly beaver.From 1652 to 1674, 16,000 beaver pelts were exported – not to mention the otter, muskrat, moose, lynx, fox, and raccoon that also were trapped and traded.

Beaver were thought to be so plentiful that they were killed in great numbers.

Soon, they were virtually extinct in New Hampshire.

For their part, Native Americans were more than willing to replace their stone tools with metal tools that Europeans brought with them.

In addition, they began to exchange their leather dress for blue, red, and purple cloth purchased from Europeans.

But the harmony was short-lived.

Growing dependence on European goods began to undermine the Indians’ traditional way of life.

Increasing numbers of English settlers demanded more and more land…

…land that had once belonged to the Indians.

English settlements in…

16701670

English settlements in…

17701770

Land that once had been home to Indian villages, and later an occasional English fort or trading post, became the site of numerous colonial towns.

Farming and Domestic Industry

Colonial Days

Village industry supported needs that could not easily be met by an individual farmer.

Every village had a grist mill and a sawmill, for example…

and tanners produced leather needed for shoes and harnesses.

Industry was a farmer’s second occupation.

Samuel Lane ofStratham was afarmer.

Also, he was

…a tanner

…a shoemaker

…a surveyor

…and a shrewd tradesman.

Industry was a farmer’s second occupation.

John Dunlap, a prosperous Bedford farmer, also made fine furniture.

As towns grew, so did demand for more goods.

Thriving coastal towns like Portsmouth were major trading centers.

But the colonies chafed under English laws that permitted trade only within the British Empire and restricted the manufacture of finished goods.Britain wished to confine the colonies to producing raw materials—such as timber.

The tall trees in New Hampshire’s woods made the mast trade important.Vestiges of that once-important trade may be seen in familiar names in many towns – Mast Road, Mastway, or Mastyard, for example.

Here again, English policy angered colonists.

By law, white pines of certain size were marked by the “King’s Arrow” —distinctive notches cut into the trees.

These trees were reserved for use as masts for English ships.

American victory in the Revolutionary War…

…which had been caused in part by such unpopular laws and restrictions on trade…

once again brought about a change in the way of life in the region.

The change of New Hampshire’s seal reveals a change in perception.This provincial seal of 1775 showed the natural resources for which our colony was known.

The new seal reflected a faith in local industry.

This official seal was approved in 1931.

It is little changed since the images of a rising sun and a ship under construction were first approved in 1784.

© 2008-2010 Christopher MacLeod forthe New Hampshire Historical Society