to the historical literature of the State—one, the history of old Nottingham, comprising Nottingham, Northwood, and Deerfield, by Rev. E. C. Cogswell, the historian of New Boston, who has been many years principal of Northwood Academy, and the other of Hollis, by Hon. Samuel T. Worchester, of Nashua, a native of that town. In a notice of the former, Prof. Sanborn, of Hanover, says:
"Town histories, like nouns, are both common, proper, and collective. They are common, because most of the larger towns in the state have made provision for the publication of their local histories. They are proper, because they snatch from
'Decay's effacing fingers,'
valuable records which would, otherwise, be lost. Acts of incorporation, town records, the origin of churches, schools and academies, and the civil and military history of many of our honored fathers, are today so 'tattered and torn,' as to be almost illegible. When the biographies of the first settlers are written, then the town history resembles a noun of multitude or a collective noun. Mr. Cogswell has rescued from oblivion the early history of three towns. The oldest Nottingham was the parent of Deerfield and Northwood. Nottingham was originally ten miles square. It was almost large enough to make three towns of the usual size, six miles square. In early times, the ecclesiastical history of new settlements was often more important than the civil history. The minister was settled by the town. The parsonage, the church, the call, the salary, and the ordination often filled the larger part of the town records. If there was a quarrel, the whole population were involved in it. Sometimes ministers sued their towns for arrears of salary; then the hearers became indifferent or hostile. It was a good day for the churches, when the towns ceased to call and settle ministers. Mr. Cogswell has given a faithful narrative of all the settlements that have occurred in these three towns; and thus has sketched the life and labors of many excellent men. The embellishments of his history are not the least valuable portion of it. He has, at large expense procured pictures of scenery, mountains, lakes, churches, and homes, which give great interest to the narrative. He has, also, given us the faces of many of the men and women who have enacted the history of these three towns. The work deserves the patronage of all the citizens who dwell in them. The labor of preparing it has been long, wearisome and comparatively profitless. It is a valuable contribution to the history of the state and has a special interest for the descendants of those who felled the trees, opened the roads, built the houses, and fought the battles of 'those times that tried men's souls.'"
The History of Hollis, by Judge Worcester, which has just been published by A. Williams & Co., of Boston, is embraced in a handsome octavo volume of 393 pages, embellished by twenty-five engravings, sixteen of which are portraits.
The town of Hollis, which was embraced in the territory of old Dunstable, and was first incorporated as the West Parish of Dunstable, has a history dating back a hundred and fifty years, the first charter of incorporation having been granted in 1739, but a settlement having been made within its limits nearly ten years previous, Capt. Peter Powers being the first settler. Upon the adjustment of the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the line was so established as to leave the territory which is now Hollis, in the latter province, and the Massachusetts charter became worthless. A district organization was maintained until 1746, when a charter was obtained of the New Hampshire government, under the name of Hollis, or Holles, as it was originally spelled.
From its early settlement and generally continued prosperity, the town had come to be, at the time of the Revolution, among the more important in the state, having a population of 1255 souls, according to a census taken in 1775. It contributed quite a number
