Bow, New Hampshire
Merrimack county, was originally laid out nine miles square, comprehending a great portion of the territory now constituting Pembroke and Concord. It is bounded N.E. by Merrimack river, which divides it from Pembroke, S.E. by Hooksett, S.W. by Dunbarton, N.W. by Concord and a part of Hopkinton. The soil is very uneven and hard, but productive when well managed. There is but one pond of any size, called Turee pond. Turkey river empties into the Merrimack at Turkey falls near the N.E. part of Bow. About a mile below are Garven's falls, now passable by locks on Bow side. Bow canal is situated on the Merrimack, 3 miles below Concord; the perpendicular measurement around which it is carried is 25 feet—its length 1/3 of a mile. It passes through a ledge of granite and is for the most part imperishable. Its cost was $13,860; and about $2,000 of its first income were appropriated towards clearing channels through Turkey falls, &c. Pop. 1830, 1,065.
Samuel Welch, the oldest native citizen of New Hampshire, died in Bow on the 5th of April, 1823, at the age of 113 years. He was born at Kingston, Sept. 1st, 1710, where he spent the early part of his life; he lived subsequently a while at Pembroke; but for 50 years preceding his death he resided at Bow, in an obscure corner, and steadily cultivated his little farm, till the frosts of a century had whitened his locks, and the chills of a hundred winters had benumbed his frame. His life was marked by no extraordinary vicissitude—he was never in battle, or in any public service; he was a man of industry and temperance.
