Campton, New Hampshire
Grafton county. Is bounded N. by Thornton, E. by Sandwich, S. by Holderness and Plymouth, W. by Rumney; is 50 miles from Concord and 75 from Portsmouth. Its surface is broken and uneven, abounding with rocky ledges, and having several mountainous tracts. Besides Pemigewasset river, running N. and S. through nearly the centre of the town, it is watered by Mad and Beebe's rivers, which fall into the Pemigewasset on the E., and by West Branch river and Bog brook on the W. The land in the valleys is generally good, and there is some good intervale. The high land us good for grazing. The forest trees are mostly deciduous. No white oak or pitch pine is found N. of the centre of the town. Iron ore of an inferior quality is found in some places. The towns of Campton and Rumney were both granted in Oct. 1761 to Capt. Jabez Spencer, of East Haddam, Conn., but he dying before a settlement was effected, his heirs, in conjunction with others, obtained a new charter, Jan. 5, 1767. The first settlement was made in 1765, by two families of the names of Fox and Taylor. The proprietors held their first meeting Nov. 2, 1769, and the inhabitants theirs, Dec. 16, 1771. From the circumstance of the first proprietors building a camp when they went to survey Campton and Rumney, this town derives its name. In the revolutionary war, this town, though in its infancy, furnished nine or ten soldiers, five of whom died in the service, and three were living in 1822. Population, in 1830, 1,318.
