Stratford, New Hampshire
Coos county. This town lies on the E. bank of Connecticut river, 16 miles above Lancaster. The town is large, extending 10 miles on the river, with a fertile intervale of 1/4 to 1 mile wide. This meadow is skirted in many places by a narrow plain, succeeded by the mountainous regions, covering the whole E. and N. divisions of the town. The soil, except along the river, is rocky, gravelly, and cold. The Peaks, two mountains of a conical form, situated in the S.E. part of the town, are seen at a great distance. They are discovered immediately on entering Dalton, 30 miles below, and stand as land marks in front or to the right, till, on nearer approach, they are lost behind the intervening hills. Bog brook and several smaller streams, here fall into the Connecticut; and Nash's stream crosses the S.E. part of the town into the Amonoosuck. There is a pond in the S.E. part of the town, the waters of which pass into the Amonoosuck. Stratford was incorporated in 1779. Population, in 1830, 443.
Thomas Burnside, of this town, was one of Rogers' Rangers in the French war. Some years afterwards, he was desirous of becoming a justice of the peace. He procured Colonel Barr to assist his views, and carrying with him, by his direction, as a present, a firkin of butter and a piece of linen, waited upon Gov. Wentworth at Portsmouth. He stated to the governor that the inhabitants of his town could not live peaceably any longer without a magistrate. The governor enquired how many inhabitants belonged to the town, and who was the fittest man for the office. Thomas answered that himself and his neighbor were the only inhabitants, and himself the only man qualified for the appointment; for his neighbor was no more fit for a justice of the peace than the d——l was. The governor gave him his commission, and was highly amused with the singularity of the application.
