Hooksett Historical Sketches
written by Charles R. Hardy (1891-1978)

Town Officers, Chester
Chosen at the first meeting under the charter of the Town of Chester held the 28th day of March, 1723, were Selectmen, a town clerk, Moderator, constable and Surveyors, sometimes know as lot-layers.

By previous acts of George the 1st and George the 2nd, towns were required to designate persons to serve as deer inspectors, hay-wards, field drivers, fishwards, hogreeves, sealers of leather, tythingmen, and cullers of staves. Specific duties were outlined covering the various duties of each. It is interesting to note the following under the duties of hogreeves: "The hogreeve, upon complaint that any person neglects to yoke and ring his swine, is to notify the owner, and if he still neglects to yoke and ring them, the said officer shall yoke and ring them and have twelve pence. No yoke shall be sufficient that shall not be the depth of the swine's neck, and half so much below, and the sole or bottom three times as long as the thickness of the swine's neck." The ringing was to insert a piece of iron wire through the hog's nose, bring the ends together, and twist them so that it should project about an inch above the nose, which would prevent rooting.

Until about 1820, most of the swine ran in the highway. It was the custom in Chester as it has continued in most towns, to choose every man lately married as hogreeves. Hooksett has failed to elect anyone to this office in recent years.
At the above stated meeting, one Thomas Phipps was chosen Moderator; Clement Hughes, Town Clerk, and Samuel Ingalls, Clement Hughes and Caleb Tole, Selectmen.

One of the main reasons for early pioneers coming to this country was to escape persecution in various forms including religion, but it was not for many years following, that separation of church and state became an actuality as witness the following record: In 1737, fifty-four petitioners carried a protest to the Governor and Assembly against being taxed to pay a Congregational Minister. After some discussion (1740) the Presbyterians won the right to be taxed only for their own denomination. The Town of Chester thus furnished an example of a particular religious sect winning freedom from supporting the established town church nearly a century before the Toleration Act. On the other hand, as late as 1807 a Quaker's cow was sold for non-payment of the Minister's Tax at the behest of the Presbyterians.

The Legislature of New Hampshire passed what was termed the Toleration Law, more commonly referred to as the Toleration Act, in June 1819 by which it was rendered illegal for towns, as corporate bodies, to raise money for the support of the gospel. The same act authorized any number of persons to associate themselves together for moral and religious purposes.

In the early days, the salaries of ministers seldom exceeded $600.00. In some instances, a year's supply of potatoes or other "provender" was included as a special inducement for a minister to settle in a parish. Definition of provender is given as being some sort of dry grain which was probably utilized by the minister to feed his horse or cow if he was fortunate to possess either.

There were some archaic laws in the N. H. Statutes which were seldom if ever put into effect, among which was one reading to the effect that - Seats in meeting houses or churches if owned by individuals or families, are considered personal property and may be attached by leaving an attested copy of the writ and of the officer's return thereon with the Town Clerk of the town where the meeting-house or church is located.
Secular Work, - (Sunday) N. H. Statutes, 1878. No person shall do any work, business, or labor of his secular calling to the disturbance of others, works of necessity and mercy excepted, on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's Day; nor shall any person use any play, game, or recreation on that day or any part thereof.

Open Shops on Sunday, -
No person shall keep open his shop, warehouse, cellar, restaurant, or workshop, for the reception of company, or shall sell or expose for sale any merchandise whatsoever on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's Day, but this section shall not be construed to prevent the entertainment of boarders, or the sale of milk, bread, and other necessaries of life, or drugs and medicines.

In Chase's History of Chester 1719-1869, the following under the heading of Religious and Moral History (Ecclesiastical) is noted: Although most aged people when they see the degeneracy of the present age, look back to the good old times and say: "It was not so when I was young," yet there were radical innovators even then, who disturbed the quiet of the conservatives.

The "Innovators" of that period might be called revisionists or extremists today, all of which pretty much indicates that while the foregoing was probably written a hundred or more years ago, it makes one wonder whether we might not have progressed socially, economically or otherwise were it not for the so-called "radicals" and "innovators" of that early period.

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