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New Hampshire News — June 15, 1770

May 31, 2011 James Riley

English Race Horse Available for Breeding

“Scrip,” a beautiful brown bay horse, imported from England and the winner of many matches, has been sent to improve the horse stock of New England, and  is now available for a stud fee of six shillings.   No mare under fourteen hands will be admitted.  He is capable of covering sixty mares in a season.

Watch War

Nathaniel Sheaff Griffith took out an advertisment, claiming his watch repair is much cheaper and of better skill than J. Simnet, “although he (Simnet) has taken such repeated pains to inform the publick (sic) of his great skill and accuracy, vainly flattering himself that the variety of his dress may induce people to believe he is as great a watchmaker as he is a mountebank, and is imitable in a branch that he is a novice and a stranger to…”  Griffith goes on to write “…I desire to return my thanks to Simnet, watchmaker, from London, for his good custom for the many watches I mend and repair after they have been cruely butchered by him.”

Boston Blasts New Hampshire
and Rhode Island

The merchants of neighboring Boston were not only disappointed with their counterparts in New Hampshire;  they were resolved not to trade with them, until they supported the non-importation agreement with more zeal.   At a Boston “Meeting of the Trade,”  the assembly lamented what appeared to be greater trade with New Hampshire, so as to take advantage of the present crisis.  (At this time, in protest of the Townshend Duties, Massachussetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and other colonies had resolved not to purchase British manufactures.)    A vessel belonging to a New Hampshire captain containing 4,000 bushels of Salt was targeted and all present agreed not to purchase any of the ship’s contents.   Anyone purchasing such contents, would forfeit “the good opinion of their fellow citizens.”  In a similar vein, the citizens of Salem took up a resolution against  Captain Trevitt, of Rhode Island, who would not be allowed to have any commerce with the citizens of the town.

Lt. Governor Hutchinson Asks for a Tax

The Lieutenant Governor, in an address to the Massachusetts House of Representatives lamented the growing public debt of the colony and asked that peace time debts be retired, in the event the mother country returned to a state of war.    “I pray you to consider,” Hutchinson said, “whether the discontinuing the excise upon spirituous Liquors, which used to ease the tax, upon Polls & Estates, has been of advantage to the province, or whether it is not probable that it has only caused a proportionably greater unnecessary consumption of such liquors, to the detriment of the health and morals of the people.”

Anna Rogers Dies

“..Departed this life on Tuesday the 29th of May, after a languishing illness, in the 47th year of her age, Mrs. Anna Rogers, the amiable and pious consort of the Rev’d Mr. Daniel Rogers of Exeter, and Daughter of the late Rev’d Mr. Thomas Foxcraft, of Boston.  Her Remains were decently interred on the Tuesday following.  By her firm faith in the Redeemer Demonstrated in a course of Christian Obedience;  the clear manifestation she had of the Glory of God revealed in the Gospel, with the exercise of holy Affections, the result hereof; and the Patience with which she endured her tedious and distressing illness, she gave satisfactory evidence that she is among the blessed who die in the Lord–who rest in Hope and shall rise in Glory.”

New Hampshire Agrees in Spirit

In an unattributed story, the publisher of the Gazette reports that the citizens of Portsmouth largely support non-importation of British goods, though a formal resolution has not been adopted.   Two or three merchants, alone, are in violation of the non-importation agreement, and there is so little British merchandise in town that one can not even purchase a single “handsome suite of cloaths.”

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