Preface from History of Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire (1888)

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Source:  History of Exeter, New Hampshire by Charles H. Bell,
          publisher J. E. Farwell & Co, Boston, Mass., 1888

page iii

                            PREFACE.
     My chief aim in preparing this history has been to make it
useful. I have quoted largely from the manuscript records of the
town, because they are liable to be destroyed, and what is in
print is safe. For the same reason, and for the benefit of gene-
alogists, I have given many lists of early names.
     A town history is valuable almost in proportion to the accessi-
bility of its contents. For the sake of ease of reference I have
made a general classification of subjects in the present work;
have introduced numerous sub-titles; have arranged all consider-
able lists of names in alphabetical order; have given a full table
of contents at the beginning and a suffieient index at the end.
Classification necessitates some repetition, but that is of small
consequence in comparison with the advantages of the method.
     A complete genealogical history of Exeter is a desideratum.
But it would he a work of years. In this volume will be found
all the information deemed most valuable to the investigator of
family history, which is contained in the records of the town;
to wit: all the "family registers" in any books; all the marriages
and births in the first (oldest) book, and all the deaths in the
same, before the year 1800.
     In addition to these I have added, from other sources, the fol-
lowing: excerpts from the records of old Norfolk county, Massa-
chusetts; a list of all the baptisms of children in Exeter, by the
Rev. Woodbridge Odlin, between 1743 and 1763; a list of all the
publishments of intentions of marriage in the town between 1783
and 1800. These lists may properly be termed new, as they are

page iv 

taken from manuscripts which have not been open to public
inspection.
     The orthography of proper names has been a source of per-
plexity. A uniform rule is hard to fix and harder to follow. In
spite of the best intentions variations have crept in. My only
consolation is that I have probably not spelt names in half so
many ways as their owners did.
     My thanks are especially due to Professor Bradbury L. Cilley
for the unlimited use of the manuscripts of his grandfather, the
Hon. John Kelly, and of the late William Smith, Esq., each of
whom planned a history of the town; also to John Ward Dean,
Esq., of Boston, and to my townsmen Messrs. George W. Dear-
born, John T. Perry, William H. Belknap, Edward Giddings and
many others who have most obligingly aided me in obtaining
information.
     It would be idle to suppose that this work is free from mistakes.
In writing the history of a town the difficulties may be said to be
in a direct ratio to the remoteness of the period treated of.
Exeter being two hundred and fifty years old, the information
respecting it has had to be gleaned from a multitude of sources,
and the liabilities to errors of all kinds are correspondingly
increased. The greatest care and pains have been bestowed,
however, to insure accuracy, and it is hoped that mistakes will
not be found to be numerous or important.
     My townsmen will of course note many omissions, due for the
most part to limited time and space. It is not believed that they
will seriously detract from the value of the work to others.
                                                CHARLES H. BELL.