Page:A topographical and historical sketch of the town of Andover, in the county of Hillsborough, and state of New Hampshire.djvu/7



reader cannot expect to find, in the history of so recent a settlement as that of Andover, much to interest his fancy or improve his mind. It is to the earlier efforts of our pilgrim fathers, that we must look for examples of heroic piety and perseverance, amid the dangers which surrounded them, both of famine and savage war. There is still an inducement to collect the facts in the early history of even the younger towns, from the reflection that so much has been lost in the history of the older. Timely exertions only can preserve for the use of posterity, those particulars concerning events of the present day, which we are all so anxious to know respecting "times of old." With this view, the writer of the following pages has endeavored to bring into a small compass, every material fact relating to his native town; and whether they be valuable or not, his satisfaction rests in having rescued from forgetfulness circumstances, which, if not interesting at the present day, may become so to those who shall hereafter occupy the lands lately cultivated by our fathers.

February, 1822.