Thomas Jameson's New Hampshire Homesteads

Thomas Jameson arrived in Colonial New England in 1738 and as far as we know came directly to the Londonderry area of New Hampshire where his cousin Jonathan and Alexander (possibly his brother), were already living. We know he was here at least by 1741 as he was mentioned as such in his cousin Jonathan's last will and testament. Not much else is recorded about Thomas in these first few years, until 1748 when he purchased property in the Canada Middle Range of northern Londonderry Town,[1] just north of what was then the settlement and now the town center.

Although we don't know anything of Thomas' life in his first ten years in America, but as a cordwainer we can assume he had some association and probable attachment with his cousin Jonathan (also a cordwainer) at his home in what is now nearby Derry, New Hampshire (see here). It is even possible that Thomas may have lived with Jonathan in Derry, or even on that property after Jonathan had died in 1742.

In 1748, Thomas bought a forty acre tract of land in the Canada Middle Range, first owned by the original Proprietor James Blair. This land was in the little known area of what was then, north west Londonderry generally called Canada, as was apparently everything north of the main village at that time. Thomas' land was "up there" close to what is still known as the Great Canada Swamp. Thomas bought this 40 acre tract for 42 Pounds from Thomas Hill and was the sixth owner in only 25 years since it was first made available to anyone, apart from the indigenous Indians.

We do not know much about this property or exactly where it was or where it would be now, but we do know it was just south and a little east of where the Manchester Airport is now. We also know from the original land transaction that it was bounded on the east by Canada Street, a north-south street that no longer exists as such. Judging from all the information we have on the property and what we can gather from old maps of that time, it was between Mammoth Road (NH 128) and what is now Interstate I-93, where that runs parallel with Rockingham Road (NH 28). Noyes Road ran north-south through the center of the property even back then and its eastern border would have been just a little west of what is now Perkins Road. Thomas' property would have been south of Rockingham Road where it runs east-west and maybe around where modern day Welch Road runs east-west and intersects with Noyes. We don't know where on the property he would have had his home, although we think it most likely would have been close to one of these roads. Thomas was a cordwainer and married at the time. He had all his (seven) children during the time he lived here.

A few years later, in 1761, Thomas Jameson moved to what had now become the town of Dunbarton[2]. He bought Samuel Todd's original holdings of two parcels totaling one hundred and fifty acres in two lots, one (lot 4-11) just north of his brother Hugh's property. There was another smaller disconnected parcel on the eastern edge of the town (lot 7-11). Thomas bought the property for 600 Pounds, old Tenor, from Mathew Taylor and Thomas Burnside.[3] Thomas sold his property in Londonderry in 1762 to his brother in law, James Ewins, and remained in Dunbarton, with his family, for what were the last few years of his life. Some of his family remained in the area for awhile, notably his son John and daughter Isabella, but most of them moved away, many to nearby Antrim, New Hampshire.

We are pretty sure we know where Thomas' property in Dunbarton is located in today's terms, based on the size and location of the original lots[4] (see original town plan map) and other mentions in historical documents. Although the precise boundaries are somewhat unknown. The larger parcel would be located north of the town center (NH Route 13 and Robert Rogers Road) and centered (north to south) between what is now Burnham Lane and Bernard Hill Road. Stark Highway North (NH Route 13) would likely have been either at the western edge of the property or ran through the most western part of the property, the rest running easterly about a quarter of a mile.

This location of his property is reinforced by its mention in the book "Where Winds Blow Free" where it is noted that Thomas Jameson settled and died on land a mile north of town center and about a quarter mile east of the town Pound,[5][6] The town Pound[7] was (and is still) on the west side of Highway 13, about equal distance (n/s) within Thomas' land. This would be not quite two miles north of brother Hugh Jameson's house on South Highway 13.

We don't know where exactly Thomas would have had his home on this property, although John Spengler discovered crumbling foundations of a dwelling and barn on a 1986 visit (see his complete story here), about a quarter mile east of Stark Highway on what is now an abandoned and overgrown, unnamed road. This is consistent with what most historical mentions of this suggest, including those in the book "Where Winds Blow Free." In fact it is said that years later, two separate fires destroyed the buildings, which after the second fire the place was not rebuilt.[8] We also do not know if the surviving foundations, house or barn, were from buildings Thomas or his son John had built, or from buildings that were built after the Ryders had bought the property from the Jamesons. It is also possible, although less likely, that these were from buildings built from before Thomas bought the land from Samuel Todd.

Based on everything we know on the subject, it is reasonable to say, almost to a certainty, that the foundational remains of buildings on property a little east of Stark Highway on a deserted and unnamed road, just north of what was once the town pound, were where Thomas Jameson and later his son John had lived, and quite possibly the very foundations under which they had built their house and barn. We think the GPS coordinates for the homestead would be about 43.113706 N, -71.611565 W.

Most of Thomas Jameson's family left the Dunbarton area in the latter 1700's. Of those that did remain, it appears that his son John took over the family property. There is a second reference in the "Winds Blow Free" book to John Jameson, "an early blacksmith in Dunbarton, who's father Thomas, settled on land east of the town pound known for years as the (Thomas) Ryder place, Land now (1976?) owned by C.A. Fuller."[8]

When John Jameson died in 1806 there was no one left in Dunbarton of this branch of the family with the name Jameson. We don't know exactly what happened to either parcels of the property, but it does appear that the buildings on this homestead were destroyed, as mentioned above and in the book "Winds Blow Free."[8]