Pembroke

By Lianne E. H. Keary

Bordered by three rivers, Pembroke is located just south of Concord in one of the fastest growing areas of the state. Like many towns in New England, Pembroke started out as an agricultural settlement and developed into a thriving mill town. Cotton cloth, paper, glass, and bricks were produced in the village's mills, mostly by French Canadian immigrant labor. Among other things, Pembroke is known as the residence of the reputed inventor of the revolver and the site of a grisly murder in 1875. Through vintage photographs, Pembroke chronicles the evolution of this New England town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439632338

Lianne E. H. Keary

Lianne E. H. Keary, author of Arcadia Publishing’s New London, has been the archivist at Colby-Sawyer College since 1996. She grew up in Pembroke and, after graduating from Pembroke Academy, earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree from Simmons College. She has been a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2001, has served on the board of the New Hampshire Archives Group, and has served as a trustee for the Pembroke Town Library.

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INTRODUCTION

Pembroke is located just southeast of Concord, New Hampshire’s capital. It is bordered by Chichester and Epsom to the north, and Allenstown and Bow to the south. Pembroke is unique in that three of its borders are defined by rivers (the Soucook, Merrimack, and Suncook). In his 1855 book, New Hampshire As It Is, Edwin A. Charlton describes Pembroke’s land rising from the rivers in extensive and beautiful swells, which yield abundantly when properly cultivated. Typical of New England communities, Pembroke’s main occupation was agriculture until the mid-1800s, when mass production of goods such as paper and printed cloth by mechanized mills became more profitable.

Visitors to the area may experience some confusion when trying to understand what is meant by Suncook versus Pembroke, especially when inhabitants seemingly use these names interchangeably. This confusion can trace its origins back to the earliest European settlement of the area. In 1725 a group of Indian fighters from near Dunstable, Massachusetts, led by Capt. John Lovewell (or Lovell), drove the Native Americans out of New Hampshire and into Quebec in a series of bloody battles. Captain Lovewell was killed in one of these battles, but in 1728 those men who survived and the heirs of those who died in these fights were granted, by the Massachusetts colony, the area now known as Pembroke. This township was called Suncook, after the native name for the area. Controversy soon arose, however, when it was learned that a year earlier some of the same land had been granted by the colony of New Hampshire to the town of Bow. This was not as unusual an experience as one would think, since during that time there was a dispute over the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. While the colonies were fighting over the boundary, settlers started to make their homes and build meetinghouses in Suncook. Pembroke was incorporated on November 1, 1759. Gov. Benning Wentworth named the town after the Earl of Pembroke, one of his supporters. With Pembroke’s incorporation, Suncook ceased to exist as far as New Hampshire was concerned. However, the inhabitants refused to give up the name entirely, and even now, the name Suncook is used to refer to the village that is partly contained within the town of Pembroke.

Pembroke is unique in that it has retained, for the most part, its Colonial system of range roads. In the 1730s, the proprietors drew lots for their parcels of land, which were to be at least 40 acres in size and of equal value to each other. The parallel roads that provided access to these lots were referred to as range roads, and together with the cross-range roads that ran perpendicular to them, a general grid was formed. Over time, some of these roads have disappeared, but many principal roads in town, such as Fourth Range Road, have kept their original designation to the present day.

In Pembroke’s first census in 1767, the town’s total population numbered 557 people. The earliest settlers lived, for the most part, along what are now Pembroke Street and the other range roads. The village area had been set aside for a sawmill and a gristmill, which needed water power from the river. In time, the village would add more streets to accommodate the increase in population. By 1855 the town had grown to 1,732 residents.