Found at a Brewery

The Anheuser Busch Brewery in Merrimack, New Hampshire

JOHN CROMWELL

First Merrimack Resident

1656 - 1659

John Cromwell was born in England, and as a Puritan was an

original member of the Charlestown, MA Church.  In 1656, Cromwell

built the first wood frame house in Merrimack.  He lived on the 

west bank of the Merrimack River south of Thornton's Ferry and 

north of the Pennichuck Brook.  The land where his house stood is

now part of this property at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in Merrimack.

He was a fur trader, and because of the the great water supply he

decided to build his trading post on the margin of Thornton's

 Ferry at a place now known as "Cromwell's Falls."

Unfortunately, the remains of Cromwell's home can only be seen in

one's imagination"

In 1661 John Cromwell died in Tyngsborough, just over the border with Massachusetts, a little further south along the Merrimack River.  He was married to Seaborne Batchelder, my 1st cousin eleven generations removed. She was the grand daughter of the Reverend Stephen Batchiler/Batchelder, our common ancestor, founder of Hampton, New Hampshire. Seaborne remarried to Robert Parris in 1663 and they lived in Dunstable. 

Seaborne's parents, William Batchelder and Jane Cowper, immigrated to Massachusetts about 1634.  She was baptized in Charlestown on 12 December 1634.  There is no record of her being born at sea, but her name certainly suggests that she was born somewhere between England and Charlestown, Massachusetts. 

You can find this historical marker along the side of the walkway between the brewery and the Clydesdale Hamlet.  This is the facility where the famous draft horses live when they are not on parade or making television commercials. The grounds of the brewery and horse farm have some of the most lovely gardens and lawns in Southern New Hampshire.  The barn, if you can call it a barn, where the clydesdales live is picturesque and sparkling clean. I think you can say these horses live a charmed life in this beautiful location. 

For information about visiting the Anheuser Busch Brewery in Merrimack, New Hampshire, click here:
www.budweisertours.com

For more information on John Cromwell's trading post in Merrimack, New Hampshire, click here:
http://www.nh.searchroots.com/HillsboroughCo/Merrimack/images/Merrimack%20NH%20Bicentennial%20Episode%202.pdf

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http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/found-at-brewery.html

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo