Monday, June 15, 2020

Town Pound, Bow, New Hampshire


The Bow Town Pound was built in 1821.  It's located on the Branch Londonderry Turnpike, just a little bit past the Crossroads Community Church.  At the 1768 town meeting Bow elected Rueben Currier and Samuel Alexander as the "hog constables" (also known as "hog reeves").  The first town pound was east of White Rock Hill. This is the third town pound, the first two have been demolished over the years. 

Each town was entitled to have a town pound and an elected officer to impound wandering animals. The fines collected for hogs, cattle, and other farm animals generated revenue for the town.  It was an important position, and a great fund raiser.  The "hog reeve" was elected during town meeting every spring.  Look through the annual town meeting minutes or town clerk records of your ancestral towns in New England to see if your ancestor was elected as "hog reeve" or some other interesting position.  




Some other town pounds featured on this blog:

Derryfield (Manchester, New Hampshire): 

Hudson, New Hampshire:    

Londonderry, New Hampshire:

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Town Pound, Bow, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 15, 2020, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/06/town-pound-bow-new-hampshire.html: accessed [access date]). 

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