Norwich bulletin., 1913-11-12
OLD HAMPTON PAPERS
HAMPTON TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD.

1 In 1712 the good people of Windhan desiring more land turned their at ] tentfon to the region known as the Ap- paquage Country, They followed the 1 Nipmuck trRil up the banks of the Ap- l paquage river, now called Little river 1 to where 1t wound past the great Ap- paQuage Hill, Hampton HID which commanded a fine view of the sur rounding country, revealing the great forests which bounded the fertile val leys of the Appaquage country. They were charmed with the location and as
 the land was good and cheep'' though
 remote and inaccessible they decided to form a new settlement on the hill which they called Windham Village The settlement was formed mostly on what was called Burnt Cedar Swamp Road, the road which now leads di-
 rectly west past the Catholic church. It formed quite settlement, or as we would say now neighDOrh oOd, where the Hampton people ffrst made their homes two hundred years ago in 1713.
 Nathaniel Hovey bought land, 100 acres t713 and settled on it. Timothy Pearl the same year bought 100 acres on Appaquage Hill; other settlers were John Durkeey of Gloucester who bought land on the river. Abel and Robert Holt of Andover, Nathaniel kingsbury of Mass, Thomas Fuller, John Button, George Allen and others settled on this attractive Hill. A few sons of the best families of Windham also joined this settlement like Eben- eZer Abbe and Stephenn Howard Many of the prominent Hampton fam flies to-day are direct descendants from these First Families of Hampton.
 They attended worship in Windham Green at first but the distance was so great that in 1715 they petitioned for a separate church of their own q +I,.-. privileges were also allowed, such as Edward Colburn and Joshua Lasel be- ing appointed fence viewers and Jon athan Bingham appointed ito view place for a burying place, liberty be- ing given him ito take off upon the East side of the East Highway by the Cedar, Swamp Brook, part of the Highway for a convenient burying place. They leaving the highway four rods wide by said broolI buryins place not to extend above twenty rods in length"
 In TIT there were between twenty and thirty families in this new setr tlement of Windham Village or Hamp- ton Hill. Probably the first settler in the northeast part of the town was Dacid Canada; he built the first house and kept the first tavern. and although but little is known concerning him as he died before the Church was or &anlZ6N ana thus T6tOTUS kept, yet He gave his name to the whole of this new settlement in the Appaquage country which was called Canada Par ish for many years. The names of his wife and of his sons appear in the early church books and when the church was organized Windham gave them permission to be called Canada Parish.
 The work of building the church was slow from the lack of funds so relig ious meetings were held from house to house, Early in 1722 they settled Mir. Wm. Billings of Preston, a Yale graduate of the class of 1726, even though their meeting house was far fram completed. The building of the first church was great event in the Parish history. There were twenty six families living outside the society who attended the services in Windham village, and were taxed to build it. It was a great burden to them as they