Effective family research requires some under-standing of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. County and town histories often include biographical sketches of local residents or mention military units in which they served.

The following important events in the history of New Hampshire affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements:

1623–1638	Traders and religious dissenters established the first permanent English set-tlements in New Hampshire at Dover, Portsmouth, Exeter, and Hampton. John Mason was the proprietor of a large part of New Hampshire. He and the later Masonian proprietors made many town grants and individual land grants until the early 1800s.
1641–1679	New Hampshire settlements were under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
1679	New Hampshire became a separate royal province with the same governor as Massachusetts for most of the period before 1741. The Massachusetts governor made many land grants in what is now New Hampshire.
1739–1741	Boundary disputes with Massachusetts were settled.
1754–1763	The French and Indian War brought many soldiers into New Hampshire, opening the way for new settlements.
1764	The western boundary was declared to be the west bank of the Connecticut River. Earlier, most of Vermont had been claimed by New Hampshire. Before this time, New Hampshire’s governor made many land grants in the area that later became Vermont.
1775–1783	Many soldiers from New Hampshire fought in the Revolutionary War.
1788	New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution to become the ninth state.
1819	The Toleration Act was passed. New Hampshire residents no longer could be forced to pay taxes to support a church.
1842	The boundary between New Hampshire and Quebec was settled. At about this time, farm workers and overseas immigrants began moving to New Hampshire cities to work in the textile and shoe factories.
1861–1865	About 39,000 New Hampshire men served in the Union Army.
1898	1,358 New Hampshire soldier served in the Spanish-American War.
Late 1800s	French Canadians and Europeans settled mostly in cities to work in factories. Manufacturing surpassed farming as the chief occupation.
1918	More than 20,000 soldiers served in WWI. The Navy’s first submarine was completed at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, beginning decades of submarine construction and repair.
1930s	Many employees lost their jobs as the Depression closed factories and mills. The snow skiing industry continued to grow as the tourist industry expanded.
1941–1945	Over 60,000 men and women served in WWII; 1,600 died. Factories converted to defense production and agriculture boomed.
1947–1954	The postwar slump hit factories and farms. Textile and shoe manufacturers continued to move to the South.
1960s	Technology and electronics firms boomed.