By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | October 18, 2018
Edwin A. Charlton’s 1857 description of Milton, “as it is”:
Milton, Strafford county. Bounded north-west by Middleton and Wakefield, east by Salmon Falls River, which separates it from Lebanon, Maine, and south-west by Farmington and New Durham. Area, 25,000 acres. Distance from Concord, 40 miles north-east, from Dover, 20, north-west. Salmon Falls River washes its whole eastern border for a distance of 13 miles. A branch of this river passes through its northern extremity. Milton Pond lies at the foot of Teneriffe Mountain – a bold and rocky elevation, which extends along its eastern section. The soil is generally good, the surface somewhat broken, and affords excellent pasturage. The inhabitants are mostly engaged in farming.
Milton Mills – John Townsend, proprietor; capital, $50,000; manufacture flannels; have 18 looms and 1200 spindles. Amount manufactured per annum, $90,000. Do. [Ditto] stock used per annum, 120,000 pounds wool. Number of operatives, 35.
This town was formerly a part of Rochester, from which it was taken and incorporated June 11, 1802. There are two meeting houses – one Congregational, and one Christian.
Population, 1629. Number of polls, 406. Inventory, $414,982. Value of lands, $236,265. Do. [Ditto] mills and factories, $8500. Do. stock in trade, $10,730. Money at interest, &c, $12,939. Number of sheep, 708. Do. neat stock [cattle], 1264. Do. horses, 189.
Charlton’s nineteenth-century orthography is interesting. He retains some features from the eighteenth century. Numbers in the single thousands do not employ commas. That is reserved only for numbers in the tens of thousands or larger. The traditional abbreviation “do.” is used for “ditto,” which is itself a sort of Latin abbreviation for “as has been said before.” The plural of operators, as in machine operators, is “operatives.” Neat stock would be oxen or heifers.
Previous in sequence: Milton in 1849; next in sequence: Milton in 1859
References:
Charlton, Edwin Azro. (1857). New Hampshire As It Is. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=vnIUAAAAYAAJ
Milton Observer 