New Hampshire, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's-current

General collection information

This index allows you to search for your ancestor by name in New Hampshire newspapers that are available on Newspapers.com™ from the 1800s to the present. Not all newspapers from the state of New Hampshire are included. Links to the newspaper article in which your ancestor’s name was found are included in the index.

Using this collection

The index may include the following information:

Historic newspapers can offer a wealth of information to add to your family history. Newspapers publish birth, marriage, and death announcements that can provide the vital dates of your ancestor’s life.

They also reported on important events and happenings in the local community. Newspapers covered everything from local sports teams, school and community events, to local politics and the stories of everyday people in the community. Even if your ancestor’s name doesn’t appear in a newspaper, you could discover what life was like in their community during the time they lived there by reading newspaper articles.

Newspapers also published articles about negative events and difficult topics. You may find articles that state that your ancestor was a victim of a crime, or that they committed a crime or was involved in a political scandal.

Collection in context

The newspapers that are included in this index were produced by journalists working throughout New Hampshire. Newspapers are highly valuable primary historical sources, which contain the biases of the author. They also contain the terminology of the times and may include offensive or obsolete language. Newspapers typically provide the most depth and breadth of information that can be found about the community where they are published. Articles may show up across many sources and states if they were syndicated by groups like the Associated Press.

Newspapers in the United States were often published by political parties and mercantile enterprises until the 1830s, when entrepreneurs began publishing newspapers that they sold for a penny to mass audiences in large cities. The newspaper followed as the United States population grew and the country expanded west during the late 1800s. Between the 1850 and 1880 U.S. Censuses, the number of newspapers increased 350 percent, rising to more than 11,400 publications. From the late 1800s to the early 20th century, technology impacted newspaper production with faster presses, linotype machines that mechanized typesetting, and a process that allowed photographs to be printed.

The New Hampshire Gazette was founded in Portsmouth in 1756 and is possibly the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. The Gazette also was one of the first newspaper in the British colonies to be printed by an enslaved person. The newspaper was founded by Daniel Fowle, but it was an enslaved African man named Primus who operated the press that printed the Gazette.

During the late 1700s, newspapers were established in several other cities across New Hampshire, including Amherst, Concord, Dover, Exeter, Gilmanton, Hanover, Keene, and Walpole. In 1799, the students of Dartmouth College in Hanover started a campus newspaper, the Dartmouth Gazette, which is now the oldest collegiate newspaper in the United States.

New Hampshire was home to one of the most vocal abolitionist newspapers in the country. After being founded in Maine in 1826, The Morning Star moved to Dover, New Hampshire, in 1833. The newspaper was founded by Freewill Baptists, and editor Willam Burr continued its anti-slavery campaign until the end of the American Civil War in 1865.

Bibliography

Brooks, David. “Historic NH newspapers join Library of Congress, digitally.” Granite Geek. Accessed December 27, 2022. https://granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/2022/09/20/historic-nh-newspapers-join-library-of-congress-digitally/.

Brown, Janice. “The New Hampshire Gazette, the Oldest Newspaper in America.” Cow Hampshire. Accessed December 27, 2022. https://www.cowhampshireblog.com/2007/02/26/the-new-hampshire-gazette-the-oldest-newspaper-in-america/.

Library of Congress. “Eighteenth-Century American Newspapers in the Library of Congress: New Hampshire.” Accessed December 27, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/18th/newhampshire.html.

Neuhaus, Chris. “The Black Press: Historical Black Magazines and Newspapers.” University of Northern Iowa. Accessed December 27, 2022. https://guides.lib.uni.edu/the-Black-press.

OfficialUSA.com. “New Hampshire Newspapers.” Accessed December 27, 2022. https://www.officialusa.com/stateguides/media/newspapers/newhampshire.html.

Robinson, J. Dennis. “Primus Fowle Ran First NH Press.” SeacoastNH.com. Accessed December 27, 2022. http://www.seacoastnh.com/primus-fowle-ran-first-nh-press/.

The Family History Guide Blog. “Inside the Guide: Using Newspapers for Family History Research.” Accessed December 27, 2022. https://www.thefhguide.com/blog/inside-the-guide-using-newspapers-for-family-history-research/.

Wentworth, Ed. “Dover’s Anti-Slavery Newspaper.” SeacoastNH.com. Accessed December 27, 2022. http://www.seacoastnh.com/dovers-anti-slavery-newspaper/?showall=1.