17 



creants, who had, time and again, brought terror and death to 

 the frontier settlements of New England. 



Hither also came Benjamin Thompson, now known the 

 world over as Count Rumford, and sought successfully the hand 

 of the minister's eldest daughter. 1 Here he talked over with 

 his son and his three other sons-in-law the various events of the 

 Revolution in which all of them had actively and patriotically 

 participated. Here his brethren of the cloth always found 

 hearty welcome, as did also scores and hundreds of others who 

 sought, from time to time, his society and hospitality. 



Successful farming in New Hampshire without a barn has 

 never been possible. In due time the first minister managed to 

 provide himself with one commensurate with his needs. It was 

 about one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. Its interior 

 consisted of two cross driveways, a granary, scaffolds and bays. 

 Adjoining it on its south side was a lean-to for his cattle and 

 horses. 



Lumber was of good quality when this barn was built. Some 

 of its timbers are doing faithful service to-day. It was, in short, 

 one of those old New England barns which those who have 

 known them contemplate with affection. Such an one as our 

 own fathers and mothers played in when children ; one in which 

 a hen could hide her nest beyond all possibility of discovery and 

 hatch an unwelcome brood of fall chickens with highest success ; 

 a barn to delight the heart of childhood and add pleasure to the 

 reminiscences of old age. 



In the early part of this century, a grandson of the first min- 

 ister, to whom this structure, which had become old and old fash- 



1 The date of Count Rumford's ( Benjamin Thompson's ) marriage has not 

 been preserved. His marriage license, however, is in existence and reads as 

 follows : 



" By His Excellency John Wentworth, Esq.; Captain-General, Governor, 

 and Commander in Chief in, and over His Majesty's Province of New Hamp- 

 shire, etc. To either of the ordained Ministers of the Gospel in said Prov- 

 ince, and them only. You are hereby Authorized and Impower'd to join to- 

 gether in holy Matrimony, Benjamin Thompson and Sarah Rolfe unless some 

 lawful Impediment appears to you to the contrary. 



Given at Portsmouth, the fourteenth day of November, 1772. 



No. 641333. J. Wentworth." 



