Weare, New Hampshire
town in New Hampshire, United States
Weare is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 9,092 at the 2020 census. It is close to two important New Hampshire cities, Manchester and Concord.
History
It was granted to veterans of the Canadian wars in 1735 by Governor Jonathan Belcher, who named it "Beverly-Canada" after their hometown, Beverly, Massachusetts. But the charter was ruled invalid because of a prior claim by the Masonian proprietors, who granted 6 square miles (16 km2) as "Hale's Town" to Ichabod Robie in 1749. It was also known as "Robie's Town" or "Weare's Town" before being incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1764 as Weare, after Meshech Weare, who served as the town's first clerk and later went on to become New Hampshire's first governor.
In 1834, Moses Cartland founded Clinton Grove Academy, the first Quaker seminary in the state. A cousin of John Greenleaf Whittier, Cartland named the village where the school was located "Clinton Grove", in honor of DeWitt Clinton, chief sponsor of the Erie Canal. The original academy served as a private high school. The complex, which included a classroom building, boarding house, barn and sheds, burned in 1872.
The public source identifies “Weare, New Hampshire” as town in New Hampshire, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Weare, Hampshire and town.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Weare, New Hampshire”, the useful work is to connect “town in New Hampshire, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q634813. VIAF identifies the subject as 123343740. The Library of Congress control number is n2001059658. Authority coordinates are 43.095, -71.731. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1735, 1749 and 1764.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Weare, New Hampshire”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Weare, New Hampshire primary sources, Weare, New Hampshire archive and Weare research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Weare, New Hampshire”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Weare, New Hampshire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.