Benjamin Read 
History of Swanzey 
New Hampshire, From 1734 to 1890

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The desire to know the history of one’s ancestors, to perpetuate the heroism and noble deeds of his forefathers, is well nigh universal. This feeling is not limited to civilized society, it is not peculiar to people who have a written language. The wild Indian of the forest, knowing nothing of letters, in his own peculiar way recounts to his children the exploits of his fathers, and tradition does for him in part what the historian does for an enlightened people.<br><br>It has long been the feeling of many of the citizens of Swanzey, of those who love their home and revere the memory of those who have gone before them, of those whose interests are identified with the welfare of the town, that some measures should be taken to arrange, preserve, and put in a readable form the record of those events in our early history which could be obtained, and which were worthy of preservation.<br><br>In 1856, Joseph Hammond, jr., was employed to copy some of the ancient town records, many of which were almost obliterated and unintelligible.<br><br>In the warrant for the annual meeting in 1880 an article was inserted to see if the town would take measures to publish its early history and raise money for the same. At this meeting A. A. Ware, Benjamin Read, G. I. Cutler and H. H. Saunderson were chosen a committee to investigate in regard to cost, etc., and report at the next annual meeting. A similar article was inserted in 1881 and a verbal report made at the meeting by the committee. The town, on the plea of the existing indebtedness, voted to dismiss the article. In 1882 an attempt was again made but failed as before. In 1884 the town voted to raise five hundred dollars to be expended by the selectmen towards writing and publishing the history of Swanzey.