Counties | New Hampshire Almanac

Belknap

• Date Formed: 1840
• Area (sq. mi.): 401.3
• Origin of County Name: for Jeremy Belknap (1744-98), Portsmouth minister & early NH historian

Carroll

• Date Formed: 1840
• Area (sq. mi.): 933.9
• Origin of County Name: for Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), signer of the Declaration of Independence

Cheshire

• Date Formed: 1769
• Area (sq. mi.): 707.5
• Origin of County Name: for Cheshire, England

Coos

• Date Formed: 1803
• Area (sq. mi.): 1,800.6
• Origin of County Name: Indian word meaning "crooked", for a bend in the Connecticut River

Grafton

• Date Formed: 1769
• Area (sq. mi.): 1,713.5
• Origin of County Name: for Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735-1811), the third Duke of Grafton (England)

Hillsborough

• Date Formed: 1769
• Area (sq. mi.): 876.5
• Origin of County Name: for Wills Hill (1718-1793), Earl of Hillsborough (Ireland/Great Britian)

Merrimack

• Date Formed: 1823
• Area (sq. mi.): 934.5
• Origin of County Name: after the Merrimack River

Rockingham

• Date Formed: 1769
• Area (sq. mi.): 695.2
• Origin of County Name: for Charles Watson Wentworth (1730-82), the second Marquis of Rockingham (England)

Strafford

• Date Formed: 1769
• Area (sq. mi.): 368.8
• Origin of County Name: for William Wentworth, the Earl of Strafford (England), ancestor of NH Governors Benning and John Wentworth

Sullivan

• Date Formed: 1827
• Area (sq. mi.): 537.4
• Origin of County Name: for John Sullivan (1740-1795), Governor of NH

Sources:

Date Formed: NH Manual for the General Court, no. 43 (NH Department of State, 1973); NH county histories.
Area (sq. mi.): US Census Bureau, "Table 1. Land Area, Population, and Density for States and Counties: 1990",Released: March 12, 1996. [area is also given in square kilometers]
Origin of County Name: NH Manual for the General Court, no. 43 (NH Department of State, 1973); Dictionary of American Biography; Dictionary of National Biography; NH county histories. Governor John Wentworth (served 1767-1775) named the first five counties in NH after his friends and relatives and places in England.

County Government Offices

• New Hampshire Association of Counties
• National Association of Counties

County Population and Other Demographic Information

• US Census Bureau, "New Hampshire Profiles"
• New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives, State Data Center

The New Hampshire Almanac is compiled by the New Hampshire State Library from state statutes and other sources as noted.