The charter idenitified the boundaries of Rochester as:
To be situated on land lying between the Salmon Falls River and the northeast side line of Barrington. Bounded at the southeast by by Dover, northwest into the country and southwest by the Barrington headline. Not to exceed ten miles square.
Because of indian hostilities it was not until 1727 that the town of Rochester started to get organized. In that year three selectmen were chosen to organize the town, The three were Captain Francis Matthew, Captain John Knight, and Paul Gerrish.. The surveyor chosen to lay out the lots was named Captain Robert Evans, he surveyed and laid out 125 lots.
The first settler of Rochester was Captain Timothy Roberts who moved into Rochester in 1728 a day after Christmas. The second settler was named Eleazar Ham who moved in shortly after Roberts. By 1738 sixty families had moved into Rochester. Because of the menace of indians the families lived close together for personal protection. These first settlements were located near Haven Hill. To motivate the settlers of Rochester to kill indians a bounty was given for indian scalps.These early settlers could earn 100 pounds for every indian scalp that they took.