In May of 1722 the Governor of Massachusetts, Col. Sam Shute, signed the town charter creating Rochester, NH. The name of Rochester came from the Earl of Rochester who was the brother of King James II.

The boundaries in 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 setler 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. 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..

The most famous (or infamous) indian attack occurred on May 1, 1748. Jonathan Hodgon's wife was milking cows early in the morning when set upon by a party of indians. The indians killed as her husband watched at a distance. This was the last act of brutality by the indians on Rochester residents.

On Main street there is a monument dedicated to Parson Amos Main. Who was this man and why does he have his own monument????

Amos Main was a man who had  a great influence on Rochester and did much good. He was the town's first minister and served in that capacity from 1737 until his death in April 5, 1760. He was a multi-talented as he would travel around the country side acting as a country doctor (doctoring farm animals as well as people), helping residents with legal documents (such as wills) and preaching the bible. Remember, during these times Rochester was a frontier town and the services provided by Parson Main were invaluable. When he was traversing the countryside he would always be seen with his bible and his rifle. During the years of 1737 to 1760 the Indians were extremely hostile but they never bothered the Parson Main as he travelled around the countryside of Rochester.



This is also provides interesting trivia;
Rochester, NH has has the  only Main Street named after a person. All other Main Steets are the Main Street and not named after a Mr. Main.