Distinguished Citizens of Hampstead

Town Historian -Maurice I. Randall, Jr.
(10/11/1929 - 12/19/2017)

"Maurie" was a lifelong resident of Hampstead, NH. A retired electrician, Maurie loved the town of Hampstead, where he was the Town Historian and President of the Hampstead Historical Society.
He was a former Chairman of the Hampstead School Board, a member of the Planning Board and the Hampstead Fire Department. He was also very active in Hampstead Little League. He was a US Navy veteran, serving during the Korean War.

Maurie, along with his father, was responsible for saving much of the History of Hampstead. Maurie reported that the town's historical documents had been distributed for safekeeping among the residents living on Main street. The Town was afraid of fire, as many other towns had lost their important historical documents to fire. This way a single fire could not destroy all of the town's documents. Typically kept in the attic, over time, these "old papers" sometimes ended up being left out on the street for trash collection. First his father, then Maurie, would walk up and down the street, before trash day, retrieving any valuable papers from the rubbish.  In this way, Hampstead still has the hand-written sermons of the Reverend Henry True, the town's first permanent minister, who came to Hampstead in 1752.

Maurie is also the author of History of Hampstead New Hampshire, a definitive history of the Town of Hampstead, which 
 

Highlights from our collection

The Wheelwright Deed of 1629 (copy)

This deed, which is on file at the registry in Exeter, certifies that Passaconaway for certain valuable considerations, sells to John Wheelwright and his associates a tract of land extending from the then (1629) Massachusetts line thirty miles into the country, and from the Piscataqua to the Merrimac, reserving the hunting and fishing rights to his people. The seventh and last article declares that 'every township within the aforesaid limits or tract of land that hereafter shall be settled shall pay to Passaconaway our chief sagamore that now is and to his successors forever, if lawfully demanded, one coat of trucking cloth a year. The names or marks of several noted sagamore were affixed to the deed as were also the signatures of some of the respectable planters of Saco and Piscataqua.

For a long while this deed was considered a forgery, however there is some evidence that it isn't. Whether or not it is a forgery  it is still a very important historical document as many of our current town boundaries were set as a result of this deed.

The copy of this deed the HHS has in its collection is marked as a copy (see photo in slide show below).