Editing South Hampton, New Hampshire (section)

== History ==

[[Image:Street Scene, South Hampton, NH.jpg|thumb|left|South Hampton {{circa|1910}}]]
South Hampton was one of the first towns granted by [[Thirteen Colonies|colonial]] governor [[Benning Wentworth]] after the separation of the governorships of [[New Hampshire]] and [[Massachusetts]] in 1741. The border between the two colonies was fixed, and consequently South Hampton would be chartered in 1742 from former parts of [[Amesbury, Massachusetts|Amesbury]] and [[Salisbury, Massachusetts]]. Over the years, the town lost territory to [[Hampton Falls, New Hampshire|Hampton Falls]], [[Seabrook, New Hampshire|Seabrook]] and [[Newton, New Hampshire|Newton]], but gained territory from [[East Kingston, New Hampshire|East Kingston]] in 1824. Though it was once part of the larger town of Hampton (as were the also separate towns of Hampton Falls and North Hampton), it no longer borders its namesake town due to these border changes.

The town's [[justice of the peace|Justices of the Peace]] in 1831 were Parker Merrill, George W. Pillsbury, Benning Leavitt, John Palmer and A. Brown.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0JEBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32&dq=%22benning+leavitt%22&lr=&ei=OlQxSdeTDoLkkwTggYHMAQ#PPA32,M1 The New-Hampshire Annual Register, and United States Calendar, John Farmer, Hoag and Atwood, Concord, N.H., 1832]</ref>

At one time, the town was home to over twelve different religious [[sect]]s. One of South Hampton's only members of the [[New Hampshire State Senate]] was Benjamin Barnard, who served from 1806 to 1808.