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===Division and redivision=== The town was once a part of [[Exeter, New Hampshire|Exeter]] known as Brentwood (or Brintwood) Parish. It was named after [[Brentwood, Essex|Brentwood]], [[Essex]], originally called "Burnt Wood", where, in 1177, [[Henry II of England|King Henry II]] granted permission for {{convert|40|acre|m2}} of the king's forest to be cut, burned and cultivated. Beginning in 1738, residents living in the southwestern portion of Exeter, now Brentwood and [[Fremont, New Hampshire|Fremont]], petitioned to be set off, but were denied. They cited difficulty of getting to the Exeter church/meetinghouse, where weekly attendance was obligatory, and the requirement to pay Exeter taxes.<ref name="ExeterHist">{{Cite web |last=Rimkunas |first=Barbara |date=June 21, 2013 |title=The Secessionists |url=https://exeterhistory.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-secessionists.html |publisher=Exeter Historical Society}}</ref> Eighteen people wrote in dissent, saying that even the proposed new town would require travel more than two miles to a new meetinghouse.<ref name=Congreg />{{Rp|4}} On June 26, 1742, colonial governor [[Benning Wentworth]] set Brentwood off from Exeter and incorporated it.<ref>[http://gedcomindex.com/Reference/New_Hampshire_1875/076.html Statistics and Gazetteer of New-Hampshire, 1875, page 76] Article in ''Statistics and Gazetteer of New-Hampshire (1875)]</ref> The meetinghouse was planned at "the west side of the 'Gully'", but those living south of the Exeter River said it was hard to reach in spring and fall. For a while, church was held at two venues, north and south of the river.<ref name="Congreg">{{Cite web |last=Dean |first=Benjamin Angier |date=April 25, 1889 |title=Annuals of the Brentwood, N.H. Congregational church and parish |url=http://archive.org/details/annualsofbrentwo00dean |publisher=Boston, T. W. Ripley |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|6}} Residents petitioned for a dividing line between the midpoints of the northern and southern boundaries. In 1744, Gov. Wentworth issued a King's Patent to establish a new town called "Keeneborough Parish", named after his friend, Sir Benjamin Keene (1697β1757), English minister to [[Spain]]. Brentwood continued to tax the residents of Keeneborough;<ref name="ExeterHist" /> one resident was imprisoned for failing to pay, and the [[Legislature|General Assembly]] called Wentworth's action a "usurpation."<ref name=Congreg />{{Rp|8β9}} Minister Nathaniel Trask reconciled the factions and Keeneborough reunited with Brentwood in 1750.<ref name="ExeterHist" /> The westerners petitioned again for separation in 1757 and 1763. In 1764, Brentwood did divide, the western half calling itself "Poplin" (now Fremont). After Rev. Trask's death in 1789, the Congregationalists lamented the decline of religion and morality in favor of alcohol. The town licensed its first "[[dram shop]]" in 1792 and licensed 28 of them over eleven years.<ref name=Congreg />{{Rp|17β19}} A handful of slaves were held in Brentwood, but none at the 1800 or subsequent censuses.<ref name=Congreg />{{Rp|24}}
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