Nathaniel Batchelder

Biography

Nathaniel Batchelder held office in Hampton, on the New Hampshire coast, during a bitter conflict over provincial taxation. Born in England about 1630, he came to Hampton early in life and married Deborah Smith on December 10, 1656. The town history records at least two terms as constable and nine years as a selectman.

In 1684 the royal administration ordered him, as constable, to collect rates that inhabitants had refused to pay. A September warrant directed him to seize and sell the goods of those withholding payment. A separate order concerned Henry Dow: Nathaniel was to take him to the prison at Great Island unless he identified property that would satisfy the rate. The surviving account establishes the order; whether Dow was actually imprisoned is unresolved.

Nathaniel's family life included three marriages. Deborah died in March 1676, on the date recorded for the birth of their son Stephen. He married Mary Carter Wyman later that year, and Elizabeth Knill in 1689. His children belonged to these successive households.

He died suddenly on January 17, 1709/10, at about eighty. His years of office had placed him between provincial demands and the people whose taxes he was instructed to collect.