The recent acquisition of the former Andover Town Hall (or “town house,” as it was originally called) prompted its new owners to learn more about its origins. The Andover Town Report “for the Year Ending March 1, 1880” listed these payments for construction of the building the previous year:

Hiram Fifield for land $75.00

John Buswell for stone work $114.40

A.R. Hamilton & C.W. Woodbury  $750.00

Miller & Sanborn  $5.00

A.R. Hamilton & C.W. Woodbury   $273.15

Joseph Baker   $134.40

James W. Scales   $29.34

J.Horace Brown, stovepipe & fixtures   $12.61

James W. Scales & Joseph Baker   $50.00

James W. Scales, cash for safe   $150.00

James W. Scales, for fencing and grading   $81.20

Joseph Baker, cash paid A. R. Hamilton   $31.58

” ” , cash paid for cleaning   $3.00

” ” , cash paid for moving safe and board of masons and expense   $16.50

A.R. Hamilton & C. W. Woodbury   $200.00

Joseph Baker   $43.52

W.H Gray, for painting inside  $17.50

Total  $1987.20

Of the names listed above, the 2016 Andover-area telephone directory has listings for local residents named Baker (Andover, Salisbury, Webster, and Wilmot), Brown (Andover, New London, Plainfield, and Wilmot), Buswell (Andover), Hamilton (New London), Gray (Meriden, New London), Sanborn (Andover, Boscawen, New London, Salisbury, and Wilmot) and Woodbury (Meriden). Are these, or other local residents, descendants of those who helped construct the old “Town House”?