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Quicktime (requires plugin)Before the British crown established a provincial government in New Hampshire, the area we know as Goffstown was part of Massachusetts known as Narragansett No. 4.
As cold and bureaucratic as that name sounds, it was better than a temporary option because after the Narragansett Indian War, part of the land had been awarded to a Massachusetts soldier named Edward Shove, who, quite naturally, called it Shovestown.
Fortunately, in 1748, a grant was issued to another group of settlers headed by Colonel John Goffe. In the original act of incorporation, the town's name was listed as "Goff's Town" and - in the two and one-half centuries that have passed since that time - no one has ever been able to locate the mysterious disappearing "E".
How quickly did the settlers of "Goff's Town" help shape the New Hampshire way of life? Even while the Revolutionary War was being fought, the good people of Goffstown filed a petition with the House of Representatives in which they sought to "Humbly Sheweth" why they should be allowed to conduct a lottery to pay for three bridges over the Piscataquog River.
A lottery? Some things never change.
Still, it was necessary, because the cost would be "an almost Intolerable Burden for a Town so thinly Inhabited to bear," according to the petition. All told, the town was seeking "the Benefit of a lottery to raise Two Thousand five hundred dollars which would Enable them to build Sutable and Durable Bridges."
In the end, they got permission and thanks to a "Speedy Sale of the Tickets," the townspeople were able to traverse the treacherous Piscataquog - "Verry rapid, at Sertain Seasons" - for the Publick benefit.