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Quicktime (requires plugin)When you go out and get the township, you get to name the town.
That simple colonial principle is how the town we know today as Dunbarton began its existence as Starkstown. That was in 1751, when Archibald Stark (father of General John Stark) was granted a township by the Masonian Proprietors.
In doing so, he was able to rename a community that had heretofore been known as Gorham's Town.
When Archibald Stark came to the area, he was accompanied by Scotch-Irish countrymen who arrived in New England by way of Northern Ireland. While another man might have savored the honor of living in a town that carried his name, Stark chose to honor his native land instead.
He was from Dumbartonshire in Scotland, home to the historic Dunbar Castle. That castle, according to "New Hampshire Town Names (and Whence They Came)" by Elmer Munson Hunt, was where "Black Agnes," the Countess of March, withstood a three-year siege by the British, and in that same castle, Mary, Queen of Scots, was once held prisoner until she consented to marry the Earl of Bothwell.
Given that storied history, Stark wanted his new homeland to reflect his heritage. Thus, while Starkstown was on the map for 14 years, the maps had to be redrawn in 1765, when the town was officially incorporated as Dunbarton.