This is a transcription of the Stoddard, NH description from A Gazetteer of New Hampshire Containing Descriptions of all the Counties, Towns and Districts in the State by John Hayward, John P. Jewett (publisher), Boston, 1849.
STODDARD
CHESHIRE CO. This town is situated on the height of land between Merrimac and Connecticut Rivers. It is mountainous and very rocky. The soil is better adapted to grazing than tillage. The south branch of Ashuelot River has its source near the centre of the town. The streams in the east section, fall into the Merrimac; those on the west, into the Connecticut. There are fourteen ponds in the town, some of which are of considerable magnitude.
The first family was that of John Taggard, whose privations and hardships were very great. Their grain was procured at Peterborough, at the distance of twenty miles, which was conveyed by him on his back through the pathless wilderness. At one time, they had nothing, for six days, on which to subsist, but the flesh of the moose.
This town was formerly called Limerick. It was incorporated in 1774, when it received the name of Stoddard, from Colonel Samson Stoddard of Chelmsford, to whom, with several others, it was granted.
Boundaries. North by Washington, east by Windsor and Antrim, south by Nelson and Sullivan, and west by Gilsum and Marlow.
First Settlers. John Taggard, Reuben Walton, Alexander Scott, James Mitchell, and others, in 1769.
First Ministers. Rev. Abishai Colton, settled in 1793; dismissed in 1795. Rev. Isaac Robinson, settled in 1803.
Productions of the Soil. Indian corn, 1,555 bushels; potatoes, 52,680 bushels; hay, 2,973 tons; wool, 11,037 lbs.; maple sugar, 10,105 pounds.
Distances. Fourteen miles north north-east from Keene, and forty-five west south-west from Concord.