Deacon Peter HEALD^[1]

1736 - 1811  (75 years)

• Name	Peter HEALD
  Title	Deacon
  Prefix	Deacon
  Birth	25 Jan 1735/6	Townsend, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts   [1]
  Gender	Male
  deed	1756	Sliptown, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire   [2]
  	Peter was one of the first settlers of Sliptown (Temple), New Hampshire. He and his brother Ephraim held the two earliest known deeds given to settlers. Peter owned Lot 5 in Range VIII, and 66 acres on the south end of Lot 5 in Range IX.
  CHAF	1758	Sliptown, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire   [3]
  	As early as 1758 the Sliptown records note Peter as "Deacon Peter Heald". As there was no Meeting House in the town until 1770, it is unclear which congregation Deacon Heald served. Some of the early residents attended services at New Ipswich and some attended at Wilton. He later became the first Temple resident to embrace the tenets of the Universalist Church after their introduction in New England by John Murray during the 1770s.
  resided	Before 24 May 1758	Sliptown, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire   [4]
  	Peter's 24 May 1758 Townsend, Massachusetts marriage record states that he was "of Sliptown" (Temple), thus establishing him as a resident of New Hampshire prior to that date. It is of interest, therefore, to note that the 1758 birth record and the 1759 death record for Peter and Sarah's first son were recorded at Townsend, Massachusetts, not at Sliptown (Temple), New Hampshire.
  OFFH	1770	Temple, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire   [3]
  	Peter held the office of town constable in 1770. The extent of his duties appears to have been the "warning out" of undesirable people from the town.
  REVW	19 Apr 1775  [5, 6]
  	He enlisted in the Continental Army at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He marched to Concord on 19 April 1775. Before the men from Temple arrived at Concord, the British had retreated, and the Temple troops proceeded to Cambridge.
  anecdote	1777	Temple, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire   [3]
  	However, two years later at a Temple town meeting in 1777, Peter was questioned as to his loyalty to the American cause. The town record of that meeting states "Mr. Peter Heald's answers are not satisfactory."
  Death	25 Sep 1811  [7]
  Person ID	I3654	mason
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2026

  
  

  Father	Lt. Ephraim HEALD,   b. 19 Feb 1710/11, Concord, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts Bay d. 29 Apr 1802, Townsend, Middlesex Co, MA (Age 91 years)
  Mother	Eleanor ROBBINS,   b. 17 Dec 1707, Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts d. 16 Dec 1791, Townsend, Middlesex Co, MA (Age 83 years)
  Notes	According to the Temple, New Hampshire town records, all five of Ephraim and Eleanor's sons left Townsend and removed to Temple, then known as Sliptown. Their properties were located within Range 8 and Range 9 of the town and appear to have first been owned by their father Ephraim.
  Family ID	F420	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Rebecca RUSSELL
  Children	1. Rebecca HEALD,   b. 18 Mar 1764   2. Simon HEALD,   b. 17 Mar 1766   3. Sarah HEALD,   b. 5 Oct 1769   4. Eunice HEALD,   b. Apr 1771   5. Susanna HEALD,   b. 21 Sep 1773   6. James HEALD,   b. 28 Nov 1777   d. 27 Sep 1813 (Age 35 years)
  Family ID	F6276	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2026

  
  

  Family 2	Sarah BELCHOR   d. Before 1764
  Marriage	24 May 1758	Townsend, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts   [8]
  	Sarah and Peter were married in Townsend by the Rev. Phenehas Heminway on 24 May 1758.
  Children	1. Peter HEALD,   b. 9 Dec 1758, Townsend, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts d. 23 Jun 1759, Townsend, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts (Age 0 years)   2. Peter HEALD,   b. 1760, Sliptown, Hillsborough Co, Province of New Hampshire d. 13 Sep 1838 (Age 78 years)   3. Mary HEALD,   b. 6 Aug 1761
  Photos		Peter Heald house ruin. This house was lived in by five generations of Healds. Early on it served as one of the inns in Temple, Deacon Heald being taxed as a taverner in 1770-1772. The property was sold out of the family after the 1919 death of Brooks Miles Heald, Deacon Peter Heald's great-great-grandson.
  		Peter Heald house ruin.
  Family ID	F513	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2026

  
  

• Sources

  [S148] Henry C. Hallowell, transcribed & edited by; assisted by Lee K. Kugler and Caroline Lewis Kardell. , Hallowell, Vital Records of Townsend, Massachusetts: Town Records to 1850 with Marriage Intentions to 1873 and Cemetery Inscriptions., ((Boston: NEHGS, 1992)), ISBN 0-8808-2030-6. p. 206 (Births - Book 1). [S1612] Frank A. Tuttle, compiler, Tuttle Temple: the Roads, Buildings and House Sites of an Historic Town in New Hampshire., ((n.p.: The Temple Historical Society, 1942)), p. 45. [S1596] Historical Society of Temple, NH, corporate author, A History of Temple, New Hampshire, 1768-1976, ((Dublin, NH: William L. Bauhan, 1976)), p. 462., ISBN 0-87233-040-0. [S148] Henry C. Hallowell, transcribed & edited by; assisted by Lee K. Kugler and Caroline Lewis Kardell. , Hallowell, Vital Records of Townsend, Massachusetts: Town Records to 1850 with Marriage Intentions to 1873 and Cemetery Inscriptions., ((Boston: NEHGS, 1992)), ISBN 0-8808-2030-6. p. 18. (Marriages - Book 1) and p. 235 (Births - Book 2) and p. 257 (Deaths - Book 2). [S1596] Historical Society of Temple, NH, corporate author, A History of Temple, New Hampshire, 1768-1976, ((Dublin, NH: William L. Bauhan, 1976)), p. 828., ISBN 0-87233-040-0. [S5089] Henry Ames Blood, Blood, The History of Temple, NH, ((Boston: George C. Band & Avery, 1860)), p. 97. [S5089] Henry Ames Blood, Blood, The History of Temple, NH, ((Boston: George C. Band & Avery, 1860)). p. 225: Records of the Deacon Peter Heald Family. [S148] Henry C. Hallowell, transcribed & edited by; assisted by Lee K. Kugler and Caroline Lewis Kardell. , Hallowell, Vital Records of Townsend, Massachusetts: Town Records to 1850 with Marriage Intentions to 1873 and Cemetery Inscriptions., ((Boston: NEHGS, 1992)), ISBN 0-8808-2030-6. p. 18. (Marriages - Book 1)