In the realm of early American historians Jeremy Belknap stands distinguished as author of the most comprehensive history and geography of colonial New Hampshire. Compiled from eyewitness accounts, original documents, and personal observations by the author, Belknap's three-volume The History of New-Hampshire (1784-1792) has remained the preeminent study of New Hampshire's development up to the 1790s. The volumes' authenticity and readability have certified their author's place as one of the most literate historians in and of the eighteenth century.

Belknap was born in Boston to Joseph, a leatherdresser and furrier by trade, and his wife Sarah (Byles). At some point in his youth Belknap adopted the abbreviated form of his given name Jeremiah. He attended the Latin grammar school of Mr. Lovell in Boston and, on Sundays, the preaching of Thomas Prince. Before the age of fifteen Belknap entered Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1762. Grounded in...