There was once a gentleman walking the cobbled streets of Concord during the year 1785, he was simply out for a stroll, very in love and looking for a location to build a home for himself and his bride to be. He searched and searched and finally settled on a small lot located on North Main Street in Concord, somewhat north of the present-day intersection of Chapel and North Main Streets and on the east side. It was a very nice little building lot and certainly located near the growing commerce of our little town. Not far from the growing center of politics and perhaps just far enough away from his future in-laws home located on North Main Street, known today as the historic district.

Daniel set about building his new home on North Main Street as he was courting his future bride, his beloved Sarah. He was a very strategic thinking man, he actually spent most of his adult life in the army and was engaged in many historic battles. With his recent retirement from the army, he strategically placed his new home in a position that would suit his married life. Daniel spoke with his builder and asked that the south end of the home be placed nine inches over the front property line while the north side of the building would remain exactly on the front property line. Daniel was a man with many details and his plan had merit. He thought about his future bride and her father, a very prominent gentleman named Timothy Walker. Daniel thought the nine-inch cantering of his new home would allow him to gaze from the front southern windows and look north to detect his approaching in laws, as well as keep a watchful eye on the home of his wife to be.

I visited with Major Daniel Livermore recently in the Old North Cemetery. His gravestone is straight and orderly, he does rest eternally beside his loving wife Sarah Walker. They reside just down the row of ancient gravestones from Timothy Walker and the rest of the early settlers of our little town. A wonderful family known for contributing much to the citizens of Concord, they do rest in peace, content and still revered by those that know our past.

Daniel Livermore was a true patriot. He served his young country well in the quest to become independent from British rule. He was born in Watertown, Massachusetts in the year 1749, the son of David and Abigail Livermore, descending from the earliest settlers of Watertown. Young Daniel arrived in Concord, New Hampshire to serve an apprenticeship as a house carpenter. As he grew to a mature adult he remained in Concord and worked in the building trades. Descending from a fine family he did have patriotic blood flowing through his veins, the talk of uprisings against the British was common and taxation was certainly a growing concern. Many local residents of Concord simply stopped drinking tea and switched to coffee as a preferred beverage as a sign of boycott against England. It was at this time that young Daniel Livermore was appointed as Second Lieutenant in Captain Gordon Hutchin’s company of Colonel John Stark’s 1st New Hampshire Regiment. His enlistment brought him to the Battle of Bunker Hill where he fought gallantly and he was promoted to First Lieutenant on January 1st, 1776 in the 5th Continental Infantry Regiment, formerly known as the 1st New Hampshire Regiment. Daniel soon found himself promoted once again to the rank of Captain with the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment, which dictated his immediate future, recruiting and building the enlistments for the Continental Army his regiment was sent to Ticonderoga in the spring of 1777.

History tells us that Captain Daniel Livermore, from Concord, New Hampshire, served as a commander of the 4th Company in the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. This placed Daniel right at Valley Forge for the entire encampment from December, 1777 to June, 1778.

Daniel Livermore served General George Washington and performed as a hero should. He fought at Trenton and Princeton too. On October 10th, 1783, Captain Livermore was brevetted Major by Congress and he retired from the army as Major Livermore on December 10th, 1783.

Major Daniel Livermore returned to the tranquil town of his young apprenticeship years, built a new home along North Main Street, a tad askew though strategic, and married his loving Sarah Walker.

As I stand over Daniel and Sarah at the Old North Cemetery under a slight rain, the bright American Flag flutters in the gentle breeze. Not far away stands the Walker residence with the old building lot just down the road where the Livermore house once sat askew.

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