Though the rough and rocky soil is poorly adapted to cultivation, Dunbarton is, and always has been, emphatically a farming town. Yet a long list of mechanics might be given. Carpenters, blacksmiths, painters and masons still ply their trades, but the mill-wrights, shoemakers, tanners, coopers, tailors, tailoresses, and pump makers are people of the past. Less than fifty years ago a tannery was in operation at the place owned by Benjamin Fitts, and a good sized pond covered the space opposite the house of Justus Lord. It was used on several occasions by the Baptists as a place of immersion. William Tenney was the carpenter who built the town hall; Captain Samuel Kimball, the present Congregational Church, and many dwelling houses. Others were the work of John Leach. The man now living who has done more of this work than any other is John D. Bunten, whose work has always been done in a thorough manner. The stone blacksmith shop of Jonathan Waite has been used by three generations, now only for the family work. John B. Ireland still uses the shop of his father, while Lauren P. Hadley's specialty is iron work on wagons. During the past few years much timber has been removed by the aid of portable steam mills. The first store in town was kept by Major Caleb Stark at Page's Corner. He had several successors, among them being Jeremiah Page and John Kimball. At the Center I find, in the "History of Dunbarton," a long list of store-keepers, among whom was David Tenney, one of whose ledgers is still preserved, where the entries of New England rum sold to the most respectable citizens are as numerous as tea and coffee now-a-days. Deacon Burnham kept the store for many years, and later Thomas Wilson and his son Oliver kept the store. The latter also did considerable business as a photographer for a time. His son in-law, John Bunten, is the present proprietor of the store. The business has increased greatly with the sending out of teams to take orders and deliver goods in various parts of the town. Among the successful business men who have left town may be named Lyman W. Colby, who was a successful photographer in Manchester for more than thirty years, and whose recent sudden death is greatly to be deplored by his many friends; John C. Stinson, a merchant of Gloucester, N. J.; Samuel G. Burnham of St. Louis, Missouri; and the late Fred D. Sargent, owner of a restaurant in St. Paul, Minn., where he furnished meals to 500 people daily, and to many more on extra occasions. He had also a branch establishment at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of which his brother, Frank H. Sargent is manager. For several years a newspaper was published by Oscar H. A. Chamberlen, called _The Snow-Flake_, afterwards _The Analecta_.