Published: 7/9/2022 9:52:24 PM
Modified: 7/9/2022 9:52:09 PM
FRANKLIN, N.H. — Nearly two dozen items representative of the 18th century were stolen from Daniel Webster’s birthplace in Franklin sometime between last Sunday and Friday, police said.
The home is registered as a New Hampshire Historic Site, honoring Webster as an important member of Congress in the 1800s.
And while the remodeled, two-room log cabin was emptied of virtually all its contents, the stolen items were reproductions and therefore would not fetch a lot of money on the black market, Franklin Police Chief Dave Goldstein said.
“I have a distinct feeling that whoever did this did not know that these were not original items,” Goldstein said. “If they try to sell them to someone who knows better, I don’t think they’ll go very far with that.”
Items were primarily missing from the main room and one of two bedrooms, police reported. Stolen were a butter churn, a wool carder, an ivory pipe, a baby cradle, a wool spindle, a bowl and water pitcher, a chamber pot, a wicker rocking chair, an iron waffle maker, a foot warmer, a bed warmer, pewter flatware, seven iron pots with lids, a 3-foot saw blade, a wood basket, a tea kettle and an iron fireplace arm.
The person or people responsible entered the house through a door in the back that had been held shut by a single nail, which was found on the floor inside the home.
Goldstein said Officer Mark Faro contacted Unique Pawn Shop in downtown Franklin in case someone attempts to sell the stolen goods there.
“We have a couple of different approaches, like contacting people who might be asked to buy what was stolen,” Goldstein said. “Some people steal and find out that what they stole was not salable because they were reproductions. They might dump it on the side of the road. We’ll follow up with anything we can.”
Webster was born at the site in 1782 and spent his childhood years there. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801 and became a lawyer and powerful orator.
He served as a United States Representative from New Hampshire and Massachusetts and secretary of state under presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore.
Webster spent 40 years in public service and was credited with promoting unity during the country’s early years. He spent his later life in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.
Webster died in 1852 at the age of 70. He was one of the first lawmakers inducted into the United States Senate Hall of Fame in 1957.
The house is a reproduction of the original homestead and is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.