In 1788, Nancy Barton was a sixteen-year old servant girl, working in the home of Colonel Joseph Whipple in Jefferson, New Hampshire. There she fell in love with a farmhand, Jim Swindell. She couldn't have been happier when Jim proposed. They eagerly planned to get married and settle in Portsmouth, NH. A thrifty girl, Nancy saved the money she'd earned working for Colonel Whipple. She entrusted her savings to her future husband. Maybe she should have waited until after he put a ring on it.