User:Keelida/Matthew Harvey House

History
After Matthew Harvey died in 1799, his firstborn son Jonathan Harvey became the primary resident of the house. Both Jonathan Harvey and his younger brother Matthew Harvey served in the New Hampshire legislature and the United States Congress. In 1820, Jonathan stood as President of the New Hampshire Senate while his brother Matthew was Speaker of the House. The site where the Matthew Harvey House stands is currently called Muster Field Farm because of the military musters that took place on the property between 1787 and 1851. Musters were politically and socially important events: hundreds of men would gather with their regiment for military inspection, often bringing their wives and children. Vendors and musicians would arrive as well, generating a country fair atmosphere. During these occasions, the ballroom of the Matthew Harvey House would be used for entertaining the officers of the regiment. The house remained in the Harvey family for eight generations, until the Bristol family of Massachusetts purchased the property in 1941. Robert S. Bristol created the Muster Field Farm Museum, preserving the Matthew Harvey Home for future generations, with the caveat that the property always remain a working farm.