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.