FRANKLIN, N.H. — Pots, pans, silverware, and a foot warmer were among the nearly two dozen items stolen from the New Hampshire house where statesman Daniel Webster was born, a state parks official said.
Webster, a lawyer and orator who served as secretary of state under three presidents and represented Massachusetts and New Hampshire in Congress, was born in the two-room cabin in Franklin in 1782.
Randy Kovach of the New Hampshire State Parks told WMUR-TV that most of the items, which were taken sometime between July 3 and July 8, are replicas and don’t have much value.
“They were all mostly either pewter, tin, or iron,” Kovach said. “So if you wanted to melt them down, you’re going to weigh a lot but you’re not going to get a lot of money.”
Franklin police said they’ve reached out to pawn shops and are using police dogs to try to track down the items.
“It saddens me that we can’t give quite the educational show that we’d do if we had those items to explain to the children and the people about the way we lived in the 1700s,” Kovach said. “Whoever took them — I hope they can make a good home for them and needed them more than we did.”
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