USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 2 > Part 11
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The remainder of the settlements made in Massachusetts during these years (1715-1742) were incorporated in the older counties. Barnstable added Provincetown,-formed from the precinct of Cape Cod; Bristol added Raynham, part of Taun- ton; Easton was part of Norton; and Berkley was made up of portions of Dighton and Taunton. No new community
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EXPANSION AND TOWN SYSTEM
had been incorporated in Plymouth County since Abington and Pembroke in 1712, and with the exception of Plympton in 1707, none before that since Rochester in 1686. Beginning with Kingston in 1726 (previous to its incorporation the Jones River Parish of Plymouth), three more towns were added within a few years. These were Hanover, Halifax and Ware- ham. The former was established from parts of Scituate and Abington. Halifax was composed of portions of Plympton, Middleborough and Pembroke. Wareham was formed from the east end of Rochester with the plantation of Agawam in Plymouth.
Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk (then part of Suf- folk County ) contributed the remainder. The former increased its already impressive list of towns with nine additional com- munities,-Acton, Bedford, Holliston, Stoneham, Tewks- bury, Townsend, Waltham, Westford and Wilmington. Essex added Methuen and Middleton. Norfolk (incorporated as a separate county in 1793) found its municipalities increased by Bellingham, Stoughton, and Walpole. Chelsea (Suffolk County) was incorporated out of Boston. Townsend (Middle- sex County) was formed from the north part of Turkey Hill. The others without exception were established by the sub- division of older communities.
COMPARISON WITH ORIGINAL TOWNS
From these data, it is clear that, by the middle of the seventeenth century, settlements were extending in a very different way from the old colonial methods. For instance, ancient Watertown began "by occasion of Sir Richard Salting- stall, who at his arrival, having some store of Cattell and servants, they wintered in those parts." Roxbury owed its origin to the continued dispersal of the Winthrop colonists when "Mr. Pincheon and several others planted betwixt Boston and Dorchester ; which place was called Roxbury." Still other settlers "issued out to a place between Charlestown and Salem, called Saugust, since ordered to be called Linn." Cam- bridge was the result of much deliberation on the part of the governor and assistants concerning a suitable site for a fortified town. It was subsequently agreed to build such a place on
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the "Charles River, about three miles west from Charlestown," and practically all pledged themselves to erect houses there the following spring "and remove their ordnance and muni- tions thither."
Neither definite land policy nor regular legal sanction marked the early establishments. The exigencies that deter- mined the choice of the site were highly practical. "We could not have a town in the place aforesaid" [Roxbury], wrote Winthrop, "because men would be forced to keep two families
. . There was no running water; and if there were any springs, they would not suffice the town . . . The most part of the people had built already, and would not be able to build again." Even when the General Court established a close supervision over the settlement of new communities, coloniza- tion was still undertaken only by those who were seeking new homes.
LAND-GRANT TOWNS (1740-1765)
The eighteenth century was very different. The period brought commercial and industrial expansion and with it the element of speculation became of paramount importance in Massachusetts land policies. Few of the original grantees occupied the territory assigned to them. Land allotments became common in the nature of military awards for service in the various colonial wars. Such were the famous Narra- gansett Townships,-a bonus for service in King Philip's War -for which the General Court made numerous grants.
Another instance was the equally important Canada Town- ships, generously allowed in recognition of public service in the Canadian expedition of 1690. Petitions of claimants were steadily filed. Townships six miles square were voted, the settlers being obliged only to "bring forward the Settlement . .. in as Regular and defensible a manner, as the Situation and Circumstances of the Places will admit of." In addition there were to be constructed certain houses of a prescribed size; and orthodox minister must be established, and a meeting house built,-all within five years.
The need of border defence affected the policy of Frontier Townships, resulting in additional tiers of towns in the western and northern sections. Nine townships and an additional
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tract were auctioned off in 1762, bringing over sixteen thous- and pounds, each to be occupied within five years by sixty settlers erecting prescribed dwellings, each to show seven acres of land cleared,-"brought to English Grass or Plowed;" in every center the customary minister was established in each new township. Such processes were compelled by economic and defensive policies that quite upset the cautious procedure of the previous century.
USUAL METHOD OF SETTLEMENT
The natural order of political development was from the plantation through the district to the town; but there were many variations in the process. At times a grant ( frequently six or eight miles square) would be made to a group of prospective inhabitants "providing sixty families settle thereon" within a limited time. Meanwhile a committee was appointed by the Council to manage the settlement "until it shall become a town." In other instances upon petition of the inhabitants of part of an established community it received an independant status. The area would be erected into a township; often an additional "precinct" was set off to facili- tate the worship of God and Support of a learned & Orthodox ministry among themselves."
But in all other respects the precinct was to be considered as part of the older settlement. The Court might refuse the request, as it did in the case of Swansea because it could not "see reason as yet to Divide Swanzey into two Distinct Towns." Or, after sufficient hearings and deliberations, the petition was granted and a name given as in the days of the Colony. For example-
"Ordered that the Village or District now called Manamoit be erected into a Township & the Town named Chatham."
An example of legislation for a district is the order of June, 1714 : "Whereas a number of inhabitants are settled upon that ... cape [Cape Cod], and many others resort thither at certain seasons of the year, to make fishing voyages there, which has not hitherto been under the government of any town, or regulation among themselves, that henceforth all the pro- vince lands in the said cape be a district or precinct, and the
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DISTRICTS
inhabitants then are obliged to secure and support a learned orthodox minister, of good conversation, to dispense the word of God among them, and to allow him sixty pounds a year maintenance." Thirteen years later the area was made a town- ship under the name of Provincetown.
Thomas Hutchinson relates that when a bill was passed by both houses of the General Court to make the district of Dan- vers (long a part of Salem) into a town, objections came from certain members of the Council, because : "By the kings instruc- tions to the governor, he was strictly charged to consent to no act for making a new town, unless, by a clause in it, there should be restraint of this power of sending representatives; and Danvers, a few years before, when it had been separated from the town of Salem, was made a district and not a town, because districts had not this power."
DISTRICTS
Even in colonial times there are numerous instances of groups of individuals who, occupying clearly defined areas, were frequently established as townships or districts, without the full privileges of a town. For example, the act erecting Danvers into a district reads : the "inhabitants ... shall do the duties that are required and enjoyined on other towns, and enjoy all the powers, priviledges and immunities that towns in this province by law enjoy, except that of separately chusing and sending one or more representatives to represent them at the general assembly."
A later act of June, 1757 subsequently incorporated Danvers with all the powers, privileges and immunities that the "inhab- itants of the towns within this province are or by law ought to be vested or endowed with." This somewhat irregular con- dition passed with the English control, for among the first acts of the Provincial Congress that met in Watertown in July, 1775, was an order that every district in the colony would henceforth be a town "to all intents (and purposes) what- soever."
NEW TOWNS (1742-1763)
In the way just described, Massachusetts developed its local governments in the eighteenth century. The communities
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established from the beginning of the province period (1692) to well toward the middle of the century (1742) have been listed. The period covered approximately by the next two decades,-to 1763-although still more strongly marked by the newer methods of expansion, showed a no less vigorous development. In Essex County, as has been mentioned, Dan- vers was established from the District of Danvers, formerly the Village and Middle Parish of Salem. In Middlesex, Shirley, Pepperell and Lincoln were incorporated,-the first two from parts of Groton, and the latter from a former pre- cinct, originally portions of Concord, Lexington and Weston.
Hampshire County added Pelham, Southhampton, South Hadley, Greenwich, Amherst, Belchertown, Ware and Ches- terfield. Southampton, South Hadley and Ware were made districts only. Plymouth made no additions until Carver was incorporated from the southern part of Plympton in 1790. Bristol added no town until Mansfield,-the north precinct of Norton, in 1770. Marshpee and Wellfleet were added to Barnstable County in 1763. Both, however, received the status of districts. Marshpee, (reincorporated as a district in 1814) did not become a town until well into the nineteenth century (1870). Wellfleet, formerly part of Eastham, did not receive a full coroprate status until the act of 1775.
Worcester County added eight new communities. Douglas, Spencer, New Braintree, and Oakham were made districts,- all destined to become towns by the general act of the Provincial Congress at Watertown. Petersham, Charleton, Templeton and Athol were incorporated as towns. Petersham was formed from the plantation called Nichewoag-a "volun- teer town" granted to Jeremiah Perley, John Bennet and others about 1732 as a reward for military services. Charlton was established from the west part of Oxford, although it appears that the act establishing it as a town in 1754 was later con- sidered void. Templeton was one of the grants made for service in the Narraganset Expedition of 1675 and was formed from the plantation called Narraganset Number Six; while the plantation called Payquage was the basis for the incor- poration of Athol in 1762.
The country of Berkshire added Pittsfield, and Great Bar- rington, Sandisfield and Tyringham and the districts of New
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NEW TOWNS
Marlborough and Egremont. Pittsfield was incorporated from the former plantation of Pontoosuck, and Great Barrington from the north parish of Sheffield. Sandisfield received its corporate status from the "New plantation called Number Three" ; and Tyringham from "the new plantation called Number One." New Marlborough (one of the so-called Housatonic townships including also Sandisfield, Tyringham and Becket) and Egremont were established as districts,- the former out of the plantation of that name, and the latter from common land.
From what is the present county of Franklin, the Common- wealth increased its new communities by seven. Northfield in 1714 was the last town incorporated in that county, until Greenfield, New Salem and Montague were erected into dis- tricts in 1753. Greenfield was part of Deerfield; New Salem was formerly the "township of New Salem," and with an ad- ditional grant was made into a district of that name; and Montague was part of the North Parish of Sunderland. Four communities were given a complete status as towns,-Colerain from the plantation of that name; Shutesbury, from the plan- tation called Roadtown; Bernardston from Falltown; and Warwick, from the plantation called "Roxbury Canada," in addition to various farms and common lands.
The area composing the future county of Hampden in this period established four districts and one town. Palmer, Granville, Monson, and South Brimfield composed the former. Palmer had existed under various titles. Sometimes it was called New Marlborough and sometimes Kingsfield. In 1752 the plantation called the Elbows was made into the district of Palmer. Granville was established from the plantation of Bedford, and Monson was erected into a district from part of Brimfield. South Brimfield was incorporated as a district in 1762, and was made a town by the general act of 1775, and became the town of Wales in 1828. Wilbraham was made a town from the fourth parish of Springfield.
It is difficult to trace such a development. The precise time that a "town" became a town is not always a matter of precision, and even to enumerate the communities of a desig- nated period requires careful selection.
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CENSUS OF 1765
The same year, 1763, which is the terminal date for the above list of towns, marks also the first movement for a general census in Massachusetts. After some delay, an order was passed February 2, 1764 directing the selectmen of each town and district in the Commonwealth to gather the required data in their respective communities. The returns were not completed until the latter part of May, 1765. Even then they were not officially published. In 1822, Judge Samuel Dana sent a manuscript to the editor of the Columbian Centinel of Boston, accompanied by a letter in which he explained that the document had been found among the papers of a deceased friend. It was the missing census of 1764-65. The Centinel published the manuscript, and subsequently the account ap- peared in Abstract of the Census of Massachusetts, 1860.
It contains what purports to be a complete list of towns within Massachusetts at that time. An introductory comment reads: "In this census are mentioned 184 towns within the present limits of Massachusetts, two of which-Dracut and Hanover-made no returns. Two other towns-Paxton and Sharon-having been incorporated in 1765, are presumed to have been included in Rutland and Stoughton, from which towns they were respectively set off. Besides these 186 towns, there were 14 other towns, or districts, incorporated before the close of the year 1765, which seem not to have been included in this census."
According to this account, the towns within the Common- wealth of Massachusetts were distributed among the various counties in 1765 as follows: Suffolk, 18; Essex, 21; Middle- sex, 37; Hampshire, 29; Worcester, 35; Plymouth, 15; Barnstable, 10; Bristol, 11; York (Maine), 7; Dukes, 3; Nantucket, 1; Cumberland (Maine), 7; Lincoln (Maine), 6; Berkshire, 6. It is of interest to add that the total white population in Massachusetts (exclusive of the District of Maine) was 222,563, and if Maine be included the figure will be increased to 244,010. On the basis of 89 towns, esti- mated as existing when the first tax list under the Province was published in 1695-the territorial development of seventy years is easy to calculate. Admitting 186 towns (exclusive
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EVOLUTION OF TOWN GOVERNMENT
of Maine) in 1765 plus the 14 other towns and districts men- tioned by the census enumerator as then existing, the net increase remaining in the district of Massachusetts would be 111 new communities in seventy years.
EVOLUTION OF TOWN GOVERNMENT (1624)
When the Massachusetts colonists first landed in America, they found it necessary to take local political matters much into their own hands. Each group of settlers at an early period met together to discuss matters of common concern, to decide the proper action to be taken, and to appoint men to give such decisions effect. No long time passed before regular- ity in time and attendance was recognized as necessary; and under the first dated page of the Cambridge town records (December 24, 1632) is found "Ann Agreement made by A Gennerall Conf (erence) for a mounthly meeting," in which every person "under subscribed" is ordered, under penalty of a fine to appear "Every second Monday in Every mounth within [the] meetinghouse In the Afternoon within half [an] ouer after the ringing of the bell." A few months later (October 8, 1633) Dorchester gave complete expression to a plan for town meetings; Charlestown followed with an order dated February 10, 1635, not only recognizing the town meet- ing, but making the first provisions (so far as is known) for selectmen.
From that time the development was rapid and continuous. While in reality there were many special occasions upon which the townsmen came together, definite arrangements for one annual meeting were generally made. That meeting undertook as its principal function the election of town officers for the ensuing year and "the Redressinge of any greauance that maie be discouerd." The selectmen easily became the most import- ant local officials, and their influence and leadership is never for a moment in doubt. They were known variously as the "nine men," or "the town representatives," or as "the select- men of Braintree"; and the records of Rowley call them the "Prudential men." Their functions became as various as their titles, and a vast amount of administrative work was supplemented by additional duties that the General Court from time to time imposed from above.
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COLONIAL DESIGNATION OF TOWN OFFICERS
Moreover, a large group of minor officials was developed who took over a great diversity of tasks pertaining to the affairs of the town. The most important perhaps, was the constable. At various times he warned town meetings, had charge of highways, levied fines, apprehended Quakers, col- lected rates, assisted tythingmen, and was even ordered to "attend funerals of any that die with the small pox, and walk before the corpse to give notice to any, who may be in danger of the infection." So numerous, indeed, did his duties become, that both Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony found it necessary to compel acceptance of the office under penalties of respectable fines,-even as high as ten pounds in Boston.
Next in point of prominence was the tithingman,-a con- stable whose duties began on Sunday. He was to preserve order in the meeting house; and the selectmen cooperated to the extent of providing him "at the Town-Charge with Staffs two Feet long, black, and tipt at one End with Brass, about three Inches."
There gradually grew up a host of other officers,-fence viewers, pound keepers, herdsmen, raters, and surveyors of highways. There were hogreeves, town drummers, and per- ambulators ; sealers of leather, procurers of wood and over- seers of the fences. There was a "clark to call town meeting," a judge to pass on delinquents at town meeting, and additional special officers for still more special purposes. The continuity of this elaborate structure is strikingly apparent in the town records of the eighteenth century. Take one example-
Braintree ye 1st. March 1708.
The inhabitants of the Town of Braintree Regularly As- sembled, then chose Coll. Quincy Esqr, moderator for that day.
The Selectmen then chosen for ye year ensuing were,
Coll. Edmund Quinsey Esq. Capt. John Mills, Serjeant Joseph Neall Serjeant Nehemiah Hayden Mr. John Webb.
Then votes that ye present Selectmen be Assessors for ye year ensuing.
Joseph Parmenter was then chosen Town Clerk.
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TOWN RECORDS
The Constables then chosen were Benjamin Webb, and Moses Curtis.
Town Treasurer then chosen was Joseph Bass Junior
The Titheing men were Ensign Peter Adams, Ensign Samuel Baster Peter Webb and Jonathan Hayward.
Surveyors, Moses Penniman Joseph Bracket Joseiah Hobart Benjamin Allen
Haward or Field Drivers James Penniman & William Savel.
The meet pursons to look after ye act relating to Horses, were John Thayer and Joseph Crosbye.
Fence Viewers Deacon Moses Payne Nathaniel Spear Josiah Faxon. Samuel White Junior.
TOWN RECORDS
If the framework of town government shows few changes from the charter period, the records of the town meetings in the eighteenth century are far more complete. Not only are they better recorded, but the familiar warrants of modern times begin to appear, and they bring an air of stability and precision to the procedure that was quite lacking in the early days. Then, as in present Massachusetts towns, the warrant was usually addressed to the constables, and issued under the hands of the selectmen or of the town clerk by order of the selectmen. The warning is directed to the "freeholders and other inhabitants" or merely to the "Inhabitence of said Town" or perhaps, as in Dedham, the "Inhabitants and pro- priators." Nowadays it sounds odd to note them issued in "his Majesty's name," although when difficulties with England became acute the notice is at times formerly altered. Early in the Revolution the rural town of Oxford thus dealt with the matter: "October 12, 1776. The style of notice is changed. The freeholders, etc., are notified and warned, in the name of the Government of the people of this State, to meet," etc.
The place designated for the meeting is usually the "Publick Meeting house" or simply at "the Town House." But it seems that occasionally other arrangements were made. Thus the town of Dudley provided for meeting "at the dwelling house of William Carters" or "at the dwelling house of Joseph
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EXPANSION AND TOWN SYSTEM
peppers." The body of the warrant is apt to lack entirely the formality that later years developed, and the purpose of the meeting fails, accordingly, to attain the regularity of expres- sion the modern arrangement into "articles" permits. But its pleasant naiveness adds color and interest that a more sophis- cated terminology would quite destroy. For example-
"Braintrey, ye 26 November 1703.
"The Inhabitants of Braintrey aforesaid being Regularly assembled by warrant (under the selectmens hands) to the contable Richard Thayer
"they then voted Captain John Wilson Esq. Moderator for the day.
"The warrant was as followeth :-
To Richard Thayer, Constable of Braintree.
"Whereas there has been some dissatisfaction and disturb- ance in the Town respecting mr. Fiske maintenance, there being some of our neighbors who think that that note which settles 90 Pound [per] annum upon him was not so legal & orderly made & to prevent any further Trouble in the Town thereabout we think it needful that yet Town should meet- these are therefore to require you in her majesties name to warn all ye Freeholders & other Inhabitants of this Town qualified as ye law directs to vote in Town affaires to meet at ye meeting house on fryday the 26 of this instant november at Ten of ye clock in the forenoon to consider of this matter & to agree upon a sum for mr. Fiske maintenance for this present year the greatest part of which allready past and to settle a salary for him for the futar if ye Town shall so agree when they come together, given under our hands this 11th day of november, 1703."
TOWN MEETING BUSINESS
The town meetings apparently did not always accord to expectations. The General Court set aside the proceedings of one such gathering in Freetown because "some persons who paid no rates, and some in their nonage" were allowed to vote. In Watertown, on one occasion, when the moderator called for a division "the negative refused to move up the gallery" to be counted. And it appears that in Great Barrington, a
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TYPICAL TOWN MEETINGS
majority of those present on one occasion simply refused to continue the deliberations.
In spite of irregularities, business was in most cases ef- fectively transacted; and the political affairs of the community were arranged with surprising harmony and precision. Wil- liam Gordon, the author of an extensive work on The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America published for the first time in 1789 has given us an excellent summary of town meeting government as practiced in the latter part of the eighteenth century :
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