USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 40
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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In 1840 the assessors were paid $36.25 for taking a census, and have done similar work at other times, repeatedly
and the t of kets rror they In ep a Liver
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522
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
making annual lists of the children of school age. The writer when chairman of the assessors discontinued the school census as there were individuals glad to do it for $15, and it cost the town much more to employ its assessors in that way, besides interfering with other duties.
COLLECTION OF TAXES - COLLECTORS
The tax lists, not the valuation lists, form a part of the town records to January, 1732/3, but no other lists appear to be in existence prior to 1780, with the exception of the one for 1749 now in the State Archives.
On May 22, 1778, John Ayers was chosen collector for the East and Isaac Goodenow, Jr., for the West, and they appear to have been the first tax collectors in Needham as distinct from the constables, between whom the rates for the East and West had been divided as nearly as might be. Mr. Ayers declined to serve, and Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery was elected on May 28, and duly sworn. These two "Col- lectors to Collect ye Rates" were allowed 4d. in the £, but only 3d. in the £ for War taxes. The practice of letting out the taxes to the lowest bidder, or bidders, dates from 1781, when sureties acceptable to the town were required on the bond of each collector. The same year the town directed that its treasurer "Should Send out his Execution by the Fifteenth Day of December Next on the Delinquent Collectors," and should settle with them "According to the Scale of Depreciation and the Collectors to Collect the money Agreeable to the time they were Directed to pay the Money into the Town Treaf !. " In March, 1786, a committee was "to Proportion Fifty Dollors to ye Delin- quent Collectors, what each of them Should pay into the Town Treaf in a week." In 1790 all of the collectors for ten years were found to be in arrears, and £528, 13s., 5d. were due the town from them; in 1794 nine different col- lectors were in debt to the town, covering a period of fif- teen years.
523
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
In 1782 £1, 15s., 3d. were allowed for collecting the "Meeting Houfe" tax of £104, 19s., 6d., 2f .; in 1787 the collector was to have 7d. in the £ for the ordinary taxes, and 4d. for the special tax of £450 to pay town debts, which latter was "To be Collected by the firft Day of February Next; or Give Notes Upon Intereft with Good Security to the Town Tref: Upon Demand ". In September, 1788, the town chose four collectors, who were to have 7d. in the £, but the next year 8d. was the compensation, and in 1794 Jacob Parker was elected the first collector of the whole town, with Robert Fuller and Enoch Parker as his sureties, and was to have 4}d. in the £. The custom of having two collectors was soon resumed, although the per- centage was not always the same in the East as in the West.
In 1844 John W. Slack offered to collect for .0095 pro- vided the highway taxes were included, otherwise he wanted .0145.
In 1850 the collection of the taxes was bid off for one per cent, an exceptionally low rate for that time, but later two per cent was paid, and in 1876 there was a fixed salary of $600. In 1905 the collector received one per cent, which amounted to about $1000 per annum. In the last century there were many years when no commission was allowed on taxes collected more than twelve months after the date of the warrant committing them to the collector.
The votes of the town defining the duties of the collectors have varied greatly at different periods. In 1828 Deacon Lyon, who was both treasurer and collector, was authorized to charge delinquent taxpayers twenty cents for a summons (the same amount is demanded in 1911), and was to pay over the taxes to himself as treasurer as follows: "all poll taxes, and one third of all other Taxes to be paid by the first day of September next, one third to be paid by the first day of December next, and the other third part by the first day of March A.D. 1829. and the Said Treasurer shall meet for the accommodation of the town at the house of Solomon
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524
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
Flagg at the house of Nathan White Jur, at the house of Davis C. Mills and at the house of John Tolman, at Such time as he Shall appoint, giving Seasonable Notices ". The treasurer was to be "decently Compensated ", according to the judgment of the selectmen. It will, perhaps, be noticed that all of the places mentioned in the foregoing vote were taverns, but a few years later the rise of the temperance sentiment was probably responsible for a change to the stores. In 1850 the collector was required to sit in five buildings, including the almshouse, besides his own house, and he was to be in session at each place from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. on the designated day or days.
In 1836 the collector was directed to pay to the treasurer $600, exclusive of highway taxes, on or before October I, one half of the balance and the highway taxes on or before January I, and the remainder on or before April I, under penalty of no commission on arrearages. Nathan McIntosh was then collector at 35%. A discount was allowed the collector for prompt payments, and in 1851 it was 4%. For years two thirds of the amount of the polls and personal taxes were due from the collector within three days of the expiration of thirty days from the date of the assessors' warrant, and the balance within the second thirty days.
I
In 1840 one half of the real estate taxes were required of the collector on or before December I, and the balance not later than March I, but subsequently one half of these taxes were due from him either on the last Monday in November, or within ten days 1 of the day when the taxes were due from the taxpayers, according to the vote of the particular year, and one half of the balance was to be paid to the treasurer on or before January I, and the rest on or before March I. From the first payment of the real estate taxes it was the duty of the collector to reserve enough to pay the State tax, and this custom was unchanged to 1882,
1 In 1855 it was twenty days.
I
a
N
11
525
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
inclusive. In 1889 he paid the County tax for the last time in Needham.
Monthly payments by the collector date from 1875, and he receives his warrant as late as September, although the writer to 1900 issued it in August, if the collector had then qualified. An annual vote of some length attempts to de- fine the duties of the tax collector, and varies slightly in different years.
From 1884 to 1888 the town had a controversy with a then recently retired collector as to his right, following a custom, to retain the interest received by him from dila- tory taxpayers, and in the latter year the Supreme Judicial Court decided in his favor, and the town had to content itself with abolishing the custom. This interesting case illustrated the hard conditions then imposed upon the tax collector, who had to pay the town whether he was able to collect or not, and was subject to penalties for delays. There have been instances where collectors have lost twice their compensation.
Prior to 1850 the same man rarely served for more than two consecutive years as tax collector; the later collectors have been as follows :-
George Emerson Eaton 1850, '52, Josiah Howe Carter 1853 (served in 1849), George Jennings 1854-64 (eleven years), Silas Gustavus Williams 1865-8 (four years), Dexter Kingsbury 1869-80 (twelve years), Charles Willard Morton 1881-4 (four years), Charles Thorpe 1885-May 2, 1892, died in office, Howard Allen Crossman May 31, 1892-1903 (twelve years), John Lincoln Twigg 1904- .
DUTIES OF THE TAXPAYERS
In 1838 the polls and personal property taxes were due from the taxpayers on or before the first Monday in July, and the real estate taxes on or before the first Monday in November, and these continued the dates for twenty years, with some extensions of time. In 1854 polls and personal
Ise of Such The rding , be going [ the or a uired es his from
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526
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
property taxes were to be paid on or before the first Monday in August, and in 1856 the time when real estate taxes were due was extended to the last Monday in November.
Later it became impracticable for the assessors to issue their warrant before July I, and the poll and personal taxes were made due within thirty days of the date of the as- sessors' warrant. In 1881 polls were payable on demand, and in 1882 personal taxes also.
For some years prior to 1833 the discount allowed for the prompt payment of taxes was 3%, but that year it was raised to 4%, and later to 6%, which continued to 1881, when discounts to either the taxpayer or the collector were abolished. In 1857 an appropriation of $1000 sufficed for the · discount, the cost of collection, and the abatement of taxes, but subsequently a comparatively large sum was required.
ABATEMENT OF TAXES
Abatements were granted by popular vote in town meet- ing until after the Revolution, and as late as 1838 the town exercised this right directly on occasion, and since indirectly, articles asking for abatements appearing from time to time in town warrants. In 1786 and 1787 the town chose a committee of four "to confult with the Select men Upon ye Abatement of Taxes". A few items will illustrate the character of the early abatements: On March 10, 1745/6, the town was asked to abate Ezekiel Richardson's rates "Affeffed upon his Son Peters head laft year and it Paft'd in the Affirmative". In May, 1752, the rate "that was Set upon John Coffrons Head" was abated. On May 24, 1759, abatement was granted "thofe men that Profifs themselves Baptis and belong to mr Boundes Church". This vote had reference to the minister's rates for 1758, but it was reconsidered, although several prominent citizens were excused from paying that particular tax, including the two ex-deacons, Timothy and Eleazer Kingsbery, the latter an "Anabaptist". Presumably all of these petitioners
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527
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
for abatements had ceased to be of Mr. Townsend's flock. In 1751/2 John Mills was abated 9s., 9d. for a "mifcaft in the Province Rate Committed to him to Collect when he was Conftable", and in 1760 Constable William Smith £5, IIs., 7d. because the rates committed to him "were made to Small". In 1760 Ebenezer Newell had an abate- ment "as he was Rated for a hors in the year 1758".
In 1768 Thomas Broad had an abatement as he was also assessed in Natick, and had paid there. In 1779 the select- men gave Abiel Turner an abatement of £2, 13s. "what he was Taxed for his head in the war tax in Needham in the Year 1777", and during the Revolution the taxes of some of the soldiers were abated, as well as fines refunded that had been collected for neglect of militia duties. In 1782 Moses Cummings was abated 6s., 9d. "of what he was Taxed in ye Beef and War Tax, for his Son Aarons Poll" in 1781. In 1784 Isaac Underwood asked the town for an abate- ment, but was answered that he had better give his note to Constable John McIntosh for the 1783 taxes. In 1785 the poll tax for two years of Joseph Cunningham was abated in town meeting, the tax for 1785 being 9s., 6d. On October 19, 1786, Ephraim Jackson's taxes for 1785 were abated because his house had been burned.
Our tax and valuation lists are missing from 1733 to 1779, and the somewhat voluminous records of abatements have value as they contain the names of men who were in the town but a short time, and of whom in some instances there is no other trace in our town records.
MISCELLANEOUS TAX ITEMS
On October 14, 1746, the town declined to accept the receipts given to John Alden and Caleb Kingsbery, the con- stables, who had paid over the "Minifters Rate" without a warrant from the assessors.
On July 12, 1753, the town voted to pay Jonathan Parker, the town treasurer, 13s., 4d. "for his trouble for Getting
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528
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
in the Towns Money from the Conftables in Year 1747 and in the Year 1748".
In May, 1755, the town voted not to make any rates that year for the poor, schools or town charges, if the notes that Mr. Bowdoin gave could be availed of "Seafonable", and three years later these notes were relied upon to meet similar expenses.
Article 10 of the warrant for March 12, 1792, was to see if the assessors should require an oath from "inhabitants" making returns of property to them, but action was post- poned, and nothing came of it.
In 1764 and 1765 £66, 13s., 4d. were assessed each year for Mr. West's salary, and in 1770 the assessors' warrant was for £73, 6s., 8d. for the minister, and £119 for schools, poor and town charges. In November, 1739, the assessors had been directed to assess nine shillings on each poll in the minister's rate.
THE PROVINCE TAX
On July, 1712, the selectmen of Dedham and those of Needham agreed that the latter town should pay £59 of the £270 assessed upon Dedham on account of the Prov- ince tax, and £7, 7s., 6d. of the County tax. The first Province tax assessed directly on Needham was that of 1717, and amounted to £31, 7s., II d., and from that year to 1744 this tax varied from £12, 17s., 2d. in 1719 to £246, IOS. in 1728, including the representatives' pay, which later ranged from £8, os., 6d. to £41, 17s., depending largely, as did all taxes, upon the value of the currency. The average Province tax paid by Needham was about £86 until after 1744, when it was approximately £179, and so continued to 1774, this period including the conquest of Canada. In September, 1755, the special levy on account of the Crown Point Expedition cost Needham £66, 9s., and at the close of the war in 1760 no less than £374, 2s., 6d. was "laid" upon Needham by the General Court.
--------
529
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
In 1775 the town paid a "Colony Tax" of £151, 4s., 6d., but on March 23, 1775, voted "That the Collectors of the Province Taxes: That have Not Paid in their Money to the Hon Harrifon Gray Efq! Should pay in the Province Tax they have Collected or have Yet to Collect to Henry Gardner Efq: of Stow". This vote is referred to in the chapter relating to the American Revolution. The first State tax was in 1776, and Needham's share was £357, 19s., 6d., and from August, 1777 to May, 1780, the General Court apportioned to this town State taxes of the nominal amount of £76,402, 4s., Id., 2f., a huge sum, but most of it payable in paper money so badly depreciated that at one time £2 were equal to only 6d. in hard money. Our State tax was £1489, IIs., 5d. in 1780, reduced by bounty credits to £779, 15s., 8d.
From 1781 to 1785 the State tax averaged £825, IOS., IId., and in 1787 it was £194, 2s., 5d. in a total levy of £65,000. From 1788 to 1793 the average was £117, and in 1794, the first year of the County of Norfolk, the State tax for Needham was £108, 13s., 4d. In 1795 it was levied for the first time in dollars and was $362.22; in 1796 $5.56 was added on account of the "Beef tax", which was still due from the town. The State tax continued to be $362.22 till 1801 when it was $241.33; in 1810 it was the same as in 1801, and had been for some years. In 1820 it was $218.67, in 1830 $113.25, and from 1831 to 1843 there was no State tax. In 1844 this tax was $162, in 1850 there was none, in 1854 it was $435, in 1860 $360, in 1870 $4650, in 1880 $3660, in 1890 $1767.50, in 1900 $1785, in 1905 $5080, and in 1910 $8415.
The regular annual Province tax was voted at the May session, but the assessment of the representative's pay was for the preceding year. From 1820 inclusive this tax for the representative has not appeared as a separate item. In 1761 the sum of £21, 9s., 82d. was transferred to Needham from Natick on motion of Lieut. Amos Fuller,
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530
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
the member from Needham, because of the restoration of "The Leg" to Needham, which section included one fourth of the polls and estates of Natick. A similar vote was passed the next year in answer to a petition of Samuel Morse in behalf of the selectmen of Natick.
On March 12, 1753, the town appointed William Bow- doin, their representative, Capt. Robert Fuller, Dea. Josiah Newell, Amos Fuller and Jonathan Deming to get an abatement of the Province tax assessed upon Needham, and in 1764 Deming was paid four shillings for a similar service. Applications for abatements of this tax were frequent, and there was occasionally such a petition from Needham.
On July 26, 1779, the town chose Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery, Michael Metcalf and Nathaniel Fisher "to join with the Other Towns in the County to Petition the General Court to See if they can Get Some abatement in there State Tax", and the next spring Michael Metcalf, Colonel McIntosh and Nathaniel Fisher were to assist Representative Kings- bery "to Git Some abatement of our State Tax".
The County tax assessed in Needham has been: --
1810 $122.64, 1820 $196.06, 1830 $361.64, 1840 $274.69, 1850 $655.18, 1860 $1471.52, 1870 $2049.85, 1880 $2818.09, 1881 $1196.95, 1885 $1076.38, 1890 $1359.24, 1900 $2921.88, 1905 $4091.63, 1910 $4246.63.
CENSUS AND STATISTICS
Under date of January 28, 1777, the five selectmen of Needham, duly sworn by Josiah Newell, Justice of the Peace, reported to the General Court that there were in town 287 white males over sixteen years of age, 6 negroes and I mulatto; also 4 refugees, viz., Capt. David Phelps and Thomas Neal of Boston, Walter Logan, Esq., of Roxbury and James Miller of Charlestown: the latter became a resi- dent. Archives, Vol. 166, p. 114.
A return made to the General Court of the valuation of Needham for 1779 showed 284 polls, 338 houses, 1960 acres
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531
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
of mowing and tillage, 869 of meadow, 2270 of pasture, 8 mills, 198 horses, 244 oxen, 554 cows, 298 steers, 1486 sheep and goats, 361 swine, £4656 in money, £1161 debts due not on interest, 92 ounces of plate, 12 carriages, £60 taxable in- come. Total valuation £54,425, 15s., 4d. Archives, Vol. 16I, p. 205.
A more elaborate return was made in 1781, Archives, Vol. 16I, p. 337, and again in 1786, with a later revision, Archives, Vols. 162 and 163, pp. 215 and 12. From the valuation of 1768 it appeared that there were 249 rateable polls, 2 not rateable and supported by the town, 25 not rateable, but not supported by the town, 140 dwelling houses, 10 shops separate from or adjoining other buildings, 118 barns, 7 grist, saw, fulling or slitting mills, 34 other buildings of the value of £5 and upward, 695 acres of tillage land, 8034 of English mowing and upland meadow, 8614 of fresh meadow, 20362 of pasture, 4842} of woodland and other unim- proved land, 1294 of unimprovable, waste land, 161 horses and mares three years old or upward, 10 two-year-old colts, IO one-year-olds, 212 oxen three years old or upward, 65 neat cattle three years old, 79 two-year-olds, 53 one-year- olds, 506 cows four years old and upward, 315 sheep and goats six months old and upward, 235 swine six months old, etc., 1017 barrels of "Cyder", £1670 "Debts due to any person on interest or not on interest except Govt Securities and Continental Loan Office Certificates", plate 90 ounces @ 6/8 £30, money on hand £50.
There is a valuation attached to each item, but the real estate tax in 1781 and 1786 was on an income basis. The total valuation in 1781 was £3152, 4s., 9d., and in 1786 £2245, 9s., 2d. In the former year the taxable value of the income from real estate was £2677, 4s., 6d., and the 129 horses were appraised at £6 each, 212 oxen at £7 each, 543 cows at £4 per head, 603 sheep and goats at 6s. per head, and 139 swine at 12s. each. It will be noticed that an ox was esteemed of more value than the average horse, although in
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532
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
1779 the horses averaged £7, oxen £5, and cows £3. In 1781 there were 100 ounces of silver in Needham, valued at £33, 6s., 8d.
Population :-
17II 250,1 1720 375,1 1730 550,1 1740 660,1 1750 800,1 1765 945, 1776 912, 1790 1130, 1800 1072, 1810 1097, 1820 1227, 1830 1418, 1840 1488 (1479 according to the census taken by the town assessors), 1850 1944, 1860 2658, 1865 2793, 1870 3607, 1875 4548, 1880 5252, 1885 2586, 1890 3035, 1895 3511, 1900 4014, 1905 4284, 1910 5026.
Assessed valuation : - According to statistics at the State House the valuation of Needham for the decade 1831 to 1840 was $261,566, 1841 to 1850 $383,056, 1851 $799,789.75.
The following table shows the valuation at different periods :-
Real Estate
Personal Property
Total
Polls
1865
$1,396,261
$478,086
$1,874,347
667
1870
2,122,85I
814,57I
2,937,422
94I
1875
3,714,814
1,033,370
4,748,184
I268
1880
3,384,905
974,362
4,359,267
I197
18
1881
1,562,857
223,462
1,786,319
654
1890
2,031,23I
246,123
2,277,354
882
1900
3,164,284
280,140
3,444,424
1136
1910
5,139,625
983,766
6,123,39I
1388
As only the taxable values, and not the market values, of the Massachusetts Bank and Corporation Stocks, owned in Needham, are accessible, it is useless to attempt to in- clude them in the town's valuation, and they are omitted.
The value of the town property at different periods has been, using round numbers, as follows: 1866 $23,000, 1870 $65,000, 1880 $125,000, 1881 $42,000, 1885 $52,000, 1890 $70,000, 1905 $500,000.
In 1870 there were 15,009 acres of land in town, of which 13,926 were assessed. In 1905 7591 acres were assessed.
Prior to the Civil War the tax rate was usually below $8 per $1000, with a very moderate valuation, but during and
1 Estimated.
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19
exe
Ap
Ho Th
not
Ap
IS20 1830
pa pr Sta 1 Do 1 1
per to
8
533
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
after the war it was increased more than 50%, and the valu- ation was raised correspondingly. The average rate by decades has been: -
1861-70 $12.20, 1871-80 $12.44, 1881-90 $12.68, 1891- 1900 $15.1I, 1901-IO $17.15.
The exempt property, not including widows' and soldiers' exemptions, has been valued as follows: 1880 $712,175, of which Wellesley College represented $623,175, and the Appleton Temporary Home for Inebriates (East Needham) $16,900, 1905 about $80,000, all Church property, except about eighteen acres of land owned by the Convalescent Home of the Children's Hospital, and valued at about $5500. There is also a large amount of town property, which has not been recently appraised, and there are the graveyards.
Appropriations for Highways, Schools, Poor and Town Charges.
1810
$600.
$600.
$700.
$400.
667
1820
600.
790.1
700
500.
941
1830
600.
690.1
550.
600.
1268
1840
1,000.
890.1
500.
1,200.
1197
1850
1,000.
1,500.1
750.
1,600.
654
1860
3,412.54
2,800.
1,200.
3,700.2
Total $11,112.54
882
1870
10,000.
10,000.
2,500.
33,850.
I136
1880
10,464.2I
16,884.75
4,000.
41,580.58
1388
I882
3,632.14
8,682.06
2,295.84
23,641.68
1890
6,419.28
11,600.
2,700.
29,994.28
values,
1900
7,500.
17,600.
3,400.
47,106.
1905
II,42I.
23,325.
3,300.
68,028.50
19IO
14,950.
34,200 3
4,000.
98,656.284
In estimating the amount expended for schools in years past it should not be forgotten that in addition to the ap- propriations given in the tables the town received from the State School Fund $82.34 in 1850, $105.16 in 1860, $288.67
1 Included $90 interest on notes given for wood sold on the School Land in Dover.
2 Included $1200 for discount on taxes.
3 To this sum should be added the income of the Dwight School Fund, $210 per annum, and the tuition paid by out-of-town pupils, which in 1910 amounted to $700.75.
" Fixed charges and maturing bonds amounting to many thousand dollars are not included.
owned to in- tted. ds has 1870
1890
g and
which d.
£3. In alued at
50 800,1 7, 1820 census 8, 1865 P 3035,
e State 831 to 789.7 ;. ifferent
Polls
534
THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
in 1870, $189.44 in 1880, $202.97 in 1882, and $169.73 in 1890. Before 1900 the town had ceased to share in this form of State aid. Until the establishment of the Free Public Library in 1889 the money from the dog licenses was voted to the schools, and amounted to $161 in 1860, $359.21 in 1870, $384.75 in 1880, $208.40 in 1882, and $306.17 in 1885. This represented the balance of the dog taxes of the preceding year, which was returned by the County treasurer to the town after deducting its share of the expense caused by dogs that killed animals and fowls, or did other damage for which the County paid.
In 1870 the town expended $28,397-73 for schools, in- cluding $17,662 for new school-houses, and of the latter $6850 was in the tax levy, and forms a part of the $33,850 voted that year. The Highway appropriations, as given in these tables, include ordinary bridge repairs, the removal of snow, and beginning with 1880 one half of the cost of side- walks, the abutters paying the other half. In addition to the appropriations for highways there was in 1900 the sum of $2230.04 received from the Street Railways, and this is an annual source of revenue to the town. In 1905 there were available for the highways, including the removal of snow, and work on sidewalks, $12,693.63. The Massachusetts Bank and Corporation taxes yield the town $7000 or $8000 per year since 1900, and from 1870 have been important items. The Corporation tax was first received by the town in 1866, and netted $1171.23. The Bank tax, as a source of town income, dates from 1871, and then amounted to $1793.93, the Corporation tax yielding the town $3032.60 that year. The appropriations were not made in dollars until 1798; those of 1800 were as follows: Highways $500, Schools $500, Poor $500, Town Charges $400.
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