USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Duxbury > Town annual report for the town of Duxbury for the year ending 1901-1910 > Part 27
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Emily K. Baker, care Mrs. Crocker, 17 15
Rebecca A. Hawkins, cash aid, 96 00
Sweetser & Arnold, supplies to E. J. Weston, 2 95
A. N. Josselyn, team for Overseers, 1 00
Elisha Peterson, burial of Mr. and Mrs. Snell, 50 00
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Mary J. Clisby, care of Mrs. Snell, 5 00 1
J. C. Osgood, services at funerals of Mr. and Mrs. Snell, 4 00
Expenses in regard to settlement of paupers, 20 60
E. H. Sears, services relative to out- side poor, 12 00
$1,056 22
EXPENSES AT ALMSHOUSE FOR YEAR 1904.
Charles E. Peterson, on account
salary as Superintendent, $370 00
W. O. Peterson, supplies,
80 0I
Sweetser & Arnold, supplies,
131 06
N. Ford & Sons, supplies, 154 09
M. M. White, supplies, 27 34
Rufus Holiday, fish, 1903 and 1904,
33 06
James H. Peterson, fish,
13 28
James Langille, meats, 41 96
H. E. Merry, meats,
9 23
W. B. Gardner, meats,
6 00
L. B. Gardner, meats,
16 OI
Gardner & Prior, meats,
36 IO
Loring Coal Co., coal,
123 75
Duxbury C. & L., Co., coal,
7 55
L. H. Cushing, wood,
17 50
T. W. Chandler, wood,
8 00
F. W. Atwood, butter, etc., 1903, 1904,
23 52
E. W. Chandler, butter,
19 32
N. M. Stetson, medicine, etc., 1903, 2 67
Geo. H. Stearns, hay, II 60
Geo. H. Stearns, milk,
7 32
Harrison Loring, milk, 1901,
3 27
Elisha Peterson, moving Mrs. Bur- gess to Almshouse, 2 00
Wm. J. Hastings, care of Elijah Snell, 16 00
W. W. Symmes, team for Supt., 5 00
H. J. Reynolds, vegetables. 2 60
A. H. Hill, potatoes, 1903, 4 50
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Fred F. Squire, supplies,
I 69
E. B. Freeman, fish,
13 55
$1,187 98
Inmates of Almshouse and Their Ages.
Charity M. Bourne, 95 years.
Lucy B. Chandler, 58 years.
Rosina Witherell, 83 years.
Laura Burgess, 69 years.
W. E. B. Thomas, 32 years.
Tramps lodged, 198.
AVAILABLE MEANS FOR SUPPORT OF POOR, 1904.
Balance from 1903,
$822 27
Appropriation, 2,200 00
Received for board of Mrs. Wadsworth, 74 15
Received from Town of Norwell, 49 75
Received from Town of Plymouth, 30 00
Received from State for aid to
Bernice Rogers, 57 00
Received from Fall River,
10 00
Due from Town of Sturbridge,
25 00
Due from Town of Wareham,
34 75
Farm sales,
46 60
$3,349 52
Expenses of outside poor,
$1,056 22
Expenses of inside poor, 1,187 98
$2,244 20
Unexpended balance,
1,105 32
$3,349 52
$284 70
Amount of inventory in Almshouse and on farm, Average cost per week in Almshouse per person, 3 48
HENRY H. LEWIS, EDMUND H. SEARS, WENDELL PHILLIPS,
Overseers of the Poor.
Duxbury 3
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We have examined the accounts of the Overseers of the Poor, and find them correct.
WILLIAM J. BURGESS, SIDNEY C. SOULE,
Auditors.
REPORT OF SINKING FUND COMMISSION, 1904.
The Sinking fund commission have continued the organiza- tion as effected last year, and have caused to be deposited this year two thousand dollars with interest from former deposit in the American Loan & Trust Company. The treasurer's ac- count is herewith submitted.
Respectfully, EDMUND H. SEARS, Chairman. GEORGE P. CUSHMAN, ELISHA PETERSON, Clerk.
SINKING FUND ACCOUNT.
The undersigned holds certificates of deposit of the Amer- ican Loan and Trust Co., Boston, as follows : , Certificate No. 689, dated January 1
20, 1903, for $2,000 00
Certificate No. 769, dated January
21, 1904, for 2,000 00
Interest accrued to date, 183 84
Certificate No. 818, dated January
20, 1905, for 2,000 00
$6,183 85
GEORGE H. STEARNS, Treasurer Sinking Fund Commission.
Duxbury, January 20th., 1905. 1
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LEGISLATION ON GURNET BRIDGE.
Paid- For legal advice and witnesses at-
tending hearings,
$274 85
Unexpended,
25 15
$300 00
Received-
Appropriation,
$300 00
At a special Town Meeting held Oct. 6, 1904, it was voted : That the Town appropriate three hundred dollars ($300) for the Selectmen to use in bringing before the Legislature, or ob- taining legal advice, to have the Gurnet bridge placed in the possession of the Commonwealth or the County of Plymouth. In accordance with this vote, your, Selectmen brought it before the Legislature with the result that it was placed in the hands of the County Commissioners of Plymouth County. The fol- lowing is the Act of the Legislature :
An Act relative to the expense of maintaining Gurnet Bridge in the Town of Duxbury.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
Section I. The maintenance and care of the bridge known as Gurnet Bridge, in the Town of Duxbury, which was built pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 301 of the Acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and of Acts in amendment thereof, in addition thereto, shall hereafter, be in charge and under the control of the County Commissioners of the County of Plymouth, and the expense maintaining the said bridge and keeping it in proper repair shall hereafter be paid by the said County.
The County Commissioners of said County shall annually assess the amount thus expended by the County, in the follow- ing proportions : One-third on the Town of Duxbury ; one- third on the County of Plymouth, and one-third on such Cities and Towns in the said County, other than the town of Dux- bury, as the Commissioners shall award and determine to be especially benefited by the bridge, in such amounts as they shall award and determine to be fairly proportionate to such special benefits. The Cities and Towns so assessed shall,
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within such time and in such manner as the Commissioners shall determine, pay into the treasury of the County of Ply- mouth, the amounts assessed upon them, as aforesaid.
Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect upon its passage. Ap- proved, May 25, 1904.
CEMETERY TRUSTEES' REPORT.
Year Ending Dec. 31, 1904.
The trustees would continue the report of last year by re- porting the grading at Weston lot as done, and there is now available for lot purposes, a portion of the cemetery that has long been a part of the enclosure not under control of the trustees.
Some needed work in the smaller cemeteries has not been done owing to lack of funds, and the trustees would ask for an appropriation of four hundred dollars, same as was given us this year.
Number of interments in Mayflower cemetery, 41
4 Number of interments in Ashdod cemetery,
Submitted for the trustees, ELISHA PETERSON,
Secretary.
TREASURER'S ACCOUNT.
Dr.
To cash brought up, Jan. I, '04, $18 33
April 30, to cash, G. Bradford, I 00
April 30, to cash, Mrs. Stebbins, 00
Sept., to cash, town appropriation,
400 00
Sept, to cash, sale of Holmes' lot, 10 00
Sept., to cash, sale of S. Peterson lot, 10 00
Sept., to cash, sale of wood, 3 00
$443 33
Cr.
Feb. I, by cash to W. B. Campbell, $2 00
May, by cash, to John Ellis, 45 50
1
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May, by cash, to A. F. Peterson, 50 00
May, by cash, to W. J. Alden, Jr.,
34 00
May, by cash, to A. M. Wadsworth,
49 00
May, by cash, to Thomas Gorham,
36 00
May, by cash, to Calvin Josselyn,
26 00
Sept., by cash, grading Weston lot,
I24 35
Dec., by cash, to Elisha Peterson,
62 40
Dec., by cash, to L. Bradford,
5 00
Dec., by cash, to F. B. Studley,
4 00
Dec., by cash on hand,
5 08
$443 33
ELISHA PETERSON, Treasurer.
REPORT OF ROAD SURVEYOR.
From the balance of $99 31 left of the appropriation for stone road in 1903, and a rebate of freight of $83 04, making a total of $182 35, there has been paid $25 00 to E. A. Chand- ler and others 'for land taken in widening road near Duxbury R. R. station, and $121 80 has been expended for widening and repairing sides of road on Washington and Border streets.
I have endeavored to keep within the appropriation for gen- eral repairs, using part in making more permanent roads.
JOHN K. PARKER, Surveyor.
REPORT OF THE FOREST FIREWARDS.
More extinguishers have been bought and distributed, and a wagon has been fitted up with apparatus and placed at Mr. Elisha Peterson's. The Firewards have found the extinguish- ers and this wagon of considerable service in helping to put out the various small fires that have occurred. The laws accepted by the town, requiring permits and the posting of notices, have evidently made us all more careful, but we can not expect to escape serious fires in the future, and there should
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be more effective protection as pointed out in the report of I904.
We recommend that $400 be appropriated this year, as last, unless active measures are adopted for a fire department.
F. B. KNAPP.
REPORT OF TREE WARDEN.
Duxbury, Mass., Jan. 1, 1905.
There is very little to be said this year that will be of interest to the citizens, therefore I shall not make any extended report.
The effective spraying of the past few years has practically exterminated the Elm Leaf Beetle, but I should advise at least one thorough spraying in the spring. I would also urge the necessity of keeping all fruit trees sprayed during the early part of the season as experience shows that orchards that are sprayed once or twice in the season yield a greater amount of fruit and of superior quality than those that are neglected.
My expenditures this year have been $270.27. I have paid the treasurer $58 received for outside spraying. I believe the Tree Warden this year will start with a balance of $286.26, which includes the income from the Thomas Hathaway Fund, which is at the disposal of the Tree Warden.
EUGENE S. FREEMAN, Tree Warden.
REPORT OF THE DUXBURY RURAL SOCIETY.
The Duxbury Rural Society has the past year bought for three hundred dollars the old spar soak on Powder Point. lately used as a dump, the Society, giving one hundred dollars, the balance raised by subscription from the Powder Point property owners. The rubbish is to be removed, and as soon as funds permit, the place made ornamental. The Society also intends to put a watering trough at West Duxbury. As the Rural Society has been in existence some twenty years or more, it would seem as if its work might be recognized by the citizen's
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of the town, and have their hearty support. The members number only seventy-five, and as the yearly fee is only fifty cents, the money to work with is extremely small. It may not be generally known that the watering troughs at the Point and Halls Corner are supplied by the Society, and that the flower beds about the library are planted and taken care of by it.
I would ask all persons at all interested in the Town, and especially those owing property, to join the Society and by attending its meetings as well as by their money help on the work of preserving the beauties of this town, which appeal so strongly to visitors, but are apt to be overlooked by those who see them every day. I also ask those owning woodland, when cutting down trees, to leave a row along the roadside, say thirty or forty feet apart.' Mr. Alfred Ackerman, State For- ester, gave a lecture, Dec. 7, in the Unitarian Parish House, and all who attended must have been convinced of the great need of protecting our forest lands.
M. S. SAMPSON, Secy. of D. R. S.
A COMMUNICATION.
To the voters of Duxbury :
Having been elected an auditor by you three years in succes- sion, I hereby thank you for the honor shown me. I feel obliged to decline another nomination for the coming year, if such might be your intention. I want to say, however, that my associations with the other town officers with whom I have been connected, have been most pleasant, and one does not ap- preciate the amount of work they do, or the care it requires un- til they have had a sight into the inside of the town business.
Respectfully yours,
WILLIAM J. BURGESS.
4
DUXBURY TOWN BY-LAWS.
Public Library, March 5, 1904.
The undersigned, a committee appointed at a special Town Meeting, held October 6, 1903, to prepare some Town By- Laws, would respectfully present the following :
JOHN B. HOLLIS,
Chairman, GEORGE H. STEARNS, LAURENCE BRADFORD, Secretary.
TOWN MEETING.
I. The Annual Town Meeting shall be held on the First Monday of March.
2. The Warrant for every Town Meeting, shall be posted at the following places, at least seven days before the date for which the Town Meeting is called, viz: Duxbury Post- Office, South Duxbury Post-Office, Millbrook Post-Office, Island Creek Post-Office, North Duxbury Post-Office, West Duxbury Post-Office and Temperance Hall.
3. The Selectmen shall insert in the Warrant all subjects, the insertion of which shall, in writing, be requested of them by ten or more voters of the Town, and before the Annual Town Meeting the Warrant shall be held, for the insertion of Articles, ten days previous to the date of the Town Meeting.
4. Except at the Annual Town Meeting and adjournments thereof no vote shall be passed at a Town Meeting, appro- priating or involving the expenditure of more than three hundred dollars, unless there shall be present, at least fifty legal voters of the Town.
5. The Moderator for the Annual Town Meeting shall be a citizen who holds no other Town Office.
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6. The following rules shall be followed in conducting Town Meetings, viz :
7. The Articles of the Warrant shall be acted upon in their consecutive order, except a vote be carried to consider a par- ticular Article, out of such regular order.
8. The Moderator's decision shall not be questioned on matters of decorum or disorder in the House. On other ques- tions it can only be over-ruled by a two-thirds vote of the persons voting, on a direct appeal to the House.
9. The Moderator can require any motion to be put in writing, if in his opinion it will conduce to a better under- standing of the subject by the House.
IO. When a vote is declared by the Moderator, and is, immediately upon such declaration, questioned by seven or more voters, he shall make the vote certain by a ballot, or dividing the House.
II. No vote shall be reconsidered except on the motion of a person who has voted on the side by which the vote was carried, and then only within the first hour after such vote was passed, except by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting.
12. On all reports of Committees or new propositions brought before the House, the first vote without debate shall be: "Will the report or proposition be received by the House." On a vote in the negative, no consideration can be given it. On an affirmative vote it can be considered at once, deferred till a particular time, adopted in the whole or in part, amend- ed, or indefinitely postponed, as the House may determine.
13. A Committee chosen by the House, any member of which, not being present, when so chosen, shall be informed by the Town Clerk, in writing, of his appointment. If ap- pointed by the Moderator, after the adjournment of the Meet- ing, he shall severally inform the members in writing of their appointment, and after the list of members is complete, who have accepted the service, he shall send the names of the same to the Town Clerk for record. When the House names a com- mittee they shall make provision for filling vacancies on such Committee.
14. The first named on a Committee, shall be its tempor- ary Chairman, who shall see that the members are got to- gether, when the Committee shall be organized by the choice of a Chairman and Secretary. A record of the Meetings of
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such Committee shall be kept by its Secretary, and the record shall be subject to inspection.
15. A Committee shall be formally discharged when its work is done, and a Town Meeting can discharge any of its Committees for causes satisfactory to the Town Meeting.
16. All Committees shall do their business within a rea- sonable time, resign, or ask to be discharged.
17. In conducting a Town Meeting otherwise than is here specified, or regulated by Statute, the Moderator may follow the rules of Cushing's Manual, so far, as in his opinion they can with advantage be applied.
18. The Town Clerk shall furnish Ballots for Candidates for ali Town Offices, to be used at Caucuses or Town Meet- ings, at the expense of the Town. Application to be made to him at least fourteen days before the Town Meeting or the Caucus, but he can, if it seems to him desirable in any or all instances, require a petition, bearing the names of twenty or more voters.
19. Copies of these By-Laws that shall be adopted and approved by the Superior Court, shall be posted at various places in the Town Hall, and published in the next Annual Town report.
TAXES AND EXPENDITURES.
I. The financial year of the Town shall begin with the first day of January of each year, and end on the thirty-first day of the following December.
2. The Selectmen shall on the first day of each quarter notify all officers, boards, committees and agents of the Town authorized to expend money or incur indebtedness on account of the Town, of the balance of the appropriation against which they are authorized to draw, to the end, that no debt shall -be contracted or expenditure made in excess of such appro- priation, but should the exigency be extreme the same must be certified to by the Auditors.
3. All Officers, Agents, or Committees of the Town, having the charge of the expenditure of money shall Annually report thereon, in such manner as to give the Citizens a fair and full understanding of the objects and methods of such expenditure. Such reports shall be printed and included in the Annual Town report, which Annual report shall be published and ready for
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distribution, ten days at least before the Annual Town Meet- ing.
7. The assessment of taxes shall be completed and a list of the same committed to the Collector, on or before the first day of August of each year. Any taxes paid before Sept. Ist of each year, shall have an abatement of three per cent. Any paid between Sept. Ist and Oct. Ist, shall have an abatement of two per-cent, and any paid between Oct. Ist and' Nov. 10th, shall have an abatement of one per-cent, and on all left unpaid by Nov. Ioth, interest shall be charged. On January 10th the taxes shall be collected according to law. Any taxes remaining unpaid for two years, the Collector shall report to the Town Meeting, when they shall in some way be disposed of, either by selling the property or abating the same.
5. The Auditors can require in manuscript or print from the Collector, a list of taxes unpaid with the names of the tax- payers of one year's standing. Every year there shall be pub- lished in the Town report a list of the taxpayers, specifying particularly the different kinds of property, like the one pub- lished in 1901.
AUDITORS.
The Auditors shall examine the accounts of the Town offi- cers as required by the Statutes. Before certifying to the ac- counts of the Treasurer they shall examine his cash book, wherein shall be entered his receipts and payments, see that he has paid out no money except on proper vouchers, ex- amine all payments for interest, examine cash and bank ac- counts and see that the above correspond with the balance as appears by his books, and see that the funds are intact. They shall certify in the printed Annual report as to the correctness of all the reports of Officers or Committees entrusted with the expenditure of money.
THE DUXBURY CEMETERY TRUSTEES:
Established By the Citizens at the Town Meeting, Held May 20, 1903.
The Trustees would recommend the following By-Laws :
Article I. Section I. The Cemetery Trustees shall con- sist of five members until otherwise ordered, who shall be elected by ballot at the Town Meetings.
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Sec. 2. That the members of the Board be chosen for a term of five years respectively, one member to be chosen by ballot each year hereafter, to succeed retiring member.
Art. 2. The Trustees shall select from among its members a Chairman, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, the two latter offi- ces to be held by one person if the members so decide.
Art. 3. Sec. I. The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Trustees, and shall hold office until the election of his successor.
Sec. 2. The Secretary shall notify and attend all meetings of the Trustees, and shall keep a faithful record of their do- ings. He shall prepare, have the custody of, and attend to the proper disposition of all papers made necessary by these By- Laws, and perform any other duties required by the Trustees.
Sec. 3. The Treasurer shall collect all money due the Town on account of the Cemetery, from sale of lots or appropria- tions and pay it out by order of the Trustees, who shall have authority to spend such parts of said sums or interest as is not required for said lots, for general cemetery purposes, and shall not be required to furnish bonds.
TRUSTEES.
Sec. 4. The Trustees shall make Annually a report of their doings during the preceding year ; said report shall contain a general statement of the receipts and expenses of the year, the condition of the funds in their care, and such other matters of information as they may deem advisable ; said report to be printed with the Annual report of Town Officers.
Art. 4. Sec. I. Lots. Citizens of the Town shall be enti- tled to a lot unimproved without expense under the same laws as apply to gain citizenship, and the price to non-residents shall be ten ($10) dollars, the lots to be assigned or sold in con- formity with plan drawn in 1888.
Sec. 2. All lots sold or assigned shall be turfed, graded and borders sodded by Nov. 30, next succeeding date of gift or purchase. If this is not done, the Trustees shall have the power to assign the lot to another person, after refunding the purchasing price. When all bodies have been removed from a lot, and the owners, heirs, or next of kin do not wish it for their own families, the same shall, after one year, revert to the Cemetery, and no burials are to be made in any lot until the same has been graded as the Trustees may direct, and the
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1
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lot owners shall keep the boundary marks of the lot in repair, . whether put in. by themselves or by the Committee.
Sec. 3. Interments. No interment shall be made until the Superintendent shall have been furnished with such permits as may be required by laws of the Commonwealth or of the city or town from which the deceased may be brought, and not until the fees hereinafter provided shall have been paid, and he may insist upon an order from the proprietor of the lot in which such interment is to be made, or from his legal rep- resentative : the Superintendent shall deliver any body to the friends or relatives applying for it in a legal manner for re- moval at their own expense from the Cemetery. At Military funerals no firing of volleys shall be allowed within the Ceme- tery, except by special permission of the Cemetery Trustees. No grave or tomb shall be opened for interment or removal by any person not in the employ of the Trustees.
Sec. 4. The lots are to be used only for the burial of the dead, the owners having the right to erect stones and inonu- ments, and to cultivate trees, shrubs, and plants upon the lot. No trees shall be removed without the consent of the Trustees, and all refuse material, shall be removed to a place selected for it. If a lot owner fails to remove this refuse material, the Com- mittee shall see that it is done and shall charge the expense of the same to him. If any trees or shrubs, situated on any lot, by their roots or branches, or otherwise, become injurious to the adjacent lots or avenues, or inconvenience those passing, it shall be the duty of the Trustees, upon the request of any- one interested, to enter upon such lot and remove such trees, or shrubs, or branches, and all lots shall be indivisible.
Sec. 5. No stonework, monumental or curbing, shall be erected upon any lot until foundations satisfactory to the Trus- tees shall have been put in.
Art. 5. Sec. I. Bequests. That the Town accept bequests for the maintenance of lots, the minimum sum to be $100 for a single lot and $200 for double lots. That all money received by bequests, from sale of lots, and interest money, when it is provided that the principal remain intact, be invested in some Savings or Trust Institution, to be known as the General Cem- etery Fund ; this to be in the name of the Town Treasurer, but subject to drafts signed by the Treasurer of the Cemetery Trustees, when it is to be expended as per Art. 3, sec. 3, of
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these By-Laws. When bequests are made for particular lots, the Town Treasurer is to keep an account with said lots.
Sec. 2. These By-Laws shall apply to all Cemeteries with- in the Town, and take effect upon their passage.
HIGHWAY AND POLICE REGULATIONS.
I. No person shall tie or fasten any horse to, or leave the same standing by any ornamental shade tree in or near the streets, lawns or places of the Town, so near as to injure any unprotected tree, or wrongfully injure or abuse such tree in any other manner.
2. No person shall use any indecent, profane or insulting language in any street or public place of the Town, or near any dwelling house, or public building, or church, or upon any side- walk, public passage-way, or way or ways to any public hall or church, or do anything to the annoyance, disturbance or ob- struction of any person lawfully entitled to pass or inhabit or resort thereto.
3. Three or more persons shall not stand in a group or near each other on any sidewalk in such a manner as to ob- struct or impede a free passage for foot passengers.
4. No person shall fire or discharge any gun or fowling piece, pistol, or other firearm, or make any bonfire or other fire in any street or public place of the Town or within the principal inhabited parts of the Town.
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