USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 7
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"And that the records of the late town of Kingstown be put into the hands of the clerk of North Kingstown, to be, and remain in said North Kingstown; and that a copy of all records belonging to South Kingstown, to be drawn out of the records of the late Kingstown, and to be delivered to the clerk of said South Kingstown, when chosen, and to be paid for out of North and South Kingstown treasuries.''1
The organization of the town of East Greenwich in 1677 was a direct legislative act interestingly set forth in the records as follows : "Voted, whereas at the General Assembly held for the Colony, at Newport, in May last, it was ordered that a certaine tract of land in some convenient place in the Narragansett country shall be laid forth into hundred acre shares with the house lots, for the accommodatinge of soe many of the inhabitants of this Collony as stand in need of land, and the General Assembly shall judge fit to be supplyed. In pursu- ance of said act of the Generall Assembly this present court doe enact and declare that the said tract of land be forthwith layd forth to con- taine five thousand acres, which shall be divided as followeth : five hun- dred acres to be laid in some place neare the sea, and as commodious as may be for a towne, which said five hundred acres shall be divided into fifty house lots, and the remainder of said five thousand acres, beinge four thousand five hundred acres, shall be divided into fifty equal shares or great divisions ; and that each person hereafter named and admitted by this Assembly to have land in the said tract, shall have and enjoy to him and his heires and assigns forever, in manner and forme, and under the conditions and limitations hereinafter expressed, one of the said house lots and one great division, containing in the whole one hundred acres". The Assembly further enacts, ordains and declares that certain forty-eight enumerated persons are the ones "unto whom the said tract of land is granted, and who shall possess and enjoy the same, their heires and assigns, accordinge to the true intent and meaninge of this present grant. And to the end that the said persons and their successors, the proprietors of the said land from time to time may be in the better capacity to manage their public affaires, this Assembly doe enact and declare that the said plantation shall be a town, by the name and title of East Greenwich, in his Majes- ty's Collony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, with all rights, libertys, and priviledges whatsoever unto a towne appertain-
ยท1R. I. Col. Rec., vol. iv, p. 322.
MAIN STREET, KINGSTON.
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STATE OF RIIODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
inge ; and that the said persons above mentioned, unto whom the said grant is made, arc by this present Assembly and the authority thercof, made and admitted the freemen of the said towne, and they, or soc many of them as shall be then present, not being fewer than twelve on the said land, are required and empowered to meet together upon the seeond Wednesday in April next, and constitute a towne mectinge, by electinge a Moderator, a Town Clerke, with such eonstables as to them shall seem requisite; and alsoe to choose two persons their Deputys to sitt in General Assembly, and two persons, one to serve on the Grand Jury, and one on the jury of Tryalls, in the Generall Court of Tryalls, and soe the like number and for the said services at the said Court from time to time". Provision was made for the settlement upon the grants and against the alienation of the same for a period of twenty- one years. The publie interests were further served by an enaetment "that the freemen of the said towne shall make and lay out eonvenient highways from the Bay up into the country, throughout the whole towneship, as shall be convenient for the settlement of the country above and about the said towneship". This town with the others in the King's Province was deprived of its orignal name during the period 1686-1689 and known as Dedford. The town records of 1740 contain the following entry: "Propositions for setting off the west- erly part of said town into a township by itself, as set forth in a peti- tion now lying before the General Assembly. The Moderator put it to vote whether they would give consent for the setting off the westerly part of said town, as aforesaid, or not, and the vote was in the affirma- tive by a very great majority". On April 6, 1741, the town was divided into East and West Greenwieh. The aet of incorporation of West Greenwieh provides for the new town "like benefits, liberties, privileges and immunities with other towns in this eolony, according to our charter"; also for the issue of "a warrant to eall in the inhab- itants of the said town together on the third Tuesday of this instant April, to elcet sueh town offieers as they shall have oceasion for, and the law direets ; and to appoint the time of their town meeting, and the places, and to choose and eleet two deputies, to represent them at the next General Assembly, and so on, as by the charter is directed".
The incorporation of Jamestown is the only record of the session of November 4th, 1678.
"The Assembly called and satt.
"Voted, That the petition of Mr. Caleb Carr and Mr. Francis Brin- ley, on the behalfe of themselves and the proprietors, for Quononoqutt Island to be made a towneship, shall be first adjitated and debated.
"Voted, That the said petition is granted; and that the said Quon- onoqutt shall be a towneship, with the like priviledges and libertyes granted to New Shoreham.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
"Voted, This Assembly is adjourned until Friday, the 8th instant. one of the clock, after noone."
As population inereased the transaction of the town business of nearly all the area of what is now Providence County at the village of Providenee beeame inconvenient and the interest of the different parts of this area beeame divergent. Accordingly in April, 1730, the free- inen voted for a division of the town and at the General Assembly in the following June, "Upon the petition of the town of Providence, setting forth the ill-eonvenieney of the said town's being so large, and praying that a committee might be appointed to inspeet into said affair : It is voted and enaeted that Mr. Samuel Clarke, Mr. Francis Willett, and Mr. Wm. Robinson, be a committee appointed to inspect into and consider of the situation and eireumstances of said town of Providence, in order for a division of the same into three or four parts, and make report thereof to the next session of this Assembly". On February 20th, 1730-31, there was passed "An Act for erecting and incorporating the out-lands of the town of Providence into three towns. Forasmuch, as the out-lands of the town of Providence are large, and replenished with inhabitants sufficient to make and erect three townships, besides the town of Providenee, and the land lies con- venient for the same, which will be of great ease and benefit to the inhabitants of said lands, in transaeting and negotiating the pruden- tial affairs of their town, which for some time past, has been very heavy and burthensome". The towns ineorporated at this time for this reason were Smithfield, Scituate and Glocester.1 The acts of in- corporation usually provide "that the inhabitants thereof have all the liberties, privileges and immunities, as the other towns in this State generally have and do enjoy". Divisions of the existing towns follow rapidly during the eighteenth century. Charlestown is set off from Westerly in 1738 beeause "the present town of Westerly, is very large, and its inhabitants are numerous, many of whom live at a very remote distance from the place of meeting appointed for the transacting the public and prudential affairs of the town ; and the rivers there (espe- cially in the middle part thereof) being very large, so that the way to said meeting is rendered diffieult as well as dangerous, and many of the inhabitants are thereby often impeded and hindered in attending thereon, which proves a great injury and hurt to them"; and also because "the said town is well situated, and lies commodious for a division into two towns, which being divided, will tend to the general interest and advantage of all its inhabitants."
As already described West Greenwich was incorporated in 1741. On August 21st of the same year it was declared that "Whereas, several of the inhabitants of the town of Warwick, by petition to this
1Laws of 1798, p. 92.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Assembly, did set forth the great disadvantage they labor under, on account of the great extent of said town; and as it is eoneeived it will be more for the ease and benefit of its inhabitants in transaeting and negotiating the prudential affairs thereof, to have a division made : Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that the western part of the town of Warwick be divided and set off from the eastern part thereof, by a north and south line drawn from the most western bounds of the westernmost of the Cowesset farms, and incorporated a township, and the same to be dis- tinguished and known by the name of Coventry". Exeter was set off from North Kingstown on March 8, 1742-43. The differences between the rural and the more compact portions of the Island of Rhode Island led to a petition of a "number of ye inhabitants of ye woods" "for dividing ye town" in 1741.1 "It was put ( ) whether ye town should be divided into two parts. Voted, that it should not be divid- ed". A committee of the General Assembly on petition of certain persons made an investigation and "upon hearing the rea- division of said town, made the following report: That they were of opinion, there was no necessity for dividing the aforesaid town of New- port. Which report was thereupon voted to be accepted". "Ye in- habitants of ye woods" were not discouraged and seeured an aet of incorporation of the town of Middletown, June 16, 1743. The town was set off from Newport under Aet of August 24th, 1743, and the first town meeting held on the 30th.
A sweeping act was passed on January 27th, 1746-47, "incorporating the inhabitants of the lands lately taken into this Colony, by the settle- ment of the eastern boundaries into five townships", stating that "Whereas, His Majesty has been graciously pleased by his royal deter- mination, to settle the eastern boundaries of this eolony, whereby sev- eral large tracts of land, and a great number of inhabitants are taken under the jurisdiction of this government; and it being absolutely necessary for the well governing the said people, that the said traets of land, with the inhabitants thereon, be set off and incorporated into townships, and the same being conveniently situated for the making of five townships ;
"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, and by the au- thority of the same, it is enaeted, that the aforesaid traets of land, with the inhabitants thereon, be set off and incorporated into five towns in the following manner, viz. :
"All that part, which heretofore has been called Bristol. with the inhabitants thereon, be set off and incorporated into a township, by the name of Bristol; and that that part which was heretofore (known) as part of Tiverton, with a part of Dartmouth and Freetown, adjoining thereto, be incorporated into a township, by the name of Tiverton, and
'Newport Records, Nov. 16th.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
that part which has heretofore been a part of Little Compton, and a part of Dartmouth, thereto adjoining, be incorporated into a township by the name of Little Compton; and that the line which formerly divided Tiverton from Little Compton, be extended easterly, to the colony line, and the whole to be dividing lines between said towns ; and that part which has heretofore been a part of Swansey and Barrington with a small part of Rehoboth thereto adjoining, with the inhabitants thereon, be incorporated into a township, by the name of Warren; and that part which has been commonly called and known by the name of the Gore of Land, with the inhabitants thereon, be incorporated into a township, by the name of Cumberland; and that the inhabitants of each respective town, for the time being, shall have and enjoy equal liberties and privileges with the other towns in this colony, agreeably to our charter."
CROSS'S MILLS, CHARLESTOWN.
Charlestown lost the area incorporated as Richmond on August 18, 1747. A portion of the town of Cranston somewhat larger than the present town of Cranston was set off from the town of Providence and incorporated as Cranston on June 14, 1754. Westerly was again divided by an act of March 14th, 1757, which declares that "Whereas, a great number of the inhabitants of the northern part of the town of Westerly, preferred a petition, and represented unto this Assembly, that the said town being upwards of twenty miles in length, they are much aggrieved by reason many of them are obliged to travel some fifteen or sixteen miles, to get an instrument recorded ; others, eighteen or twenty miles, when business calls them before the town council, or to
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
attend at a court of justices-the greater part of the publie business being at this day transacted and done in the southern parts of said town; and thereupon prayed that the same may be divided; nature having eut it into two parts, by the large river, called and known by the name of Pawcatuck ; and that they may be entitled to equal privi- leges with the other towns in this eolony ; on consideration whereof,-
Be it enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that the said town of Westerly be, and the same is hereby, made and divided into two distinct and separate towns; and that such part thereof, as lieth to the southward of the aforesaid Paweatuck river shall still be, and remain a town, holding its ancient name of Westerly ; and all the lands lying to the northward of said river, shall also be, and hereby is ereeted into and made a town, to be distinguished, called and known by the name of Hopkinton". Johnston was set off from Providence for similar reasons by an Aet of March 6th, 1759. The Aet of June 13th, 1765, by which North Providence was incorporated, shows other reasons leading to divisions: "Whereas, a large number of the inhabitants of the northern part of the town of Providence, pre- ferred a petition, and represented unto this Assembly, that there are within the limits of said township, upwards of four hundred freemen ; that those who dwell in the most eompaet part, are altogether mer- ehants and tradesmen ; and that far the greater part of the petitioners dwell in the more remote part of said township, and are near all farm- ers, whose interest and business often times differ from the merchants ; that town meetings have been often ealled, and held in the eompaet part, upon matters and things which did not, and do not conecrn the farmers in the northern and more remote parts of said town ; that they, the petitioners, nevertheless, have been, and still are, obliged to leave farming business, and to attend upon said meetings, to prevent things being voted to their disadvantage which hath oeeasioned much loss of time, contention and expense, which ought to be borne by the mer- chants and tradesmen ; all which, being very inconvenient, they prayed to be set off, erected and made into a township."
As the records show, the inhabitants on the west side of what was known as the Great River in Warren and those upon the opposite shore did not live in such "peace and mutual fellowship" as to eause affairs to move smoothly. Accordingly a petition for division was put in at the May session of the General Assembly in 1770. At the session of June 11th, 1770, the town was divided and the town of Barrington incorporated. This was the last aet of incorporation to be followed by the words "God Save the King". The extent of the town of Seit- uate and "other disadvantages" led to the incorporation of the town of Foster, August 24, 1781.
Thus rapidly with the growth of the Colony did divisions of the territory into towns take place up to the end of the eighteenth century
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
and with the end of the century the movement almost ceased. Burrill- ville was set off from Glocester on October 29, 1806, for eighteenth century reasons. Toward the end of the nineteenth century the pro- cess of reunion becomes common.
Fall River which was taken from Tiverton, one of the five towns set off from Massachusetts to Rhode Island by royal decree, January 27, 1746-47, was a Rhode Island town from October 6, 1856, till ceded again to Massachusetts on the settlement of the boundary dispute on March 1, 1862. By this settlement the westerly part of what had formerly been known as Seekonk, Massachusetts, was annexed to Rhode Island and incorporated as East Providence. This same settlement also brought a portion of what is now Pawtucket within Rhode Island limits.
Pawtucket had been set off from Seekonk by the General Court of Massachusetts on March 1st, 1828, and held its first town meeting six- teen days later, of which there is the following record :
"March Meeting, Monday March 17, 1828. At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Pawtucket qualifyed to vote in Elections and in Town affairs, held at the Rev. Mr. Greens Meeting House on Monday March 17th, 1828. In persueance of a warrent issued by Eli- jah Ingraham Esq. notifying said inhabitants to meet at the aforesaid time and place for the purpose of choosing Town Officers and organize- ing said Town". The officers chosen were Moderator, Clerk, Treas- urer, three Select Men, and it was "Voted, That the Select Men chosen as aforesaid constitute the overseers of the Poor of said Town". There was also chosen Constable, Health Officer, Measurer of Wood and Bark, Measurer of Plank and Timber, Hog Reaf, and Field Driver. This meeting adjourned to meet April 7th at "the Brick School house."1 Rhode Island towns were not accustomed to the Massachusetts practice of assembling in meeting houses. Later the list of town officers included Surveyor of Highways, Fence Viewer, Pound Keepers, Hog Constable in place of "Hog Reaf", Sealer of Weights and Measures, Assessors and Fire Wardens. Affairs were carried on as the sphere of these town officers would seem to indicate. After the town was admit- ted to the State of Rhode Island a meeting was called on March 1st, 1862, in accordance with the proclamation of the Governor. At this meeting there were elected a Moderator, Clerk, five members of the Town Council, Treasurer, four Justices of the Peace, Town Sergeant, Collector of Taxes, five Assessors, three Street Commissioners, three School Committee, two Overseers of the Poor and Farm Commissioners. Auctioneers, State Senator and Representatives.
The Town Council met and organized March 4th, 1862. At the meeting on the following day there were appointed six Field Drivers,
'Town Meeting Records. From 1828 to 1855. Eastside Book I, p. 4.
5-3
MAP OF PAWTUCKET, 1827.
.
Bust ling ress It faites form Surachat sente Zine with Kian
It menting theque os
*
eva?
Dukenk
River
-beute 100ants de un Suite.
Buscaund by Druck Dunford
PAN TUUKET
plackiston's tive
Mathe live from the beast aboutmont of Sanlord Toridge
South 880 Degrees West Alleborough
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
four Constables, Sealer of Weights and Measures, two Corders of Wood, two Fence Viewers, a Superintendent of Chimnies and Stove Pipes, Surveyor of Lumber, a Sexton, three Cemetery Committee and a Town Vaccinator.1 Later the Couneil eounted the votes east by the Town Meeting.2 In 1874 a portion of North Providence was annexed making the more thiekly settled section on both sides of the river one town. A portion of this area belonging to Rhode Island had been made the "Distriet of Pawtucket" by an aet of 1801 for the protection from fire. The enlarged town grew rapidly and town government beeame unwieldy. On April 1, 1885, the electors by a vote of 1,450 to 721 aeeepted the act of eity incorporation passed Mareh 27, 1885, and the eity government was inaugurated January 1, 1886. The organiza- tion was of the usual form in Rhode Island: Mayor, Aldermen, Coun- eilmen and regular officers.
-
WALCOTT STREET, PAWTUCKET.
From an old painting in the rooms of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association.
Woonsocket as a town was set off from Cumberland in 1867 and with a portion of Smithfield annexed at the time of the division of that town in 1871 was ineorporated as a city on June 13th, 1888.
The largest town in the State in 1871 was Smithfield. The interests here had beeome so diverse that division was a subject of mueh diseus- sion and finally on the 8th of March, 1871, the town was divided and the towns of Lineoln and North Smithfield (at first ealled Slater) were incorporated.
Central Falls was taken from the town of Lineoln and made a eity Mareh 18, 1895, aeeepting the aet of incorporation of February 27, 1895, by a vote of 1531 to 794, about the same ratio as that ineorporat- ing Pawtucket ten years earlier.
1Council Book No. 1, Town of Pawtucket, p. 1.
2Ibid, p. 367.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
An Act of March 22d, 1888, provides a portion of North Kingstown shall be "incorporated into a district by the name of Narragansett and the inhabitants thereof shall have and enjoy the like benefits, liberties, privileges and immunities and be subject to like duties and responsibil- ities as the several towns in this state generally enjoy and are subject to, except as is hereinafter provided". "For all state and national elections, including that of senator and representatives in the general assembly of this state and representatives in the congress of the United States, the town of South Kingstown is divided into two elec- tion districts, to be known as the first and second districts, the first district to comprise all that portion of said town that is not by this act set off as the district of Narragansett, the second to comprise that por- tion of said town as is set off as said district of Narragansett". The district council was to "have as full probate and other jurisdiction as are now by law imposed or conferred upon town councils in this state, to the exclusion of the town council of the town of South Kingstown within said district". This is a unique local division of the State. Districts for more restricted purposes as for the purpose of fire pro- tection had been established from time to time in earlier days.
Thus at the end of the nineteenth century the colony of the 17th century with its four early towns had by division, annexation and re- division become a State with thirty-two towns, five cities and one district.
The towns that had been formed by the sub-division of the older towns had been themselves in some instances sub-divided. All of these readily set up political machinery. Sometimes this became more elab- orate than in the days before divison or retained a simple form as in the case of Middletown.
With the growth of the centers of population the functions of local government were enlarged and defined. The administration of local affairs was left in the hands of a few and political powers were more and more delegated. This was the natural consequence when the in- habitants were engaged in business ventures and commercial under- takings which occupied their time and thought. The business trans- acted in the town meetings gradually becomes largely routine and town action relates to general policy rather than to petty details.
THE RANGE AND NATURE OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.
From the relation of the towns to the central government, these local units in Rhode Island always exercised a wide range of functions. The functions rarely interfered unnecessarily with personal liberty, but were such as "time and place" demanded. The nature and range of the activity of the towns can best be shown by reference to some of lines of control as shown in the records.
On account of the lack of fences many domestic animals were
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
allowed to run freely in the early days, but this caused great inconven- ience and became a matter for the consideration of the town. One of the earliest provisions was in regard to the proper handling or mark- ing of animals allowed to run at large. The records of the towns con- tain many pages of entries of ear-marks and other evidences of owner- ship. Westerly, on March 22, 1682, "Voated that Every Inhabetnat in this towne shall cause the artifficciall markes they putt upon thire cattle hogs and horses both eare mark and brande-marke to be Reccord- ed in the Towne booke". These marks served for convenience in iden- tification and also for protection. As early as August 11, 1656, four men are chosen at Portsmouth "to survaie and view all Cattell that shalbe hence forth transported of the Iland and to take the names of all such as transport Cattell the day of the month when, the number of the Generall Cattell with there seuerall ear marks and if any haue Cattel that haue not ther oun ear marke or that haue other marke or markes then ther owen the suruayers ar hereby required to make stopp of them unless thay giue satisfaction to the suruayers howe thay Cam by those Cattell so differently marked and the survayers shall haue for ther payns according to former order and the survayers ar to se the Cattell boated and if any Carry Cattell of the Iland in the night though suruayed before shall haue a suruayer to see them at ther going of shore or shall forfeit tenn pounds and stand to further sensuer of the toune". The towns make regulations for the use of common lands and highways by animals of various kinds as at Portsmouth : "Voted That noe person within this Towneshipp Shall have liberty of above one horse kinde above a yeare old to pasture on the Comon from the first of Aprill till the last of October yearly for the future; and that, one horse kinde soe beinge on the Comon to be kept well fettred or Shackld, and if any horse kinde above one Yeare old be found on the Comon in this Towne-Shipp Contrary to this Order, if the owner there- of after warneinge given take not Speedy Course to ffetter or shackle the said horse kinde, It shall be Lawfull for any person to kill the Said horse kinde soe unfettered or unshackled".1 These rights of pastur- age in the highways have a value in exchange as shown by a record :
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