March, 2009 Workshop - Gloucester City Hall, Gloucester, Mass.

Documents ...from the Gloucester Archives, Gloucester, MA

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• Excerpt from By Laws, Gloucester, c.1824 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This transcription of the first page of the By Laws as set out in 1824, concentrates on areas of safety, particularly in regards to fires and regulation of "traffic" on roads.

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• Town Meeting Warrant, Gloucester, c.1800s (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This town warrant is a fairly typical one for a Cape Ann community of the early 19th century. It opens with a summons to male "freeholders" who are also property owners, to assemble at the Meetinghouse, and gives the major issues of the meeting. A noteworthy subject is whether the swine, and likewise the cattle, will "go at large" over the next year.

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• Town Meeting Minutes, Gloucester, 1780 - "Walking" Ratification of the MA Constitution
• (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• Following the writing of the Ma Constitution, each town was required to approve the document. In Gloucester a tradition of walking to one side of the meeting house or the other to signify your vote was used for several important decisions (it was also a method used to support the Declaration of Independence) This would be a fun activity to act out with students in a classroom. .

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• Estimate for Town Expenses, Gloucester, c.1860 includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• As Gloucester grew in the 1800s, town affairs became more complicated. This document shows a variety of anticipated expenses - from the fire department to snow bills and the care of the insane. By 1860 Gloucester has established itself as a large and thriving community.

Documents ...from the Peabody Institute Library

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• Transcript (pdf)
• Petition for Name Change (c.1860)
• In the 1860s, the inhabitants of the Town of South Danvers asked he legislature to allow them to change the name of their city to honor George Peabody. They list their reasons as being "mistakes of travellers and misdirection of letters."

Documents ...from the Beverly Historical Society

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• Transcript (pdf)
• List of Town Offices (1836)
• This short handwritten list of town offices includes jobs such as fence viewers, selectmen, overseers of the poor, and tythingmen. It shows the importance of particular occupations that were relevant in the time when Beverly was both a farming and seaport community.
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• By Laws of the Town of Beverly (1836)
• The Town of Beverly, as many early New England villages, had a history of trouble with fires. Consequently, their town records are full of salety measures to protect from unwanted fires. The first page of this document, the beginning of a small book, makes clear that the use of fire by townspeople is to be closely monitored.
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• Transcript (pdf)
• Boundary Dispute Between Beverly & Wenham (1678)
• According to the early charters of Massachusetts, town officials were charged with clarifying boundaries of local towns. This 1678 document, whose information was originally recorded in the Salem town book, declares that the land in question actually belongs to Wenham, it being the "ancientist" town. Many of the founding records of early Cape Ann communities involve disputes over land/town boundaries. In a time before standardized streets or other landmarks often geographical features were used to mark boundaries.

Documents ...from the Haverhill Public Library, Special Collections

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• Grammar School In Bradford, 1794 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.
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• Trask Commission, 1805 includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• These town meeting minutes concern appointments of men to offices, payments for a writing school, licenses for an inn, payments to townspeople for support of poor citizens, mending of the town house windows and a sum to be paid for spinning materials to put a girl who is in jail to work.
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• Town Receipt for New (fire) Engine House, 1850 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.
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• Bill to Town of Haverhill re:Boarding Schoolmaster, 1850 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.
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• Petition to Selectmen re:Closing Billiard Rooms, 1857 ( includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.

Documents ...from the Lynn Public Library, Reference Section

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• Lynn School Committee Reports, 1810 & 1821 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.
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• School Expenses, 1838 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• These town meeting minutes concern appointments of men to offices, payments for a writing school, licenses for an inn, payments to townspeople for support of poor citizens, mending of the town house windows and a sum to be paid for spinning materials to put a girl who is in jail to work.

Documents ...from the City of Salem Archives

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• Town meeting minutes, Salem, 1700 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.
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• Town meeting minutes, Salem, 1725 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• These town meeting minutes concern appointments of men to offices, payments for a writing school, licenses for an inn, payments to townspeople for support of poor citizens, mending of the town house windows and a sum to be paid for spinning materials to put a girl who is in jail to work.