March, 2011 Workshop (repeat of July 2008/2009 Summer Institute session)
Amesbury Cultural Center & Rocky Hill Meetinghouse, Amesbury, Mass.

Documents for the Creating A Town Meeting (.pdf) Lesson

This lesson seeks to have students experience the feeling of a town meeting and see how early settlers in Essex County worked together to create a government to keep them safe and allow them to prosper. They will elect town officials and hold a mock town meeting to discuss issues relevant to early settlers.

The documents contained on this page are representative of town meeting materials from Essex County communities.Through close examination the reader can see how the governments of these towns evolved and the concerns of their citizens changed. The simulation of a town meeting of the fictitious community of "Cape Ann" was based on these documents, as well as others included on our primary resources pages. Transcriptions of all documents are included on their pages at the end of each .pdf.

Documents ...from the City of Salem Archives

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• Town meeting minutes, Salem, 1634 & 1635 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• As might be expected the earliest town records to be found in the Archives in Salem concern the allottment of land, grazing of animals and the laying out of roads. Compare these subjects to the warrants of the 1700s and 1800s and you can see how much town affairs changed over time.

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

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• Town Warrant, Gloucester, c.1700s (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This town warrant is a fairly typical one for a Cape Ann community of the early 18th 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 Expenses, Gloucester, c.1800s (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• As Gloucester grew in the 1800s, town affairs became more complicated. This document shows more attention to money owed to and expended by the town for services to its residents. New town jobs include selectmen and assessors, tax collectors, surveyors of highways, police officers and fire "engine men". Various committees are mentioned and it is clear that Gloucester is a thriving and active town.

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• Town Meeting, Gloucester, 1822 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• Gloucester's town meeting this year is largely concerned with highways and school repair.

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• Letter for Tax Abatement, Gloucester, c.1830 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• When manual laborers fell ill or experienced financial difficulties, they sometimes petitioned to have their taxes "abated" or lessened for a period until they were able to get back on their feet financially. This letter from a neighbor explains the hardship experienced by Mr. Clarke and his family in the Sandy Bay (Rockport) section of Gloucester.

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• Town papers, Gloucester, c.1831 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This elegantly penned list tells the needs of the fire "engine men" of Gloucester in 1831. Note the "trumpet," axes and buckets.

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• Letter to Selectmen, Gloucester, n.d. (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• In this letter to the Selectmen of Gloucester, the "citizens and legal voters" request a vote at town meeting to divide the surplus revenue of the town amongst the residents.

Documents ...from the Sandy Bay Historical Society

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• Town Warrant, Rockport, March, 1839 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• Sandy Bay voted in 1839 to consider separating from the Town of Gloucester and re-naming itself. This document outlines the procedure and the outcome of the naming of "Rockport" as a new town in Essex County.

Documents ...from the Andover Historical Society, Andover, MA

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• Town Warrant, Andover Advertiser, 1862 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• As newspapers became more prevalent, notices of town meetings and their agendas were printed in them. This notice from the Andover Advertiser lists a number of relevant topics for the townspeople to consider, including aid to families of soldiers involved in the Civil War.

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• Colonial Currency
• One, Two, Three, Four and Eight Dollar Notes. While these bank notes were not produced in Essex County, they were used here. These notes were likely printed in Pennsylvania by the firm of Hall and Sellers or Hall and Benjamin Franklin. (see secondary source below). They have the images of leaves on the reverse that was used as a way to subvert counterfeiters.

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

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• Town Warrant, Haverhill, 1801
• This document "warns" the voters of Haverhill of an impending town meeting. It lists agenda items such as; whether animals can "go at large" and how to spend town money.

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• Town Warrant, Haverhill, 1822
• Another town warrant from Haverhill listing agenda items for the town meeting .

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• Letter to the Overseers of the Poor, Haverhill & West Newbury, 1836
• In the 19th century towns were required to support those residents who could not support themselves. This might mean paying people to take on the support of the poor within their own households, or creation of a "poor farm" to group a large number of the poor together. This practice sometimes led to arguments over which town might be responsible for the upkeep of people who were born in one town but chose to live in another. This letter from West Newbury asks the town of Haverhill to pay expenses for a woman whom they are supporting.

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• Letter to the Overseers of the Poor, 1829
• In this letter a group of citizens of Haverhill ask the Overseers of the Poor to take the property of Ephraim Colby and use the income derived from it to support Mr Colby and his family at the poor farm. They believe since he has been known as a drunkard that he is unable to care for his children and is also posing a fire hazard to the town.

Additional Teacher Resources

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• Printed Currency of the 1700s ( .pdf)
• Information from the ... Library of Congress website This sheet shows examples of 18th century currency that was printed in Philadelphia in the 1700s. The primary source from the Andover Historical Society has many of the same features including images of leaves printed on money to discourage counterfeiters.

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• Historical background on Town Government ( .pdf)
• Information from the ... Old Sturbridge Village website This is a brief introduction to town government in early 19th century New Engalnd.