The First Town Meeting
Among
the documents preserved at the State Library that are important to
our town history are records of the early town meetings. Evidently
they were transcribed at some point and placed on microfilm,
although some of the original early documents are available at the
State Archives. Since we have just experienced the 226th town
meeting since the first one for which records are available, (225th
since incorporation), it seemed appropriate to look back to see how
things were done "in the beginning."
Although the town was not incorporated until November 27, 1777, the
first "town meeting" recorded at the State Library was warned on
March 10, 1777, and Ebenezer Meloon, Jacob Brown, and David Folsom
signed as selectmen, so apparently the practices of town government
were in place, even though we had not yet been officially
incorporated. The meeting was held on March 31, and at that time
Major Bradbury Richardson was elected as moderator, Jonathan Moulton
became the town clerk, Capt. Nathaniel Ambrose, Major Richardson,
and Lt. James Brown became selectmen, and Adam Brown, constable.
Amos Whipple and Nathan Lee were the town assessors. Votes were cast
for county treasurer and county assessors, our county at that time
being Strafford County. Carroll County was not established until
1840, and was named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last
living signer of the Declaration of Independence, who died in that
year. Lt. John Adams and Jonathan Moulton were elected to audit the
selectmen's accounts. Col Joseph Senter and Major Richardson were
appointed to lay out highways. The meetings were said to be held in
the "meeting house", although the records of later meetings include
great detail about the construction of the meeting house near the
Shaw Cemetery on Route 109 (which is said to have blown down in a
windstorm in 1819), so it is not clear if there was an earlier
meeting spot, possibly the Country Store.
Eighteen articles were acted upon, but the only appropriation made
by the voters was to spend "Thirty pounds lawful money" on the
Highway the present year. Residents were allowed to work on the
roads until the value of their taxes had been worked out, and pay
was reckoned at three shillings per day. There were twenty shillings
to the pound, so that would seem to be sufficient for 200 man/days
worth of road construction work. The meeting adjourned after just
one hour of deliberation.
Bradbury Richardson and Jacob Brown were elected fence viewers, and
an article was passed, "Voted that Hogs in this town should be
confined and not suffered to run at large", a problem that continued
to be the subject of legislation for years to come. At subsequent
town meetings, once the wool industry became established, rams were
also forbidden to "run at large" during the autumn months.
Price Fixing
The town met again on May 15, 1777 to vote for a committee to set
prices of "sundry articles", in accordance with an bill enacted by
the General Court, meeting at Exeter, then the state capital. A
committee of Major Richardson, Capt. Nathaniel Ambrose, Lt. James
Brown and Messrs. Ebenezer Meloon, Jacob Brown, and Jonathan Penniman, chair, met the following week and established fixed prices
for certain vital commodities, such as Indian corn, rye, potatoes,
butter, salt pork, peas, men's neat leather shoes, sole leather,
green hides, flax, sheep's wool, yarn stockings, fabrics of flannel,
tow, cotton, and cotton/linen blend, hay, and wages for farming labour. This gives us a valuable insight into the items that were
most necessary for life in the frontier town that was Moultonboro
over 200 years ago.
The cost of farm "labour" varied according to the time of year. From
the middle of April until the last of August, pay was three
shillings per day; two shillings and sixpence spring and fall, and
one shilling sixpence from the end of October until March 15 of the
following year. Potatoes were the cheapest food item at a shilling a
bushel at harvest time, and one and six in the spring, while rye was
4/6 per bushel, Indian corn four shillings for a bushel weighing
sixty pounds. Salt pork and butter were both nine pence per pound.
Clothing, also one of life's necessities, hopefully was also
affordable on the existing wage scale. Cotton cloth, or cotton/linen
blend, of the best quality and a yard wide, was the most costly
fabric at three shillings and eight pence per yard. Flannel was
priced at 3/6, and tow cloth was least expensive at 2/8. Feet were
expensive to take care of, with the best quality shoes costing eight
shillings, and yarn stockings six shillings.
For the farm animals, good hay was priced at one pound ten shillings
per ton in the field, or forty shillings in the barn.
A chattel mortgage of a later date were recorded in the blank pages
at the end of this first book of town records, and it shows that a
feather bed, a yoke of yearling steers, a cow, and the hay to keep
them on were pledged against a debt of $34.00, to be reclaimed in
two years. The last page is devoted to the marks for sheep and neat
stock belonging to the various farmers, such as "a crop in the right
ear and a slit in the left", which defined the sheep belonging to
Hezekiah Smith if they were found wandering.
Incorporation
The town was incorporated by the General Court (state legislature)
on November 27, 1777, and at a meeting on December 8, Jonathan
Moulton was elected as our first representative, with Col. Joseph
Badger and Ebenezer Thompson as Councilors, for the ensuing year.
Bradbury Richardson was appointed moderator by the General Court, to
call the first "official" town meeting, and a meeting was held in
January to elect officers to serve until the usual town meeting
time, which in those days was the last Tuesday in March.
The first annual town meeting following incorporation was held on
March 31, 1778, and moderator, town clerk, selectmen, treasurer,
constable, tithing men, surveyors of highways and of lumber, and
assessors were elected. Perhaps inflation in the Revolutionary
economy was responsible for the increase in highway expenses to 90
pounds, and in wages for road work to 9 shillings.
Hogs were still "running at large", and Benjamin Brown, Reuben Rowe,
Elias Smith and William Atkins were elected as Hog Constables.
Another office which we now no longer have need of was that of Fence
Viewers, which were first elected in 1779. Tithing men were to
collect the taxes mandated for the support of the church and the
minister of the gospel. Cornelius Cook was also elected to the
office of "Collector of Rags", presumably for use in the manufacture
of paper. Article 16 allowed the account of Joseph Richardson for
"bringing the ministers over the pond" to a meeting to be paid, so
evidently at this time travel by boat was still preferable to
overland travel on the roads. Bradbury Richardson was also paid his
account for expenses in traveling to the capital at Exeter to get
the town incorporated.
Controversy
The great controversy of early Moultonboro political history was the
choice of a minister to be "settled" over the town, as was required
by law. Every town had to support a minister of the gospel, and a
lot for the use and support of the church and parsonage was set
aside when the lots and ranges of the town were first laid out. One
party supported Rev. Samuel Perley, and their votes appeared to
carry the day at several meetings, but those who did not wish Rev. Perley
to become the town's minister eventually prevailed, and on
February 15, 1779, with 47 voters present, a majority of seven
voters agreed that he was not legally and fairly settled in the
town. They were obliged to "settle" with him for the expenses he had
incurred, at a sum not to exceed $16.00 per Sabbath for the time he
had been preaching in town. At a meeting in September, 1779, an
official call was given to Rev. Jeremiah Shaw to be the minister, at
a salary of 55 pounds per year, with raises as more people settled
in the town, and 30 cords of good fire wood annually. He remained
the minister of the gospel for many years and performed marriages
for most of the early settlers. Later, the town had a lawsuit with
one John Marston, who refused to pay his tax to support the
minister.
Legislative Affairs
Other decisions taken at the early town meetings included granting a
bounty of 20 pounds to any soldiers from town that would enlist in
the Continental Army, and also procuring beef for the Army. A quota
of five soldiers was requested from the town. A petition was
received from Stephen Atkinson, a soldier who in 1781 had already
served four years, and had not been granted any bounty, that he
should receive an equivalent bounty to those "who have been backward
and are but now engaging in their Country's Cause". A bounty of
thirty pounds was duly granted.
In 1782
it was voted to ban the use of ox sleds of less than four feet ten
inches in width to pass through the town, the fine being one silver
dollar, half to the complainer and half to the town, with inspectors
appointed. A road "to the neck" was voted to be laid out in 1788,
but a penny tax on the nonresident property owners was later
defeated. Pews were laid out in the meetinghouse, and a tax of one
dollar per person was voted to pay for glazing the windows. A boat
was built, presumably for the use of travelers who wished to cross
over to the Neck without going all the way around by land. "Ferry
Shores" is said to be near the spot where this ferryboat plied the
waters. It was apparently substantial enough to carry horses and
carriages, as the selectmen were able to set rates for these
travelers.
The
first mention of schools is in 1787, when it was voted to keep a
school for the present year, but in 1789 the vote went the other
way. However, by 1790 each district was taxed, and each was to build
their own school house.
Roads were "laid out" and worked on to Sandwich, "Senter" Harbor,
and Tuftonboro, as well as various places within the town. The
returns of early rods are very difficult to understand, since the
landmarks tend to be marked trees, fences, and other objects no
longer in place, as well as parcels of land that have changed hands
many, many times since the roads were first arranged. The original
layout of the town was on a grid system of lots and ranges, and when
roads were built there were exchanges of land between the town,
which owned the ranges, and the residents who occupied the lots.
Arrangements were made for the meetinghouse in great detail, the
burying ground and training field were fenced off, a person was
chosen to sweep the meetinghouse and keep the key, sealer of weights
and measures chosen, a pound was constructed to contain stray farm
animals, built from white oak and pine lumber, which explains why
our pound is no longer in existence, when pound enclosures built of
stone are still standing. Getting the 30 cords of wood that were
owed to Rev. Shaw annually was also a warrant article.
Town meetings
were warned and held throughout the year as necessary to deal with
the affairs of the town, such as choosing presidential electors,
grand and petit jurors and representatives in Congress. Courts were
"holden" at Gilmanton, so being chosen as a juror was a major
commitment of time and effort. In 1796, George Freese, proprietor of
the town store, was given "free approbation for retailer of
spirituous liquors in the town of Moultonborough", and shortly
thereafter Nathaniel Shannon and Samuel Burnham was also licensed to
sell liquor, and Jonathan Wiggins to sell wine.
This, when properly organized and evaluated, is the type of material
that would form the basis of our town history, since written
records, though they may be incomplete, are the major clues that
remain to tell us how people lived in our town over two centuries
ago.
By: Jane Rice
 I
was sent this information and sadly the person did
not give his/her name. The name Jane Rice was printed on
the bottom of the page so if she is the person that has
done all this work I would like to thank her.
Birde |
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