1780-03-13th
At a legal meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Beverly March 131780.
Henry Herrick Esq. was chosen Moderator.
Voted. That the Town will proceed in the same way and manner in the choice of Town officers as
th
they did at their annual March meeting on the 8 of March 1779 which is as followeth. viz.
That each district shall have the nomination of their Selectman and Assessor by each district
repairing by itself and their agreeing upon some person to be by them nominated and the
Town to choose them if they see cause... And that all Town officers shall be chosen by hand
vote.
Town Meeting adjourned to two o’clock in the afternoon.
Then each district repaired by themselves and agreed upon some person for their Selectman and
Assessor and nominated the same accordingly. And the following persons hereafter named were
severally chosen to serve in the several respective offices annexed to each of their names for the year
ensuing viz.
Selectmen &Joseph Wood
AssessorsJohn Lovett 3d
Dea. William Dodge
William Taylor
Asa Leech
Town ClerkJoseph Wood
Town TreasurerHenry Herrick Esq.. Voted that the Town Treasurer should
have three pence per pound for receiving and paying the
Town’s money the year ensuing.
ConstablesRobert Standley for Farms District
John Dyson for Ferry District
Voted to excuse John Dyson from serving as Constable and
chose Benjamin Obear to serve in said office in his room it
going for said John Dyson’s term.
nd
William Trask 2 for Royal Side [Ryal Side] District.
Surveyorsfor wardNo. 1. Nehemiah Presson
ofNo. 2. Peter Pride
HighwaysNo. 3. Peter Obear Jr.
No. 4. Benjamin Obear
No. 5. Benjamin Lovett Jr.
No. 6. Francis Smith
No. 7. William Butman
No. 8. William Taylor
No. 9. Joshua Balch
No. 10. Capt. John Woodberry
No. 11. William Elliott
No. 12. John Batchelder
HogreevesThomas Champney, Nathan Wyman, Joshua Balch, Samuel
nd
Woodberry 2, George Raymond Jr., Edward Trask, Robert
Woodberry, Dr. Israel Woodberry, William Sears, Paul Haskell
TythingmenCapt. William Bartlett Esq.
Capt. Nathan Leech
George Raymond Jr.
Josiah Trow Jr.
Capt. John Woodberry
Lieut. Joshua Dodge
James Thissell
Sewall Tuck
nd
Fence ViewersNehemiah Presson, Wm. Green, Jonathan Dodge 2, Richard
Leech, William Taylor, Robert Woodberry
Field DriversJohn Boyle, George Raymond Jr., Capt. Moses Brown, Abner
Dodge, Gideon Rae, William Haskell, Col. Larkin Thorndike
Clerks of the Capt. Edmund Giles
MarketCapt. Joshua Cleaves
Capt. James Lovett
Richard Leech
Viewers and CullersCapt. James Lovett
of Staves, Hoops, & HoddingCapt. John Lovett
Capt. Caleb Dodge
Surveyors of Board,Capt. John Lovett
Shingles, Clapboards, & LumberCapt. Asa Leech
Sealers of LeatherCapt. Joseph Rae
Lieut. Peter Shaw
Cullers of FishSimon Lovett
Col. Larkin Thorndike
William Homan
Deer ReevesNathan Leech, Capt. John Lovett
Pound KeeperOsman Trask
Weigher of Hay at Haymarket Francis Smith
Committee of Correspondence,Joseph Wood
Inspection & Safety chosen byJohn Lovett 3d
a ballot the Selectmen viz.Dea. William Dodge
William Taylor
Asa Leech
Voted. That the 3d Article of the warrant be referred to May meeting.
Voted. That the swine should go at-large the ensuing year being yoked and ringed as the law directs.
The votes for a County Treasurer were brought in and sealed up as a law directs.
Voted. That the Selectmen supply the families of the Soldiers that are in the Continental Army with
necessaries and that they draw sufficient sums of money out of the Town Treasurer for the
purpose. To
Voted. That the Draft of the Petition to the General Court prepared by the Committee for that
purpose be accepted which is as followeth viz.
To the Honorable to the Council & House of Representatives in General Court assembled. The
petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Beverly humbly showeth:
That your petitioners having been made acquainted with your resolve of the ninth of June last
whereby they are assessed the extraordinary sum of £ 5400 as a fine for delinquency of men required
to reinforce the Continental Army and beg leave to respectively to observe thereon that as they would
be extremely sorry on any occasion to be the object of a penal law so in this they cannot be reconciled
to the effects of one which, however just on a general principle, is certainly unequal and oppressive
when applied to them. Your petitioners are conscious of having ever been firm advocates & steady
favorers of the Revolution, and in conformity to these ideas have been ever among the foremost with
their lives and fortunes to affect it and cannot but think early and punctual compliance with
preceedent requisitions was the cause of their delinquency on this, as it had exhausted them of men
and much money which might otherwise served them on this occasion. They mean not to cost of their
exertions while liberty and country are at stake but they wish for an appeal to the public records from
which it must appear that their quota of the Continental Army in 1777 & the many levies of the militia
have been furnished with a steadiness that was equaled in but few other places. Their honest
punctuality had stripped them of many of their citizens, many being seamen, were abroad and not
being allowed to procure men from other towns, they found it impossible to comply with the demands
of June last. Thus circumstanced, they did not expect this instance of delinquency in them would incur
a penalty, especially if it was remembered that as a Town they had furnished more men & been at
greater expense in carrying on the war then almost any Town in the State in proportion to their
abilities. They mean not, however, to expostulate but most respectfully submitting these suggestions
to the considerations of the Honorable the Council and House of Representatives they hope and trust
that wisdom and equity will dictate to them the remission of their fine and they will, as in duty bound,
ever pray.
Voted. That Josiah Batchelder Esq. their present Representative to the General Court be directed
to present the aforesaid petition.
Mr. Samuel Conant and Capt. Moses Brown was chosen to serve on the Grand Jury of the Court of
the General Sessions of the Peace to be holden at Ipswich on the last Tuesday of March instant and
that the several Courts of the General Sessions of the Peace to be holden in the County of Essex for
one year.