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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.