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1784-03-08At a legal meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Beverly legally warned th and assembled on March ye 8 1784. Larkin Thorndike Esq. was chosen Moderator of said meeting. Voted. that the Town will proceed in the same way and manner in the choosing of their Selectmen th Assessors as they did at their Annual Meeting on the 10 of March 1783 which is as followeth. viz. That each District shall have the nomination of their Selectmen and Assessors by each Districts repairing by themselves and there agreeing upon some person to be by them nominated and the Town to choose the same, if they see cause. Voted. That all Town Officers be chosen by hand vote, so-called. The Town Meeting was then adjourned by the Moderator to two o’clock this afternoon then to meet at this place. The Town Meeting being met according to adjournment, proceeded to the business of the Meeting as followeth viz. Then each District in said Town repaired by themselves and agreed upon some person to serve as Selectmen & Assessors belonging to their District which person was by them nominated for that purpose. And the several persons hereafter named were chosen to serve in the several perspective offices annexed to each of their names for the ensuing year that is followeth. Viz. Selectmen Joseph Ward and Joseph Lovett AssessorsDea. Samuel Conant Thomas Woodbury th Capt. John Lovett 4 Voted. That the Selectmen and Assessor shall be allowed and paid five shillings per day for each day they shall spend in the service of the Town the ensuing year. Town Clerk, Joseph Wood. Town Treasurer, Larkin Thorndike Esq. Voted. That the Town Treasurer shall have and receive two pence per pound for receiving & paying the Town’s money the current year. ConstablesThomas Hovey in Farms Ward. Andrew Cabot in Ferry Ward. Capt. Simeon Brown in Royal Side [Ryal Side] Ward. Theophilus Herrick in Bass River Ward. Capt. Elias Smith in Bald Hill Ward. WardensWilliam Bartlett Esq.. William Homan. William Sears. Tything MenJohn Stone. Richard Standley. Ebenezer Smith. nd Samuel Dodd 2 . Simon Lovett Acer Brown. Israel Greene Jr. FenceJonathan Dodge ViewersSamuel Cole William Green Bartholomew Trask Dr. Israel Woodbury Benjamin Leech FieldJosiah Stone DriversAbner Dodge John Creesy Jr. Benjamin Leach John Boyle Asa Brown HogreevesJohn Dodge 2d Jonathan Dodge Hasadiah Smith Nathaniel Woodbury Joseph Whyer Asa Leach Clerks ofCapt. Isaac Chapman the MarketCapt. Nathaniel Greenwood Timothy Leach Thomas Davis Jr. Cullers of Hoops,John Stone Staves &Capt. Edmund Giles HeadingCapt. William Sears Surveyors of Boards,Capt. Asa Leech Shingles, ClapboardsZachariah Stone & Lumber Sealer ofJohn Trow LeatherBartholomew Wallis Cullers of Benjamin Obear FishSimon Lovett Henry Thorndike Deer ReevesJoseph Corning Nehemiah Presson Weigher of Hay at theFrancis Smith Haymarket Pound KeeperNicholas Newbury SurveyorsWardNo. 1 Jonathan Standley ofNo. 2 Peter Pride HighwaysNo. 3 Thomas Hovey No. 4 Benjamin Obear No. 5 Joseph Baker No. 6 Joseph Lovett 2d No. 7 Andrew Cleaves No. 8 Samuel Cole No. 9 John Francis No. 10 Charles Dodge No. 11 Richard Leech No. 12 John Batchelder Jr. Voted. That they shall go at-large the ensuing year being yoked and ringed as the law directs Voted. That it is the mind of the Town that the building on Woodbury Point belonging to the Town be sold in the Selectmen are hereby appointed a committee for the purpose of selling the said building. Voted. That the affair relative to the Town’s leveling the fort at Woodbury Point be referred for further consideration to the adjournment of this meeting. Voted. That the Town will mend their Highways the ensuing year by a tax on the polls and estates of the inhabitants and that the method and regulation for repairing the highway the current year be the same as is prescribed by a vote of the Town when the Town first came into the measure of repairing of the Highways in said Town by way of a tax excepting as to the price of labor. Voted. That the sum of two hundred pounds assessed and raised on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of this Town for the purpose of repairing the Highways in said Town ye current year. Voted. That the Surveyors of the Highways allow out of the tax committed to them to work out to each man performing a good day’s work five shillings per day and allowed to new a man and a good team of four good cattle performing a good day’s work fifteen shillings per day and all other labor in the same proportion the current year. Voted. That Asa Brown and other petitioners have Liberty to work out their highway tax the current year on the way laid out from their dwelling house to the country road through Col. Thorndike’s Farm under the inspection of the Surveyor of Ward No. 12. Voted. That the affair relative to the Constables receiving of counterfeit money for taxes, etc. be dismissed. th Voted. That Capt. Simeon Brown, Joseph Wood and Capt. John Lovett 4 be a committee to take a view of the way at Ferry Hill and ascertain in the best manner they can, the wealth and boundaries of said way and how and in what way and manner will be the best to repair the same and make report at the adjournment of this meeting. The vote for a County Treasurer was brought in and sealed up as the law directs. th Voted. That the Town Meeting be adjourned to Friday the 12 day of March in said at three o’clock afternoon and the Moderator adjourned the same accordingly. Attest. Joseph Wood, Town Clerk. th At the legal meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Beverly March the 12 1784 being on adjournment. Voted. That instead of the Selectmen selling the building on Woodbury Point, they give them to Mr. William Woodbury the owner of the land on said Point it being and is to be understood to be in full satisfaction to the said Woodbury for the use and improvement of his land for seven years passed on said Point where the fort is erected and in full for damages he hath sustained on account of the fort’s being built on his land and also for his time and trouble and expense in leveling the breastworks or fort there. Voted. That the report of the Committee appointed to view the way at Ferry’s Hill and ascertain the boundaries of said way and report how and in what way and manner will be for the best to repair said way etc. should be accepted. Which is as follows viz. The Committee appointed to ascertain the bounds of the highway at the Ferry Hill, so called, and the best way or method for repairing the same report as followeth viz. That they have taken a view of the premises and are of the opinion that the said way was laid out two poles wide and to the best of our judgment is bounded as followeth viz. beginning at the southwest corner of Foster’s land and as the wall now stands at the corner of Ellis’ Lane and runs easterly near as the wall now stands against Foster’s land until it comes to Mr. Asa Leech’s land and through said Leech’s land leaving about five feet of said Leech’s yard in the road measuring where his picket fence now stands on the easterly side of his yard and thence running easterly by Andrew Stone’s heirs’ land along within about two feet of said Stone’s barn or blacksmith shop and from thence in a line to the southeast corner of the widow Mehitable Batcheldor’s Garden. Said way to extend so far southerly from the above said line as to make said road two poles wide and we are of opinion that the best way to repair said road will be to set the wall on the southern side of said way on the line and that a gutter be paved to from the corner of the road near Esq. Batcheldor’s barn on long the southern side of the way or about four feet wide and so downhill for the purpose of conveying the water into the sea at the bottom of the hill. th Beverly Mar. 12 1784John Lovett Joseph Wood, Committee Voted. That the present Selectmen be a committee in behalf of the Town to repair the way at Ferry Hill in the best way and manner they can at their discretion at the cost and charge of the Town agreeable to the above report of their Committee. Voted. That Capt. Simeon Brown be excused from serving in the office of the Constable and Ebenezer Trask chosen to serve in the office of a constable in his room going for said Brown’s turn. Town Meeting was then dissolved.