ContentsScope and Contents of the Collection
Warrants for town meeting 1736 Mar. 8-May 7 Warrants for town meeting 1745 Feb. 17 Warrants for town meeting 1747 Warrants for town meeting 1750 Warrants for town meeting 1752 Feb. 24 Warrant to John Bellenger, appointing him Surveyor of Highway and tax collector 1753 June 11 Warrant to John Phipps to call vote for 2nd Precinct to choose a new constable 1755 Dec. 15 Warrants for town meeting 1772 Warrants for town meeting 1773 Warrants for town meeting 1774 Warrants for town meeting 1775 Jan. 9 Warrants for town meeting 1776 Warrants for town meeting 1777 Warrants for town meeting 1779 Oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth administered to Town Assessors 1779 Warrants for town meeting 1780 Agreement on town boundaries 1785 Nov. 15 Warrants for town meeting 1791 Order to the Brookfield Selectmen to collect taxes 1792-1795 |
Brookfield (Mass.) RecordsFinding AidFinding aid prepared by Dex Haven.2009
Administrative InformationProvenance unknown 2010. Processed by Dex Haven, February 2010. Preferred CitationCite as: Brookfield (Mass.) Records (MS 595). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. The collection is open for research. Return to the Table of Contents Historical NoteSettled in 1660 and incorporated in 1718, the town of Brookfield (Worcester County), Massachusetts, straddles the Boston Post Road, one of the major arteries during the colonial period connecting Boston with the towns of the Connecticut River Valley and New York. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe warrants issued by the selectmen of Brookfield, Massachusetts, to the constable in each precinct to warn the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the town about upcoming town meeting. Each contains a brief agenda of topics for that meeting. Most of these warrants concern the mundane matters of local governance such as authorizing funds for building and repairing roads and bridges, laying out or approving the course of new roads and compensating land owners for alienated property, support for the poor, and the election of town officers. During the 1770s and 1780s, however, the warrants reflect the heightening of Revolution zeal, with references to the Tea Act controversy of 1773, the formation of Committees of Correspondence and a Committee of Safety, pay for the Minute Men of 1775, support for soldiers' families, and military preparedness in town. Two warrants request the Town to vote upon inoculation for smallpox. Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents Warrants for town meeting 1736 Mar. 8-May 7 2 itemsWarrants for town meeting 1745 Feb. 17 1 itemRegarding laying out route of public highway; keeping of a grammar school Warrants for town meeting 1747 3 itemsRe supplying the town pulpit; amending bridge; preventing encroachment on highways and town land Warrants for town meeting 1750 1 itemRe: roads; women's schooling; repairing second parish church Warrants for town meeting 1752 Feb. 24 1 itemRe: ratifying roads; sale of ministry lands Warrant to John Bellenger, appointing him Surveyor of Highway and tax collector 1753 June 11 1 itemIncludes list of taxable residents and amounts owed Warrant to John Phipps to call vote for 2nd Precinct to choose a new constable 1755 Dec. 15 1 itemWarrants for town meeting 1772 8 itemsRe: roads; bridge repair; poor relief; recompense for the local fulling mill in rebuilding a bridge Warrants for town meeting 1773 4 items"To see if the Town will hear the several Letters from the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Boston and make any order on them..."; "to see if the Town will Come into any Vote or Resolve; Respecting the East India Company's Tea, Lately sent to America, Subject to a Duty Warrants for town meeting 1774 3 items"To choose a standing Committee of Correspondence" Warrants for town meeting 1775 Jan. 9 1 item"to see if the Town will allow the account of Jedediah Forster Esqr for his attending the [Continental] Congresses..."; "to see if the Town will Grant money to pay the Minute Men" Warrants for town meeting 1776 2 items"To see if the Town will accept and act upon the Report of their Committee Chosen to Draught some plan to Incourage the manufacturing of firearms"; repair of Nichols bridge; permit inoculation for smallpox at Joseph Cutter's house Warrants for town meeting 1777 9 items"to see if the town will chuse a Committee to supply thee families of thee non commissioned oficers and privit solders that are gone in to the Contanental servase"; building a roof on the powder house; storing town ammunition; smallpox inoculation; choose a Committee of Safety Warrants for town meeting 1779 7 items"to see if the town will hear and act upon a petition... Relative to Breeches made upon the Resolves of the Convention lately held at Concord"; relief for soldiers' families; roads; act on new Constitution Oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth administered to Town Assessors 1779 1 itemWarrants for town meeting 1780 8 itemsRe: delegates to the Convention in Boston; bridges; roads; bounty for killing crows Agreement on town boundaries 1785 Nov. 15 1 itemWarrants for town meeting 1791 3 itemsRe: juror list; taxes; support of schools; roads and bridges Order to the Brookfield Selectmen to collect taxes 1792-1795 3 itemsInventory and valuation of personal goods Undated 1 item |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||