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Hamilton, Massachusetts, Town Records, 1806-1861

 Collection
Identifier: EC 11

Scope and Content Note

This collection includes some bills and receipts, school records, selectmen's papers, warrants for town meetings, some church-related documents, petitions, an opinion on a court case written by Leverett Saltonstall, a list of men enrolled in the militia, a tally of votes for 1846, and a plan of the parsonage on the common. It is arranged chronologically.

Dates

  • Creation: 1806-1861

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Historical Sketch

In June 1638, John Winthrop (1606-1676), son of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, bought most of present-day Essex County from Masconomet, chief of the Agawam Native Americans, for the sum of twenty English pounds. Hamilton was first settled in 1638 and was originally a section of Ipswich known as the "Hamlet." The first recorded land grant in the Hamlet was Matthew Whipple's farm, dated 1638. Three years later the new stagecoach road from Boston to Newburyport (Bay Road) was laid out through the Whipple land. Other early settlers of the Hamlet, including the Appletons, Winthrops, Lamsons, and Dodges, were attracted by countryside similar to the English farms and estates they had left behind. The town was incorporated on June 21, 1793, and named for Alexander Hamilton, whose portrait became the town seal in 1903. With the arrival of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1839, the population center moved gradually southward toward the depot.

Extent

0.25 linear feet (1 box; 1 flat file)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection of Hamailton, Massachusetts, town records includes some bills and receipts, school records, selectmen's papers, warrants for town meetings, some church-related documents, petitions, an opinion on a court case written by Leverett Saltonstall, a list of men enrolled in the militia, a tally of votes for 1846, and a plan of the parsonage on the common.

Physical Location

Phillips Library Stacks

Provenance

The school record book of A. Brown was purchased on August 10, 1932. The "copy of the return of the road leading to Edmund Knowlton's" and the Leverett Saltonstall opinion on court case were gifts of Charles F. Montgomery on July 1, 1954, as well as possibly other papers. The rest of the collection is from an unknown source.

Bibliography and Related Collections

"History of Hamilton, MA." Town of Hamilton, MA, Town of Hamilton, MA, 2018, https://www.hamiltonma.gov/about/

Daybooks of George K. Knowlton, chairman of the Hamilton (Mass.) School Committee, 1908-1911, MSS 0.366

Property appraisal of Hamilton, Mass., 1830, MSS 0.367

Account book of Isaac F. Knowlton, tax collector, 1881-1882, MSS 1208

Processing Information

Collection processed by Tamara Gaydos, June 2018.

Title
HAMILTON, MASSACHUSETTS, TOWN RECORDS, 1806-1861
Author
Processed by: Tamara Gaydos; machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Phillips Library Repository

Contact:
Peabody Essex Museum
306 Newburyport Turnpike
Rowley MA 01969 USA