Town of Milford
Annual Minutes
1811
Copied by : Jayne Davis Szaz




Comments on My Transcription of the Town of Milford Annual Town Meeting Minutes

In the early 1990s Marion Brophy made photocopies for me of the Town of Milford Annual Town Meeting Minutes at the New York State Library in Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York, in reply to my request for information about my great great great grandfather, Christopher ELLI.S. As far as I know, the Minutes I have transcribed are all that remain of the Town of Milford's Annual Town Meeting Minutes, but I may be wrong about that; there may be Minutes for years before 1811 and after 1840. For anyone who wants to inquire of the library, its address is New York State Historical Association/The Farmers' Museum, Research Library, P.O. Box 800, Cooperstown, New York 13326, its telephone number is 607-547-1400, and its website is http://www.nysha.org/about/index.htm. The call number for the Town of Milford Annual Town Meeting Minutes is N593.82(2). However, the Minutes for 1812 and 1813 are probably lost; if not, Marion would have sent copies of them to me also.

I have transcribed the information from The Town of Milford Annual Town Meeting Minutes for 1811 and 1814-1840 and have entered the information into separate documents by year. My comments are in brackets [ ].

You may notice that some pages are missing and, I presume, lost, and that some of the page numbers within the documents are out of sequence. That apparently happened because the responsible town clerk did not enter the information about an event until some time after the event. For instance, information from page 256 appears in the years 1827, 1828, and 1829 because information for those years appears on that one page. Also, some page numbers appear in two consecutive years because the town clerk continued writing minutes for the current year on the sheet used for the previous year rather than taking a new sheet of paper.

The page numbers are as they appear in the original document. Where [New page, unnumbered] appears at the top of the page, the photocopying must have cut off the page number. These missing page numbers seem to be the odd-numbered pages.

I have copied the text as it appears in the original document, which means I have retained the spelling of the original document. . Where I could not read letters or words, I have substituted underlining of the same length as the missing letters or words. There is little punctuation; the first, a comma, shows up in the late 1820s.

Where the town clerk left a space blank that should have been filled with a name or a word or words, I have typed (blank).

The researcher should look through all of the years to find her/his ancestor(s) because some of the names were spelled one way on one page and another way on another page or pages. Some of the names appear over the entire span of years while others appear only once or twice.




Page 144 [As you see in the paragraph below, the year is not given. Judging by the 
numbers of these two pages (144 and 145) and the year given on page 148 and the page 

that precedes it below, I think the year is 1811.]

At the annual Town Meeting held in the Town of Milford County of Otsego at the house 
of John Bivvens on Tuesday the 1st and 2nd days of March 18th the following Persons 
were Elected into office Viz

John Moore……………………….}Supervisor
Ezra Adams……………………….}Town Clerk
Daniel French…………………….}
Joseph Mumford………………….}Afsefsors
Peter Collier………………………}
Daniel Lee………………………..}Const & Collector
Arial Winlworth………………….}
William Scott…………………….}Constables
Samuel Carpenter………………...}
Ethan Stevens…………………….}Comrs
Isaac Squier………………………}of
Peter Collier……………………...}Highways
James Westcott………………….,}.Overseers
Barnabas Bates…………………..}of Poor
Henry Scott……………………...}Comrs
Ezra Adams……………………..}of 
James Westcott………………….}Schools
Abraham Conkey………………..}Inspectors
James Culley……………………}of
Benjamin Stiles…………………}Schools


Page 146 [page 145 is missing; this page contains a continuation of the Path Masters]
				Ward Nos
Stephen Baker…………………..13th 
Richard Cooley………………….14th
Peter Cooley……………………..15th
Elijah Chappel…………………..16th
William Aylesworth……………..17th
Jacob Wellman…………………...18th
Gideon Ray………………………19th
Clark Comens…………………….20
Andrew Shute…………………….21
Ebenezer Wilson………………….22d
William Van Buren……………….23d
Asher Barnard…………………….24th
William Stevens…………………..25th
John Brown……………………….27th
Thomas Martin……………………28th
Jeddidiah Butler…………………..29th
Thaddeus Sweet…………………..30th
David Coone………………………31st
James Horth……………………….32d
Amos Waters………………………33d
Lemuel Sherman…………………...34th
Parker Wilson……………………..35th
Jeremiah Caiher……………………36th
John Shepherd……………………..37th
John Thurber……………………….39th
James Gray…………………………40th
Simeon Lawrence…………………..41st
Aaron NewKerk……………………42
Bennoni Adams…………………….43


[Unnumbered page, probably page 147]

By Laws of the Town

Resolved that hogs shall be confined from the first day of April to the last day of 
November

Resolved that Six Cents shall be the Compensation for each hog taken up by any Man in 
the Town that Runs at Large

Resolved that Rams shall be Confined from the 10th day of September Untill the 10th 

day of November and that the owner of Every Ram Not Confined or left to Roam at Large 
shall forfeit and pay to the persons damaged the sum of five dollars

Resolved that sheep shall not Roam at Large. 

Resolved that one Cent shall be the Compensation for each Sheep taken Up by any Man in
 the Town that Runs at Large

Resolved that every Stud horse over _00years old found running at large the owner 
shall pay five dollars to the person who takes up Said horse

Resolved that twenty five Cents pr head unpaid together with all damages to any Person 
that shall Take up any Cattle thats found eating Hay or damaging any slay or Carriage 
in Sd Town 

Resolved that the next annual Town Metting be held at the house of John Brown

Page 148

Resolved that Town rais money to meete the Money thats coming from the state for the 
use of Common Schools

Resolved that the Commifsioners of Schools be allowed one dollar pr day for services

Resolved that the Town raise Seventy Dollars for the support of the Poor

Resolved that the next annual Town Meeting be held at the house of John Bivvens

						Ezra Adams Town Clk

Survey of a Road say beginning at a pine stump standing on the south side of the Road 
that Leads from James Cyphers to Lawrence [blank] and runs from thence south 28 
Degrees east 38 Chains thence south 3 Degrees East 9 Chains to the Road that leades 
from Ephraim Ferringtons Containing a distance of half a mile and eight rods. 


July the 8th 1811					Peter Collier }Comrs. of
							Isaac Squier  }Highways
							David L Sayre } Surrogate
							Ezra Adams } Town Clk

	



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