Town of Milford
Annual Minutes
1836
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.



Town of Milford Annual Town Meeting Minutes
1836

Page 287

At an annual Town Meeting held at the house of William V White on the First day of 
March 1836

Resolved 1st That we have Three Afsefsors
Resolved 2nd That we have Four Constables
Resolved 3rd That we have Five Pound Masters
Resolved 4th That we raise as much money for the support of Common Schools as we 
receive from the State
Resolved 5th That the fence viewers receive one dollar per day
Resolved 6th That the collector receive five percent 
Resolved 7th That the Commifsioners and Inspectors of Common Schools receive one 
dollar per day when in duty of office
Resolved 8th That we determine where the next town meeting shall be held by viva 
voce or by uplifted hands
Resolved 9th That the next Town Meeting shall be held at the house of John Mumford

The following persons were duly Elected to Office Viz

John Moore Jr				Town Clerk

Peter Collier				Supervisor

Henry Willcox				Justice

Peter Cline
Zebediah Martin			Afsefsors
Thomas Burnside

William H Watkins			Collector


Page 288

William H Watkins
Levi B Tarbox				Constables
Job Sargent
James G Walley

Benanah P Aylesworth
William V White			Com of Highways
Thomas Eddy

Henry Willcox
Hiram C Cline				Overseers of Poor

Denison R Boyce			Commifsioers
Peter Cline				of
Samuel Rufsell			Schools

James G Walley			Inspectors
James Fern				of
Nelson Furgeson			Schools

Joseph Westcott			Town Sealer

Overseers of Highways

Ward No			
1	Asa Eddy
2	Norman Griswold
3	Alonzo Bridges
4	John Whiteside
5	Richard Swartwout
6	Samuel Rufsell
7	Daniel Windsor
8	Joseph Mumford
9	Timothy Cook
10	Jared Goodyear
11	James Fern
12	James North
13	Peter Cline
14	Hiram C Cline
15	Leonard Baker
16	John Aylesworth
17	Andrew Westcott
18	John Sargent
19	Henry Schermerhorn
20	John Cridenwise
21	Edward Segar
22	Francis Theleman
23	David Duell
24	Jacob Siver
25	John A Cronkhite
26	Solomon E Bostwick
27	Bezer Reed
28	Bezer Reed, Jr
29	Nehemiah Edson
30	Jacob Edson
31	George W Davis
32	Lyman Scott
33	Moses Barnard


Page 289

No Wards

34	Harvey Bifsell
35	Chester Whitford
36	William Lahr
37	Hary Houghton
38	Ephraim R Farrington
39	Peter Marlett
40	Adam G Cook
41	Nehemiah W__ingman
42	Augustus Varrs
43	William Smalling
44	John Barnard
45	John Low Jr
46	[blank] Hanar
47	Stephen Platt
48	Samuel Youmans
49	Daniel Right
50	Abraham Gurney
51	William Crouch
52	Rufus Houghton
53	Ira Rowland
54	Jeriel Preston

Pound Masters
Orange Bifsell
Joseph Westcott
Peter Collier
Thomas Hoag
Cyrus Steer

We the Inspectors of an election for the purpose of electing officers for the town 
of Milford do hereby certify that the foregoing list of officers are duly elected 
for the said town of Milford 
Dated at Milford March 1st 1836
							Allen Baker         }
							Joseph Westcott   }Justices
							Thomas Burnside }
							Levi Stewart        }
							John Moore Jr      } T Clk




Page 290

We the undersigned Justices of the Peace for the town of Milford certify that at a 
special town meeting held at the house of Orange Bifsell on the 26th day of March 
1836 for the purpose of supplying the place of Thomas Eddy who has neglected to 
qualify Alonzo Bridges was duly elected as Commifsioner of Highways to supply said 
vacancy
Dated at Milford March 26th 1836
							Levi Stewart }Justices
							Allen Baker  }of Peace

Page 291

At a meeting of the Commifsioners of Highway of the town of Milford in the County of 
Otsego at Peter Colliers Esq in Said town on the 10th day of December 1836 for the 
purpose of deciding on the application of Daniel Green for Laying out a Highway 
pafsing through the improved lands of Daniel Green John Green James Quackenbofs 
Thomas Burnside Peter Collier Jared Goodyear William Dietz John Deitz and Henry 
Deitz which twelve respectable freeholders of the Said Town have duly certified that 
it was necefsary and proper to lay out all the said [a word or words must be missing
 here] the Commifsioners having met and deliberated on the subject embraced in this
 order and due notice of the time and place of the said meeting having been given to
 the said William Deitz John Deitz and Henry Deitz who refuse to release – it is 
ordered by the Commifsioners that a highway be laid out pursuant to the Said 
application Commencing at the town line between Milford and Oneonta and the South 
line of Daniel Green thence Northerly through the improved Lands of said Daniel 
Green thence northerly through the improved lands of said Daniel Green John Green 
James Quaclembofs Thomas Burnside crofsing the Schenevus Creek near said Burnside 
thence on the line between Burnside and Collier and Goodyear thence acrost lands of 
William Dietz to lands of John and Henry Dietz thence on the line between said John 
& Henry and principally on Henry to the Highway near said Henry’s Cabinet Shop The 
Courses and Distances _____ according to a survey thereof which the said 
Commifsioners caused to be made are as follows beginning at the south line of Daniel 
Green and thence

North 54° East 7 Chains
North 47° East 24 Chains
North 48° East 8 Chains
North 55° East 6 Chains
North 71° East 7 Chains
North 64° East 6˝ Chains
North 59° East 10 Chains
North 58° East 10 Chains
North 64° East 4 Chains
North 73° East 3˝ Chains
North 57° East 3 Chains
North 36° East 2 Chains
North 30° East 3 Chains
North 18° East 14 Chains
North 23° West 10˝ Chains
North 87° West 4 Chains
North 16° West 5˝ Chains
North 26° West 4 Chains
North 9° East 3 Chains
North 55° East 4 Chains
North 17° West 11 Chains
North 12° West 11 Chains
North 12° East 6 Chains
		167 Chains

And it is further ordered that the line above described Shall be the center of the 
said Highway and the said Highway shall be the width of Three rods

In witness whereof the Said Commifsioners have hereunto Subscribed their names the 
19th day of December 1836
							Alonzo Bridges        }Commifs
							Wm V White            }of
							Benajah Aylesworth }Highways

Page 293

Came into my enclosure on or about the twentieth Instant to Sheep marked alike the 
right ear Cropt and the other with a hole   So let it be recorded
November 28, 1836							William Farewell

December the 3 1836
_______I _____Cost _____Year in my Enclosure about seven weakes agon and know ____ 
or ______ not ___ oner Come _ ___ ____ ______ up and ___ notiz other publack to the 
Town Clerk in milford wishing the oner to come and pay the Charges and take it away

							Jacob Farrington

[The paragraph above was written in an almost completely unreadable handwriting.]




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