Minutes - Town of Otsego

1825 -1839

     The Town of Otsego was formed as a part of Montgomery County, March 7, 1788, and originally included the greater part of Otsego County. The towns of Burlington, Richfield and Unadilla were taken off in 1792; Hartwick in 1802 and Laurens in 1810.

     There are three volumes of early town records; they are housed in the office of the Otsego Town Clerk in Fly Creek. They have been professionally restored and are in excellent condition. Volume one is the Minute Book of the annual meetings from 1825 through 1890. I have transcribed these records from 1825 through 1839, the next installment will be 1840 - 1854. I have attempted to retain the capitalization and spelling as it appears in the minutes, and I have maintained the original page format. The numbers at the head of the pages are my addition.

     I have transcribed the names as they appear in the original, however, if a middle initial appears and it is not clear to me what the initial is, I have not used it. With a name, it is easy to determine the difference between a T (Thomas) and F (Francis), but when there is only the initial, it is sometimes confusing. I think it is better to have no middle initial than to have an incorrect one. Abbreviations are used for many first names - Saml for Samuel, Ebenzr for Ebenezer, Jona for Johathan and I have copied them as they appear.

     In the Minute Book the names of the various officers are entered one under the other, connected with a doodle which resembles a closed parentheses, a circle and another closed parenthesis. I have used the closed parenthesis to group the various officers together.

Marion Brophy, Town Historian August 2001