Minutes - Town of Otsego

1840-1870

Introduction

This is the second installment of the transcription of the Otsego Town Records.  
George Pomeroy, who was Town Clerk from 1825 - 1839 was replaced by John Hannay,
and it was necessary for me to become familiar with his hand writing, and with that of the
succeeding Town Clerks - some better and some worst than George.

	I have decided to change the format, when it is possible to save a page by
combining two pages from the original into one page in this transcription, I have done so.
However, I have indicated where the change has been made.. I have maintained the
original spelling and capitalization.

	A few of the resolutions remain the same from 1825 - 1854; some disappear in the
1840s -  and new ones appear.  New offices are created;  in 1843 , Inspectors of Election
appear for the first time; in 1844 there was no resolution concerning School Inspectors or
Commissioners and none were elected;  in 1846 a Superintendent of Schools was added.

	The first record of the number of persons assessed  and the number of days
assessed appeared in 1838 and continued through 1854   These numbers steadily
increased from 1838 when 480 persons were assessed through 1845 when there were 573; 
in 1846 the number jumped to 674 and in 1847 it was 543.   Again in 1852 the number
jumped to 819 from 575 in 1851 and back to 600 in 1853 - what caused these fluctuations
and how did they determine the number of days which were assessed?  It was not a
constant ratio. 

	This is simply a transcription of the minutes as recorded by the various Town
Clerks.  It would be interesting to try to determine what brought about the various
changes which appear in these pages.

							Marion H. Brophy
							Otsego Town Historian