If you ever need some interesting reading, take a gander at the archived Town Council meeting minutes in the leather-bound books in the Town Hall vault. (Warning: some of the Town Clerks’ handwriting may leave you puzzled as to what they recorded.)
The minutes recorded included the annual election of Town officials: Town Council and Overseers of the Poor; Town Treasurer; Town Sergeant; Assessors of Taxes; Collector of Taxes; Constables; Auctioneer; Surveyors of Lumber; Inspectors of Fish and Provisions; Corders of Wood; Fence Viewers; Sealers of Weights and Measures; Sealers of Leather; Inspectors of Real Estate; Sunday Constables; Gaugers; Surveyors of Highways; Superintendant for Building Chimneys, Placing Stoves and Stovepipes; Field Drivers; Pound Keepers; Surveyors of Land; Auditors of Accounts; Measurers of Grain, Salt, and Sea Coal; School Committee (formed 1828).
They also recorded fines, votes on various domestic and state issues, proposals brought before the Town, and men voted in as freemen – allowed to vote after they presented their Tiverton land deeds. There are also acts and resolutions on various topics, three of which are presented herein.
In the January 19, 1836 meeting at the Stone Bridge Hotel (there was no Town Hall at this time), this Resolution was passed to apparently try to suppress a growing menace in Town: Be it Resolved, that a bounty of Two Dollars be allowed for every fox, killed within this Town, and the Town Treasurer is hereby Ordered to pay said bounty to the person entitled thereto upon having left with him the four feet of said fox, and the Certificate of a Magistrate of this Town; that Oath was made before him that said fox was killed on such day within the Town of Tiverton. [After reading this resolution to the current Town Treasurer, she was quite glad she didn’t have to collect the feet today because she said she didn’t have a refrigerator to store them. I suspect she is very glad to only deal in paperwork and keyboards in today’s digital world.]
Four months later, another Resolution was made on April 20th regarding wandering livestock: Resolved, that no Meat Cattle, nor horses be allowed or permitted to run at large in the highways or Commons in this town, after this day. Interestingly, this was repealed at the June 6th meeting, but was taken up again two years later. The Town Council voted to have the General Assembly pass a law regarding this wandering livestock issue in 1838.
The third Resolution highlighted in this article was enacted at the July 14, 1838 meeting at the Stone Bridge Hotel: Voted and Resolved, That all applications for Licenses shall be in writing, directed to the Town Council, and shall set forth whether the License is wanted for a Tavern or for retailing in a Store; and if for a store the application must state whether to be drunk in the store or carried away. The applicant must also give the name of his bondsman, and if the bondsman be unobjectionable, the applicant shall have License by paying therefore according to Law – for one year. Imagine if you went into a liquor store today and started to drink your purchase inside the store!