Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/309

CHAPTER XVIII BARRINGTON LEGISLATION FROM 1717 TO 1747 The Town Records — The Town Meeting — Town Officers — Summary of the Town Legislation During the Period. AS we have seen, Barrington was incorporated by the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts Bay in the year 171 7, the petition of the inhabitants being confirmed on November iSth, The new town then entered upon its corporate exist- ence, and continued the same for thirty years. The records for that period, although made by capable town clerks, have not been carefully preserved, and the opening and closing chapters of the record book have been lost in its migrations through the attic collections of the town. In 1870 the book was supposed to be lost, but, fortunately, the writer, in seek- ing for light on this important period of our town history, found it in the possession of a friend, and, with his consent, it was returned to the town clerk's office, from which it had been a wanderer for many years. We have made a careful digest of the town legislation of the period, giving the leading town officers for each year, and introducing the minor offices when held by new officials. The meeting-house and the minister of the town are among the chief subjects of legisla- tion, and the records show the methods of government, when there was a partial union of the Church and the town. It is interesting to note other matters, such as the town stocks, the pound, the ear-marks of cattle, the yoking of swine, the itinerant school and schoolmaster, and other records of the life and customs of the earlier days. The record-book begins with a "town meeting of the free- holders and other inhabitants of the town of Barrington, legally warned on this seventh day of April, 171 8," and