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Archiver > MAESSEX > 2005-03 > 1109855559


From: Steve Gauss <>
Subject: Re: [MAESSEX] WARNINGS OUT
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 08:12:39 -0500
References: <004401c51f8d$a644e570$01d65142@your1jwabwr1k8>
In-Reply-To: <004401c51f8d$a644e570$01d65142@your1jwabwr1k8>


The old town records give ample evidence that the towns took care of their
own. From the History of Warner, NH, by WIlliam Whitcher, where the town
minutes of the late 1770's record, for example:
Voted that the Selectmen be a Committee to examine the clothes of the
paupers, and see that they are treated with humanity.
also
Struck off support for the poor for the year to Moses Harriman, at $294.

Support for the poor in general and for individuals was auctioned off each
year and awarded to the lowest bidder. Possibly not the best system, but
the towns
recognized that they should take care of the poor, widows, orphans and even
the soldiers.

Steve


At 08:08 PM 3/2/2005, you wrote:
>I'm responding to a discussion about "warnings out" on the GenMassachusetts
>list but thought these other lists would also be interested in this
>discussion:
>
> >From reading books about colonial New England, I learned that the Selectmen
>of the little towns and villages, Salem, i.e., chose who could stay and who
>had to leave. Just as Quakers were warned out of town, so were individuals
>or families who didn't meet the strict standards of the Puritan leaders. No
>one could just move into a town as we now do....they had to be "approved" as
>new members of the community.
>
>Here's a sample of a "warning out" taken from a book, Vital Records of
>Sedgwick, Maine:
>
>"To Solomon Billings Constable of Sedgwick Greetings These are therefore in
>the Name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to require you to warn
>Benjamin Doar to depart from the Limmits of this town to the place of his
>last residence. Hereof fail not on the penalty of the law. Given under our
>hands and Seals this second day of January in the year of our Lord one
>thousand seven hundred and ninety.
>John Billings Joseph Freathy selectmen
>The original signed"
>
>There was another directive to Solomon Billings that stated "require you to
>warn the Widdow Rankens now residing at the house of Mr. Daniel Bridges
>Jun(ior) to depart from the limmits of this town forthwith to the place of
>her last residence. Hereof fail not on your parrell."
>That meant get outta town now...or else. That was also written in 1790 so
>Massachusetts still stretched out its long arm of the law...even to the
>wilds of Maine. Law and order (and decency, Puritan style) was to be
>maintained at all costs.
>
>I highly recommend a book about the beginnings of Salem and nearby towns
>entitled Salem in the Seventeenth Century by James Duncan Phillips. I loved
>Mr. Phillips' writing style....you feel he's sitting on the couch and you're
>both drinking a little glass of sherry (his preference) AND that he's a
>gossip "extraordinaire." If you had ancestors in Salem in the early
>years...the 1600s....Mr. Phillips will tell you everything you wanted to
>know about them and he'll be more than happy to discuss their warts, which
>explains why this book is so interesting. My library has an old beat-up (by
>me) copy and maybe it's been re-published.
>You won't be sorry you read it no matter how you get it.
>
>Jan


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