mums086 Enfield (Mass.) Selectmen's Account Book, 1816-1846 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Linda Seidman. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, MA

2002

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Eric Steven Cartier. 2002-03-04 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mu51 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Enfield (Mass.) Selectmen's Account Book, 1816-1846 Finding Aid Manuscript Number 86 Compiled by Linda Seidman December 1985 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Enfield (Mass.) Enfield (Mass.) Selectmen's Account Book 1816-1846 MS 86 1 folder Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Account book of Selectmen of the town of Enfield, Massachusetts from when it was incorporated in 1816 to 1846. Includes expenses of the town and orders drawn for services such as ringing the bell, supporting paupers, building coffins, or providing a yard to serve as a pound. The recorded names of many townspeople represent the full spectrum of society-tradespeople, laborers, paupers, town officers, and wealthy townsmen. English. Biographical Note

Enfield was among the Western Massachusetts towns abolished in 1938 to allow the Swift River Valley to be flooded, thereby creating the Quabbin Reservoir to provide Boston with water.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

This account book dates from 1816 when the town of Enfield, formerly South Parish of Greenwich, was incorporated. It depicts the expenses of a small rural town in central Massachusetts between 1816 and 1846.

Most of the recorded accounts are for orders drawn. Among the items most frequently appearing are: ringing the bell; sweeping or repairing the meeting house; supporting a widow or a pauper and family; supplying materials or labor for roads or bridges; providing services as an assessor or overseer of the poor; building coffins and digging graves; providing a yard to serve as a pound; building or repairing the gates and fence to burying ground; teaching singing school.

The accounts include a great many names representing the full spectrum of society in Enfield -- wealthier townsfolk lent money for various purposes and were reimbursed; others were paupers being supported by the town. Some were laborers working for the town; others were tradespeople supplying goods; still others were being paid for services as town officers.

Among the names mentioned in one context or another were: Henry Fobes, Asa Shaw, Thomas Cary, Polly Pettingill, Abner Eddy, Rufus Powers, Thomas Jones, Elnathan Jones, Alvin Smith, Ichabod Woods, members of the Howe family, Elisha Hunting, Widow Bump, Hosea Hooker, and Freeman Pope.

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Enfield (Mass.) Selectmen's Account Book (MS 86). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Acquired from: Donald Howe, 1960.

Processed by Linda Seidman, December 1985.

Search Terms Country life--Masachusetts--Enfield--History--Sources. Enfield (Mass.)--Appropriations and expenditures. Enfield (Mass.)--History--19th century--Sources. Enfield (Mass.)--Politics and government--19th century--Sources. Enfield (Mass.)--Social conditions--19th century--Sources. Quabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--History. Account books.