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1870 TOWN REPORT

FROM INSIDE THE VAULT
1870 ATR
 
The oldest Town Report in the vault is from 1870 for the year 1869.  This Town Report and others from its time are very different from the Town Report you receive today.  For one thing, they were much shorter. The 1870 Report is only 27 pages; the 1874 Report (the next one we have) is 18 pages; and the 1875 Report is 47 pages (that was a long one for its day).  Compare those to the 2020 Annual Town Report at 225 pages.  Our current Report includes information from all of our departments, committees and boards, the minutes from Town Meetings, and detailed election results.  The 1870 Report is only about money.  Our reports today also include a lot of budgetary information, but nothing compared to the 1800s.  Below are some excerpts that I found interesting in those 27 pages from 1870.
 
  • The valuation of the town on May 1, 1869 was $776,187.00
  • Number of Acres of Land: 17,679.25
  • Number of “Dwelling-houses”: 273
  • Number of Horses: 160
  • Number of Cows: 359
  • Number of Sheep: 22
The Town Paid:
  • Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor, Otis Johnson $151.00
  • Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor, Josiah Johnson $57.00
  • Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor, L.W. Morse $47.00
Many of the records involve money for the poor.  The report even includes two detailed accounts of money titled, “Assistance to Poor out of Almshouse” and “Paid to Persons Out of the Almshouse.”  Both reports contain essentially the same information.  Apparently, discretion was not something the poor could count on. 
 
Some of These Payments Include:
  • $77.00 (or $77.48 depending on which of the reports you are reading) to Aaron S. Harlow to support his mother and pay her doctor’s bills.
  • $30.36 to Nathanial Vinal for “assistance.”
  • $2.00 to R. Johnson for, “digging grave for Vinal’s wife (Mary).”
  • $2.50 to Wm. Ranson for sawing wood for Miss French.
  • $3.00 to E. Leonard & Co. for delivering wood to Miss French.
  • $6.00 to B. Gannett for delivering wood to Miss French.
  • $5.00 to Samuel Monk for delivering wood to Miss French.
  • $6.00 to Ira Glines for sawing wood for Miss French.
  • $25.00 to the Town of Sandwich for assistance to A. Gibbs.
  • $15.00 to the Town of Uxbridge for assistance to Inman.
  • The Town of Sharon was itself paid $15.00 from the Town of Uxbridge.  It is unclear if this is related to the assistance provided to Inman.
Those were just some highlights.  In all the “Total expense of Poor” was $664.58.
 
The end of the Town Report is the Auditors’ Report by Sandford Waters Billings and Geo. W. Capen.  This report includes the name of every taxpayer in town, how much they paid for a poll tax, the value of their real estate, the tax they paid on said real estate, the value of their personal estate, the tax they paid on said personal estate, and what they paid for the highway tax.
 
Out of 599 Tax Bills:
  • Only 16 were above $100.00
  • Only 5 of those were above $200
  • The highest bill went to Barnabas D. Capen for $481.18
  • 324 were below $10.00
  • The lowest bill for a resident of Sharon went to William Siddel for $0.88
  • The lowest bill went to Jabez Sumner of Dedham for $0.37
  • The most common amount went to 141 taxpayers and was for $2.90
    • $2.00 for the Poll Tax
    • $0.90 for the Highway Tax
  • $12,648.13 total across all 599 bills
  • $21.12 was the average bill
  • 441 went to residents of Sharon
  • 158 went to property owners from out of town:
    • 37 Walpole
    • 26 Stoughton
    • 21 Dedham
    • 20 Canton
    • 20 Foxboro
    • 6 Boston
    • 5 Easton
    • 3 Providence
    • 2 Baltimore
    • 2 Dorchester
    • 2 Roxbury
    • 1 Acushnet
    • 1 Braintree
    • 1 Bridgewater
    • 1 Cambridge
    • 1 Camden
    • 1 Chelmsford
    • 1 Dover
    • 1 Hyde Park
    • 1 New Bedford
    • 1 New York
    • 1 Norton
    • 1 Philadelphia
    • 1 Quincy
    • 1 Winchester
The Highest Tax Bills:
20) $89.33 Benjamin Gannett
19) $95.51 Charles T. Derry
18) $95.60 Hervey T. Billings
17) $98.94 P. Howard Baker
16) $102.47 Josiah Johnson
15) $102.55 Reuben Clapp
14) $105.63 Calvin Turner
13) $112.94 Abijah Tisdale
12) $125.97 Sanford Billings
11) $133.88 Estate of E.R. Clarke
10) $141.13 E. Leonard & Co.
09) $147.96 Estate of Elijah Drake
08) $159.72 Charles Winship
07) $169.58 Chester Morse of Walpole
06) $171.23 Lewis W. Morse
05) $237.17 A.G. and C.D. Hixon
04) $307.35 H. Augustus Lothrop
03) $392.59 G.R. and Wm. R. Mann
02) $427.52 H.A. Lothrop & Co.
01) $481.18 Barnabas D. Capen
 
If you do not count the out-of-towner (number 7 on the above list), Howard B. Lothrop, guard. to Darius Lothrop slips in at number 20 with a bill for $88.61.
 
The Lowest Tax Bills:
20) $1.67 Anna M. Beeck of Easton
19) $1.65 Estate of Thomas Drake of Foxboro
14) $1.48 Charles W. Clapp of Walpole
14) $1.48 John French of Stoughton
14) $1.48 Ira Fuller of Dedham
14) $1.48 Alfred Hodges of Foxboro
14) $1.48 Elizabeth H. Morse
13) $1.46 Hannah Adams
12) $1.36 William A. Penny of Foxboro
11) $1.34 Rufus Sumner of Dedham
10) $1.33 Nathaniel Hawes of Walpole
09) $1.19 William White of Foxboro
08) $1.11 Estate of Warren Guild of Dedham
06) $1.10 Smith Gray of Walpole
06) $1.10 Wesley Knowles of Canton
04) $0.88 Maynard Billings of Foxboro
04) $0.88 William Siddel
03) $0.80 C.G. & H.M. Plimpton of Walpole
02) $0.73 Estate of --- Winslow of Foxboro
01) $0.37 Jabez Sumner of Dedham
 
The Lowest Tax Bills (Sharon Residents Only):
09) $2.90 141 Residents
08) $2.66 Willard Morse, Jr.
06) $2.21 Estate of Mary E. Stone
06) $2.21 Estate of Hannah Belcher
05) $2.11 Hannah Humphrey
04) $2.00 Mrs. Helen Richards
03) $1.48 Elizabeth H. Morse
02) $1.46 Hannah Adams
01) $0.88 William Siddel
 
Information For This Piece Came From the Following Source:
Town of Sharon: Volume 1, Annual Reports 1870-1888