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SHARON'S TOWN SEAL

FROM INSIDE THE VAULT

Town Seal

The Town Seal:
The Town Clerk is the keeper of the Town Seal.
Chapter 40, Section 47 of the Massachusetts General Laws:
Each town shall have a seal, established at a town meeting, to be kept by the town clerk. Papers or documents issued from any office or board of the town may be attested therewith. Cities which had an authorized seal in use on May tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, may continue to use such seal until changed by ordinance, and other cities shall by ordinance establish a seal of the city and designate the custodian thereof.
 
Our seal dates back to 1893 when Solomon Talbot proposed it to Selectmen Benjamin Gannett, Silas A. Stone, and George Hixson (In addition to serving as Selectmen, all three were also the Assessors and Overseers of the Poor).
 
The Composition of Our Seal:
  • The upper left corner of the shield features an outline of Moose Hill.
  • The upper right corner of the shield features the gunhouse of the Sharon Artillery Company.
  • The lower portion of the shield features Lake Massapoag.
  • The crest features two crossed cannons with a pile of cannon balls (The first cannon ever made in America was cast by Edmund Quincy and Col. Richard Gridley).
  • Surrounding the shield and crest is a belt that is buckled and knotted on the lower end.  On the belt are the words “2nd Precinct, 1740” and “Sharon 1765” (The meanings of which are a part of the history of the founding of our town).
The Founding of Our Town:
  • Prior to (and for some time after) the first settler arrived, the area was home to the Massachusett People.
  • 1657: The first settler (on the land of current day Sharon) built “Wainman’s Ordinary” (A tavern).
  • 1666: The Massachusett deeded land (including some of the land of current day Sharon) to the English (land south of Lake Massapoag was disputed).
  • 1670: An agreement was made that included the land south of the lake (down to today’s border with the Town of Mansfield).
  • 1726: December 22: the Town of Stoughton was incorporated (Today’s Sharon, Canton and part of Foxborough were included within the new town).
  • 1740: July 2: what would later become the Town of Sharon became the Second Precinct of Stoughton.
  • 1765: June 21: the Second Precinct of Stoughton became a district known as Stoughtonham.
  • 1775: August 31: all districts in Massachusetts became towns.
  • 1776: March 11: the Selectmen of the Town of Stoughtonham voted to change the Town’s name to Washington, but were denied due to another town requesting the same name earlier.
  • 1783: February 25: the Town of Stoughtonham became the Town of Sharon.
Additional Information:
There is a short but interesting account of Col. Richard Gridley that can be found here.  I strongly suggest giving it a quick read.  Then I recommend reading Chapter 6 of “Sharon, Massachusetts, A History,” titled “Sharon’s Cannon,” by Sydney S. Morgan.
 
Information For This Piece Came From the Following Sources:
  • Town of Sharon: Volume 2, Annual Reports 1889-1897
  • Forbes, Allan and Eastman, Ralph M. “Town and City Seals of Massachusetts, Volume 2.” State Street Trust Company, 1951
  • “Sharon, Massachusetts, A History.” Blue Mustang Press, (Original work published 1976).
  • Tedesco, James B. and Tedesco, Paul H. “Postcard History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts.” JBT Publishing Company, 2013

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