Financial documents, including receipts, orders drawn, and account books.
Official collection name: Historical Records of the Town of Westborough: Finance, 1730-1869
Location: Shelving and Oversize
Local identifier: OD.002 (2016.02)
Creator: Town of Westborough
Date: 1730-1869
Extent: 2.5 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversize box)
Subject: Finance–Westborough (Mass.)
Finding aid: OD002 – Westborough Finance
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Historical Records of the Town of Westborough: Finance, 1730-1869: Finding Aid
Last Revised: October 26, 2023
Collection Summary
Collection number: OD.002 (2016.02)
Collection title: Historical Records of the Town of Westborough: Finance, 1730-1869
Dates: 1730-1869
Size: 2.5 linear feet (2 boxes + one oversize box)
Creator/Collector: The Town of Westborough
Acquisitions info.: Transferred to the Westborough Public Library from the Town Clerk’s Office, which retains official custody of the collection.
Custodial history: This artificial collection was among a group of historical records that were transferred from the Town Clerk’s Office vault to the Westborough Public Library during the renovation of Town Hall starting in 2013. The documents had been minimally organized by Charles H. Reed sometime around 1928. There is no record of ownership or stewardship of the documents before or after this time.
Language(s): English
Repository: The Westborough Public Library
Processed by: Anthony T. Vaver (with assistance by Audrey Vaver), 2016
Rights and Access
Access restrictions: Collection is open for research
Physical access restrictions: None, although researchers are encouraged to use any available digital images from the collection
Publication rights: All records are in the public domain.
Organizational History
The Town of Westborough was incorporated as the hundredth town in Massachusetts on November 8, 1717, with twenty-seven families living within its borders. Before the official founding of the town, several families had settled around Lake Chauncy, and this area had become known as the “west borough” of Marlborough. In 1775, the “north borough” of Westborough split off from the town to become Northborough.
The first town meeting was held on January 15, 1718, when the new town voted to build a meetinghouse, employ a minister, and elect a town clerk, three selectmen, and a constable. At this time, every town in Massachusetts was required to hire a minister, and church membership was a requisite for participation in town politics. Today, Westborough continues to operate under the New England open town meeting system and is headed by an elected five-member Board of Selectmen.
Scope and Content Note
The collection includes town treasurer reports, assessors returns, finance books, bills, receipts, orders drawn, and a few records relating to taxes. Individual bills, receipts, and orders drawn have all been lumped together under one series, because bills often became receipts, etc., so it was too difficult and time-consuming to sort out one from the other or to classify them under distinct designations. Charles H. Reed had separated out some of the more notable bills, receipts, and orders drawn, and so this themed grouping has been retained in these few instances.
Note: Town finance records also appear in the following collections:
- 2014.01, Records of Westborough’s Involvement in the American Revolution, the Massachusetts Militia, and the Continental Army, 1774-1792
- 2014.02, Records of the Westborough Light Infantry, 1805-1829
- 2014.03, Records of the Westborough Rifle Company, 1861-1870
- 2015.02, Historical Records of the Town of Westborough: Schools, 1730-1932
- LH.082, Historical Records of the Evangelical Congregational Church (folder OS.13).
Also of note is the following collection:
- 2014.04, Historical Records of the Town of Westborough: Census and Tax Lists, 1756-1879
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Town Treasurer Reports
Oversize Box
Folder
OS.01 Town Treasurer Reports, 1784-1799
OS.02 Town Treasurer Reports, 1800-1809
OS.03 Town Treasurer Reports, 1810-1816
OS.04 Town Treasurer Reports, 1821-1829
OS.05 Town Treasurer Reports, 1830-1839
OS.06 Town Treasurer Reports, 1840-1846
OS.07 Town Treasurer Reports, 1861, 1866-1867
Series 2: Assessors Returns
Box 1
Folder
1.01 Assessors Returns, 1734-1786
1.02 Assessors Returns, 1790-1799
1.03 Assessors Returns, 1800-1809
1.04 Assessors Returns, 1811-1823
Series 3: Finance Books
Box 1
Folder
1.05 [Select Men’s Book], 1785-1787
1.06 [Select Men’s Book], 1788-1792
1.07 Select Men’s Book, 1793-1804
1.08 [Select Men’s Book], 1804-1824
1.09 Select Men’s Book, 1816-1828
1.10 “Seth Morse’s Records,” 1791-1793
1.10B Treasury Book, 1806-1848
Series 4: Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn
Box 1
Folder
1.11 Labor Receipts for Building Roads, 1730-1765
1.12 Payments for Legal Work, 1743-1744
1.13 Payments for Indentures and Services, 1772-1806
1.14 Order to Compensate Jonathan Bond for a Counterfeit Bill, 1778
1.15 Order for Rev. Ebenezer Parkman’s and Samuel Johns’s Coffin, 1783
1.16 Sale of Liquors: Receipts and Disbursements, 1855-1856
1.17 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1731-1738
1.18 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1740-1749
1.19 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1750-1759
1.20 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1760-1769
1.21 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1770-1779
1.22 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1780-1786
1.23 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1790-1793
1.24 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1794-1795
Box 2
Folder
2.25 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1796
2.26 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1797
2.27 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1798
2.28 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1799
2.29 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1800-1801
2.30 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1802-1803
2.31 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1804
2.32 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1805-1806
2.33 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1807-1809
2.34 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1814-1819
2.35 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1820-1823
2.36 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1824
2.37 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1825-1829
2.38 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1830-1831
2.39 Bills, Receipts, and Orders Drawn, 1868-1869, n. d.
Series 5: Tax-Related Documents
Box 2
Folder
2.40 Tax Certification, 1759
2.41 Abated Taxes, 1785, 1833, 1849
2.42 County Tax Bill for Westborough, 1810
Series 6: Original Enclosures
Box 2
Folder
2.43 Original Enclosures