1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Processing note

5.   Inventory

6.   Subjects


    List of finding aids

    R.I.H.S. Library page

    R.I.H.S. home page

 Exeter Town Records

 

 Records, 1740-1869 (bulk 1780-1840)

 Size: 12 ft.

 Catalog number: MSS 197

 Processed by: Desiree Kenny, August 1995


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            The town of Exeter was founded in 1742/3, when it was set off from North Kingstown. It was part of King's County, which became Washington County in 1782. Exeter was primarily an agricultural town. There were also several textile mills in Exeter in the nineteenth century.


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Scope and content:


            These papers include an assortment of records from the town of Exeter dating from 1740 until 1869; the bulk are from 1790 through 1840. They are of potential interest to both the historian and the genealogist. Both should be aware, however, that related records from the same period can still be found at the Exeter town clerk, and in the records of the Washington County courts at the state Judicial Records Center.

            The largest series of records in this collection are the Justice Court papers. The Justice Court papers include writs, executions, summoning of witnesses, justice court minutes, judgements, and appeal bonds. The justice court papers are arranged first by decade, then by record type, and then somewhat alphabetically by defendant. Unfortunately, all of the cases were not kept together, so in order to research a given case, it is necessary to look through each of the individual folders for the proper time period.

            Another series is the town council and probate records. Probate was originally handled by the Town Council, and it appears that around 1800 the Probate Court was established. This series includes miscellaneous probate bonds, treasurer bills, town accounts, voting rights. Within the town council series, one box is primarily devoted to information dealing with last wills and testaments. There are also individual records for some of the townsmen.

            The tax series contains a nearly complete run of tax lists from 1761 through 1825. These lists generally give only the names of property owners, property values, and tax paid. The tax records include one particularly detailed book, covering from 1767-1778, which is oversized and stored separately. This breaks taxable property into 24 categories, including slaves, woodlands, number of buildings, grain, and others. A similar list exists for 1796.

            Other series include the town meeting papers, promissory notes, treasurer bills and the records of the overseer of the poor. Also within this last series are two folders which includes information on the bastard children in the town. These records often include the names of both parents, and their child, including their date of birth.

            The construction of the town roads and highways was very extensive, therefore it falls into its own series. The miscellaneous series includes everything else. They are miscellaneous papers that includes several things from the militia, to pest bounty certificates. All of the non-justice court information are arranged by decades.


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Provenance:


            These records were apparently disposed of by the Town of Exeter, and then purchased by John Nicholas Brown, who donated them to the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1896. According to the cabinet keeper's report of 1896, "The package or rather bag, of papers now under consideration, consists of hundreds if not thousands of papers and weighs probably two hundred pounds". It is described the following year as a "three-bushel bag". The bulk of the papers were apparently records of the town's Justices of the Peace, left in the Town Clerk's office over the years.

            Over the years, some papers from this original donation have undoubtedly been removed to other collections at the library. Other scattered papers relating to the town of Exeter have also been added. In 1998, three documents were purchased from Phillip Parsons and added to the collection: an 1828 petition to the school committee with accompanying map, and an 1844 list of town council voters (accessions #1998.21.1-3). However, the collection is still to a great extent the same in scope as it was in 1896.


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Processing note:


            The cabinet keeper reported in 1896 that "this collection...must prove of great value provided sufficient clerical force is provided to assort, classify, arrange and index the papers." By 1898, some of the preliminary work had been done. Some of the more obviously valuable papers had been pulled out and arranged in 19 categories. However, the largest was undoubtedly "A Mass of Miscellaneous Papers"; the bulk of the collection remained in tightly folded bundles without any order.

            This arrangement lasted until around 1980, when some of these miscellaneous papers were unfolded. Also, the papers of Smithfield merchant Jonathan Arnold, mentioned in the 1898 report, were probably removed at this time, having no obvious connection to the town of Exeter.

            It was not until 1994 and 1995 that the majority of these papers were unfolded and organized. Several individuals worked on this project, including Heather Paxton, Rebecca Ferris and Rick Stattler. All of this work was completed and integrated by Desiree Kenny in the summer of 1995, just under a full century after the papers were donated.

            The unprocessed papers were in no apparent order. Most were tied into bundles, but these bundles did not pertain to the same case, defendant, or even time period. They were unfolded and sorted into categories. In instances where several documents related to the same justice court case, an effort was made to keep these documents together. Otherwise, they were sorted first by decade, then by record type, then by first letter of the defendant's last name. The papers have been housed in archival boxes and folders.


Series Overview:


Series 1: Justice Court                        Boxes 1-7

Series 2: Miscellaneous                      Box 8

Series 3: Overseers of the Poor          Box 8

Series 4: Taxes                                   Box 9, and loose volume

Series 5: Town Council/Probate         Boxes 10-11

Series 6: Promissory Notes                Box 11

Series 7: Highway Records                Box 11

Series 8: Treasurer bills                      Box 12

Series 9: Town Meetings                    Box 12


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Inventory:


Box 1:


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Writs, 1760-1769

2. Writs, 1770-1779

3. Writs, 1780-1789

4. Executions, 1770-1779/1780-1789

5. Bonds, 1770-1779/1780-1789

6. Writs, 1790-1799 A-B

7. Writs, 1790-1799 C-F

8. Writs, 1790-1799 G-K

9. Writs, 1790-1799 L

10. Writs, 1790-1799 M-N

11. Writs, 1790-1799 P-R

12. Writs, 1790-1799 S-T

13. Writs, 1790-1799 U-Z

14. Executions, 1790-1799 A-C

15. Executions, 1790-1799 D-N

16. Executions, 1790-1799 P-Z

17. Complaints, 1790-1799

18. Judgements, 1790-1799

19. Minutes, 1790-1799

20. Bonds, 1790-1799

21. Summons, 1790-1799

22. Court Costs, 1790-1799


Box 2


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Writs, 1800-1809 A

2. Writs, 1800-1809 B

3. Writs, 1800-1809 C

4. Writs, 1800-1809 D-E

5. Writs, 1800-1809 F-G

6. Writs, 1800-1809 H

7. Writs, 1800-1809 J-K

8. Writs, 1800-1809 L

9. Writs, 1800-1809 L

10. Writs, 1800-1809 M


Box 2, continued


11. Writs, 1800-1809 N

12. Writs, 1800-1809 P

13. Writs, 1800-1809 P

14. Writs, 1800-1809 R

15. Writs, 1800-1809 S

16. Writs, 1800-1809 T-U

17. Writs, 1800-1809 W-Z



Box 3


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Executions, 1800-1809 A-B

2. Executions, 1800-1809 C-F

3. Executions, 1800-1809 G-K

4. Executions, 1800-1809 L-N

5. Executions, 1800-1809 P-R

6. Executions, 1800-1809 T-U

7. Executions, 1800-1809 W-Z

8. Bonds 1800-1809

9. Complaints, 1800-1809

10. Judgements, 1800-1809

11. Minutes, 1800-1809

12. Summons, 1800-1809 A-L

13. Summons, 1800-1809 M-Z


Box 4


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Writs, 1810-1819 A-B

2. Writs, 1810-1819 C-K

3. Writs, 1810-1819 L-M

4. Writs, 1810-1819 N-P

5. Writs, 1810-1819 R-S

6. Writs, 1810-1819 T-Z

7. Executions, 1810-1819 A-D

8. Executions, 1810-1819 E-P

9. Executions, 1810-1819 R-S

10. Executions, 1800-1819 T-Z

11. Complaints, 1810-1819

12. Minutes, 1810-1819

13. Summons, 1810-1819

14. Writs, 1820-1929 A

15. Writs, 1820-1829 B

16. Writs, 1820-1829 B

17. Writs, 1820-1829 C

18. Writs, 1820-1829 C

19. Writs, 1820-1829 D-E




Box 5


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Writs, 1820-1829 G

2. Writs, 1820-1829 H

3. Writs, 1820-1829 J-K

4. Writs, 1820-1829 L

5. Writs, 1820-1829 L

6. Writs, 1820-1829 M-N

7. Writs, 1820-1829 P

8. Writs, 1820-1829 P

9. Writs, 1820-1829 R

10. Writs, 1820-1829 S

11. Writs, 1820-1829 S

12. Writs, 1820-1829 T

13. Writs, 1820-1829 T


Box 6


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Writs, 1820-1829 U-V

2. Writs, 1820-1829 W

3. Writs, 1820-1829 Y

4. Executions, 1820-1829 A-B

5. Executions, 1820-1829 C-D

6. Executions, 1820-1829 E-H

7. Executions, 1820-1829 K-L

8. Executions, 1820-1829 M-P

9. Executions, 1820-1829 R-S

10. Executions, 1820-1829 T-Y

11. Executions, 1820-1829 X-Z

12. Bonds, 1820-1829

13. Complaints, 1820-1829

14. Judgements, 1820-1829

15. Minutes, 1820-1829 A-C

16. Minutes, 1820-1829 D-K

17. Minutes, 1820-1829 L-P

18. Minutes, 1820-1829 R-S

19. Minutes, 1820-1829 T-Z

20. Justice Court Minutes, 1820-1829


Box 7


Series 1 (Justice Court)

1. Summons, 1820-1829 A-K

2. Summons, 1820-1829 L-Z

3. Writs, 1830-1839 A-B

4. Writs, 1830-1839 C-G

5. Writs, 1830-1839 H-L

6. Writs, 1830-1839 M-P

7. Writs, 1830-1839 R-S

8. Writs, 1830-1839 T-Z

9. Executions, 1830-1839 A-K

10. Executions, 1830-1839 L-P


Box 7, continued


11. Executions, 1830-1839 R-Z

12. Bonds, 1830-1839

13. Judgements, 1830-1839

14. Minutes, 1830-1839

15. Summons, 1830-1839

16. Writs, 1860-1869

17. Supporting court documents, misc.

18. Court Costs

19. Supporting Court Documents, 1820-1829/1830-1839

20. Supporting Court Documents, undated

21. Court Costs undated

22. J.P Records, 1791-1819

23. J.P Records, 1819-1820

24. J.P. Records, 1819-1829 (Sheldon)

25. J.P. Records, 1820 (Lawton)

26. Justice Court Docket Book, 1824-1834


Box 8


Series 2 (Miscellaneous)

1. Auction, 1797/1810-1819/ 1820-1829/1830-1839

2. Births/Deaths/Marriage + Divorce

3. Certificates

4. Deeds/ Leases

5. Fence Viewers

6. Indentures

7. Instructions

8. Jurors

9. Letters, 1790-1840

10. Militia

11. Money owed with receipts, 1780-1789/1819/Undated

12. Money owed with receipts, 1820-1829/1830-1839

13. Pest Bounty

14. Poetry

15. Revolutionary Loyalty Papers

16. School Committee

17. Sheep Certificates, 1786

18. Tavern Papers, 1760-1769/1780-1789

19. Tavern Papers, 1790-1799/1820-1829

20. Misc. Notices, 1820-1829/1860-1869

21. Misc. (Non-Justice Papers), 1740-1800

22. Misc. (Non-Justice Papers), 1810-1819/1820-1829

23. Misc. (Non-Justice Papers), 1830-1850

24. Misc. (Non-Justice Papers) Undated

25. Misc. Papers in bad shape

26. Misc. Papers with numbers

27. Scraps



Series 3 (Overseer of the Poor/Bastard Files)


1. Overseer of the poor up to 1779

2. Overseer of the poor, 1780-1789/1790-1799

3. Overseer of the poor, 1810-1819/1820-1829

4. Overseer of the poor, 1820-1829

5. Overseer of the poor, 1820-1829

6. Overseer of the poor, 1830-1839/1860-1869/Undated

7. Bastard File, 1774-1809

8. Bastard File, 1810-1858


Box 9


Series 4 (Exeter Taxes)

1. Exeter Taxes, 1761-1769

2. Exeter Taxes, 1770-1776

3. Exeter Taxes, 1777

4. Exeter Taxes, 1778

5. Exeter Taxes, 1778

6. Exeter Taxes, 1779

7. Exeter Taxes, 1780

8. Exeter Taxes, 1781

9. Exeter Taxes, 1782

10. Exeter Taxes, 1783

11. Exeter Taxes, 1784

12. Exeter Taxes, 1785

13. Exeter Taxes, 1786

14. Exeter Taxes, 1787

15. Exeter Taxes, 1788

16. Exeter Taxes, 1789

17. Exeter Taxes, 1790

18. Exeter Taxes, 1791

19. Exeter Taxes, 1793

20. Exeter Taxes, 1794

21. Exeter Taxes, 1796 (includes rate list)

22. Exeter Taxes, 1797

23. Exeter Taxes, 1798

24. Exeter Taxes, 1801-1806

25. Exeter Taxes, 1807-1814

26. Exeter Taxes, 1816-1821

27. Exeter Taxes, 1822-1825

28. Exeter Taxes Undated

29. Misc. Tax Papers


Oversized loose volume: Tax Rate List, 1767-1778


Box 10


Series 5 (Town Council/Probate)

1. Election Information

2. Estates of the deceased

3. Lillibridge,Lock,Ney,Perkins,Rathburn,and Tisdale Records

4. Sherman,Terry,Thurston,and Whitman Records

5. Information Voted on


Box 10, continued


6. Inventory of land

7. Last wills

8. Letter of Guardianship

9. Letters to the Court of Probate, 1810-1819/1820-1829

10. Letters to the Court of Probate, 1830-1839/1850-1859

11. Letters to the Town Council

12. List of names

13. Petition to the Court of Probate

14. Probate Unfinished Business, 1830-1839

15. Rateable Estates, 1770-1779

16. Rateable Estates, 1770-1779

17. Rateable Estates, 1790-1799/1820-1829

18. Summons to Court of Probate

19. Treasurers Audit

20. Personal Accounts with Receipts, 1780- 1809

21. Personal Accounts with Receipts, 1810-1819/1850-1859

22. Town Accounts, 1810-1829

23. Town Accounts, 1830-1839

24. Town Council Proceedings, 1780-1829

25. Town Council Proceedings, 1830-1859

26. Voting Certificates, 1770-1819

27. Voting Certificates, 1820-1859


Box 11

 

Series 5 (Town Council/Probate)    

28. Council/Probate Bonds, 1740-1759

29. Council/Probate Bonds, 1760-1779

30. Council/Probate Bonds, 1780-1799

31. Probate Bonds, 1800-1809

32. Probate Bonds, 1810-1819

33. Probate Bonds, 1820-1829

34. Misc. Bonds, 1830-1839/1840-1849


Series 6 (Promissory Notes)

1. Promissory Notes Undated/1770-1789

2. Promissory Notes, 1790-1799

3. Promissory Notes, 1800-1809

4. Promissory Notes, 1800-1809

5. Promissory Notes, 1810-1819

6. Promissory Notes, 1820-1829

7. Promissory Notes, 1820-1829

8. Promissory Notes, 1820-1829

9. Promissory Notes, 1830-1839/1860-1869



Box 11, continued


Series 7 (Highway Records)

1. Highways up to 1790

2. Highways, 1790-1799

3. Highways, 1800-1819

4. Highways, 1820-1829

5. Highways, 1830-1839

6. Highways, 1840-1849

7. Highways, 1850-1859

8. Highways, 1860-1869/Undated


Box 12


Series 8 (Treasurer Bills)

1. Treasurer Bills, 1780-1789 Whitford

2. Treasurer Bills, 1790-1799 Whitford

3. Treasurer Bills, 1790-1799 Whitford

4. Treasurer Bills, 1800-1809 Whitford

5. Treasurer Bills, 1800-1809 Reynolds/Whitford

6. Treasurer Bills, 1810-1819 Lillibridge

7. Treasurer Bills, 1810-1819 Lillibridge

8. Treasurer Bills, 1820-1829 Lillibridge

9. Treasurer Bills, 1820-1829 Lillibridge

10. Treasurer Bills, 1820-1829 Lillibridge

11. Treasurer Bills, 1820-1829 Hazard

12. Treasurer Bills, 1830-1839 Hazard

13. Treasurer Bills, 1840-1849 Tillinghast


Series 9 (Town Meetings)

1. Town Meeting Notices, 1780-1809

2. Town Meeting Notices, 1810-1829

3. Town Meeting Notices, 1830-1869

4. Town Meeting Papers, 1810-1819

5. Town Meeting Papers, 1820-1829

6. Town Meeting Papers, 1830-1865

7. Lists of Voters, 1766-1801, 1844


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Subjects:


Poor - Rhode Island - Exeter.

Roads - History - Rhode Island - Exeter.

Taxation - Rhode Island - Exeter.

Vital statistics - Rhode Island - Exeter.

Washington County (R.I.) - Court records.


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RIHS1822