Above: In 1776, Southborough Town Meeting Minutes recorded the Declaration of Independence (image from Town’s digitized archives)
I’m correcting and updating on a recent post about the Town’s Declaration of Independence. I learned that at some point, the Town located the handwritten copy from 1776. The historic document is also part of the Town’s historical records that have been digitized and uploaded for the public to access.
I’m also sharing some more interesting history from the period that was captured in the records.
The record was in the Town Meeting Minutes. (It can be viewed here, on page 43 of the 1774-17799 minutes.) I also cobbled together screenshots to show the opening section of the document (image right).
In my prior post related to the Town’s documents, I also shared some history about the Town’s early commitment to support the cause for Independence. That was based on the Town’s vote on June 10th, 1776.
In looking at the minutes, I found that the Town resisted a push to take a stance a few months prior. In March of 1776, Town Meeting voted to not act on Article 12 to support the movement.
The old fashioned handwriting in the minutes was a bit of a challenge for me. But, you can get the gist from the words in the Article I was fairly confident of. (Plus, you can look at the image below right.):
To hear the request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Southborough and act thereon as [?] Southborough shall think proper and [?] any legal vote or votes concerning the Rights and Privileges of this and other English Colonies in America of the Infringements on the same that shall as thought by [?] Southborough proper when met.
