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Randolph’s final town meeting on Dec. 16 reached back to the town’s founding, with dignitaries wearing powdered wigs and tricorn hats as they debated items on a warrant from 1793.
The re-enactment, which came 18 days before Randolph inaugurated a nine-member council as its legislative body, was based on minutes that have been preserved in town archives for more than 200 years. Randolph was created out of the older town of Braintree, and among the actions taken on the “first day of April, Anno Domini 1793” was election of selectmen, School Committee members, “fire wardens,” “tithing men,” “field drivers,” “hog reaves,” and a “packer of beef.”
The first town meeting also established the months during which hogs could roam at large and the terms for contracting with road surveyors.
Attendees at the re-enactment received a 34-page program booklet that included the warrant for the 1793 meeting, a two-page history of the town, and lists of local officials dating back to 1949 and, in some cases, 1900. Sixty-five long-serving Town Meeting members – including three who had served for more than 50 years – received certificates of achievement. One town meeting member, Velma Bertoni, was honored for attending 263 consecutive sessions dating back to 1972.
While town meetings for the past several decades have taken place at Randolph High School, the final session was held at Stetson Hall, home to town meetings from 1843 until 1954. The gavel that was used in the final session also dated from the mid-19th century.
“A lot of times, when you’re in a current moment, you don’t recognize the historical significance of it,” said Town Clerk Brian Howard. “We wanted to make sure that 50 years from now, 100 years from now, the government officials at that point will say, ‘You know, those guys got it right.’ ”
