Letter: Tiverton building plaque research reveals fascinating history

Posted 9/10/16

To the editor:

The Tiverton Historical Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) began the historical building plaque program in January, 2016, starting with a list of around 150 historic buildings based …

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Letter: Tiverton building plaque research reveals fascinating history

Posted

To the editor:

The Tiverton Historical Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) began the historical building plaque program in January, 2016, starting with a list of around 150 historic buildings based on the 1983 Architectural History conducted by the RI Historical Preservation Commission. Letters were sent to the owners explaining the historic plaque program with a response form to be sent back to the HPAB with $40 per plaque if they wished to participate in this program.

Since then, we have received requests from non-residential building owners, as well as owners of houses not on the original list. As of August 22, we have sent out order forms to 175 historic building owners. Of those, nine were owner-requested (i.e., not on the original list). There are 64 plaques that have been completed and made available to the owners via the Town Clerk’s Office (some are there waiting to be picked up). Three plaques are currently on order with the Tiverton Sign Shop, and another four or five are in process of being researched prior to being ordered.

Each plaque comes with a brief history of the building, and/or its former occupants, and/or deed excerpts. In some cases, the date found in the original deed is not the same as that published in the state’s 1983 history for the town. In some cases, even the name of the house was incorrectly identified in the state’s document. Because of these errors, the deed research is now being done first before the order is given to the Sign Shop.

In order to be eligible for a historic plaque, the building must be older than 1925, the “youngest” date we took from the 1983 state document. Contact susan@tivertonhistorical.org or put a note in the HPAB mailbox at Town Hall if you would like to participate in this program and did not receive a letter in the first quarter of 2016 with any house background you have (build date, original occupant, etc.). Please visit our web page on the town website for more details.

On a side note, researching the old deeds can be frustrating at times, trying to read the faded ink and the poor penmanship, but mostly it is interesting due to the language, description of the properties, and things one reads in the Land Evidence books in the vault.

For instance, there are numerous indentures, documents setting slaves free, receipts of goods and chattel for debts owed, land problems resulting in sheriff orders, and other notable documents. However, it was the preface to one of the books that caught my eye and one that I wanted to share with the public who don’t normally read hand-written Land Evidence books in their spare time.

The Preface to Book 31 states: In the volume preceding this, I have aimed to imitate the absurdities in penmanship which I have found in the instruments which I have copied. This has made the task of copying more difficult, and required more time to be spent in the work, and has injured the appearance of the page; but it seemed to be necessary to make the record a true copy.

In this volume, I wish it to be understood that, when I certify the record to be “a true copy of the original”, I mean that it is a true copy of what the original would have been if it had been printed instead of having been scribbled.

                John T. Cook, Town Clerk

                Tiverton July 3rd, 1884

(I guess I’m not the only one who was frustrated in reading the hand-written documents recorded by previous Town Clerks, even though I had lots of practice reading my fellow engineers' documents!)

Susan Anderson

Tiverton Historical Preservation Advisory Board chairwoman

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