264 HISTORY OF COH ASSET. 



The petition as it was presented to Hingham at their 

 March meeting was as follows : — 



The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Second Precinct in 

 Hingham, to their beloved Brethren of the same town ; Assembled 

 at their annual meeting in March, 1768. 



Humbly Sheweth 



1. First that your Petitioners by reason of the badness of the 

 roads together with our distance from the place where Town 

 meetings are always held (the most of us living above 5 & many 

 6 and 7 and some 9 miles as the Road goes and more than one 

 half of us not being furnished with Horses) are in a great measure 

 deprived of the Priviledge of having a Voice in the Choice of Offi- 

 cers and other Affairs usually transacted at the annual Meeting in 

 March. 



2. Secondly that about one tenth part of the Lands within our 

 Precinct being owned by our Brethren in other parts of the Town 

 are not taxed for the support of our School nor the Mending of 

 our Highways which are naturally so rough as to require greater 

 expense in Repairs than perhaps all the other roads in the Town. 



3. Thirdly that although we consist of 136 families & our Rate- 

 able Polls and Number of Voters are nearly one third part of the 

 whole Town vet we are allowed to have but one out of five of the 

 Selectmen. 



4. Fourthly that the Monies for Records, Certificates, &c, all 

 Entered in the first Precinct, and that the trouble and expense 

 of travelling so far to transact such business, are so great as that 

 some Necessary Records are Undoubtedly Neglected. 



5. Fifthly that our assembling but one day in the year would 

 be sufficient to transact the whole business which now neces- 

 sarily requires three meetings to our great expense and loss of 

 time. 



Considering these difficulties, it is our earnest request that you 

 would from Brotherly Affection toward us, vote that we may be 

 set of from you as a seperate and distinct District to do the 

 Duties and enjoy the Priviledges of a Town that of joining with 

 you in the choice of a Representative Excepted, And that our 

 Extent be the same that it was when we were first made a Pre- 



