The lawschool email:

Widener, Michael <mike.widener@yale.edu>
Oct 30 (11 days ago)

to me, wijones
Greetings:

The Yale Law Library recently received a gift from a Yale Law School alumnus, a ledger maintained by the town clerks of Hope, Maine, for the years 1804-1848. The donor, Lois Montbertrand, placed a condition on the gift, namely that we digitize the ledger and offer it, free of charge, to the Town of Hope, Maine and the Hope Historical Society. We are now ready to provide the Hope Historical Society with the digitized ledger. You may go to this URL and download the digital files:

https://yale.box.com/s/cesy0k3xf81p1nvqmg3jj5svdefbeobk

The PDF files named "hope00..." through "hope17..." are the component files. At the end are two versions of the combined file, "MssB H71 no1 tall, highres.pdf" and "MssB H71 no1 tall, lowres.pdf". The ledger was scanned at 400dpi, which is why the file sizes are very, very large, even when dumbed down to a low-resolution version. The Yale Law Library places no restrictions on the use or distribution of the digital files. We would appreciate a credit line if images from the files are published.

The ledger includes information about the change of name from Barrettstown Plantation to Hope in 1804, and later information on the issue of separation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The final vote, on July 26, 1819, favored separation, though earlier votes had been against it. The town of Hope sent a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Portland in October 1819. Town clerks mentioned in the ledger include: Samuel Reeves (1804), Almond Gushe (1805), Matthew Beveridge (1806),Solomon Harwood (1830), Asa Payson (1835), Henry Hobbs (1837, 1841), and Abner Dunton Jr. (1839, 1842).

The Yale Law Library's catalog record for the ledger is here: http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1373356

I will also offer the digital files to the Maine Historical Society.

The Yale Law Library and Ms. Montbertrand are pleased to make this historical source available to the people of Hope, Maine. Let me know if you have any questions.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian & Lecturer in Legal Research
Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School
P.O. Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520-8215
Phone: (203) 432-4494
http://library.law.yale.edu/rarebooks
Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog:
http://library.law.yale.edu/blogs/rare-books