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Overview
The municipal documents of a community contain a wealth of information about our ancestors and our communities. The obvious value is that these documents identify municipal officers by name. Many annual reports also note the names of teachers, students, roads, persons who worked for the community or sold something to the town. In some cases (tho not in Bath, unfortunately), vital records are recorded in the annual report with names and dates. But even if your ancestor's name isn't found in these documents, there is sure to be many fascinating tidbits hidden in the report about life as it was...
The City Charter: With the Joint Rules and Orders of the City Council, and Rules and Orders of the Common Council of the City of Bath Together with a List of the City Officers, and the Standing Committees for the Municipal Year 1848-49 can be found online at Google Books. The officers and standing committees lists are a helpful record of quite a few Bath residents in this time period. The 1863 Sixteenth Municipal Register of the City of Bath is also available online from the Maine Town Documents collection of the University of Maine.
Bath's Annual Reports and City Registers
An annual report or register for the City and/or the schools of Bath is available for the following years:
- Calls for the appointment of a Superintendent of Schools: "We have a 'Superintendent of Street'....Surely, is it not important to provide as effectual a supervision for the children growing up in our midst, as for the streets in which so many of them waste their time?" (p.4)
- Superintendent Samuel F Dike writes eloquently on the problem of truancy, and reports on the School Committee's experiment with an adult evening school, serving persons "from twelve to sixty years... who will desire to avail themselves of the advantages of such a school, (even if they) have never enjoyed any privileges of acquiring an education." (p. 10-11).
- The license for a circus to perform in the City of Bath was $25. 3 such licenses were granted this year. (p. 5)
- The city paid Wesley chapel to use their bell, after the burning of Old South Church. $666.66 was paid in damages due to the (mob-started) fire at the Old South Church in 1854. (pp. 9, 12)
- Two individuals were jailed for "fast driving in the streets," from a total of 266 persons committed to the lockup. Most were jailed for drunkenness (73%, or 193 persons). (p. 29)
- 1859-60: Statement of the Appropriations, Receipts and Expenditures, of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year Ending March 1st, 1860. With the Reports of the Superintending School Committee, Overseers of the Poor, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, City Marshal, and Superintendent of the Burial Grounds; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1261
- Jesse Grace is paid $7 for making cartridges and firing gun 22nd Feb. (Why?)
- The City has acquired "The Park" on Front, Linden and Washington Sts.
- 1860-61: Statement of the Appropriations, Receipts and Expenditures, of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year Ending March 1st, 1861. With the Reports of the Superintending School Committee, Overseers of the Poor, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, City Marshal, and Superintendent of the Burial Grounds; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1294.
- 1861-62: Statement of the Appropriations, Receipts and Expenditures, of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year Ending March 1st, 1862, with the Reports of the Superintending School Committee, Overseers of the Poor, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, City Marshal, and Superintendent of the Burial Grounds; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1295.
- 1868-69: Annual Report of the Superintending School Committee of the City of Bath, for the School-Year 1868-69; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1297.
- 1869-70: Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Appropriations, Receipts & Expenditures of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year ending March 1st, 1870, with the Reports of the Several Departments; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1298.
- 1870-71: Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Appropriations, Receipts and Expenditures of the City of Bath, For the Financial Year Ending March 1, 1871; With the Reports of the Several Departments; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1318.
- 1871-72: Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Appropriations, Receipts & Expenditures of the City of Bath; for the Financial Year Ending March 1st, 1872, with the Reports of the Several Departments; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1319. (Note - there are two PDFs for this document; it was split in half due to its size.)
- 1875-76: Twenty-Eight Annual Report of the Appropriations, Receipts & Expenditures of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year Ending March 1, 1876; with the Reports of the Several Departments; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1320. (Note - there are two PDFs for this document; it was split in half due to its size.)
- 1877-1878: Thirtieth Annual Report of the Appropriations, Receipts and Expenditures of the City of Bath, for the Financial Year Ending Feb. 28, 1878, with the Reports of the Several Departments. Also the Thirty-first Municipal Register, for the Municipal Year 1878-9; University of Maine Digital Commons, Maine Town Documents, Paper 1321.
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