Petition of the Selectmen of Edgartown to the Massachusetts Congress

v2:1013

That whereas the said Town of Edgartown is very small and poor, the soil sandy, and not capable of producing the article of bread-corn for the inhabitants yearly by far; whereby many of the inhabitants are obliged to employ themselves in the whaling employ for their support, which at this time is rendered useless, by reason that the oil obtained will not produce cash; and also the staple commodity of said Edgartown, which is the article of sheep' s wool, cannot be transported to the main land at this time, with any degree of safety, by reason of the armed vessels continually cruising betwixt said Edgartown and the main land; and your petitioners are well assured that there is but very little cash in said Town, and that many of the inhabitants are at this time in a considerable degree suffering for the article of bread-corn, and are by no means at this present time capable, of paying their publick taxes: we therefore pray, in behalf of said Edgartown, that as your petitioners have contracted with the Committee of Supplies to supply them with a number of yarn stockings, that the same may answer in lieu of the money, as far as the amount of said stockings; as we conceive it will be of great utility to said Town, by reason that the little money there is will be stopped in said Town, and the poor kept at work in the manufacturing of the wool. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

THOMAS COOK,
EBENEZER SMITH,
Selectmen.

Edgartown, June 16, 1775.