(MASSACHUSETTS) Minutes of Watertown Engine Co No 1

Sale 2432 - Lot 218

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(MASSACHUSETTS.) Minutes of Watertown Engine Co. No. 1. [121] manuscript pages. 4to, contemporary 1/4 calf, worn, later manuscript label on front board; internally clean. Watertown, MA, 1820-32

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The minutes and membership records of the first fire engine company in Watertown, MA, near Boston. Among the founding members was Abraham Lincoln (no close relation to the president). Lists absences from alarm calls, new members, men assigned to clean the engines and shovel snow, and the committees for the company's annual suppers. In an early firefighter competition in May 1829, the town requested "to ascertain which engine would discharge the greatest quantity of water & which would send it the greatest distance, the decision was in favor of No. 1." Despite this success, in January 1832 the company voted to "abandon the engine on account of her being unfit for use"--the book's final entry.