Tilley Higgins 1771 Tax Valuation
From Massachusetts Tax Valuation of 1771, Picton Press, edited by Bettye Hobbs Pruitt, 1978 and 1998, p. 740.
[Old Berwick Historical Society notes: Name also spelled Tilly Haggens (d. 1777). He had come from Ireland and in the mid-1700s acquired much of present-day Main Street and South Berwick Village, including presumably some mill rights on the Salmon Falls River. Many of these holdings are reflected here in this tax list. Haggens was described as a trader and entrepreneur. His locally-built 80-ton sloop,The Dolphin, regularly sailed between Portsmouth, NH, and Barbados in the 1760s, trading cargoes of local wood products for rum, sugar and cotton produced by slave labor. The tonnage of the Dolphin is reflected in this tax listing, and two household "servants for life" also appear here. In the 1798 Direct Tax Census, Tilly's son, John Haggens (1742-1822), is listed as one of the two wealthiest men in Berwick. John built the Sarah Orne Jewett House in 1774.]
Houses and shops adjoining 2 *
Shops adjoining 0
Tanhouses, etc ** 1
Stillhouses 1
Warehouses 0
Superficial feet of wharf 0
Ironworks 0
Mills 0.50
Annual worth of the whole real estate 48 pounds
Servants for life 2
Tons of vessels 80
Horses 2
Oxen 4
Cattle 6
Goats and sheep 19
Swine 1
Acres of pasture 200
Number of cows pasture will keep 2
Acres of tillage 4
Bushels of grain produced per year 100
Barrels of cider produced per year 10
Acres of salt marsh 0
Tons of salt marsh hay produced per year 0
Acres of English and upland mowing land 20
Tons of English and upland mowing hay produced per year 20
Acres of fresh meadow 10
Tons of fresh meadow hay per year 10
*houses and shops adjoining -- According to the editor, a "2" may mean one house and one shop adjoining, or it may mean two separate houses.
**Types of Buildings Included Under "Tanhouses, Etc."
Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771, published and republished 1978, 1998, Picton Press (p. xiii).
Tan Houses, Etc.: Type
01 tanhouse
02 slaughterhouse
03 shop
04 potash works
05 blacksmith shop
06 cordwainter/shoe shop
07 joiner
08 cooper shop
09 wheelwright shop
10 malthouse
11 ropewalk
12 bake shop
13 office
14 shop + tanhouse + potash works
15 shop + tanhouse
16 shop + slaughterhouse
17 shop + potash works
18 2 shops + potash
19 tanhouse + currying shop
20 tanhouse + currying shop + potash
21 spermaceti***/candle works
22 masthouse
23 candleworks + other, unidentified
24 tanhouse + potash
25 weaver shop
26 gunsmith
27 shop + ropewalk
28 shop + other
29 tailor shop
30 two or more separate buildings, not specified (value under "Tanhouse, etc., is a sum)
31 potash + othe unidentified
32 shop + pearlash
33 sadler shop
As the length of the above list indicates, as assessors included a wide variety of working buildings under this heading. many, on the other hand, did not specify what type of building was enumerated, and in those cases there will be no code number at all in this column.
***Spermaceti: a pearly white, waxy, almost colorless and tasteless water insoluble solid, obtained from the oil in the head of the sperm whale; used chiefly in the manufacture of cosmetics, candles, for lustering linens, and in medicine as an emollient in ointments, emulsions and cerates.