who continued until 1781, and was then succeeded by Roger Reid; town
clerk, Archibald Brown, succeeded in 1775 by Edward Patterson, who, in
turn, was succeeded in 1778 by John McNeil, and he by Duncan Gilchrist,
in 1780; collector, Roger Reid, succeeded in 1778 by Duncan McArthur,
and the latter in 1781 by Alexander Gilchrist; assessors, Archibald
Campbell and Neal Shaw; constables, John Offery, John McNiel;
poor-masters, James Gilles, Archibald McNiel; road-masters, Duncan
Lindsey, Archibald Campbell; fence viewers, Duncan McArthur, John
Gilchrist.

The following extracts from township records are not without interest:

1772.--"All men from sixteen to sixty years old to work on the roads
this year. Fences must be four feet and a half high."

1776.--"Duncan Reid is to be constable for the south part of the
patent and Alexander Gillis for the north part; George Kilmore and
James Beatty for masters. John Johnson was chosen a justice of the
peace."

1781.--"Alexander McDougall and Duncan Lindsey were elected tithing
men."

In order to make the laws more efficient, on March 12, 1772, the county
of Charlotte was struck off from Albany, which was the actual beginning
of the present county of Washington. As Charlotte county had been named
for the consort of George III. and as his troops had devastated it
during the Revolution, the title was not an agreeable one, so the state
legislature on April 2, 1784, changed it to Washington, thus giving it
the most honored appellation known in the annals of American history.

For several years after 1764 the colony on the east, and in what is now
Hebron township, was augmented by a number of discharged Highland
soldiers, mostly of the 77th Regiment, who settled on both sides of the
line of the township. It is a noticeable fact that in every case these
settlers were Scotch Highlanders. They had in all probability been
attracted to this spot partly by the settlement of the colony of Captain
Lachlan Campbell, and partly by that of the Scotch-Irish at New Perth
(Salem), which has been noted already in its proper connection. These
additional settlers took up their claims, owing to a proclamation made
by the king, in October, 1763, offering land in America, without fees,
to all such officers and soldiers who had served on that continent, and
who desired to establish their homes there.

Nothing shows more clearly than this proclamation the lofty position of
an of