I was at the county historian’s office today to do some research. I found something that I thought was great. A map of the town of Southeast, NY from 1795 – yes, it is old, but that’s not what I though was so amusing. What was so great about it was the inscription. It showed some pride for the town, but it also showed that people has a sense of humor even in 1795. The inscriptions says:
“Southeast – therein are contained one meeting house, one settled (?) minister. Eight school-houses and eight school masters. And much to our happiness not one lawyer can live among us. We have five grist mills, three saw mills. Seven licenced taverns and three physicians. One mine of iron oar which supplys several iron works of the neighboring towns.”
Sorry to any of you readers that might be lawyers, but you have to admit it is kind of funny. Any mis-spellings above are merely a reprint of what is on the map. Emphasis is mine.