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HISTORY OF FALMOUTH. 49
creased then a less amount should be paid, and if it should decrease then a larger amount, etc. The selectmen in taking the valuation of the estates of the town were accustomed to rate certain property as follows: Every ox, £2. 10s ; every yearling, 15s ; every cow, £1 10s ; every horse, £2 ; sheep £5 for a score ; every hog, year old, 6s ; meadow and tillage land per acre 5s. At a town meeting held Oct. 14th, 1719, Ensign Parker and Timothy Robinson were chosen "to treat with Philip Dexter for to try to bring him to some other terms to grind our corn than he hath done." Philip Dexter being, as it appears, an enterprising man, had put up a grist mill and had the whole patronage of the town. Having no competitor in this line of business he exacted rather more toll than the inhabitants thought reasonable or just. Consequently there was the town action already reported. This was probably the first water grist mill erected in town ; it stood where the Pacific Factory now stands. "Five Mile river, " now called "Dexter's River," probably received its name from this proprietor, Philip Dexter. In 1719 it was voted " That the act of getting birds heads should be one‑half taken off" -- from which we infer that our ancestors were good marksmen; as black birds, both old and young, seem to be growing scarce. In 1724 it was voted in town meeting that the school mistress shall have 12 pounds for her salary and suitable diet and the use of a horse to visit her friends twice a year." The line between this town and the district of Marshpee had not been definitely fixed, up to 1725. By a very formal instrument, of con-
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