Milford City Clerk’s “From the Vault” Releases First Section of Volume II of Historic Town Records

MILFORD, CT — August 24, 2026 — The Milford City Clerk's Office has released the first section of Milford Town Records, Volume II, opening another important chapter in the effort to make the City's earliest records more accessible to the public.

The newly released section covers 1751 through 1759 and is being added to the City Clerk's "From the Vault" project, which is working to bring centuries-old records out of Milford's historic vault and make them easier for residents, researchers, students and historians to explore.

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"This is an exciting point in the project because we are moving closer and closer to the Revolutionary War period," said Milford City Clerk Pete Smith. "These records allow us to follow Milford almost year by year as a colonial community and eventually see the events and decisions that led into the Revolution through the words of the people who were actually here."

The first section of Volume II provides a detailed look at how Milford operated nearly 275 years ago. Town Meeting governed virtually every aspect of community life — electing local officials, raising taxes, maintaining highways, supporting schools and the ministry, caring for residents, overseeing the burying ground, and addressing public works and legal disputes.

Among the records from 1751–1759 are votes to enlarge and fence Milford's burying ground, improve highways and bridges, provide access to the Oyster Banks, and establish a ferry. The records also show that taxes and public obligations could involve commodities such as pork, beef, wheat, rye, Indian corn and flax, providing a glimpse into Milford's largely agricultural eighteenth-century economy.

The growing impact of the French and Indian War is also clearly visible.

In 1756, Town Meeting voted to have Milford's "Great Gunns" fixed upon carriages and made ready for service. The following year, Milford voted to provide housing and necessities for the King's troops if soldiers were sent to the community. By April 1758, the records show that Milford residents had housed troops through the winter and that the Town appointed agents to ask the Connecticut General Assembly to reimburse the community for those expenses.
"These are the kinds of entries that make these records come alive," Smith said. "We are no longer simply looking at names and dates. We can see Milford preparing its guns, housing soldiers, building roads and bridges, operating schools, raising taxes and making the everyday decisions necessary to run the community."

The section also preserves stories that might otherwise have been lost. In 1753, the Town recorded its efforts to recover money it had spent supporting Derrick, an enslaved man belonging to Gamaliel Clark, after Clark allegedly failed to provide for him. The Town authorized John Fowler to pursue the matter legally on Milford's behalf.

Volume II will become particularly significant as the project advances into the 1760s and 1770s and the records approach the American Revolution.

That period will allow the City Clerk's Office and its volunteers to connect Milford's original Town Meeting records with the community's broader America 250 historical work, including Milford's response to events leading to independence, its support of the Revolutionary cause, and the men and families whose lives were affected by the war.

"As we celebrate America's 250th anniversary, there is something extraordinary about being able to go back to Milford's original records and read what our community was actually doing as history unfolded," Smith said. "The closer we get to 1776, the more these records become Milford's own eyewitness account of the birth of the United States."

The From the Vault initiative is part of the City Clerk's continuing effort to preserve and expand public access to Milford's historic records. The Clerk's vault contains more than 2.5 million pages of records, with some dating to the seventeenth century.

The newly released 1751–1759 section of Volume II, along with a one-page historical guide highlighting significant people, places, events and Town Meeting decisions, is being made available through the From the Vault section of the Milford City Clerk's website.

"Our goal is simple," Smith said. "These records have survived for centuries. Now we want to make sure the stories inside them are available to everyone.