In 2017, the Town did some reconstruction work on the cellar of the Town Office.  During this work, a small wooden chest full of papers was found in the old vault.  It was marked “MILITARY” in black stencil on the side.  It was transferred to the Andover Historical Society for its preservation. 

A detailed examination of the documents in this chest has just been completed.  The materials are in two categories.  A large portion pertains to the State Militia and dates from 1820 to 1865 (the end of the Civil War).  Included are lists of enlistees, requests for excuse of absence from muster, medical exemptions from military service and requests for assistance by dependents. 

The second portion contains various Selectmen’s papers dating from 1851 to 1939 (with several with earlier dates).  In this portion, there are performance bonds for tax collectors, treasurers, and road agents, compensations for elected officials, personal mortgage deeds for sales of oxen, horses, wagons, hay, etc., permissions to underage applicants to marry and such.

There are approximately 800 documents in this chest. The documents are now sorted according to date and are bundled into decades to allow easy access.