Andover - Town Seal

• According to tradition, the land comprising both the North and South Parishes of Andover was purchased from Cutshamachie, the Sagamore of Massachusetts, for six English pounds and a coat. This event is commemorated in the town seal, which was officially adoped at the annual meeting on March 5, 1900. It is generally believed that the new seal was designed by Leonard Sherman, a local artist, photographer and nature writer. However, there were no Native Americans in New England tribes that ever wore such an elaborate headdress.
• The original town seal included just text: the town name, state, and date of incorporation.
• In 1895, John E. Whiting, a local jewler, designed a porcelin pin depicting the sale of the land that was to become Andover from the Indians as a souvenir for the Town's 250th anniversary.
• A banner was also commissioned using the same picture. Andover's 250th Anniversary Banner
• For the Town's 350th anniversary, the Town requisitioned a painting of the seal for the selectman's meeting room. Kristoffel Meulen, then a high school senior, was chosen.

...Cocoanut and Decoration Day.... click to enlarge

See

• "New Town Seal," Andover Townsman, March 9, 1900.
• "Sealed with Historical Inaccuracies," Andover Townsman, February 1, 2007.
• "Andover's town seal tells many stories," Andover Townsman, January 30, 2014, p. 7.
• Andover a Century of Change:1896 - 1996 by Eleanor Motley Richardson, (974.45 Ric), page 188.
• Andover: Symbol of New England, by Claude Moore Fuess,(974.45 Fuess), page 373.
• The Townswoman's Andover by Bessie Goldsmith (974.45 Gol), page 2.
• Town and City Seals of Massachusetts, by Allan Forbes (929.9 For volume 2), page 6.

• There is a color picture of the seal on the Andover Finance Report for 1976.

--Eleanor 12:39, July 13, 2007 (EDT)

back to Main Page