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About Taunton, MA

Taunton was founded by settlers from England and officially incorporated as a town on September 3, 1639. Most of the town's settlers were originally from Taunton in Somerset, England, which led early settlers to name the settlement after that town. At the time of Taunton's incorporation, they explained their choice of name as being “in honor and love to our dear native country.” Prior to 1640, the Taunton area was called Cohannet, Tetiquet or Titiquet. The English founders of Taunton purchased the land from the Nemasket Indians in 1637 as part of the Tetiquet Purchase and the remaining native families were relocated to the praying town of Ponkapoag in current day Canton, MA. A central figure among the founders was Elizabeth Poole who is believed to have been the first woman to found a settlement in the Americas and, contrary to local folklore, [a] did not take part in the town purchase but was among its greatest beneficiaries and played a significant role in the founding of its church.