Editing Bristol County, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
{{further|History of Massachusetts}}

Bristol County was created by the [[Plymouth Colony]] on June 2, 1685,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mabristo/mabristo.htm|title=RootsWeb.com Home Page|website=rootsweb.ancestry.com}}</ref> and named after its "shire town" (county seat), [[Bristol, Rhode Island|Bristol]].<ref name="hurd" /> The Plymouth Colony, along with the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], the Maine Colony and several other small settlements were rechartered in 1691, by [[William III of England|King William III]], to become [[The Province of Massachusetts Bay]].

The towns of Bristol, [[Barrington, Rhode Island|Barrington]], and [[Warren, Rhode Island|Warren]] were awarded to [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]] in 1746 as part of the settlement of a long-running boundary dispute (see [[History of Massachusetts]]), forming [[Bristol County, Rhode Island]]. At the same time, [[Cumberland, Rhode Island]] was carved out of [[Attleborough, Massachusetts]] and annexed to [[Providence County, Rhode Island]]; [[Tiverton, Rhode Island|Tiverton]] and [[Little Compton, Rhode Island|Little Compton]] were transferred to [[Newport County, Rhode Island]]. [[East Freetown, Massachusetts|East Freetown]] was officially purchased by [[Freetown, Massachusetts]], from Tiverton in 1747, and so remained on the Massachusetts side.

After the departure of Bristol, Taunton was made the shire town of the county. A second county courthouse was constructed in 1828 in the growing town of New Bedford (designed a "half-shire town"). In 1862, a part of Seekonk (that portion of which is now [[East Providence, Rhode Island]]) and the entirety of [[East Pawtucket]] were transferred to [[Providence County, Rhode Island]]. At the same time, land ceded from Rhode Island was added to Fall River and Westport. The growing Fall River became the site of the third county courthouse in 1877.<ref name="hurd">''History of Bristol County, Massachusetts with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 1'' edited by Duane Hamilton Hurd. J. W. Lewis and Co., 1883. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uauYBOCKCS0C]. p. 1.</ref>