Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 35: The Town of Weymouth, 1918

Chapter 35: The Town of Weymouth

Weymouth is the most eastern of the Norfolk County towns except Cohasset, which is detached from the main body of the county. On the north, Weymouth is bounded by the Massachusetts Bay; on the east by the Town of Hingham; on the south by Plymouth County ; and on the west by Braintree and Holbrook. From north to south it is a little over nine miles in extent and its average width is about two and a half miles. It has a water front on the Weymouth Fore and Back Rivers of over eight miles.

Surface And Drainage

While the general surface of the town is undulating, there are only two hills of notable prominence - Great Hill on the shore of the bay in the northern part and King Oak Hill, about a mile farther south. A considerable portion of the area is covered by ponds, the largest of which is Great Pond, also known as Wessagusset Lake, in the southerly part. It is over a mile and a fourth long and about a third of a mile in width. Whitman's Pond, in the central portion, is next in size, being nearly as long as Great Pond but not so wide. Whortleberry Pond, a small circular body of water, lies a little south of Whitman's Pond, and Rolling Mill Pond is connected with Whitman's.

Mill River, the outlet of Great Pond, passes through Whitman's Pond to Back River, a distance, following its meanderings, of some five or six miles. Old Swamp River rises in Hingham and flows into Whitman's Pond. These two rivers are the only streams of consequence in the town. Both have fine water privileges which have been utilized to some extent for manufacturing purposes.

Settlement

In Tune, 1622, about sixty men came over from England in two small vessels - the Charity and the Swan - and landed on the north shore of what is now the Town of Weymouth at a place called by the Indians "Wressaguscus" (also written Wessagusset). The place where they established their settlement is on the south bank of the Fore River, a little east of Hunt's Hill Point. Back of this expedition was Thomas Weston, a merchant of London, who had been associated with the Pilgrims in their negotiations with the Plymouth Company, and whose dream was to establish a trading post that would yield large profits.

Unfortunately, in the selection of men to carry out his project, he accepted any one willing to join the expedition without regard to his qualifications for the work in hand. These men came without families, had no definite idea of the methods to be followed, and no settled habits of industry. Being without a competent leader, they soon became dissatisfied with their surroundings, neglected their work, and, as might be expected, they were soon reduced to the verge of starvation. They appealed to the Plymouth colony for assistance, but the people there were far from opulent and could not help them. It is said that ten of the number actually perished of starvation. After the expedition of Miles Standish in March, 1623 (see Chap. IV), the company disbanded, the men going in different directions, and by the summer of 1623 not one was left at Wessaguscus. Thus ended in failure the first attempt to plant a settlement in Weymouth.

The Gorges Company

A few months after the disappearance of the Weston colony, probably in early September, 1623, another expedition sailed up the Fore River and landed at the deserted plantation. It was led by Robert Gorges, a son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, acting under a charter from the Plymouth Company. The men who came with Captain Gorges were of a different type from those sent over by Weston the year before, one of them being Rev. William Morrell, a minister of the Church of England. The charter gave them "ten miles of the coast on the northeast side of the Massachusetts Bay and extending thirty miles inland." In selecting the place to begin his settlement, Gorges no doubt thought Wessaguscus was covered by the grant. Says Gilbert Nash: "They chose their ten miles evidenly to include the entrance to Boston Harbor, and this mistake, if mistake it were, was the cause of much trouble in the future." Mr. Nash says further : "The plan of the colony was projected upon a scale of magnificent proportions and with machinery sufficient to conduct the affairs of an empire. Captain Gorges was named as Governor- General, with a general oversight of the company's officers in America, and authority by commission to carry out his plans. Associated with him in the government were Capt. Francis West, admiral; Christopher Levet, Esq., perhaps the chief judicial officer, and such others as the Governor-General chose to appoint, any two of whom, with himself, were empowered to transact any business necessary for the government of the colony. The governor of Plymouth, for the time being, was constituted a member of the government."

As soon as Governor Bradford of Plymouth learned that the company had arrived at Wessaguscus, he made arrangements to visit the colony. Before he had time to put his design into execution, Gorges, while on a tour of inspection over his grant, encountered bad weather and took refuge at Plymouth. After remaining there a few days he returned by land to his settlement. Upon his arrival there it appears he for the first time exercised his authority as governorgeneral by causing the arrest of Thomas Weston, who had come into Plymouth Bay on the Swan, and ordering him and his vessel to be sent around to Wessagus- cus. Not long after this he returned to England, with a considerable portion of his company, "thoroughly disgusted with the work of founding an empire in the New World."

After the departure of Gorges, some of his colonists went to Virginia, Rev. William Morrell took up his temporary abode at Plymouth, and a few remained at Wessaguscus. In fact the settlement made by Gorges at Wessaguscus was never entirely broken up. Mr. Morrell went back to England in 1624 and the same year a number of emigrants from Weymouth, England, joined the little band on the shores of the Fore River. With them came a non-conformist minister by the name of Barnard, who remained in the settlement until his death. The records of the colony for the next few years are meager, though there is an occasional mention of the settlement at Wessaguscus, indicating continual though small accessions to the number of inhabitants. Governor Winthrop visited the place in 1632 and was "liberally entertained by those residing there," and in the next year Wessaguscus is mentioned as "a small village." All the evidence tends to show that the Gorges settlement was permanent and therefore the second settlement in Massachusetts.

The Hull Company

On July 8, 1635, the General Court granted permission to Rev. Joseph Hull, with twenty-one families, numbering about one hundred persons, to settle at Wessaguscus. This was the largest addition, perhaps, that was ever made to the settlement at any one time in its history. The members of this company were people of sober and industrious habits and they were welcomed with joy by those who had preceded them. They came from the Town of Weymouth, England, and quickly acquired prominence in the new settlement with which they now cast their lot. Mr. Hull became for a time the minister of the town. On September 2, 1635, tne settlement was erected into a plantation and the name was then changed to Weymouth. The next day the plantation was ordered to send a representative to the General Court. Although an infant settlement, there were three political factions in the plantation. The first represented those of the Gorges company who had not abandoned the place; the secon'd was made up of those who came from other towns in the colony ; and the third was composed of those who came over with Mr. Hull in the summer. The first faction voted for John Bursley, the second for William Reade, and the third for John Upham. The court recognized Mr. Reade and the other two were compelled to retire.

Regarding the change of name from Wessaguscus to Weymouth, the Massachusetts Historical Collections (Vol. XXI, p. 396) says the reason for the adoption of the new name is unknown, "but probably in honor of Capt. George Waymouth, the navigator. It is to be noted that, 20th March, 1635, about one hundred persons are recorded at W'eymouth, County Dorset, England, as bound hither." There is little doubt that the name was suggested by some member of Mr. Hull's company as a tribute of respect to the old home town in England.

Adjusting The Boundaries

The Colonial Records of Massachusetts show that in March, 1635, a committee was chosen to fix the boundaries between Wessaguscus and Mount Wollaston, and in July following another committee was charged with the duty of establishing the line between Wessaguscus and Bare Cove (now Hingham). Notice that the former of these committees was appointed before the arrival of the Hull company and is another evidence that a permanent settlement existed in Weymouth. From the time of Weymouth's incorporation in 1635 for several years afterward, the boundary lines between Plymouth County on the south and the Town of Braintree on the west appear to have been a question of frequent disputes. Committees were several times appointed by Weymouth to join with a committee from Braintree in running and marking the line between the two towns, but for some reason Braintree declined to act. Finally the people of Weymouth lost patience and at a town meeting held on June 13, 1712, instructed the selectmen to bring an action against the selectmen of Braintree for their persistent refusal to run the dividing line as the law provided, and voted to stand by them in any suit brought for that purpose. If such an action was ever instituted in the courts, it seems that it failed to accomplish its end, as the Weymouth-Braintree line was not settled until in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

The Indian Title

Although the English Government granted to Robert Gorges a tract of land embracing ten miles of sea coast and extending thirty miles into the interior, the grant did not dispossess the Indians, who were the real owners of the land. Therefore, the first settlers at Wessaguscus were what might be termed ''squatters," so far as the Indian title was concerned. Their title was merely that of possession, but back of that possession there was nothing which would enable them to hold the land upon which they had located before it was really in the possession of either the Plymouth or Massachusetts Bay Company. No one realized the precarious character of their tenure better than themselves and negotiations were set on foot to purchase the land from the Indians. The Indians did not own land as individuals, but as a tribe. A purchase from the chiefs bound every member of the tribe to their action. On April 26, 1642, a deed was executed by the resident chiefs, who signed themselves as Wampetuck, alias Jonas Webacowett, Nateaunt and Nahawton. This deed is recorded among the deeds of Suffolk County. With the execution of this deed, the town was in a position to allot the lands and confirm the inhabitants in their possessions. The list of landowners made soon afterward indicate that this was done.

Early Landowners

Says Mr. Nash : "In this list, which is very incomplete as will be easily seen, there are the names of seventy-one persons with a general description of the property owned by them. In these descriptions the names of seventeen others are mentioned, from whom some of the property was purchased, or to whom the original grants were made. There are also mentioned as owners of property bounding the different lots described, the names of fifty-two, who do not appear in the other two classes, yet who must have been property owners or they could not have been abuttors, making in all 123, at least, real estate owners at the time the list was made up. Why this large number escaped record we have no means of knowing, but since such is the fact we may reasonably infer that many others may have been omitted altogether, and that the full number was originally much greater ; in fact we have evidence that this was so, from incidental mention in the later records. Taking, however, the lists as they come to us, we have the names of 123, without doubt most of them heads of families. These with an average of five to a family, a moderate estimate for those days, would furnish a population of more than 600.''

Of the 123 landowners mentioned by Mr. Nash, only seventeen are recognized as members of the Hull company which came over in 1635. John Bursley, William Jeffries and a man named Ludden are recognized as members of the Gorges company and had no doubt maintained their residence there from the year 1623. Others in the list were Robert Abell, Henry Adams, John Allen, Stephen French, John Glover, Walter Harris, Edmond Hart, James Parker, Thomas Richards, Thomas Rawlins, Clement Briggs, Richard Sylvester and Clement Weaver, all of whom were living in Weymouth as early as 1630.

Indian Wars

Probably one reason for the selection of WTessaguscus for a settlement was the fact that there were but few Indians living in the immediate vicinity. Although in a retired spot, the settlement was not altogether free from the effects of Indian depredations in other parts of the province. In 1637, when 160 men were called for to serve in the war with the Pequot Indians, Weymouth's quota was five men. They were furnished, and from that time until after King Philip's war the town always contributed both in men and money to the various expeditions sent against the savages.

In the French and Indian war, forty Weymouth men served in Col. Benjamin Lincoln's regiment in the expeditions of 1755 and 1756 to Crown Point and Lake George. These forty men were members of a company commanded by Capt. Samuel Thaxter. Colonel Lincoln was afterward promoted to general, and Lieut. Solomon Lovell, one of the Weymouth company also became a general in the Revolution. When the British captured Nova Scotia (then called Acadia) in 1755, the inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes and a large number of them was brought to Boston. They were known as "French Neuters," and as no provision had been made for their care and support, they were divided into small companies and sent to the various towns. Weymouth received its share of these unfortunates. On March 8, 1756, the records of the town meeting show that Dr. Nathaniel White was paid eight shillings per week for a year for keeping French Neuters, and on the last day of February, 1761, James Humphrey was allowed six pounds for a similar purpose.

The South Precinct

As the town increased its population the settlements gradually extended over practically the entire territory. Being a long, narrow town, those living in the southern part were placed at a disadvantage in the matter of school and church conveniences. Schools could be provided at comparatively small expense, but the church difficulty was not so easily settled. The church had already been located and built in tbe northern part of the town, and those living near the meeting house looked with decided opposition upon the proposal to establish a new church for the benefit of those living farther south, arguing that the town was too poor to bear the burden.

In 1722 the people of the southern portion came to the determination to ask the General Court to set them off as a distinct town or precinct. The north part, feeling secure in its majority of voters, was just as fully determined to oppose the movement. A town meeting was called and a committee appointed to oppose the petition in the General Court. A majority of the members of the Court, however, recognized the justice of the petitioners' request and in the spring of 1723 the petition was granted. The South Precinct was then organized with an area embracing more than half of the town. There were still occasional difficulties over the possession of the parsonage property, which was in the North Precinct, and which the people there refused to relinquish.

During the next forty years the South Precinct steadily gained in numbers and influence and on March 24, 1761, that section of the town was strong enough to define the word ''ministry" in the parsonage deed to include both ministers, and that each should draw his income from the town revenues in proportion to the amount of tax paid by his parish. A meeting house had been erected in the South Precinct about the time the petition was presented to the General Court in 1722. The parish was organized on June 21, 1723, and the Second Congregational Church, of South Weymouth, now the Old South Church, was organized on September 18, 1723, with Rev. James Bayley as pastor.

Attempt To Divide The Town

In 1796 another effort was made to divide the town. This time the North Precinct was the aggressor. A petition to that effect was prepared and signed by a majority of the residents of the North Precinct, for presentation to the General Court. The South Precinct was practically unanimous in its opposition. Nothing came of that petition and for the next six or seven years the subject was one of constant discussion by the citizens and in the town meetings. In 1802 a census was taken, showing 965 inhabitants in the North Precinct and 838 in the South. The question came before the Legislature and the Senate voted in favor of the division, but the House refused to concur. The whole question was then referred to the next session of the General Court, and there the matter ended. A few spasmodic attempts have been made since then to bring about a division, but without any prospect of success. One of these was made in the town meeting of March 19, 1866, when by a vote of 269 to 239 an order was made for the division of the town upon the line forming the northerly boundary of the fifth and sixth school districts, and a committee of one from each district was appointed to carry the vote into effect, but nothing was done. At the annual meeting in March, 1878, attention was called to the failure of the committee to discharge its assigned duty, and the selectmen, with three from each ward (twenty in all), were constituted a committee to consider the matter and report. Their report was made at the next annual meeting, March 3, 1879, "that it is inexpedient to divide the town at this time," and there the whole matter ended. Another effort was made about fifteen years later, but it also came to naught.

Soldiers' Monument, Weymouth Heights

Tn 1779, after several unsuccessful efforts, it was voted to build a "workhouse near the center of the town, not far from Tirrell's mill, for the accommodation of the poor." Owing to the hardships imposed upon the people by the Revolutionary war, and various other causes, the number of paupers had increased to such an extent as to require this action on the part of the town. The house then erected was used as an almshouse until 1809, when another was erected at Weymouth Landing for the same purpose. The house at Weymouth Landing was used until the establishment of the town farm, on Essex Street, in 1839.

Early on the morning of September 14, 191 7, fire was discovered in the town farm buildings. At that time there were eighteen inmates in the institution, all of whom were saved except Mrs. Mary Rosa, eighty-five years of age, who perished in the flames. Being a cripple, she was unable to escape. The loss was $40,000. At a special town meeting held on Friday evening, September 28, 191 7, the sum of $40,000 was appropriated for a new building.

On February 6, 1804, the town instructed the selectmen to petition the postmaster-general for a postoffice to be established at the head of navigation on the Fore River. The petition was granted and the postoffice was named Weymouth. It was the first postoffice in the town, but the writer has been unable to learn the name of the first postmaster or any of the history of the office in its early days. At the beginning of the year 1917 there were four postoffices in the town, located at Weymouth, East Weymouth, North Weymouth and South Weymouth.

Weymouth furnished nearly six hundred and fifty men for the Union army in the War of the Rebellion, over one hundred of whom were killed in action or died while in the service of the United States. The war was scarcely at an end when a movement was started to erect a monument to commemorate their services in behalf of their country. After several meetings an appropriation was made and the monument was erected in the old North Cemetery. It stands upon a terrace on the easterly side of the highway, a plain granite obelisk, a suitable tribute on the part of the people of Weymouth in behalf of the memory of those who sacrificed their lives upon the altar of their country. The monument was dedicated in 1868.

For several years prior to 1880, the question of utilizing the waters of Great Pond as a supply for the town had been discussed in private conversations and in town meetings, but nothing was accomplished until April 6, 1881, when the Legislature passed an act authorizing the town to use the waters of the pond for extinguishing fires, domestic purposes, lay mains, set hydrants, etc., when the act was accepted by a two-thirds vote of the town.

Two years passed and the act had not been accepted by the voters. On May 3, 1883, Peter W. French, Leavitt Bates, Zachariah L. Bicknell, John P. Lovell, Nathan D. Canterbury, Marshall C. Dizer, Joseph Totman and their associates and successors were incorporated as the East Weymouth Water Company, "for the purpose of furnishing the inhabitants of the Town of Weymouth with water from Weymouth Great Pond and the waters which flow into it," and to connect with the pipes of the Hingham Water Company at the boundary line. The Town of Weymouth was given the power to purchase the franchise and property of the company at any time during the life of its charter.

The passage of this act served as a stimulus to the people of Weymouth to accept the provisions of the act of 1881, which was done at a special town meeting called for the purpose on September 18, 1883. The vote in favor of acceptance was 356 to 114. At an adjourned meeting on the 25th Josiah Reed, Augustus J. Richards and Henry A. Nash were elected water commissioners." In the meantime the waters of Great Pond had been subjected to an analysis and the meeting voted an appropriation of $1,000 to employ an engineer to make survey and submit plans for a system of waterworks. Oran White and Thomas H. Humphrey were added to the board of water commissioners.

The board employed M. M. Tidd to examine the waters of Great Pond and make plans for the waterworks. He reported a plan including thirty-seven miles of mains, with the Great Pond as the source of supply, and estimated the cost of such a plant as contemplated at $296,000. At the annual meeting on March 3, 1884, it was voted to issue bonds to the amount of $300,000, the vote on the question being 529 to 231.

On May 12, 1885, the act incorporating the East Weymouth Water Company was repealed, because it came in conflict with the act of April 6, 1881, which granted to the town the right to use the waters of Great Pond to supply the inhabitants of the town.

In the construction of the works a pumping station was built at South Weymouth to lift the water from Great Pond to a reservoir, also at South Weymouth, whence it is supplied to the town by gravity. The pumping machinery was installed by the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company and the Deane Steam Pump Works, each having a daily capacity of 1,500,000 gallons. The reservoir has a capacity of 700,000 gallons. At the close of the year 1916 the system embraced 76.55 miles of mains, 453 hydrants, with 1,940 meters in use. The total number of gallons pumped during the year was 141,126,790. According to the statement of the town accountant, the cost of the plant to December 31, 1 91 6, was $600,339.35.

Fire Department

About 1830 a company of volunteer firemen was organized at Weymouth Landing and a small hand engine called the "Aquarius" was purchased. For many years this company was the only fire protection in the town, except the primitive "bucket brigade," which passed the buckets from hand to hand, back and forth, the man nearest the fire dashing the water upon the flames, unless the fire was too hot for him to get within reach, in which case the only thing to do was to protect the adjoining buildings from destruction.

Jreat Hill From Quincy Point Bridge, North Weymouth

The town was divided into fire districts about 1844 ar>d hand engines provided. The next month the order was rescinded, and nothing further was done until the annual meeting on March 5, 1877, when a committee of three from each ward was chosen to organize a fire department. The committee reported in May in favor of the purchase of three fire engines, three hose carriages, and two hook and ladder trucks, also to build three engine houses and construct five reservoirs. The appropriation asked to carry out this plan was $18,000, which was voted by the meeting and the Weymouth Fire Department became a reality. In January, 1878, an appropriation of $1,100 was made for the purchase of another hand engine, and in May the sum of $2,000 was voted for an engine and hose carriage.

In March, 1880, the first steam fire engine was purchased at a cost of $3,200. It was stationed in the Third Ward, which caused the people of some of the other wards to look with some jealousy upon the proceeding, and in 1883 a second steamer was purchased for $4,200 and placed in the Second Ward. The department now consists of seven hose companies and a hook and ladder company. Companies one, two, three and five are equipped with auto combination trucks ; companies four, six and seven, and the "Hardscrabble" hook and ladder company with apparatus drawn by horses. The cost of maintenance for the year 1916 was $14,690, and during the year the department answered fortyseven alarms. *

Electric Light

The Town of Weymouth is lighted by electricity from the plant of C. D. Parker & Company (incorporated) of Boston, which operates about twenty such plants in the State of Massachusetts. The Weymouth plant began business in 1889. It now supplies the towns of Weymouth, Hull, Hingham, Randolph and Holbrook and furnishes power to a number of the shoe factories in Weymouth. Between the years 1910 and 1916 the works were generally overhauled, new machinery installed and the efficiency increased along all lines. The principal office of the company is in East Weymouth. The appropriation made by the annual meeting in March, 1916, for lighting the streets was $12,500. At the close of the year a balance of $219.10 was turned back into the town treasury. The committee on electric lighting in their report at the close of the year, says : "The Weymouth Light and Power Company have given us excellent service and have been ready and willing at all times to assist us in fulfilling their part of the contract."

Town Hall

Weymouth was without a town hall until 1852, when "a plain, inexpensive structure was built on the westerly side of Washington Street, at the corner of Middle Street, and very near the geographical center of the town." In 1907 it was taken down and rebuilt at East Weymouth, where it was burned in 1914 and since then the town offices have been housed on the second floor of the East Weymouth Savings Bank Building.

During the early years of Weymouth's history a considerable portion of the food supply came from the fish taken from the ponds or the waters along the borders of the town. The principal dependence was placed upon the herring, or alewives, which came up into the ponds by way of the Back River to spawn. Mention is made of the "herringe broge'' as early as 1648, indicating that the fishery dates back almost to the very beginning of the town. At a town meeting held on March 8, 1725, a committee was chosen "to treat with the mill owners on the river, by Bates', to make a convenient passage for fish into Whitman's Pond, to pay not over five pounds."

From that time the "alewives business" appears frequently in the town records. Officers were regularly chosen to take charge of the fisheries, preserve the fish, take and sell them during the proper seasons, the revenue thus derived being turned into the town treasury. In their report for the year 1916 the board of selectmen make the following statement relating to this subject:

"In compliance with authority conferred by the town, acting under Article 72 of the warrant for the last annual meeting, concerning the alewive fishery, the board communicated with George L. Wentworth, Esq., trustee of the John P. Lovell estate, and obtained the terms upon vVhich the fishery could be leased by the town. The terms for the lease for the year 1916 were $150, and suggested the sum of $2,500 for which the fishery right would be conveyed to the town, subject to the approval of the beneficiaries.

"A lease was entered into for the year and Joseph H. Sherman was placed in charge of the fishery. . . . Mr. Sherman was instructed to make sure that a suitable number was taken to the pond and to give his personal care to the protection of the young fry during the progress to tide water. Twenty thousand fish were taken to the pond. The number sold was small. The cost of the fishery, including the lease, was $3/7-/i. The amount received from the sale of fish was $34.43. [Each family received a certain quantity without charge.] As the fish do not return until the third year, it will take at least three years to build up the fishery to its former proportions. We recommend that the right be purchased by the town."

Financial History

In the annual town report for 1916 is given a comparative table showing the property valuation and expenditures from 1890 to 1916. During that period the valuation increased from $6,441,845 to $12,981,333, and the expenditures from $130,696.86 to $325,822.49. The principal expenditures for the year 1916 were as follows :

Great Pond, Looking North, South Weymouth

\n the amount expended by the poor department the sum of $4,719.54 represented the receipts from the town farm. The auditors reported the town assets on December 31, 1916, as follows :

These figures show a balance in favor of the town - the excess of assets over all liabilities - of $881,947.15. Weymouth bonds command a premium whenever they are offered for sale, owing to the conservative management of public finances that has distinguished the town for years past. And with nearly three dollars in assets for every dollar of liabilities there is no good reason why her bonds should not continue to sell at a premium in the years to come.

Weymouth Of The Present

Weymouth, the oldest incorporated town in Norfolk County, reported a population of 12,895 m 1910 and the state census of 191 5 gave the town a population of 13,969, a gain of 1,074. The town has four banks, three newspapers, two fine public libraries, churches of various denominations, seventeen school houses, well kept streets and sidewalks, and many pretty homes. The town exceeds all the other Norfolk County towns in the manufacture of boots and shoes. The Boston & Plymouth division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway system (via Cohasset) passes through the northern part of the town, with stations at Weymouth, East Weymouth and Weymouth Heights. The Boston & Plymouth division of the same system (via Whitman) passes through the southern part, with a station at South Weymouth. There are also several lines of electric railway, hence the town is well supplied with transportation facilities. The town owns three public parks - Webb Park, Beals Park and Great Hill Park - which are being gradually improved and beautified, that future generations may have places for rest and recreation.

Town Officers

At the beginning of the year 191 7 the principal town offices were filled as follows: Edward W. Hunt, Bradford Hawes, George L. Newton, Henry E. Hanley and Ralph P. Burrell, selectmen and overseers of the poor ; Lewis W. Callahan, Charles H. Clapp, John F. Dwyer, Frank H. Torrey and Leavitt W. Bates, assessors; John A. Raymond, clerk; John H. Stetson, treasurer; Charles B. Gushing, accountant ; Winslow M. Tirrell, collector of taxes ; Frank N. Blanchard, William H. Pratt and Winfield S. Wells, auditors ; Irving E. Johnson, superintendent of streets ; George W. Perry, George E. Bicknell, Frank H. Torrey, Edward W. Hunt and John H. Stetson, water commissioners ; Walter W. Pratt, chief of the fire department; Arthur H. Pratt, chief of police; Louis A. Cook, J. Herbert Walsh and Nathan Q. Cushing, park commissioners; Arthur H. Alden-, Prince H. Tirrell, Elmer E. Leonard, Frederick D. Nichols, Theron L. Tirrell and Sarah S. Howe, school committee ; Dr. George E. Emerson, Dr. Fred L. Doucett and John S. Williams, board of health ; W. F. Hall, George B. Bayley, Elbert Ford, Arthur H. Pratt, Charles W. Baker, Edward F. Butler, George W. Nash, Thomas Fitzgerald, Charles W. Barrows and George W. Conant, constables.