Plymouth Town (part 35 of 54)

" Mr. Leonard liad cleurly-delined iind lirmly-lixcd religious convictions, which he was ready to express and defend on every proper occasion. He was a strong Unitarian, a liheral Christian of the old school, lie bad no taste for metaphysics, for ratlical criticism, or for theological speculations, lie listened with patience and candor to statements essentially opposed to his views of truth when presented in a reverent and sincere way, hut anything like llippancy, irreverence, or intolerance in the treatuient of what were to him sacred suhjccts gave him real pain and called forth his indignant protest. Having formed his opinions of religious truth in the Divinity School, under Che iuslructivn of the elder Henry Ware, D.D.,and Andrews Norton, and from the preaching and writings of Channing, and of leaders in liberal religious thought of that time, they fully met and satisfied his inlelleclual and sgiiritual needs. He accepted them as the working forces of his ministry and of his life. And they never failed him. He found them suUicient for all spiiitual needs iu his pastoral ministrations, and in his own heavy personal afflictions and bereavements they were to him a suttieient ground for trust, faith, submission, and resignation.

" And in the religious views which he had embraced he found all that was needful for practical morality. While in his preaching and in his life he (aught and enforced all the common virtues, and showed his detestation of all forms of moral evil, he was in strong sympathy with progress in morality, if not in theological speculations, and was deeply interested in the antislaveiy movement, in the temperance reform, in the cause of education, and in the attempts to withstand the tide of political corruption.

"Those who knew him will long remember his rapid utterance, his short, direct, unadorned, often quaint sentences, his practical way of viewing and of speaking of all things, his humility, his friendly feeling, the coutidence which he inspired, and his interest in every good cause.

'* Uut as bo advanced iu years be felt that the time of bis departure was drawing near, and with Arm faith and uheerful hope he waited patiently for the change to come.

" In a letter to his son, written on his eightieth birthday, he wrote: 'I am this day eighty years old; I have arrived to the longest period laid down in the Bible as the age of man. There is but little for me to look forward to in this world. I hope for a better world to come. I have been favored beyond the great majority of mankind with long life, and for this blessing I have reason to be thankful to a kind Providence.' After some reminiscences of his past life and a specification of 'the blessings which God, in bis goodnes.', hod given him,' he continued: 'And now, on my eightieth birthday, I can say that I was scarcely ever sick in my life. I have no lameness, no rheumatism, no trembling in my limbs, and I never walk with a cane. I attribute my good health and long life to two causes, namely, wholesome exercise and abstinence from the uso of rum and tobacco. I consider the use of rum' - by this he meant to include other intoxicating drinks - ' as a beverage as

"Then, after having referred to the multitudes of his friends and acquaintances who had passed on before him, he thus closed his letter: 'My remaining time in this worlil must be short, and when I am called to my long home I hope to join the general assembly and church of the first-born, which arc written in heaven.'

" And so we trust the hope of our brother is realized. His life was a connecting-link between the past and the jtrescut. In him were joined the simple faith, the sincere piety, and the faithful performance of the humbler duties of the ministerial office of the old-fashioned New England pastor, with the 'enthusiasm for humanity' and the spirit of reform which arc more characteristic of the present age."

Kuv. George Leonard was born May 2lj, ISOl. He married, Oct. 24, 1830, Charlotte E. Waslibuiu, daughter of Deacon Oliver Wa.'ihburn, of 11 ijuliaui, and cousin to the distinguished Governors and congressmen, - Israel, Governor of Maine, Elihu 13., congressman and afterwards minister to France, etc.

They had seven children, of whom but two are living, - Eev. Otis L. Leonard, a Baptist evangelist minister, and Sarah E., first assistant teacher in Harvard Grammar School, Charlestowii, Mass. Mrs. Leonard is still living at the old homestead in Marshfield.

Samuel Hall

Samuel Hall wa.s born in Marshfield, JIass., April 23, 1800. He is a lineal descendant of Adam Hull', who came to America early in the eighteenth century, married (1725) Sarah Sherman, a granddaughter of Peregrine White, and settled iu Marshfield, near Peregrine White's residence. Their children were William (1726), Thomas (1728), Adam (1720), Joseph (1733), Sarah (1735), Mercy (1730), and Levi (174-1), Adam', married Keziah, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Rogers) Ford (1752). Tliey had Adam (1757), Mercy (1759, married Andrew Keen and Peregrine White), Susanna (1701), Keziah (1764, married Proctor Sampson), Luke (1767), Samuel (1770), William (1776). Samuel Hall was captain of the packet-ship " Dolphin," which plied on North River, He died 1806. His son, Luke, also a sea-captain, married Anna, daughter of Barnard and Experience Tuels. Their children were Luke, William, and Samuel,

Samuel Hall bad such education as he could obtain during his early boyhood days, at the scliools of his native town. At the age of fourteen he went a voyage with his father to Charleston, S. C. Returning to New York on the same voyage, both his futiier and himself were stricken with yellow fever. His father

(lied June 28, 1815, and was buried on Siuteo Ifilund. He, Samuel, returned to MarshfielJ. A few years later he was apprenticed to Deacon Barstow, of Hanover, to learn ship-building. At the age of twenty-one he started, with twenty-five cents and a broadaxe, to seek his fortune in Medford, literally to hew \\\a way in the world. After working there a few years, he, with several other men, went to Camdeu, Me., and built a vessel. Returning to Marshfield, he, in company with his two brothers, Luke and William, engaged in ship-building at White's Ferry, on North River. After some time he went to Duxbury, ajid, in the employ of Ezra Westou, euutinued building ves»el.s. lu 1837 he left Mr. Weston's employ and engaged in ship-building for himself at Duxbury. The stringency in the tiuancial world at that period soon forced him to discontinue business at Duxbury, however.

In 1839 he cuuie to East Boston. Ship-buiidiug there, as elsewhere at that time, was at u complete standstill. Mr. Hall went to work euergetically and hopefully, however, and after many vicissitudes, eventually succeeded in establishing both his trade and himself on a firm basis, and ship-building subsequently became, under his supervision, one of the chief industries of East Boston. In April, 1839, he commenced a yard, and in May he laid the keel of the " Akbar," the second ship ever built in East Boston. She was launched on the 8th of October of that year, and from that time forward Mr. Hall's i business and reputation took an upward tendency, and continued to increase until his business became one of the largest in his line in America, and his reputation second to none. He coutinued the business at East Boston till his death, and built in all about one hundred and seventy large merchant vessels, and some of his vessels now afloat are among the finest specimens of American naval architecture. He was the builder of the famous clipper ship '' Surprise," which sailed to San Francisco, sixteen thousand three hundred and eight miles, in ninety-six days, the quickest voyage on record. She carried a cargo of eighteen hundred tons, valued at two hundred thousand dollars. Her greatest run was two hundred and eighty-four miles in twenty-four hours, and she reefed her topsails but twice during the entire voyage. Mr. Hall was not only a builder of ships, but he was interested iu various navigation \ enterprises which tended to increase the commerce of i Boston. He was successful in the accumulation of money, and judicious and public-spirited in its dispen.sation. He was considered one of the substantial leading men of his day in the city, and was honored by hib fellow-citizeus with many offices and positions

! of trust. During his residence in East Bo.itou he j served as alderman many years, and was at different i times a member of the Legislature from Boston. i He also served one term from Marshfield. He was a member of the Board of Ald.ermeu in 1850, and was ' most active and persistent in urging the claims of ' the East Bostonians to the use of Cocliituate water, I and it was chiefly through his earnest endeavors lo that end that it was finally introduced to East Boatoii. The citizens of the Island acknowledged their obligations to him by presenting him with a beautiful service of silver plate, consisting of eleven pieces, valued at one thousand dollars. Upon each was the following inscription :

Upon the iucorporatiou of the Dry Dock Company ( 1847), Mr. Hall was elected president, and continued to fill that position for some years. He was president of the East Boston Ferry Company Irom its organization, in 1852, for many years, until it was bought by the city of Boston. He was also president of the Maverick National Bank from its incorpoiation till his death. During his term in the Legislature from Marshfield (1867) he was largely instrumental in obtaining the railroad from Cohasset to Duxbury, through his native town.

He was a constant attendant at the orthodox church, but made little di:^play as a religious man, although his liberal donations to the poor, to which many can bear undoubted testimony, and his sound principles of honor and integrity, by which the actions of his life were guided, prove him to have been a man of noble and generous nature and lofty impulses.

In his domestic relations he was most liuppy, and the geniality and gentleness of his disposition made every one feel perfectly at ease in his society. He was twice married, first, to Christiana Kent, who died leaving no children ; and, second, to Iluldah U. Sherman, by whom he had Huldah, who died in infancy; Samuel (1833), married Harriet A. Lovojoy ; ^Valter Scott (1834), married Mary Gregory; iMarcia ( IS36), married George W. Emery, Governor of Utah ; Anna Tuels, Huldah Augusta, and Amanda White, the last three died young; and Hattie G. (1853j, married William A. Rogers.

Chandler Sampson

The first ancestor of the Sampson family in America was Henry Sampson (spelled in the early records Samson), who came in the " Mayflower," in 1620. He was a youth at the time of his immigration, and came as a member of the family of his uncle, Edward Tilley. He was one of the early set" tiers of Duxbury, a»d married, Feb. 6, 1635/6, Ann Plummer, who bore him several children, of whom Caleb was one. This Caleb married Mercy, d.iughter of Alexander, and granddaughter of the renowned Capt. Miles Standish. The mother of Mercy was Sarah, daughter of John Alden. Although the records of this period are very incomplete, yet various circumstances point so strongly to the conclusion that all historians have assumed that this Caleb Sampson had, among other children, a son named Caleb. It ia known that be had two daughters, and there is in some of his papers or documents mention made of a son Caleb. This second Caleb married, first, Rebecca Stanford, and, second, Mehitabel Ford. He died 1750. One of his sons, Paul, was the first of the family who came to Marshfield, 1774. He married a twin daughter of Philip and Rebecca (Phillips) Chandler. She was probably descended from John Phillips, a pioneer of Marshfield. Her name was Esther. They had eleven children, of whom Chandler was eighth. He was born July 10, 1768 ; married, March 6, 1795, Nancy, daughter of Nathan Thomas, of Marshfield; she died 1821. Their children were Esther C.,born 1796, died 1884; Sarah B., born 1798, married Marshall Bessey, died 1884; Nancy, born 1805, married Asa Waterman, and at this writing (1884) is still living; Martha, born 1807, married Calvin S. Magoun, died 1883; Eliza, born 1809, married Luther Magoun, still living; Calvin, born 1812, married Hannah Harlow, died 1868.

Chandler Sampson hud very limited advantages for an education ; his facilities in that direction were limited to the very primitive schools of his native town, which at that early day were poor indeed. He was brought up on the farm until he attained his sixteenth year, when he learned carpentering of his brother, Luther. This trade he followed several years, first at the bench and afterwards as builder and contractor. By industry and economy he accumulated some money, which he invested in land, and, abandoning the carpenter's trade, he turned his attention to agriculture, aud also to the discharge of the duties of various official positions in which he was placed by his fellow-townsmen. He was not ambitious for the honors of oflice, and never sought public position, but his unquestiont^ integrity of character and very remarkable executive ability led his neighboi'S to place him in charge of the public interests of the town in various capacities. He also did much probate business, settled numerous estates, and looked after the interests and welfare of a great many orphan children. During all the years of his life, from early manhood to the close of his active business career, he was in some capacity a public man in town affairs. He was a man who would have figured as a prominent character in public or businesn life had his early education been more liberal and had his inclinations led him in that channel. He was one of the most active, earnest, and useful men of his day in Marshfield. Of superior moral and intellectual tastes, clear perception, and sound judgment, his counsel and advice were much sought. He was prosperous in his business affairs, and eminently just in his dealings. He was a liberal supporter of the gospel, and one of the most substantial and respected men of his town. His religion was to do good and be good, and while he never connected himself with any church, yet he took the Bible as the guide of his life, and particularly during the latter years of his life he derived great plea-sure from its perusal. He was a stockholder and one of the directors of a cotton- factory established in Marshfield about 1810, one of the first industries of its kind in this section of country. Mrs. Sampson died July 15, 1821. Mr. Sampson married, as his second wife, Lydia, widow of Elisha Ford, October, 1822 ; she died 1834. Mr. Sampson died Aug. 29, 1S50, having attained the ripe old age of eighty-two.

Asa Waterman

Asa Waterman was descended in a direct line from Robert Waterman, one of the early settlers of Marshfield. This Robert married Elizabeth Bourn (1638). One of his sons, Thomas, was one of the thirty-five who purchased and settled the town of Norwich, Conn. Joseph, the third sou, resided at the ancestral home on Marshfield Neck. He married Sarah Snow, daughter of hb guardian, Anthony Snow. Joseph was a minor at the time of his father's death, and Anthony Snow was appointed guardian for the children. They had, among other children, Capt. Anthony, born 1684, who became a prominent man in the community. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Seth Arnold, and granddaughter of Ilcv. Samuel Arnold, the second minister of the First Church of Marshfield. They had four children ; the eldest was

Thomas, born 1710 ; he married Abiijail, daughter of Deacon Israel Tliomas. They had eif^ht children, of whom Asa was seventh. Asa married, first, Anna Din^loy, wlio died witliout issue, and, second, Rutli Little, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Baker) Little. They had tliree children, Asa being the third.

Ata Waterman was born Feb. 4, 1800. His early life Was tpcut in tilling the ancestral acres, and when he grew up to manhood he chose farming as his lifework. His fatlier died when he was but seven years of age, and he, being the onlj- son, was early taught to labor, and so had but little schooling. His life was spent at the homestead of his biith, which was adjacent to the old Waterman place, where his ancestors had lived for generations. He was a quiet, unobtrusive man, never seeking office or public place. The only official position he held was captain of a military company. He married, Nov. 2, 182S, Nancy, daughter of Chandler Sampson. They had but one child, a son, Asa Granville, who died in infancy.

many years, says, " Capt. Asa Waterman, as he was commonly called, by his military title, was of Pilgrim ancestry, and was a worthy representative of tli.it lineage. His character and habits exhibited the industry, frugality, honesty, and uprightness which are the natural result of the moral and religious influences which surrounded him in early life. Ho was one of the better class of yeomaiTry, who give stability to the liberty and prosperity of a community. Ho expected thoroughness and fidelity of others, and was equally punctual in meeting obligations resting on himself His residence was on the site early occupied by Kenelm Winslow, beautiful in itself and interesting from its history. Favored with a considerable amount of property, he did good with it while living, and showed his desire to promote the religious welfiire of coming generations by leaving a legacy of fifteen hundred dollars to the First Parish, of which he was an active member, and where he had been a life-long worshiper. In his last days he passed tlirough a deeper spiritual experience, and died with humble faith in his Redeemer."

History Of Hull

Mu3. Susanna Rowson (1761-1824), a prolific and, ia her day, a somewhat successful writer, in her novel entitled " Rebecca," used the following language : " On the left hand of Boston harbour is a of two gradually-rising hills, beautifully diversified with orchards, corn-fields, and pasture- land. In the valley is built a little village, consisting of about fifty houses, the inhabitants of which could just make a shift to decently support a minister, who on a Sunday ascended the pulpit in a rustic temple, situated by the side of a piece of water, nearly in the middle of the village, and taught, to the utmost of his abilities, the true principles of Christianity. The neck of land that joins this peninsula to the main is extremely narrow, and, iudeed, is sometimes almost overflowed by the tide. On one side it forms a charming, picturesque harbour, in which are a variety of small but delightfully fertile islands, and on the other it is washed by the ocean, to which it lays open." This is said to be a correct portrayal of the village of Hull, as it appeared previous to the Revolution. The first building in Nantasket (or, as it was sometimes called, Natasco, Nantasco, and Nantaacot) was erected by the Plymouth people, according to Prince, " to accommodate their trade with the Massachusetts," as early as, or before, the year 162-i. This was, doubtless, a mere storehouse.

Authorities differ as to whether Nantasket waa settled in 1624 or in 1625, though the bulk of the testimony appears to favor the former date. The first comers to the peninsula were John Oldham, John Lyfurd, and Roger Conant. The former " was expelled from Plymouth Colony for seditious practices.'" He " was a bold and enterprising man, strongly prejudiced against the rigid church discipline of Piymoutli, and not much inclined to respect the territorial rights of the colonists. He was in high esteem among the natives, and afterwards secured the friendship of the people of New England. His murder by the Block Island Indians was a principal incitement to the famous

Pequot war." Regarding Lyford, " a minister," who came to Plymouth Colony from England in 1624, Morton remarks as follows in his " New England's Memoriall" :

" The aforesaid John Lyford, when he first came on shore, saluted them of the Plantation of Plimouth with that reverence and humility as is seldom to be seen ; and indeed made them ashamed, he so bowed and cringed unto them, and would have kissed their hands if they would have suffered him ; yea, he wept and shed many tears, blessing God that had brought him to see their faces, and admiring the things they had done in their wants, as if he had been made all of love, and the humblest person in the World, but in the end proved more like those mentioned by the Psalmist (Ps. x. 10), that crouched and bowed, that heaps of the poor may fall by them ; or like unto dissembling Ishmael, who, when he had slain Gedaliah, went out weeping (Jer. xli. 6), and met those that were coming to offer Incense in the house of the Lord, saying. Come to Gedaliah, when he meant to slay them. They gave him the best entertainment they could, in all simplicity; and as their Governor had used in all weighty affairs to consult with their Elder, Mr. Brewster, together with his Assistants, so now he called Mr. Lyford also on such like o.ccasiona ; after some short time he desired to joyn himself a member to their Church, and was accordingly received; he made a large Confession of his Faith, and an acknowledgment of his former disorderly walking and his being intangled with many Corruptions, which had been a burden to his Conscience, and blessed God for this opportunity of freedom and liberty, with many more such like expressions." Falling in, shortly after, with Oldlium, they " grew very perverse, and shewed a spirit of great malignity, drawing as many into a faction as they could ; were they never so vile or prophane, they did nourish and abet them in all their doings, so they would but cleave to them and speak against the cliurcli," the

Mr. Couant is described as " a pious, sober, and prudent gentlemau, a man of great worth." Says Lincoln, " We do not know who the associates of these persons were, nor have we any means of ascertaining. The town records do not extend back so far. We are inclined to suppose, however, that they were possessed of a respectable property, for in Bradford (L His. Coll. iii. 63) there is an account of an apportionment of the charges of the expedition to Merry Mount in 1628, to arrest Morton, from which it would seem that ' Natascot' was theu of considerable importance." The assessment was as follows :

" The population of Nantasket," continues Lincoln, -' during the first years of its settlement, was probably very fluctuating. It was a convenient stopping-pluce for many of the first adventurers, who remained no longer than to obtain time to explore the bay and country for a place of settlement more favorable to agricultural pursuits, for it must be borne in mind that Nantasket was a fishing village, and the beautiful eminences of Strawberry, Sagamore, Aiderton, and Nantasket Hills, as well as the extended plains which lie at their base, were then covered with a heavy growth of forest trees." This will indeed be news to the hundred.s of thousands of pleasureseekers who have visited the ancient town in recent years, and who have marked, with profound regret, the absence of shade-trees. Well may Lincoln add, " Now scarcely one [forest tree] is to be seen within the limits of the town. The hand of cultivation [I] has long since [this was written in 1830] divested the ancient hills of their ' crown of oaks' ; and the plains upon which the wild deer could plunge for security into the deep recesses of the forest are now scarcely shaded by a solitary relic of those majestic ornaments and monarclis of the woods" !

In 1 629, Ilev. Ralph Smith came to Nanta-nket from Salem, and settled there. Judging from contemporary testimony, however, we may well believe that the godly man found the place far from flourishing, for the inhabitants are spoken of by Prince, on the authority of Bradford, as a " stragling people," and in the same year some Plymouth people, putting in with a boat at Natasco, find Jlr. Smith in a poor house that would not keep him dry. He desires tliem to carry him to Plymouth, " and seeing him to be a grave man, and understanding he had been a minister, they bring him hither, where we kindly entertain him, send for his goods and servants, desire him to exercise his gifts among us; afterwards chuse him into the ministry, where he remains for sundry years." It may fairly be inferred from this record of Prince (that Smith " had been" a minister), that the latter was not called to " exercise his gifts" at Nantasket. The editor of Winthrop says that the earliest notice of Smith is contained in the Governor and Company's letter to Endecott in 1629, and " his difference in judgment in some things from our ministers" is therein referred to as a caution against distraction in the Salem Church. Hia name is mentioned by Morton, but in no terms of respect. He resigned his ofiBce at Plymouth in ] 635, and he afterwards preached at Manchester. He was said to have been " a man of low gifts and parts."

On Sunday, May 30, 1G30 (0. S.), Rev. John Warham, Rev. John Maverick, Roger Ludlow - afterwards Deputy Governor of Massachusetts (1634) and of Connecticut - with Rossiter and others, arrived at Nantasket in the ship " Mary and John," Capt. Squeb. In an address delivered by Rev. John Codraan, D.D., of Dorchester (now a part of Boston), at Hull, on June 11, 1830, in commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Dorchester settlers, the following language is used in allusion to this event :

** This day completes a second century since the first settlers of the town of Dorchester landed in this wei'tern world. It was on the 30th day of May (O.S.), 1630. corresponding to the llth of Juno, 1830 (N. S.), that a ship called the ' Mary and John/ commanded by Capt. Squeb, arrived at this j^luuu, where we are now assembled, and landed her passengers, consisting of two eminently pious and devoted ministers, Rev. John Wareham ^ and Rev. John Maverick, with the luembers of their church which had been gathered, with a view of emigrating to Aiiieriua, in the beginning of the same year, in the new hospital in Plymouth, England, at whieb time and place those holy men were solemnly set apart to the pastoral olhce. after having observed a day of fasting and prayer to seek divine approbation and assistance. The Uev. Mr. John White, of Dorchester, in the county of Dorset, England, who was an active instrument in promoting the settlement of New England, being jirescnt, preached in the fore part of the day, and in the lutlur part of the day the newly-installed pastors performed. They set sail on the 3Uth of March following, in a vessel of four hundred tons, and arrived at NantJisket, as I have observed, on the 30th of May, where the captain put them ashore, notwithstanding his engagement was to bring them up Charles Kiver.'- With t Other authorities spell this word *' Wurham." - " Tbo captain had engaged to land them up Charles Kiver; but lie portidiously set them on shore at Nantasket." - From regarii to their paauage, I fauve out been able to colleot ' sucli particulKr ioformutiun as cuuld bo desired. It iti said < in IMuke'n ' Annals/ a book whicb contains much inforumtion ] of ttio early history of Dorchester, that the niinialers either \ prc:iched or exhorted every day on their pasauge, from the Word of God. There is reason to think, from an old poem written by (iuvernor Wolcott, of Connecticut, that they found a boistoroiis passage, and were in danger of foundering at sea. . . . ' When they arrived here they were left in a forlorn wildernesH, destitute of any babit^ition and most of the necessaries of life. Some of them, however, had the good fortune to procure a boat of un old planter,* and went over to Cbarlestown, but met with poor accommodations there, and no encouragement to tarry; i fur though tiiey saw several wigwams, they found but one Englishman, in a house, where they ate a boiled bass, but no bread. They returned, therefore, to the boat, and, taking un Indian interpreter, went up the river to where it grows narrow and shallow, aod then, with much labor and difficulty, landed their goods, the bank being very steep. Their fears were greatly alarmed by being informed that three hundred Indians were encamped near them. They sent immediately their interpreter to persuade the natives not to molest them, and to assure them of their own pacific intentions. The next morning, when the Indians appeared, they offered no violence, but sent some of their

*' Thoy encountered, indeed, a violent storm on the passage, but reached at length the harbor in safety, and they thronged the deck to look out upon the pleasant shores and verdant islands of Massachusetts Bay. It was the lost day of the week, the season delightful, the wind favorable, and they fondly hoped to be landud at their place of destination while yet the sun, which they saw deoliniug in the west, spread over it its lingering rays. But the captain, fearful that there might not be depth of water for his ship, and not knowing the channel, cast anchor for the night; and on the morrow, being Lord's Day, May 30th, in violation of his own engagement to bring them into Charles' Kiver, and in disregard of their conscientious veneration for the sanctified observance of the day, and heedless of all their remonstrances and entreaties, put them and their goods ashore on Nantosket Point. Not only had they great reason for dissatisfaction with this treatment, iLs it respected their not reaohing the port to which they were bound, but also, as it disturbed the expected quiet and the due devotions of the sacred day." - Uev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, '* Memorials of the First Church in Dorchester, from its Settlement in New Knglund to the End of the Second Century, in two Discourses, delivered July 4, 1830, by the Pastor." (Discourse 1, pp. 7 and 8.)

' Uev. Mr. Harrii>, in the discourse quoted from in the precetling footnote, says (page 8), "Thus 'left to shift for themsclvus,' they succeeded in procuring a boat from an old planter, probably John Oldham, who had left the Plymouth people and resided some time at Nantasket, and appears afterwards to have attached himself to these newcomers ; and on Monday forenoon commissioned Capt. SoUTHi'0A.T, ' a brave Low Country soldier,' Roi;e::u Clap, and eight able men, to go to Miiihawaum, at tlie mouth of Charles' Uiver, and ascertain whether they could bo accommodated there. On the next day others made uxpluratury visits to the neighboring region; on the third they made choice of Mattapun as tho place for settlement, and during the remainder of the week were busily employed in removing from Nantasket thither."

number holding out a bass, and our people sent a man to meet them with a bisouit, and so they exchanged, nut only then, but afterwards, a biscuit fur a bass, and the Indians were very friendly to them, whioh our people ascribed to God's watchful providence over them in their weak beginnings. AH the company had not come up the river, but only ten men to .-leek out the way for the rest. Those that tarrii-d behind wert^ to take care of the cattle they had brought, and prevent them from wandering and being lost in the wilderness. Those who had gone in quest of a place to settle did not tarry away but a few days, during which time the rest of the company had found out a neck of land, joining to a place by the Indians called Mat:ipan, that was a fit place to turn their cattle upon with kas danger of their straying; and ?o they sent to their friends to return. Accordingly they repaired to the place, and began a settlement about the beginning of June. Tliey iiuuted the place Dorchester, because several of tho settlers came from a town of that name in England, and also in honor of the Hcv. Mr. White, of Dorchester, to whose church some of the emigrants belonged.'"

Id the Columbian Centiuel of Boston, dated June 16, 1830, is printed a brief notice of t!ie celebration at Hull, on which occasion the address from which the preceding quotation is made was delivered. From the paragraph in the Centinel the following extract is taken :

"This event [the landing at Nantasket of the Dorchester settlors] was commemorated by nearly one hundred of the inhabitants of Dorchester, principally of the Rev. Dr. Couman's Church and Society, at Hull, Nantoaket, on the llth iu?t. . . . The day was uncommonly delightful, and the place used for religious worship, which was politely granted by the Selectmen of Hull, was filled to overflowing by tho Dorchester people and the inhabitants of the village. An address was delivered and prayers offered by the Rev. Dr. Codman, and occasional hymns were sung to the good old tunes of Mear, St. Martin's, and Old Hundred. Among the persons present on this interesting occasion were several of the lineal descendants of Capt. Rugku Clat, who was one of the company who came over iri tho ' Mary and John.' A paper' was subscribed on the spot, containiug ninetyeight names of tho inhabitants of Dorchester present on the occasion, and left to be filod and preserved by the Town Clurk of Hull, for the inspection of generations to come."

The assessment on Nantasket in 1G30 was one pound, the whole- tax on the colony being fifty pounds. In the following year Nantasket paid ten shillings of a tax of thirty pounds on the colony, and in 1632 the place does not seem to have been assessed. At a very early date, after the settlement of Hingham, which was subsequent to that of Nantasket, there was a controversy respecting a portion of the lands in the latter place. The inhabitants of Hingham claimed them, as appears by their proceedings in July, 1643, which are recorded as follows:

In the town records of Hull is to be found a copy of the document here alluded to. It is very sboit, and siinply recites a few of the essential facts respecting the observance of the day, substantially as given in the present sketch.

"The former grant to Nantaacot was again voted and confirmed, and llinghaiit were willed to forbear troubling the Court any nunc about Nantuscot." [This was in September, 164.1.]

A church was formed at Nantasket in July, 1644, and in tiie same year, Wiiithrop says, " Nantascott being formerly [formally ?] made a town, and having now twenty iiouses and a minister, was, by the last General Court, named Hull." The editor of Winthrop (edition of 1853) appends to this statement the following foot-note :

"So called, I think, from Hull in Yorkshire,' not in honor of Joseph Hull, of Ilingham, who was admitted to the freeman's oath 2 September, 16:i5, and, with Edmond Hoburt, senr., was by the general ouurt, 0 September, 1638, chosen a commissioner to end small cause;) in that* town. He was at the same time, and in March after, a deputy at the court.

'* Who was the minister referred to by our text in this secluded town of Hull, which has, I think, been never more populous than soon after 16-14, must, probably, rest in conjecture. From the records of our general court we are authorized to suspect that it was Mathews, for in vol. iii. 218, which coottiins the proceedings of the deputies, is found, at the May session, 1619, ' Received a petition from the inhabitants of Hull for the encouraging Mr. Mathews to go to them and preach amongst them,' and in vol. ii. 236, recording the acts of the magistrates, ut the same session, the following : ' The court judge it no way meet to grant the inhabitants uf Hull their desire for Mr. Mathews relHrninij to them, nor residing with them, and do declare that they Und several erroneous expressions, others weak, inconvenient, and unsafe, for which it judgeth it meet to order that the said Mr. Mathews should be admonished by thu govcrnour in the name of this court.' The then Gov. Endecott was a lit man to perform such a duty, but, I fear, the admonition was inelTectual. (See the note in vol. i. 273.) I duubt that this ancient town biLs never had more than one minister to reside in it through his life; that one was Zeuhariah Whitman, H. C. 1068, ordained 13 September, 1070, died 5 November, 1726, aged 82. In April, 175:'., Samuel Venzie, H. C. 1736, was ordained at Hull, but dismissed July, 1767, aud, probably, the christian ordinances have never since been re"ulurly administered for a continuous period.

" Perhaps the interest felt by the reader in this ancient town, the leacjt populous, until lately, of any in Massachusetts, and the siuallest in extent, except Newburyport, may excuse the extension uf this note. From twelve to eighteen votes were usually given at the eleutions, and the editor had the honor, some forty

' In a paper by Mr. W. H. Whitmore " On the Origin of the Names of Towns in Massachusetts," published in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society fur February, 1873, this opinion is indorsed in the following manner;

"Hull. Ivingston-upon-Uull, commonly called Hull, in the East Killing of York, is a county of itself, and a well-known seaport. It was strongly in favor of the Parliament when the civil war broke out. It stood two severe assaults from the royal troops, but was never taken."

years sjnce, of a seat in the same House of Representatives which contained a member from Hull. The following record is found in the doings of the general court, 20 May, 1647: 'There being now divers Qshermen and meu of good ability in Hull, who may comfortably carry on the alFairs of a town, they are enabled by the authority of this court to order tlie prudential atfairs of that town according to former orders of this court and course of other plantations, provided that, according to former orders of court, they endeavor the advancement of liahing, and that such fishermen as are there already, and others which shall come thither, may have all such reasonable privileges and encouragement as the place will afford, and that such places as are lit for fishermen may be reserved for that jturpose, and with this caution also, that William Parks, Mr. Glover, and ilr. Duncan, or any two of them, be appoiulcd to see the order of court for advance of fishing duly observed.' Hy the deputies, iii. 108; by the magistrates, ii. 103. Parks was of liuxbury, the two others of Dorchester."

The first evidence of grants of laud is to be found in the town records of Hull for 1G57, tlie follow- I ing named persons receiving grants in that year: j John Stone; *Thomas Jones, 1C38; *John Benson, ltj38; *Henry Chumberlyn, 1638; *Beniainin Bosworth, 1635 ; Richard Stubbes ; *Nicholas Baker, 1635; Thomas Collier; John Loriug; *Tlioma3 Chaffe, 1637 ; William Cbamberlyn ; Edward Bunne [Binney?]; Nathaniel Bosworth ; *Johti Prince, 1639; George Vickere; *Samuell Ward, 1636; *Thoma3 Loring, 1635; Abraham Jones. [A star (*) signifies that a person of the same name had received a grant of land in Hingham iu the year named.]

The names of Phippenny, Goold, Binney, Soper, Nightingale, Street, Green, Lobdell, Bartlett, Rider, Dilley (Dill), Dixon, Whitman, Snow, and Milton afterwards appear in the records, and most of them before the year 1700. " All these names are now extinct in Nantasket," wrote Lincoln in 1830, "excepting those of Jones, Binney, Loring, Gould, and Dill."

The first regularly ordained minister over the church and people of Nantasket was, as hits been stated, Rev. Zechariah Whitman. His salary was forty pounds per annum. He appears to have secured the affections of the people, for the town voted, after his decease, to pay his children for his maintenance " while he lived and did not preach." In Marcii, 1724-25, the town voted to call a minister to he ordained, and chose a committee to invite Mr. Clapp and Mr. Carpenter to preach as candidates. In May the town voted to fix the minister's salary at seventy pounds and his settlement at one hundred pounds. In June, 1725, the town voted to invite Mr. Carpenter to settle in the ministry, and in the fullowing August his affirmative answer was received. In October the day of ordination was fixed for the 24th of November, and fifteen pounds was appropriated to defray the expenses. Rev. Ezra Carpenter preaclied in Nantasket until tlie year 1746, "and is tlie same gentleman, probably," says Lincoln, " who was installed at Keene in 1753." In 1751, Mr. Elisha Eaton (a graduate of Harvard in 1729), and, in 1752, Mr. Samuel Hill, of Marslifield (Harvard, 1735), were invited to settle in Naatasket, but they do not appear to have accepted the invitations. In January, 1753, the town invited Rev. Samuel Veazie, of Duxbury (Harvard, 173H), to become its minister, and, the invitation being accepted, Mr. Veazie was ordained in April, 1753. Difficulties arose in 17G5 respecting his salary, and he eventually sued the town for the amount claimed to be due him. The matter was compromised, however, and Mr. Veazie was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council held in July, 1767. la 1768, March 21, Rev. Solomon Prentice was invited to preach, and he appears to have been employed until the autumn of 1772. On Aug. 16, 1773, Rev. Elkanab Winchester, Jr., was invited to preach, but his stay was evidently short, since on May 2d of the following year the following vote was passed in town-meeting :

" Vuled, That the present Selectmea be a coiuinittee to provide a preacher for the term of six mooths, aod that none of the Baptist persuasion be debarred the pulpit because of his being of that denomination, but, on the other bund, rather to be preferred on that very account. Nevertheless, those of the inhabitants that are fur a Congregational preacher only, be accouiiuodated with such a proaoher (provided they desire it), in proportion to their paying the public charges according to the tax-bill, and that the money arising by the reats of the parsonage lands for the last year be appropriated purely to support the Gospel, and in c;isc that shall not be judged suflicicnt for the appuintedttiiue of said committee, the remainder to be made up by subscription or a free contribution." ^

* "The above vote," says Lincoln, ** shows the existence of different religious opinions among the people, and their liberality towards each other. From this time, however, no regular preaching was supported constantly. The town sulfered much by tiic war of the Kevolulion, and a diminution of the means of the inhabitants, together with the differences of religious opinions, had been obstacles to the settlement of a minister. A preacher is occasionally employed, but no regular church is noiv [lS:iU] in existence in Nantasket. The meeting-house erected iu 17;)4, and . . . described [by Mrs. llowson, as quoted in the beginning of this sketch] as ' a rustic temple, situated by the side of a piece of water, nearly in the middle of the village,' was blown down by the violent gale in September, 1315."

[This latter statement is not strictly accurate. The town records show that at a town-meeting held Oct. IU, 1815, it was stated that the hurricane of September 23J of that year had blown otf the steeple and part of the roof of tlie church, and a comuiittce was appointed to examine the structure and report as to the advisability of repairing it. The town tinally voted, huwcvir, that the building should be taken down, and this was done. - A. E. S.J

The Methodist Episcopal Church. - -\t the close of the Revolutionary war it was found that the old church was scattered. They had no minister, and there were only two or three male members, the last survivor of whom was Solomon Jones. The people were so much impoverished by the war that they felt unable to support preaching, .so that for several years they had religious services only occasionally, or at short intervals. On the 17th of May, 1798, a Methodist preacher came to the town - Rev. Daniel Ostrander - at the request of Amos Binney, who was afterwards known as Col. Binney, and who, though a native of Hull, was then living in Boston, learning a trade. He had lately been converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at " Methodist Alley," a passage-way opening out of Hanover Street, Boston. Mr. Ostrander visited Hull to officiate at the funeral of Widow Rebecca Loring Binney, grandmother of Amos. The same evening a prayer- meeting was held in the old Samuel Loring house. It is said have been " a wonderful meeting."

In September of the same year Mr. Binney brought from Boston the famous Rev. Jesse Lee, the founder of Methodbm in New England. He preached on a week-day afternoon the first Methodist sermon that was ever delivered iu the town of Hull. He was then the presiding elder of the district. His text was, " And Satan came also" (Job i. Gj. His sermon had a powerful effect, and resulted in a great revival. In 1805 some of Mr. Spencer Binney's family, being at a Quarterly Meeting of Sandwich Circuit, induced Rev. Samuel Parker to go aud preach at Hull. Mr. John Goold, having been appointed to secure preaching that year, made arrangements with him to preach at Hull every other Sabbath during the rest of the Conference year. At that time Hull was embraced in the Sandwich District, and for several years was supplied by preachers from the New England Conference. In September, 1816, Rev. Bartholomew Otheman preached there, and formed the first Methodist class, which consisted of fifteen members. In 1818, Rev. Enoch Mudge preached in Hull during the winter, and the next spring the world-renowued sailors' preacher. Rev. Edward T. Taylor, familiarly denoiuinated " Father" Taylor, then quite young, w;is appointed to the circuit in which Hull was included, and preached there part of the time, alternating with Rev. Mr. Mudge.

The old church became extinct in 1789, aud since 1798 Hull has had Methodist preaching and ordinances, with more or less regularity, to the present time, and the Methodist Episcopal Church has been the only church in town. Sometimes ministers have been appointed to Hull by the Conference, aecoiding Co the rcgukr method, and sumetinies the pulpit has been supplied by theological st\idcots and in other ways. There have been several revivals, especially one during the ministry of Rev. Stephen Puffer, and many have united with the cliurch ; but, owing to removals, deaths, and otlier cause.s, it, is at tiie present writing (1884) very small, there being only eiglit members, - four males and four females.

At times, for months together, they have been destitute of preaching, but the Sabbath-schuol and other institutions connected with the church have been fiiithluily maintained. Though the church has been able to raise money enough to support a minister only part of the time, yet it has been remarkable for its liberal contributions to charitable objects. It has the use of the parsonage fund, which resulted from the sale of parsonage lands that were set off by the first settlers for the support of the ministry in town, and it has also a church fund of five hundred dollars, which was bequeathed to it by Mrs. Mary Gushing. The amouDt realized from these sources is about 8150, and collections are taken up in the summer, during the boarding season, and something is raised by subscription every year. For the last nine years a minister on the retired list connected with the New Hampshire Conference, Rev. Samuel Beedle, has been living in Hull, and has preached to the people, and had a pastoral oversight, by their request and the sanction of the presiding elder of the district.

Some years ago the summer residents in Hull felt tlie need of a bell to summon them to meeting, and they proposed to raise among themselves the necessary funds to purchase one, provided the town would build a belfry on the town hall to receive it, with the understanding that it might be used during the week for town and school purposes, as well as for religious services on the Sabbath. The bell was purcha.sed, and was hung on the 22d of August, 1868. Then it was rung for the first time, and several addresses were delivered on the occasion, one of which was by , Rev. John B. Gould, of Bangor, Me., a native of the town. After the demolition of the old church, in 1815, religious meetings were held in the schoolhouse ; and, after the erection of the town hall, in the latter place, until the new church edifice was erected in/ 1881. After the outer walls were raised temporary seats were used, and the people worshiped in it for several months before it was finished within and dedicated, as the resources of the trustees, who were instructed not to incur any embarrassing debt, had become exhausted. By the muiiiticence of friends the cliurch was finished, and it was dedicated on July

7, 1882. The sermon was preached by Rev. Bishop R. S. Foster, D.D., LL.D., in the afternoon, and Rev. B. K. Peirce, D.D., preached in the evening. -It is a beautiful edifice, thirty by fifty feet in size, with stained-glass windows. It is nicely furnished, and was entirely free from debt when dedicated. The silver plate belonging to the old church, consisting of four cups given to the care and use of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Hull, by Mrs. Sarah Jones, was repaired and burnished, and was used at the communion service the next Sabbath, July Uth.

I» 1804 Hull was visited by Elder Abner Jones and Elias Smith, of the Christian Baptist Churcli. A great revival took place under their preaching, and much permanent good was done. No church, however, of their order was organized, and most of their converts joined in Boston.

The town apparently strongly approved of resistance to Great Britain in Revolutionary days, for as early as June, 1774, there is the following record by the town clerk :

'*The letter of corredpondenoe ^ was read and ituuniinoniili/ approved the measures cODcertud, in breaking otf all ooiiiiultco with Great Britain, &a a mean the most likely to obtain relief."

The fullowiog extracts from "American Archives," fourth :ieried, vol. 1,, 3D7-3US, will throw li(;ht upon the inciiniug of the I phrase "letter of correepondeDce," as hero employed :

Pai-Eii Which Thev Abe To Sign

" EXTIIACT FllOH AN ADDRESS SENT BY THE DOSTON COMMITTEK TO THE l'EOI>LE IN EVEIIY TOWN IN THE IMIOVINCK, WITH A PAI-EII WHICH THEV ABE TO SIGN.

"There is but one way that we can prevent wliut is to be deprecated by all good men, and ought by ail ]lu:^:liblv uicaos to be prevented, viz. : The horrours that must follow an open rupture between Oreat Jti-itulit and her Colonics ; or on our part a subjection to absolute slavery : and that is by alTecting the trade and interest of Oreat Britain so deeply as :ih;Lll iriduce her to withdraw her oppressive hand. There can be no doubt of our succeeding to the utmost of our wishes, if we universally come into a solemn league not to import goods from (irtat Britain, and not to buy any goods that shall hereafter be imported from thence, until our grievances shall be redressed. To these, or even to the least of these shameful impositions, we trust in Oud our countrymen never will submit.

" Wu have received such assurances from our brethren in every part of the l*roviuce of their readiness to adopt such measures as may be likely to save our country, and that we lia\c not the least doubt of an almost universal agreement fur this purpose ; in contidence of this, we have drawn up a form of a covenant to be subscribed by all adult persons of both sexes; which we have sent to every town in the Province, aud that we might not give our enemies time to counteract us, we had eiideavonred that every town should be furnished with such a copy 4m or hefore the fourteenth day of this uioutli, and we carneally desire that you would use your utmost endeavours that the subscript ion paper uiay be filled up ivs soon as possible, so that they who are in expectation of overthrowing our liberties may be discouraged from prosecuting their wicked designs; as we look upon this, the last and only method of preserving our land from slavery

History Of Hull

March 27, 1773, the towu treasurer was ordered to pay over ull uioaeys raised for the province to Henry Gardner, Esq , appointed treasurer by the

" We, the subscribers, inhabilauu of tlie town of . . ..having taken into our serious consideration the precarious state of the libertic..* of Sorth Ainerica, and more especially the present distressed condition of this insulted Province, embarrassed as it is by several Acts of the Briliah ParliumnHt, tending to the entire subversion of our natural and charter rights, among which is the Act for blocking up the harbour of BoHtuii, And being fully sensible of our indispensable duty to lay hold on every means in our power to preserve and recover the much injured Constitution of our country; and conscious at the same time of no alternative between the horrours of slavery, or the carnage and desolation of a civil war, but a suspension of all commercial inteicourae with the Island of Great Britain, do, in the presence of God, solemnly and in good faith covenant and engage with each other:

" 1st. That from henceforth we will suspend all eommeroial intercoune wiih the said Island of Great Britain, until the said Act for blocking up the said harbour be repealed, and a full restoration of our charter rights be obtained. And

" 2d. That there may be the less temptation to others to continue in the said now dangerous commerce, we do in like manner solemnly covenant, that we will not buy, purchase or consume, or suffer any person, by, for, or under us, to purchase or consume, in any manner whatever, any goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall arrive in America from Great Britain aforesaid, from and after the last day of Aiigual next ensuing. And in order as much as in us lies, to prevent our being interrupted and defeated in this only peaceable measure entered into for the preservation and recovery of our rights, we agree to break off all trade, commerce, and dealings whatever with all persons who, preferring their own private interest to the salvation of their own perishing country, shall still continue to import goods from Great Britain, or shall purchase of those who do import, and never to renew any comiueroe or trade with them.

" And whereas the promoting of industry, economy, arts, and manuf)u:tures among ourselves is of the last importance to the civil and religious welfare of a community : We engage,

"3d. That from and after the first day of October next ensuing, wo will not by ourselves, or any for, by, or under us, purchase or use any goods, wares, manufactures, or merchandise, whensoever or howsoever imported from Great Britain, until the harbour of Button shall be opened, and our charter rights restored.

" And last. As a refusal to come into any agreement which promises the deliverance of our country from the calamities it now feels, and which, like a torrent, are rushing upon it with increasing violence, must evidence a disposition inimical to, or criminally negligent of, the common safety, we agree, that after this L'uvenaot has been offered to any person, and they refuse to "ign it, we will consider them in the same light as contumacious impurlers, and withdraw all commercial connections with them forever, and publish their names to the world.

I Provincial Congress. One year later (March 28, I 1776) it was "voted that the selectmen petition the Great and General Court, praying that in consideration of tlie sufferings and distress which (in consequence of tlie present calamitous and unnatural war) have of late befallen the town of Hull, they would be pleased to grant the inhabitants thereof sucii favor or assistance as they in their wisdom shall think Qt." A similar petition was presented in 1777.

Before the Revolution there were owned in Hull fifteen fishing vessels. As a matter of course, the war destroyed the profitably portion of the business in which those vessels were engaged, and brought upon the town much of the distress and suffering above mentioned. On June 14, 1780, a committee was chosen to procure " the soldiers sent for," to be paid in corn, beef, and sheep's wool. On Jan. 15, 1781, the town voted to procure " three men sent for to serve three years in the Continental army." This vote shows what was the town's military quota in those early days, and also, as Lincoln remarks, " the fact of their prompt support of the cause of independence, notwithstanding the temporary suffering which it [the war] caused them to endure." The town, in early times, seldom availed itself of its right of representation in the Legislature. In the convention which approved of the Constitution of the United States, in 1783, Thomas Jones was chosen to represent the town.

In 1721 the town voted that no tavern or publichouse should be kept within its limits. There was, however, one house of this description before the Revolution, which is said by Mrs. Rowson to have " had custom scarcely sufficient to supply its venerable mistress with the necessaries of life ; but she liad a garden, a cow, and a few acres of land, the produce of which were sufficient to her wishes, and she would sit in her matted arm-chair, in a room whose only beauty was ' the white-washed wall, the nicely-sanded floor,' while the smile of content played about her face ; and while she thankfully enjoyed the bounties of heaven, she remembered not that any could bo richer or happier than herself." Remarking upon this, Lincoln observes: "There are now [1830] two houses of entertainment in the village of Nantasket, and a third at the head of that fashionable place of resort, Nantasket Beach."

The following selections from the closing pages of Lincoln's pamphlet will prove interesting reading, even after a lapse of fifty-four years from the date when they were penned : sceiii:;, however, to be inureiidiog slowly Id prusperity aiul in i jiupuhitiun. Six vedsets u.ru owned in the place, employed in the bay. j

"Tliu pupulation wiis in 1810, lo2 souli ; in 1820, 172 ; and ; the present ye;ir [IS-lu] it amounts to 193, includin;^ the in- [ habitants of the islands.

" One son of Nuiito^ket hud been jjraduated at the University of Cambridge. This was I:traet Loriog. He woa a aon of John , and Kachul Lortng, and was born April 15, 1682, and was graduated in 1701. i£o studied divinity, and was settled in the luini.-try at Sudbury, Nov. 20, 1706. lie died March U, 1772, in the ninetieth yearof his age, having preached on tho first day of tlie luunth. ' He was a venerable man, of primitive piety and inunnci's, and faithful and useful in the mini:^teriul work. Ho lull preached for near seventy years.' Ho published an election and :)cvural other sermons.

"Of tlie eminences in Nuntasket, Strawberry Hill takes its name front the abundance of the delicious berry of that name, formerly found there. Suijamorti Hill was probably tho residence of some Indian Hacheui. Point Alderlon is named for Isaac Allcrton or Alderton, the tirdt a:jsistant of Plymouth.

** .S/ciiU Head was so named, tradition says, in cummemora* tion of a great Indiau battle, fought between tho natives of the North and South Shores [of Massachusetts Cay], and the bones of the killed were to be seon there ut the settlement of the country.

''The hill north of the village was fortified in the Revolutionary war, and was a station for troops. The mounds of the fort :itill [183U] remain visible. Within them there is a well nearly one hundred feet in depth.

" The commanding situation of this bill has attracted the attention of our government for the purpose of constructing expensive for till cat ions to defend Boston harbor. In a report from the Engineer Department, made to Congress in 1827, which 'exhibits those fortilications of which plans have been made by the board of engineers, but which have not yet been commenced, arranged in classes, according to the order in which they should be commenced, with un e::timate of the cost of each,' the projected works at Nantasket and the adjacent islands are placed in the first class. The following is a table, showing the estimate of the probable cost of the fortifications : the space of one k twenty yeares, for the yearely rent of twenty shillings, pvided tliat if there shall be a plantacon in the meane tyine setled by the Court att Nataacett, then this pscnt graunt to be voyde."

" 1634-5. 4 March. It is ordered, that noe p^on whatsocu*" shall goo aboard any shipp without leave from some of the .Assistants, vntill shee hath lyen att anrhor 24 houres att Natascetl, or within some harbor that is inhabited, nor then, vnlesse it be apparent y' shec is a ffriend, vnder paine of conhtcacon of all his estate, <& such further punishmi- as the Court .ihall thinke mecte to infiict."

" 1638, 2 May. There is ten acres of land granted to Jauiea Pemberton, part of it the land formerly planted by him, A; the rest ioyneing to it at Nantascot."

" 1641. 2 June. It is ordered that a plantation for the furthering of fishing shall fourth w'^ bee set up at Xantascut, k that all the neck to the end of the furthest beach towards Hingham, where the tide ovcrtloweth, shall belong to it; and that suoh of the psent inhabitants of Hingham as will follow fishing, it will remove their habitations thither, shall have land it meadowe upon Nantaskol Neck, according to the order lieare established, 3l that all other men that will fullovv fishing, it wilt remove their habitations thither, shall have such accommodations there as the plantation will affoard ; and that it shalbee lawfull for any other fishermen inhabiting in any other of the townes wt^in the Bay to set up stages upon Nantaakof, or any of the Hands belonging thereto, w^ sutficient ground for the drying of their fish.

*' And that there shalbee alowed now, at the first, to ev''y boate w*^'* shall use fishing, 4 acres of upland for the psent, ^t the medow to beo disposed of by an e^uall pporiion amung such as have cattle; k it in further ordered that M** Stoughton, M'' Duncan, M^ Glover, Willi: Heath, A Willi: Parks, or any 3 of them, M'' Stoughton to bee one, shall in convenient time repair to Nantubkot, tt set out the lands <t medow there, according tu the meaning of this order; and it is further ordered that the iland called Pedooks Hand, &. the other Hands there not otherwise disposed of, shall belong to Nantaskut, to bee to the use of the inhabitants >t fishermen, so soouo as they shall come to inbahite there.

" And this Court, or some of the Court at Boston, shall from time to time appoint some 2 or 3 able men to set out land X stage room, .tc, to such as shall come to inhabite or lish there; k in the meane time the comissioners aforenamed, or 3 uf them, as aforesaid, shall dispose of the same; provided, alwayes, that no pson shalbee stated in ppriety in any land or uiedowe there (though the same bee allotted to them) before bee bee a setled inhabitant there, k in a course of fishing."

" 1642. 3 May. By vertueof un order of Genncrall Court, wee whose names ar unde'' written, comissione''s tur the laying out of a plantation at Nantasket, doe order it dispose the .-amo in manner following : first, Jerrimiah Bellamy, John Culljer, Nathanj : Baker, Edmond Bosworth, John Prince, Natliani : Bosworth, Edward Bunn, Thomas Coiljer, Ricliard .Stubbs, Thomas Challcy, Willjam Kerly, and John Studder shallbe admitted as planters, and to take their housu lolts fur building of houses in the valley betwixt the two hills next Pcdocki IlanJ, to the valeu of two acres for each huuse, so that tlicre ui.ty ly thirty two lotts ai least betwixt the said two hitis, the psous libuuc to tuke all their lotta on one side of the 9nid valley, to bej^in at eitlier enJ of that side, as they shall Ihinko titt, by agrei-uient, or else p lott, the said lots to be aud lye onely Hue rodds broade u]> aj^ainst the hill, u<^i*they chuse, these ))ersui)a to haue each two akeis ot' medowe a£ they shalbee hereafter si;^ned, tC also each of them to have four acres of plaoling land at Poddock's Ilaud, to bee laid out when the plantation shall be fuller ; in the uicane time, if any iiaue need to plaut, they may plant where they thinke fitt; and when it shallbe allotted and hijd out ill ppriety, those that haue planted, if in casting lotts they bee put from such lands as tlicy liaue planted, they are to bee allowed for their labour they haue been at by those w*^^ shall pos?esse their lutts afterwards ; the beaches and places on Xantiiskott or any uf the iselands that may bee titt for setting up of stages for lishing to be left free for such purpose for these or any other persons that shall set on such a work, and the plantation to be possessed .t enioyed by the persons aforesajd according to the order of Co't above apecifyed. Dated the 'J"" of y" 21" m. 1642.

"1643^. 7 September. The former grant to Nuntascot was againe voted ,t continued, .i Hinghum men willed to forbear troubleing the Co^t any more about Niiataakot. "

Hull for y^ yeare, i, until! newe be chosen in bis roume ; >k he is, w"" y« first oportunity, to repaire to tome uia'""* to take hia oath ; it y« people there inhabiting, i. all who shall resort thither, are to bo aubieet to this authority comilted to him, i. to give him due assistance in hia office w" they sbalhe required."

"1048. 27 October. The townea of Dorchester Ji Hull, being defective in sending in their comission", i furnifhing thein w"" aullicient inatructiona for makeing the country rate, their lines, specilied in the order concerning rates, are abated to forty ahillinga u peece."

the inhiibitanta of Hull their deaire for M' Muthewa returning to them, nor residing them, A do declare that they tind severall erronioua exptsions, oth" weake, inconvenient, i, unsafe, for w'"" it iudgeth it meete to order that the soid M'. Mathews should be admonished by the Governo', in the name of this Co'te."

"1G52. ID October. The inhabitants of Nanlaakett complayning of soma injury oflred thciu, by reason of Lovilla Hand being deUyned from them, the Court orders them to haue a hearing iho next Gener" Court, i in the uicano lime libtie is graunled them to sumon any then i there to appcure who legally detayiie any ilanda from them."

" 1653. 2.J May. In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Hull, a day of hearing being appointed, Capt. Hubbard also appearing, the Court, having heard the acknowledgments of the partjes -oncemed in this petition, that the riuer ia the bounds of the two tounes, doe determine, that neither of the tounes may improove both aides of that riuer w'l'out the consent tirat ubtajned each from other."

"1670. 31 May. In answer to a motion made to Ihia court by the inhahitanta of Hull, M*" John Prince ia eiiipovvered to solemnize marriage between such aa are duly publi.-hcd there in that towne, according to lawe."

" 1674. 27 May. In ana' to the peticon of the inhabitanta of Hull, iiumbly craning thia Court to grant them some rek-ife as to their charges expended on y"^ erecting (*f a beacon un Point AUirton, Ac, the Court judgetli it uuet to X doe hereby grant the sajd toune of Hull their next single country rule."

"16SI. 11 May. In ans' to the petioun of Nalhuniel Bosworth, in behalf of the freemen, Jl Isaack Lobilell, on y*^ behalf of y* selectmen, the Court judgtth it meet ,t doe hereby impower Sarjant Nath.iniet Boaworth, uf Hull, to adiiiinister oathea in the toune and to marry persona there, provided one of the sajd persona be an inhabitant auiongst them, and that they be published according to law."

In the collection of " Hutchinson Papers," published by the Massachusetts Hi.storical Society (3d series, vol. i. p. 51), in a report dated 1G57, and sipned by Thomas Savajie (the writer of the report), Kieazer Lusher and John Johnson, " beirii; by order of the General Court appointed a eoiuinittee to inquire concerning the maintenance of the uiiiiistcrs of the churches in the county of Suffolk," it is stated that " Hull allow their minister £40 per annum, the faniilies being twenty."

" Jan. 17. Gov. Winthrop having Intelligence from the East, that the French had bouj;lit the Scots Plantation [i.e., Port-Koyal] near Cape-Sable, the Fort and Ammunition delivered to theui, and that the Cardinal [Richlieu having the managing llieivuf, had sent some Commanders already, and Preparatiuns made to send many more next Year \_i.e. next Spring] and divers Priests and Jesuits among tliem ; calls the Assistants to Boston [with] the iMinisteis, Captains and some other chief Men, to advise what is fit to be doue for our Safety ; in Regard the French are like to prove ill Neighbours, being Papists. At which Meeting 'tis agreed (1) That a Plantation and Fort be forthwith begun at Natasket ; partly to be some Block in an Enemy's Way, tho' it could not barr his Entrance, and especially to prevent an Enemy from taking that Passage from us; (2) That the fort begun at Boston be finished ; (ji) That a Plantation be begun at Agawam (being the best Place in the Land for Tillage and Cattle 0 least an Enemy finding it, should possess and take it from us; the Gov's Sou being one of the Assistants is lo uiidtrtake this [new Plantation] and to take no more out of the Bay

" Feb. 21. Gov. [Winthrop] and 4 Assistants, with 3 Ministers, and 18 others, go in 3 Boats to view Natasket ; the wind W, fair Weather: but the Wind rises at N W so sharp and extream Cold, that at Hull in the way and at the time stated, came in a very questionable and far from heroic or triumphant way. In the sprin;» of 1625, at just about the time of Wollaston's arrival, John Oldham had got into trouble with the Plymouth mai^istrates, in the maiithey are kept there two Nights, being forced to lodge \ ner stated by Bradford, who arrested [liim] and put on the ground in au opeu Cottage, on a little old | him in confinement.^

Straw which they pulled from the Thatch : Their ! " Morton thus describes what followed : A lauc of Victuals also grow short, so that they are forced to , Musketicrs was made, and hee compelled iu scorne to eat Muscles: Yet thro' the Lord's special Providence, i passe along betweene, & to receave a bob upon thu they come all safe Home the 3d Day after. On view bumme by every musketier, and then a board u slialof the Place it is agreed by all, that to build a Fort there, would be of too great Charge and of little Use : Whereupon the Planting of that Place is defer'd."

In Governor 43radford's " History of Plymouth Plantation," it is noted " ther was one M^ Ralfe Smith, & his wife & familie, y' came over into y' Bay of y" Massachusets, and sojurned at presente [1G29] with some stragling people that lived at Natascoe." Shortly afterwards, when a boat from Plymouth put in at that place, " he ernestly desired that they would give him & his, passage for Plimouih, . . . for he was werie of being in y' uncoth place.

lop, and so conveyed to Wessaguscu.> ahuure, »t staid at Massachusetts, to whome John Layford uud some few more did resort, where Master Luyford I'reely executed his ofiSce, and preached every Lord'; day, and yet maintained his wife k children fuuro or five, upon bis industry there, with the bles>ing of God, and the plenty of the Land, without the helpe of his auditory, in an honest and laudable manner, till he was wearied and made to leave the Country.' * [Bradford (p. 190) says of the manner of Oldham's expulsion: "But in conclusion they coiuited him till he was tamer, and then apoiuted a g;iid ot'

<& in a poore house y' would neither keep him nor his i mosketei-s, w'"" he was to pass throw, and ever one goods drie." His pathetic appeal was listened to, I was ordered to give him a thump on j' brich with y

At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, on June 13, 1878, Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., of Quiucy, read a communication upon " Old Planters about Boston Harbor," iu which he assigned priority to the settlement at Wessagusset (Weymouth), giving the date of temporary settlemeut as August, 1G22, but end of his musket, and then was conveied to y' water side, wher a boat was ready to cary him away. Then they bid him goe and lucnde his uianer>. " A. E. S.] The next year Lyford and Oldham moved across to Cape Ann ; but in 162S the Greys [Grays?], or whoever remained at Hull, were able to contribute £1 10s. to the expense of Morton's arrest, which amouut, considering that Plymouth contributed but £2 10s., would seem to indicate that they

" Hubbard says that ' something like au habitation w;is set up' at this place, for the purpose of trading with the Indians, in consequence of Miles Staudish's visit to Boston Harbor iu September, lt)21.' This would seem to imply the establishment there of a mere station, such as the fishermen temporarily occuwas a favorite liarbor of refuge and rcfresliuient. It was certainly convenient for trading purposes. "

In the summer of 1848 there was published, iu Boston, a rather queer pamphlet, made up mostly of letters which had been written by Mr. J. L. llomur, who styled himself the "Shade of Aldeu" (!), to the Boston Post, and published in that paper in the summer of 1S45. Numerous allusions are made to Hull, and from some of these the followiu<r extracts are

Maine and elsewhere. Drake, on the authority of an unpublished deposition, asserts that, in 1622, three men, named Thomas and John Gray and Walter Knight, purchased ' Naftlaskel' of Cliicatabut, and there settled tliemselves." The next addition to

''.... Hull is sustained almost entirely by the fisheries. Three-quarters of her active population get a liviii'! iu fishin;;-boHts - either in the cod or maek- erel fishery. . . . What a year for muckerel ! There arc some fifty boats in Hull buy every day from Boston, Hioghani, Milton, Quiocy, etc., the hands of which appear to have full business. . . . Lobsters are cauj;lit in great abundance on the shores of Hull. Thousands of them are sent up to Boston aunually. . . . Lobsters are delivered at the Point at the rate of S3 @ $4.50 per hundred. They are taken to Boston and Charlestown by wholesale dealers two or three times a week. There they are boiled and delivered to the men who retail them in those cities. . . . Hull is a great place for wreckers and for wrecks. Mr. Tower, Mr. Mitchell, and some others, whose exertions have often been witnessed amid the tempest and the storm on Nantasket Beach and its vicinity, live in Hull. The former gentleman keeps the only hotel in the place. . . . Mr. Mitchell, a foreigner by birth, from small beginnings baa become quite a landholder here, and is said to be rich. . . . He owns the piece of land on which the telegraphic establishment stands, and this embraces also the old fort built during the Revolutionary war. This is an object of mucli interest to all who visit Hull. Within this i'ort there is a Well about ninety feet deep, and what is remarkable, the bottom of it is twenty-five feet above the level of the road.

" It may be interesting to geologists to know that in digifiuK this well marine shells were found at the depth of seventy feet. I have this fact from old residents who lived in Hull during the Revolution. This well was dug for the purpose of supplying the troops stationed there with water, as well as the crews of the vessels belonging to the squadron of the Count de Grasse, which was anchored in the roads near the fort for a long time. The crews of this squadron were, I am informed by a venerable lady, in the habit of bringing their clothes on shore at Hull for the purpose of washing them. They often used to hang them on the tombstones in the burying-ground to dry. ... On the beach, near Mr. Tower's hotel, lie the wrecked hulls of two or three vessels, and ma.sts and spars innumerable. Some of the Hullonians are in the habit of buying wrecks and then breaking them up, saving the iron, copper, and such other parts as are valuable, and using the wood for fuel. The wreck of the ill-fated ' Massasoit' and that of the brig ' Treniout,' cast away last winter at Point Alderton, have been entirely broken up, and the materials are piled mountain high before the house of Mr. Mitchell, who has enough of this kind of stuff' to load a ship of three hundred tons. He is a wholesale dealer in wrecked vessels - in old masts, spars, rigging, iron, and brass. The wreck of the old brig - Favorite' lies upon the

I beach, as does that of the schooner ' Emelinc,' both : of which vessels, heavily laden, were sunk some three or four years since off Nantasket Beach, and afterwards raised by Mitchell and others on shares and towed into Hull Bay. I think they must have lost money by these jobs. The hull of the ' Favorite' at low water was formerly used as a .-ihelter for hor?ts when the stable of Mr. Tower was full. It is now too deeply imbedded in the sand fur that purpose. There are numerous relies of the old ship ' Mohawk,' which was wrecked off P.[oint] Aldertou, with a valuable cargo, from Liverpool. Her ligure-head adorns one of Mitchell's buildings; her round-house he uses as a counting-room and for other purposes. I have been informed that, at one period, the inhabitants held their political and town-meetings in this accidental fixture, but I have my doubts. At any rate, the school-house, a diminutive ten-footer, is used for this purpose. It is also used for religiou.s purposes, it being the only ' public building' of any kind in Hull, except the poor-house, which is tenantless, the town preferring to board its paupers out, at Cohasset, rather than support them luxuriantly [luxuriously V] on clams and fried eels at home. . . .

" (Note, June, 1848.) . . . The fre(|uency of shipwrecks on Nantasket Beach and its vicinity, on Cohasset rocks, at Seituate, Marshfield, and other place.-, is a subject which engrosses the attention and thouL'his of the Hullonians, who are too often shocked at the accounts which appear in the Boston papers, and who are so frequently called from their beds, at the dead hours of the night, to save the lives and property of others, that they have been compelled to get up an indignation meeting, and to express their feelings very freely upon this important subject. . . . The meeting we refer to in our introductory remarks took place on 'Change, in Hull, a short distance from Tower's hotel, and was organized by the choice of Capt. Mitchell as chairman, and Capt. Lawron as secretary. The objects of the meeting having been fully and iiitelligibly explained by the chairman, a committee of three was appointed to draft resolutions in relation lo the alarming increase of shipwrecks on the shores in the vicinity of Hull, Cohasset, Marshtield, Ac. The committee retired, and after an absence of thirty minutes returned with the following preamble and resolutions, viz. :

'* ' Whereaa, the quiet, indubti'iuuf citi/eii^ ut Hull h.tve iioticeil, with regret and indignation, but with the feelings dt' lucn and of Christians, aa they huiuVIy trust, the lupid iucrc:isO of shipwrecl<8, and of accidents to our nicreiinlile marine, un Nanlusliel Beach, the Ilardings, Cohasset rocks, at .Marshliel.l. Seituate, and otlier places in that vicinity; and iv-htrfnn, tho.-c which have occurred of late are believed to have been caused, for tlie most part, through the ignorance, inexperience, ciireleaanc^s, or want ut" proper attention uuJ skill ou the ]iurt of tho.^e in coQiumnd of the vessels which liave been partially or wholly wrecked, in some instances involving the loss of vnluablc human lives as well as property ; anJ whertan, of hitc years we have been shocked at the frequent midnight calls made upon us to proceed to Long l>each [Nantaskct Beach wad souietiiiies formerly thus spoken of], and its neighborhood, to save the fragments of wrecks and tlie lives of mariners; and vlicifii^, tliere is reason to believe that many of the youthful captains sailing out of LSuston are unlilted for the business they are engaged in, either from a want of experience as seamen, sound judgment and skill as navigators, or the absence of a proper alacrity when approaching the coast, and who are too often jtut in command of vessels through the undue influence of wciilthy relatives; and iclitsieat, these things are becoming highly oriciisive to the unpretending, hard-listed citizens of Hull and of llingham, some of whom Lave followed fishing twenty-live and thirty years without running ashore or without meeting with a single accident ; therefore

"' litnuUeU, That tlierc are four jioints to the compass, - N., E., S., \y. : and any captain of a vessel who cannot box a compass deserves to have his ears boxed.

"' Jicwlciil, That an education received by rubbing against the walls of a college, or pas.-ing through its balls, is not so serviceable to a sea-captain as one received upon the ocean, umidst high winds, heavy seas, and hard knocks.

"' Uta'Aceil, That maps and charts are useful to navigators at sea, and he who neglects to study them thoroughly is a blocklicad of the first class, and ought not to be intrusted with the command of a first-class ship.

*' * JienoircU, That no captain of a ship has a right to run his jibboum into the lantern of Boston Light, through mistake or carelessness, supposing himself to be fifty luiles from the shore at the time.

" - Jit',olteii, That the light on Eastern Point, at the entrance of Gloucester harbor, a steady light, cannot well bo mistaken, except through sheer ignorance, for that at the entrance of Boston harbor, which is a revolving ono.

" - JUbuU-et/f That Boston Light and Cape Ann are thirty miles apart, and cannot he made much shorter [nearer togethei- Vj, even by the aid of a straight railroad from point to point.

'' * JitauUeJ, That Cohasset rocks, on the South shore, although they resemble some others on the North shore, are not one and the same thing, and it is iuiportant that this fact should he generally understood.

" * litunhed, That any captain, while nearing the rocks spoken of, or any otbeis, who fails to use bis deep-sea line or hand-lead constantly until he liuils out bis right position, is unlit to have charge of a valuable ship and cargo, and the more valuable lives of her crew and passengers; liia own is of hut little consequence to the rising generation.

'- - lUsultedy As the deliberate opinion of this meeting, that when a sea-captain, if approaching our coast, his course due W., finds himself getting rapidly iuto shoal water, the safest way is to wear ship and run to the eastward, instead of running plump upon the beach or the rucks.

" ' lU'uUeJ, That a sea-cuptain might as well be u liard drinker, at once, as to be extremely ignorant of his reckoning aud hearings under a bright sky aud a brighter sun.

-- ' lUnvlinl, That our labors as wreckers are often severe and perilous, but well intended, disinterested, and zealous ; and that we look to the underwrilorb for u proper remuneration in all

'- . . . The whole subject was then throwti open for discusaioD. Several geiitleojcu addre.'-aeJ the meeting, and bore with unsparing severity upmi tlie gross negligence and carelessness of the cooiuianders of several vessels which had becu either wrecked or datuaged within the last few years. . . . The resolutions were then adopted. . . .

"It is a remarkable fact that there is [1843] no .settled minister in Hull ; but there is ;in excellent I Sabbatli-sehool. Occasionally, at this sca.'-on of the year, some straggling preacher comes along, and is invited to supply the pulpit for a few Sundays. In the winter season preaching is more constant. ... I repeat that it is surprising there is no settled miniater iu Hull at this enlightened era, inasmuch as it is recorded in the books that, for a period of more than one hundred years, from 16ti0, when the population was mueli smaller than it now is, there were several settled Congregational ministers. But, at the time I refer to, there was but one kind of religion known amongst us, and one kind of religious teachers - the pure, unadulterated Congregational; aud, on that account, all could contribute cheerfully to the general fund for the support of .some good, pious minister. Now, almost every citizen of Hull has a religioti of his own. There is a slight sprinkling of iMortuons and Lattcr-Day Saints among the inhabilatits, as well as Universalists, Baptists, Calviuists, Methudi.its, Unitarians, Catholics, and Seulpiuians (a sect who worship the head of a dried sculpin). To this siniple eircuinstance, undoubtedly, may be attributed the tact that there is no settled minister in Hull at (his time, aud not to any parsimonious feeling the inliabifufit.s, as a body, possess, so far as the salvatioti of their auuls is coucerned. Besides, the income from their paisotiage lands amoutits to almost enough to give a minister a decent support. And yet I have heard that the last settled minister of Hull was fairly starved out, aud that, though originally a corpulent man, he left the town in a very lean condition. . . .

"It b creditable to the iiihubicants of Hull that i they can get along without the services of a lawyer - in a small town always a great nuisance, but iu a large, open, bustling, populous field of some impor- j tance, when he is actuated by high-minded, honorable | principles. Not only has the town no lawyer, but no physician lives within its borders. Tiiis is a ' grievous fault,' especially when it is considered that that excellent injunction of the Scriptures, ' increase and multiply,' is observed very generally by both sexes in Hull, who make a kind of religion of it. A capable young physician, who would be willing to spend a portion of his time in fishing for a livelihood, might find a pretty good opening at Hull, for the inhabitants are now entirely indebted to Hingham for medical aid when any of them are dangerously sick. . . .

" In 1734, the inhabitants erected a meeting-house in the ' middle of the village, near a piece of water' - a small pond. This ' piece of water' is in its pristine beauty, and daily visited by dogs, horses, and cows, for the purpose of bathing and drinking ; but the meeting-house was blown down in the great gale of September, 1815 - a gale almost unprecedented for its violence in the annals of New England. . . . The meeting-house was not rebuilt at Hull, and the only place of worship in the village at present [1845] is a small, eighteen-foot building, standing on the margin of the aforesaid ' piece of water,' and nearly opposite the bite of the old one.

"... A public school is supported by the town six months of every year, the teacher generally being a female, of moderate intellectual capacity, and of modest pretensions, and she receives a small salary. She has forty scholars, embracing the flower of the youth of the town, the sons and daughters of hardy fishermen. ... In 1775 there were fifty houses in Hull ; now [1845] there are about half that number. There are ten or twelve schooners owned here, besides several pink-stern' bouts, and they are employed in the lumbering, lightering, and fishing business. . . . I find that there is something of a military spirit in Hull. Some of its early settlers were among the original founders of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company [of Boston].

"The location of the village of Hull is a highly favorable one for the purposes of agriculture. The houses and gardens all lie between two prominent hills, of great length, running from south to west; they are, coo3ei|uently, shielded from the searching north and northeast winds. These hills arc composed of rich pasture-lands, of well-cultivated and productive fields, fruit-trees, etc. The soil is said to be e(|Ual to any in New England. This is probably true, as everything appears to have a rank and vigorous growth. There is a large number of winter pear-trees in full bearing, some of which are one hundred and fifty years old. The last year's crop of this fruit brought three hundred dollars. Next to fishing, the chief employment of the inhabitants is agriculture. The hills are covered with flocks of sheep, and the pastures give sustenance and comfort to numerous cows, horses, and oxen. Hull will often remind one of a thriving agricultural town in the interior. I would here remark that the residents sell their baru-manure to farmers in Dorchester and Roxbury, and spread upon their own lands kelp and rockweed, which are found in abundance all along the shore. . . . The population of Hull in 1810 was 132; in 1820, 172; 1830, 198; 1840, 230 ; and at this time [1845] it is supposed to be about 270. These statistics show that there has been a gradual increase in the population since the commencement of the present century, but the number of inhabitants now is probably not more than it was in 1775, when there were fifty houses in Hull, each house, doubtless, containing five or six souls. The town has the honor of having given birth - or, to speak more correctly, one of its women claimed that honor - to one graduate of Harvard University, the Rev. Israel Loring, who died in 1772, at Sudbury (where he was settled sixty-six years), at the advanced age of ninety. . . .

" The temperance cause was early agitated in Hull, from which fact I infer that some of the first settlers, their children, or their grandchildren, were addicted to sipping 'bimbo''' and other strong drinks from tin cups. In 1721 . . . the town voted that no tavern or public-house should be kept within its limits. And from that day to this [18451] intoxicating drinks have rarely been sold in the towu of Hull. At the other end of the beach, perhaps, a diffL-reut story might have been told when you and I were young, 'long time ago.' When the fiahermun of Hull, or any of its inhabitants or transient visitors, want a ' drop of comfort,' they have to go or send to Boston for it. New England rum is the I'avorite beverage of most of the consumers, who take it iu tlie pure, natural state, as many of our farmers in the interior do while making hay. ... At the suggestion of Capt. Sturgis and Mr. Tower, the Humane Society have recently erected a new boat-house on the north aide of Stony Beach, near Point Alderton, iu which there is au clegaut, substantial, copper-fastened life-boat, of extensive dimeiisious. I should think it capable of holding thirty or forty persons, besides her ' gallant crew.' She is calculated for eijrht oars. This boat was much wanted. There are now two excellent boats there, one of which is on the northeast side, besides two ' huoiane houses' for the accooiniodation of ; wrecked seamen. . . . One of the boats at Hull has ' been the means of saving forty or fifty lives from seven different vessels. The society [Massachusetts Humane] has recently presented Moses B. Tower, of this place, with a (;old medal for his exertions in saving the crew of the brig ' Tremout.' . . .