Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

In writing these memories I have in mind both the old and the young. With the old I may perhaps clear away some of the cobwebs which obscure their backward glance and reopen to...

Before proceeding to a general consideration of the streets and ways of Plymouth, and their changes, this is a fitting place to refer to an important alteration, in one of its c...

During my early life a house stood in North street between the house of Mrs. Ruth H. Baker and the present Plymouth Rock House, concerning the occupants of which I must say a wo...

Living as I did on Cole’s Hill through my youth, I have a distinct recollection of Water street and its business as far back as 1832. During the summer I spent much of my time o...

Finding it difficult to define the ownership of vessels engaged in commerce, with which other counting houses on Water street were at various times within my memory associated,...

To the remaining features of Water street about the year 1830, it is not worth while to devote much space or time. The two blacksmith shops were conducted by Henry Jackson, with...

In speaking of the part Plymouth took in the whale fishery, it may be well to refer to the general history of that industry. In the year, 1640, Thomas Macy came from Chilmark, E...

It is singular that the spirit of invention and enterprise, which New England has displayed in the advance of civilization, should have been apparently indifferent in the develo...

Allusion has been made to the embargo and to the Yankee shrewdness which evaded the watchfulness of government officers whose duty it was to prevent departures from port. The fo...

At the beginning of the Revolution the cod fishery of Plymouth was active and successful, and during the previous ten years had employed an average of sixty vessels. During the...

The following is a detailed account of the loss of the Plymouth bark Charles Bartlett, which on the 27th of June, 1849, was run down and sunk by the Cunard steamship Europa. The...

The migration from New England and the middle states to California in 1849 and 1850, was one of the remarkable events in the history of the American Union. It was one of those e...

In an earlier chapter I gave a list of the streets, squares, lanes and alleys, which existed in my boyhood, with the promise to say something concerning the changes, which they...

Of the occupants of the houses not yet referred to on the south side of Leyden street at various times within my memory, the first to be mentioned is Robert Roberts, who built t...

The house adjoining the Baptist church, now occupied by the Custom House, recalls next to the house on Cole’s Hill, in which I was born, the pleasantest associations, and the de...

On the opposite side of Spring Hill there was until 1890 a building with a front on Summer street, but there was a tenement on its easterly end which must be considered in conne...

The last chapter closed with a mention of the various occupants of the building on the east side of Main street, formerly occupied by John T. Hall, and now occupied by a provisi...

I remember the occupants of the building north of the engine house as far back as 1828. On the 9th of July in that year, I was playing on the sloping cellar door, while the fune...

There stood where the Sherman block stands until that block was built a few years ago a two story wooden building occupied in my boyhood by George W. Virgin at the south end, an...

William Watson, the first postmaster of Plymouth, was the son of John and Priscilla (Thomas) Watson, and was born in Plymouth, May 6, 1730, and graduated at Harvard in 1751. In...

To break the monotony of personal reminiscence, I shall recall some of the games which prevailed in my youth. When the April showers and the dog days come year after year at the...

Eena, deena, dina dust, Calita, meena, wina, must, Spin, spon, must be done, Twiddledum, twaddledum, twenty-one. O. U. T. speels out, With the old dish clout, Out boys, out. (En...

I will add in this chapter some additional memoranda relating to marine matters, before proceeding with the regular order which I had prescribed for my memories. In connection w...

During the war of 1812, as in that of the Revolution, the government of the United States issued “letters of marque,” giving authority to private individuals to build, arm, and...

During my youth the house now occupied by Miss Perkins, the daughter of the late John Perkins, was owned and occupied by George Drew, who has already been noticed. He built the...

I speak next of the Samoset House estate, not for the purpose of following its title, but for the purpose of speaking of its occupants at various times. As long ago as I remembe...

I trust that I may be pardoned if I speak of my brother, Charles G. Davis, of whose early life, though only two years have elapsed since his death, most of my readers know littl...

Through all my boyhood Nathaniel Morton Davis occupied the house on Court street, now owned by the Old Colony Club, except for a year, when, while repairing the house, he occupi...

The house in North street occupied by Dr. Brown, stands on the site of a house, which in my youth, was owned and occupied by Stephen Marcy. The old house was during the revoluti...

James Thacher Hodge, another distinguished son of Plymouth, was associated with North street, where he had his home for some years with his mother and his grandfather, Dr. James...

I have thus far in my wanderings omitted to mention any member of the Harlow family, scarcely one of whom can be found on the north side of Town Brook. But in crossing the brook...

Dr. F. G. Oehme, a German homeopathic physician, came to Plymouth about 1857, and occupied for a time the house on Middle street, now owned by Charles H. Frink, and later bought...

Mention of Plymouth grave yards has been confined thus far to a slight allusion to Cole’s Hill. Of the many within the limits of the town two are burial places of the aborigines...

During my youth, public entertainments were rare in Plymouth, especially in the winter. During that season, with unlighted streets and the houses lighted for the most part with...

I have said in an early chapter that after having attended Ma’am Weston’s school on North street, Mrs. Maynard’s in the second story room in the building on the corner of Main s...

As has been already stated, in the early days of the Plymouth Colony, town meetings were held in either the Governor’s house, or the meeting house. The last meeting in the meeti...

Accounts of the celebrations which have been held in Plymouth within my memory, or described to me by those who witnessed them, are worthy of record. I shall first, however, giv...

In 1859, the necessary arrangements having been concluded for beginning work on the canopy over the Rock and on the National Monument, it was decided by the Pilgrim Society to l...

In my memories of the Civil War I shall confine myself as closely as possible to events which I saw, and in an humble way, a part of which I was. When on the 18th of April, 1861...

I have spoken in the last chapter of being intimate with Commodore John Marston and family during a winter I spent in Philadelphia. There was another Commodore whom I knew there...

The Third regiment enlisted for three months with Chas. Raymond, lieutenant colonel, Company B. Chas. C. Doten, 1st lieutenant, captain; Otis Rogers, 2nd lieutenant, 1st lieuten...

In speaking of the changes, in habits and customs, which have occurred in my day, it will be difficult to draw the line between those, which only my older readers will remember,...

The changes in the militia system of Massachusetts within my memory have been great, but in my judgment not materially for the better. There are always those who are anxious to...

I have suggested that some notice would be taken by me of the changes which have taken place in seventy years in the marine aspects of Boston. To a nautical eye these changes ha...

A few words may be interesting concerning the management of fires in my youth. Either there were very few fires in Plymouth during the colonial and provincial periods, or the re...

Of funerals and their management, in early times, I have not much to say. Most of the funeral customs of ancient days had passed away before I was born. Funeral feasts and the g...

Besides the quilting bee which has been mentioned, there were formerly many other kinds of bees, some within my own time, and others that I have heard about from my elders. Ther...

The marriage laws of Massachusetts prevailing today are different from those in force all through my youth. As early as 1786 a law was passed by the General Court of Massachuset...

During my boyhood there was an article which had been for many years in the cookery department of our house, but which had recently gone out of use. It was called a roasting Jac...

The habits of our people in the use of tobacco have been somewhat changeable. The use outside of medicine and surgery has been confined to smoking, chewing, snuffing and dipping...