than sufficient remuneration for every sacrifice and privation. The town was reduced to a state of destitution, its navigation almost annihilated, a renewal of the former means of support was very precarious, and the taxes now were very heavy.

1785. The town has been called to deplore the death of an estimable fellow-citizen, Capt. Thomas Davis, who died March 7th, aged 63 years. He was the head of the respectable firm of Davis & Spooner, for many years noted for probity and correctness in their mercantile transactions, and for integrity and benevolence of character. Captain Davis left six sons and one daughter; the latter, Sarah, married Le Baron Bradford, son of Lieut. Governor Bradford, of Bristol, R. I. Her only son Le Baron, still lives. The sons of Capt. Davis were Thomas, (see page 219;) William, John, now Judge of the District Court in Boston, and President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Samuel, Isaac and Wendell; the latter was by profession a lawyer, and was Sheriff of the county of Barnstable, and died at Sandwich, 1831. His remains are deposited among his relatives in our burial ground.

In town-meeting December 26, 1785. Then voted, and directed the town treasurer to discount the debt due from the heirs of Mr. Thomas Davis, deceased, by paying the said estates, dues from the town, when the circumstances of the treasury will admit, the same, taking into consideration the original gift of money by John Murdock, Esq., deceased, viz: the design of that gift. 1786. This year is memorable for an alarming insurrection, instigated by Daniel Shays, which occasioned the greatest commotion throughout the New England States. There were, in almost every town, some who encouraged the insurgents; but in Plymouth, not an individual appeared openly to advocate their vile proceedings. The town instructed its representative to the general court, to use his influence to have suitable measures adopted for the removal of all grievances, and to quiet the minds of the people. That he oppose the emission of paper money, and discourage the importation of foreign superfluities, and articles of British manufacture, &c.

A detachment of the militia of this town was ordered to march to Taunton, to oppose the insurgents in their audacious purpose of preventing the sitting of the court of common pleas in that place. Gen. Nathaniel Goodwin marched at the head of a large detachment of militia from this and other towns. The writer of this article accompanied the expedition in the capacity of surgeon. A very formidable collection of insurgents made

their appearance, and arrayed themselves in a menacing attitude on Taunton Green. Gen. David Cobb, judge of the court at that place, assumed the command of the militia, and declared that he would on that day sit as a judge, or die as a general.' The result was a total dispersion of the insurgents without bloodshed.

Among the intrepid patriots who distinguished themselves in the naval service during our revolutionary contest, was Simeon Sampson, Esq. He was born in Kingston, in the year 1736. In youth he began a sea-faring life, and performed many important voyages in the employment of the merchants of Plymouth.' In the year 1762, Mr. Sampson was taken prisoner by the French, in a vessel belonging to Goodwin & Warren, which was redeemed by the captain for a large sum of money, and Mr. Sampson was left as a hostage for the payment of the ransom. From this imprisonment he escaped by assuming the dress of a female, and was soon restored to his family in Plymouth.

At the commencement of the revolutionary war, when a marine force was deemed necessary to protect our commerce from the depredations of the British cruisers, he was honored by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts with the appointment of the first naval captain in the service of the country. He immediately took the command of the brig Independence, belonging to the colony, and which was built at Kingston, under his direction. In this vessel, he was eminently successful, and in one cruise captured and sent in five prizes, among which was the Roebuck, Captain White, in the autumn of the year 1776. Immediately after this, he himself was captured by Capt. Dawson, of distinguished memory in these seas. Capt. Sampson did not surrender, until an engagement of a character as severe and bloody as perhaps is recorded in the annals of naval warfare. The skill and intrepidity manifested by him was applauded even Eby his enemies. Had he been sustained by all his men, he would undoubtedly have been the conqueror, rather than the vanquished. It is said in the gazette of that period, that he was driven to the awful necessity of running through the body two or three of his men, who abandoned their guns in the most trying moment of the conflict: One of these victims was his third lieutenant. Soon after his return from captivity, which was at Fort Cumberland, near Halifax, he was appointed commander of the brig Hazard, a public vessel belonging to the state. In this vessel he likewise took several prizes, among which was the ship Live Oak. In 1779 he was selected to the command of the packet ship Mercury, built at Plymouth, by Mr. John Peck, for Congress. She was employed to carry despatches to

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our ministers in France. In this ship he returned from Nantz during the severe winter of 1780. Soon after which, he was promoted to the command of the Mars, a large ship, likewise belonging to the state, and in this vessel he was employed in the most responsible trust, in carrying despatches, and in one cruise carried out one of our ministers to Europe. The British flag ship Trial was captured by him while in the Warren. At the close of the war, he retired, like most of the faithful servants of our country, with a very scanty estate, and a numerous family dependent upon him for support.

In 1788, Capt. Sampson disposed of his mansion in Middle street, Plymouth, and purchased a farm in Plympton, where he terminated his earthly career by an apoplexy, June 22d, 1789, at the age of 53 years. He was buried upon his own farm, and afterwards his body was removed to the burying hill in Plymouth, where his grave is marked by an appropriate head stone.

Few naval officers stood higher in public estimation, and few citizens were more respected for domestic virtues, hospitality, and generous friendship.

In 1759, Capt. Sampson married Deborah Cushing, daughter of Seth Cushing, of Hingham, who survived him many years. She died at Homer, New York, in 1830, at the advanced age of 90 years.

The ancestors of Captain Sampson will be found among those who were distinguished in the Old Colony. His father was Peleg Sampson, a principal owner of the iron works at Middleborough, which were suppressed by the Crown. He was born in 1700, was a son of Isaac Sampson, who was born in 1660, and died in 1726. He married Lydia Standish, daughter of Alexander, and grand-daughter of Capt. Miles Standish and John Alden, two of the Mayflower pilgrims. The descendants of Capt. Sampson are not numerous. He left 5 children: 1, Lydia, the wife of William Goodwin, Esq., who died 1815; 2, Deborah, the wife first of Rev. E. Briggs, afterwards the second wife of William Goodwin, Esq., died December, 1833; 3, Mercy, wife of Major Levi Bradford; 4, George W. Sampson; 5, Maria, wife of Rev. Mr. Johnson. The three last still survive, and reside in the western part of the state of New York.

1793. The inhabitants of this town celebrated the victories of the French republic over their invaders, by a grand civic festival. An animating address was delivered on the occasion by Rev. Dr. C. Robbins, which was published.

This year the town acted in accordance with the town of Boston, respecting the measures of neutrality, as recommended by President Washington.

1794.-Mrs. Elizabeth Russell, the lady of Hon. Thomas Russell, merchant of Boston, presented a bell to the town of Plymouth, the place of her nativity; on which occasion a vote of thanks was passed, and presented in handsome terms. This bell was imported from England, was finely toned, and weighed about five hundred and sixty-four pounds. It was unfortunately broken in the year 1801, when another was purchased by the town, of Col. Revere's manufacture, weighing about eight hundred pounds, which is still in use. The first notice of a bell in Plymouth is in 1679, probably the first used in New England.

1799. In 1799 a singular accident occurred in town, which gave me considerable employment. The frame of a house belonging to Capt. John Paty, was erected, two stories high in front and three back, the ground falling away considerably in the rear. When the frame was put together, and from thirty to forty men were, most of them, on the highest floor and the roof, from some cause the whole frame fell to the ground on the lower side. This accident might have been fatal to numbers, but it is remarkable that no one was killed, and but one bone fractured; twenty-one were wounded, more or less severely, but all recovered.

1800.-Death of Washington. The reader may here be reminded that on the 14th December, 1799, the illustrious and beloved Washington paid the debt of nature, and that throughout the United States all classes of people mourned the event, as a great national calamity. It was recommended by the public authorities that the 22d of February, 1800, his birth-day, be consecrated, by the whole community, to the remembrance of the saviour of our country. Our town authorities directed the appropriate arrangements. All business was suspended, stores and shops were closed, the shipping in the harbor displayed emblems of mourning, divine service was performed in the sanctuary, where Rev. Mr. Kendall delivered a well-adapted sermon, which was published. Grief and sorrow were depicted on every countenance, and the whole people appeared unitedly, as one family, bewailing the death of its common father.

December 13.-Died in this town, Col. George Watson. 'The lives and deaths of but few men are more truly enviable than Col. Watson's. By an uniform dignity of manners and uprightness of conduct, he preserved the respectability of his family unsullied to the grave. From early life he entertained an invincible abhorrence of those excesses, which, while they enfeeble the constitution, make destructive inroads in the order of families, and harmony of society. In the meridian of his

days, and amidst the multifarious concerns and solicitudes of commercial business, he formed a just estimate of the scenes fleeting before him, and looked forward to an inheritance eternal in the heavens. Becoming a member of the most ancient church of Christ in New England, he was exemplary in his observance of all the institutions of its primitive founders. Blessed with affluence, he was always ready to indulge benevolent propensities of his nature in affording relief to the necessitous. But the best eulogy is the spontaneous tribute of respect paid to his remains by the inhabitants of Plymouth, at a town-meeting convened in consequence of his death. By a recommendation in town-meeting the bell was tolled three hours on the day of his interment, the inhabitants suspended their usual business, by closing their shops and stores, and the shipping in the harbor displayed their flags half-mast high.

The lamented subject of the above eulogium was of an ancient and honorable family; he died at the advanced age of 83 years. Rev. Mr. Kendall preached a sermon on the occasion of his death, which was printed.

In person, Col. Watson was portly and well-proportioned, his countenance noble and placid, and his whole mien truly dignified. His urbanity and courtesy will long be remembered by all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He owned, and resided in the house on the south side of North street, now belonging to Mr. Abraham Jackson. The beautiful range of linden trees in front and rear of his house, he cultivated with peculiar pleasure, and delighted himself under their refreshing shade.

His children were three daughters. Mary married Elisha Hutchinson, Esq., son of the governor of Massachusetts, and died in England before her father; Sarah, who married Martin Brimmer, Esq., merchant, in Boston, and died in August, 1832; and Elizabeth, who married Hon. Thomas Russell, Esq., merchant, in Boston. After his decease, she married Sir Grenville Temple, and died at Rome about 1806, leaving three children.

1802. William Thomas, a physician of extensive practice in Plymouth for more than half a century, was born in Boston in the year 1718, and died in 1802. He was a descendant in the sixth generation from William Thomas, of Welsh extract, who arrived in the colony, and settled in Marshfield, about 1630. He was in the medical staff in the hazardous and successful enterprise against Louisburg in 1745, and at Crown Point in 1758. Dr. Thomas took a very zealous part in the disputes with the mother country, that issued finally in independence. After the first blow was struck in the battle of Lexington, in 1775, he immediately joined himself and his family, consisting