mouth, and after serving the town in this capacity for several years, he was chosen one of the senators for that county, and, in 1792, was appointed judge of probate on the decease of the Hon. Joseph Cushing. This office he sustained until his death, a period of twenty-nine years; and its various duties were discharged with a correctness and integrity, with an impartiality and patience never exceeded, perhaps by any one, and which secured to him the esteem and respect of the whole county. There was much amenity in his manners, and such a spirit of accommodation in the discharge of his official duties, as well as in the private circle, that all who associated with him, either for public business or social converse, were pleased and delighted. His memory was uncommonly retentive, and he was full of anecdotes calculated to illustrate the opinions and manners of men of former days, particularly of the patriots and statesmen of 1775. He was fond of perusing the works of ethical and theological writers. His reading was very extensive on these subjects. He was well acquainted with the various systems of theology in the christian world; but gave his decided preference to that, which is now denominated unitarian and liberat. He went to the fountain of inspiration for his religious sentiments; he admitted no other authority as decisive but the bible; and this, he believed, every one was bound to examine and interpret for himself; yet he approved, generally, of the writings of Price, and Watson, of Mayhew, Chauncy, and others of their catholic views. In his political character he ranked among the ardent friends of rational freedom, and was a true disciple of the Washington school. Though an enemy to arbitrary rulers, who forgot right and attempted to exercise illegal and unconstitutional power, he was a firm supporter of all legitimate authority, and a ready advocate of law and order. In the various critical periods of the commonwealth, during his active life, he united his efforts, with other good men, in vindicating correct constitutional principles, in opposition to popular excitements and party feelings.

'His qualities, as a parent, neighbor and friend, were peculiarly happy and commendable. He was indulgent, mild, generous, disinterested. As a lawyer, also, he shared largely, in the esteem and confidence of the people. He was too honorable to impose on the ignorant, or to exact even the usual fees for professional business of the poorer classes. He was many years president of the bar in Plymouth county; and the following vote, passed, unanimously, at the first court holden in that county, after his decease, fully shows the high estimation, which his brethren of the profession had of his talents

and character. "The bar, taking into consideration the afflicting dispensation of Providence, in removing by death, their highly respectable president, the Hon. Joshua Thomas, distinguished by his literary and legal acquirements, his moral and social virtues, and with a deep sense of the loss which the community in general have sustained by this melancholy event, do resolve, that they will, in token of their respect for his memory, wear crape from this time to the end of the next term of the supreme judicial court for this county.

'The honorable notice taken of our friend by Judge Putnam, at a session of the supreme judicial court in Plymouth, in May, 1821, at the first term thereof in the new court house, is worthy of preservation. "Alas! that our joy, on this interesting occasion, should be mixed with grief for the loss of that excellent and venerable man, who presided in your courts, and was so long the widow's friend, and father of the fatherless. This temple of justice is but one of the durable proofs of his influence, and of the never-failing confidence, which your people had in his integrity and judgment. His respected name will descend with distinguished' honor to posterity; but the benignity of his countenance and manners can be properly estimated only by those, who had the happiness to know him. If he were here to-day, he would rejoice with you, because he would have believed that this well-timed liberality will be productive of lasting honor and benefit to the country, as well as to the state. He was fully impressed with that veneration for the laws and for the magistracy, which will ever be associated with these walls.'

'When a Bible Society was formed in the counties of Plymouth and Norfolk, in 1814, he was chosen president, and so continued to the time of his death. He was also president of the Pilgrim Society, and his death is deeply lamented by all its members. The regrets of the Historical Society are mingled with those of others, with whom he was associated for useful and patriotic purposes; and they improve the earliest opportunity to record this sketch of his character and services from a respectful regard for his memory, and as an incitement to others to honorable exertion for the good of the public and of posterity.'

Judge Thomas married Isabella Stevenson; and their descendants were John Boies, William, and Joshua Barker.

The town purchased of the court of sessions of the county, the old court house, for the sum of $2,000, to be appropriated as a Town House.

April.--The town voted that the court of sessions of the

county may make any walks or improvement on the town's land in front of the new court house, or in any way ornament the same with trees or posts, &c., leaving a sufficient road open on each side; but no building whatever to be erected on the land.

May 29.-The town voted to instruct their representative in general court to use every reasonable effort for better regulating and diminishing the sale and use of spirituous liquors, and for preventing pauperism.

Voted, also, that the selectmen be requested to address the. selectmen of the several towns in the county, furnishing them with a copy of the above vote, and request their co-operation therewith; either on their own responsibility, or by laying the subject before their several towns respectively.

1822. The town voted to petition the legislature to pass a law prohibiting fires in the woods by coal-pits in Plymouth, Sandwich, Carver, Wareham and Kingston.

Mr. Ichabod Shaw died this year, aged eighty-seven. He was descended from John Shaw, of an ancient and respectable family, who was among our first settlers, and located himself in Middleborough. He was an ingenious and industrious artist, possessing a sagacious mind, and was held in regard for his friendly and social qualities. He was strongly attached to the names of the pilgrim fathers, and was himself an exemplifier of their simple manners and virtues. He married a daughter of deacon John Atwood of this town, and was the parent of five sons and seven daughters.

1823. December 22. This day brings us to the 203d year since the landing of the pilgrims in this place. The semiannual meeting of the Pilgrim Society was held, agreeably to the provision of their constitution. The interesting associations and pleasing recollections of the occasion were awakened and indulged, but the appropriate public performances were dispensed with.

1824.-January 26. At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town, it was voted to petition congress for aid in repairing the beach. The petition expresses grateful acknowledgements for the appropriations heretofore made, for surveying and securing the harbor of Plymouth; after which it proceeds to represent, 'that since the landing of our ancestors in 1620, this beach has been gradually wasting. From the year 1784 to the present time, repairs have been necessary for its preservation; and since the year 1806, the sum of $40,000 has been expended in repairing it. This sum has been raised by grants from this state, by contributions of individuals, and by taxes assessed on

your memorialists. The repairs thus made, have hitherto warranted the belief, that with our means, though small, we should be able to preserve it without further aid from the public; such, however, has been the destruction, by the late violent storms, of the northern extremity of the beach, heretofore considered the most permanent, as well as the most important, and where repairs have not been considered requisite, that your memorialists are satisfied it is wholly beyond their means to make the repairs necessary to preserve it.

'Your memorialists forbear to describe the distress that the destruction of this beach will bring upon the inhabitants of the ports of Plymouth and Kingston, in the loss of their property and employments; nor would they particularly remind you of the hopeless situation in which our numerous class of fishermen would thereby be placed, who, from their youth, have had no other employment than in the fisheries; but they would most respectfully place the merits of their appeal on the importance of this harbor to the commerce, navigation and revenue of the country.

'There are now, belonging to the ports of Plymouth and Kingston, two ships, fourteen brigs, sixty-five schooners, and fifteen sloops, measuring 8,228 tons, which vessels are employed partly in foreign trade, partly in the coasting trade, and partly in the whale, cod, and mackerel fisheries.

'The amount of duties secured on imports in the district of Plymouth within the last three years, is $65,574 67, four-fifths of which amount were secured on importations at this port. This harbor is often frequented by vessels, when by adverse winds they are driven from their ports of destination north of this district; and, during the inclement seasons of the year, vessels are often saved from shipwreck by entering it. It is also of great national importance in time of war. It is the only harbor, south of Boston, in the Massachusetts Bay, embracing a sea coast of more than one hundred and fifty miles, in which vessels can then anchor in safety from the enemy. During the wars in which this country has been engaged, a large amount of property has been saved to individuals, and of revenue to the government, which, without this safe retreat, would have been lost. During the last war, many vessels were thus saved. The duties arising on the cargoes of two vessels amounted to $154,836 21, which, without this harbor, would have inevitably fallen into the hands of the enemy. From March, 1813, to May, 1814, was perhaps the most gloomy period of the war. The ships of the enemy were almost constantly cruising in the Massachusetts Bay. Yet, during this

short and perilous period, the duties secured at this port on the cargoes of vessels, that escaped the ships of the enemy and found safety in this harbor, amounted to the sum of $20,318 32. By the public surveys it also appears, that ships of the line can anchor with safety in this harbor, which may be considered as increasing the interest the public have in its preservation.

'Your memorialists, having thus briefly stated the importance of this harbor to themselves and the public, and their inability to make the repairs on the beach which are necessary to its preservation, do pray your honorable body to take the subject into consideration, and to grant them such aid in repairing it, as to your wisdom may appear proper.' Subsequent to this memorial, Congress made grants amounting to $43,566, for the repairs. See under head Beach.

Monumental Edifice. September 1.-The funds of the Pilgrim Society being thought sufficient to warrant the trustees in commencing the building of a monumental edifice, the corner-stone was this day laid, with appropriate solemnities. This edifice is to be seventy by forty feet, with walls of unwrought, split granite; the height from the top of the foundation to the eave cornice, being about thirty-three feet, forms two stories. The lower room is to be about ten feet in the clear of the ceiling; and the upper to the impost moulding about twenty feet, to which being added the curve of the ceiling, is about twentythree feet. The present contract extends no farther than to enclose the main building. It is intended, as soon as the state of the funds will justify, to form the front by an addition of about twenty feet, with a double tier of steps, having entrance to the upper room, and by descent to the lower. The front

will be finished with a Doric portico on four columns, of about twenty feet in height, the base of which will be from three to four feet above the level of the street. The situation presents a full view of the outer harbor.

The Pilgrim Society, under the escort of the Standish Guards, proceeded to the meeting-house, where intercession was made by the Rev. Mr. Kendall, select passages of scripture were read by Rev. Mr. Willis, of Kingston, and an address on the character and virtues of our fathers was delivered by Alden Bradford, Esq., reaching the hearts of his hearers as it came warm from his own. The solemnities of the church were closed by singing a hymn in the tune of Old Hundred, after the ancient manner, line by line. The society, under the same escort, and preceded by the children of the several schools, then proceeded to the site of the proposed building, laid the corner-stone, when the venerable President, John Watson,