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 I am at once confronted by three Harlow houses, standing like sentinels to guard what may be considered their family domain. These are the houses which in an earlier generation were occupied by Ephraim, Sylvanus and George Harlow. In my study of family names I have often found them confining themselves within certain town bounds. For instance there are the names of Stetson, Gray and Willis in Kingston; Sprague, Weston, Winsor and Soule in Duxbury; Lobdell, Harrub and Parker in Plympton, and of Ransom and Vaughan and Murdock in Carver, all like the clans of Scotland, keeping within their own borders. Nor were the limits within which the various names were found always as broad as the bounds of the towns. As for instance there were on the north side of the brook the Jacksons, Russells, Hedges, Spooners, Cottons, etc., and on the south side the Harlows, Dotens, Stephens and Barnes, representatives of each succeeding generation, settling among the familiar scenes of their youth. A hundred years, or perhaps more, ago, it was the custom in town meeting to divide the house in voting on important questions, the affirmative voters gathering on the north side, and the negative on the south. On one occasion after the division, but before the count, the moderator called out—a Ponds man on the wrong side of the house. When I see the sign of C. B. Harlow on Market street I am tempted to say, a Harlow man on the wrong side of the brook. In 1851 I was riding from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Shelburne, and stopped at the inn in Liverpool for dinner. While eating alone, the landlord came into the dining room and entered into conversation. I asked him his name, and he said, Bradford Harlow, and in answer to my inquiry where he came from he said, “You may guess a hundred times and you will not guess right.” “Well,” I said, “I will venture to say that either you or your father came from Plymouth in Massachusetts.” “By George,” he exclaimed, pounding his hand down on the table, “You have guessed right the first time.” I then told him I was a Plymouth man, and I did not believe such a combination of names could be found in any other town. His father was a ship carpenter, who after the Revolution moved down to Liverpool to work at his trade, and made that town his future residence. For some reason, which I cannot satisfactorily explain, there was at that time quite a migration of ship carpenters from Plymouth to Nova Scotia, which was made practicable by the frequent resort of Plymouth vessels bound to the fishing banks, to the harbors of Shelburne and Barrington and Liverpool. Among them were William Drew, who went to Liverpool, and James Cox, who went to Shelburne, the latter of whom married there Elizabeth Rowland about the year 1800, and continued there until his death. The late William Rowland Cox of Chiltonville, a son of James, and a well known master carpenter, came to Plymouth as long ago as I can remember, and Martha Taylor, a daughter, also came and married Ephraim Bartlett, whose daughter Martha Ann, widow of the late Geo. E. Morton, is a much respected resident of Plymouth.
Ephraim Harlow, above mentioned, was the son of Sylvanus and Desire (Sampson) Harlow, and was born in 1770. He was somewhat extensively engaged in navigation and real estate. In navigation he not only built one or more vessels on his own account, but he was also associated with James Bartlett, Jr., and others, in building the bark Fortune in 1822 for the whale fishery, and at a later period in building the schooner Maracaibo, for the same business. In the early part of the last century he owned in connection with his brother Jesse, Nathaniel Carver, and Benjamin M. Watson all the land on the west side of Pleasant street, between the brook and Jefferson street extending back to the poor house land, the northeasterly part of which, after sundry sales and divisions, came into his sole possession. On this part he built the house which he occupied until his death, on Robinson street in the rear of the old Robinson church. In the rear of his house he opened a Court in 1825, and built a house which was occupied by James Morton, sexton of the Unitarian church, whom I remember sitting during the service at the head of the south pulpit stairs. Mr. Harlow was a man of tried probity and intelligence, receptive of various measures of reform, such as anti-slavery and temperance measures, which both he and his family did much to support. He married in 1794 Jerusha, daughter of Thos. Doten, and had Jerusha Howes, Ephraim, Thos. Doten and Jabez. He married second, Ruth, daughter of William Sturtevant of Carver and had Jane, 1808, who married Atwood L. Drew, Hannah Shaw, 1810, who married George Adams, Ruth Sturtevant, 1815, whose early death was lamented by a large circle of friends; Zilpha Washburn, 1818, who married Nathaniel Bourne Spooner, and Desire Sampson, 1821. He died December 15, 1859.
The house on the corner of Pleasant and Sandwich streets, now occupied by William H. Harlow, was built by his grandfather, Jesse Harlow, not long after the Revolution, and in my early days was occupied by David Harlow, the father of the present occupant, who kept a store there for many years. David Harlow married in 1823, Eliza Sherman, daughter of Lewis and Betsey (Weston) Finney, and had David L., who married Lucy Cook of Kingston; Isaac Newton, who married Catherine Weston; Henry M., who married Sarah F. Cowen; Ezra, who married Catherine Covington; Ann Eliza, Hannah, Pelham W., who married Etta H. Mayo; Edward P., who married Nancy Sanford of Taunton, and William H., who married Annie Gibbs of Providence. David Harlow died July 22, 1859.
The house on Sandwich street, next but one to the David Harlow house, was built in 1825 by George Harlow, who bought the lot on which it stands, in that year from the heirs of Thomas Doty. George Harlow was the son of Samuel and Remembrance (Holmes) Harlow, and was born in 1789. He was in my day chiefly engaged in the Grand Bank fishery. He married in 1813, Lydia, daughter of Nathaniel Ellis, and had Nathaniel Ellis, 1813, who married Julia A. Whiting of Bangor; Lydia, 1819, who married Albert Tribble; Esther, 1821, who married John Henry Hollis; George Henry, 1823, who married Sarah E. Morton, and Samuel, who married Mary H. Bradford. Mr. Harlow died May 9, 1865.
I must not wander far beyond the brook without a notice of Rev. Adoniram Judson, the distinguished Baptist missionary, who was a citizen of Plymouth from 1802 to 1812, and who always, until his death, considered it his American home. His father, Rev. Adoniram Judson, was born in Woodbury in 1751, and graduated at Yale in 1775. After settlements in Malden and Wenham he was settled, May 12, 1802, the first pastor of the third Plymouth church near Training Green. Before coming to Plymouth he married Abigail, daughter of Abraham Brown of Tiverton, and had four children, Adoniram, Elnathan, Abigail Brown and Mary Alice. Elnathan, born probably in Wenham in 1795, was a surgeon in the United States Navy, and died in Washington May 8, 1829. Of Mary Alice I know nothing. Abigail Brown was born in Malden March 21, 1791, and died in Plymouth, where since 1802 she had always lived, January 25, 1884. I remember her well, and many times called at her home to talk with her about her brother, Adoniram, and his missionary service. She was a calm, placid woman, with a saintly face, and in everything but speech resembled a Quakeress. The last time I saw her she was crossing Town Square on a hot summer day, wearing a green calash pulled down by the ribbon loop attached to its front, to protect her face from the rays of the sun. The father continued his pastorate until 1817, when becoming a Baptist he resigned, and after preaching for the Plymouth Baptists, then worshipping in Old Colony Hall, previous to the erection of their meeting house on Spring street in 1822, he removed in 1820 to Scituate, where he died November 28, 1826. During his Plymouth pastorate he became the owner of all the lots of land on the west side of Pleasant street, which for a time was called Judson street, from the lot now owned by Chas. P. Hatch to Jefferson street inclusive. On the Hatch lot he built and occupied the house, which with considerable alteration is now standing, and in 1808 sold it to his daughter, Abigail, who made it her home until her death in 1884. Rev. Adoniram Judson, the missionary, son of Rev. Adoniram and Abigail (Brown) Judson, was born in Malden, August 9, 1788, and graduated at Brown University in 1807. After leaving college he taught a private school two years in Plymouth, where he published the “Young Ladies’ Arithmetic,” and a work on English Grammar. Until 1810 his religious views were unsettled, but in that year he joined his father’s church, and after a short time at the Andover Seminary was admitted to preach by the Orange Association of Congregational ministers in Vermont. Having determined to enter the missionary service, he sailed for England with the view of making the necessary arrangements, and was captured by a French privateer, and after a short imprisonment at Bayonne, reached England, returning in 1811, and being ordained as missionary at Salem, February 6, 1812. He married February 5, 1812, Ann Hazeltine, of Bradford, Mass., and daughter of John and Rebecca Hazeltine, and sailed for Calcutta on the 19th of that month. Soon after reaching India he became a Baptist, and severing his connection with the American Board he was baptized by Dr. Carey, the English missionary at Serampore. When the war broke out between the East India Company and the Burman Government, Dr. Judson was arrested for alleged complicity with the English, and suffered a long imprisonment, during which a child, Maria E. B. Judson, was born, who died April 24, 1827, at the age of two years and three months. Mrs. Judson died at Amherst, Burman Empire, October 24, 1826. In 1834 he married Sarah Hall Boardman, widow of Rev. George Dana Boardman, and daughter of Ralph and Abiah Hall of Alstead, N. H., who died on her way to America at St. Helena, September 1, 1845. In the autumn of that year Dr. Judson made his first and only visit to the United States, where he remained until July, 1846. During that visit it was my privilege to meet him. At that time the mail stage for Boston, leaving Plymouth at half past ten, met the accommodation stage leaving Boston at eleven o’clock, and the passengers dined together at the half way house in West Scituate, and there I met and sat next to him at the dinner table. He was rather above the average height, had brown hair, a smooth face, and an expression indicative of a life of serious thought and sad experience. He reminded me of portraits of Charles the First, and also of the portrait now in Pilgrim Hall of Governor Josiah Winslow, in both of which is depicted the expression to which I have referred. During his visit he married in June, 1846, Emily Chubbuck, a native of Eaton, N. Y., known in the literary world as Fanny Forester, and sailed with her for India in the following month. By his second wife his children were Adoniram, Elnathan, Henry, Edward and Abby Ann, and by his third wife, a daughter, Emily, who married a Mr. Hanna. Dr. Judson died at sea April 12, 1850, and his widow returning to America in 1851, died June 1, 1854. His great literary works were a Burmese translation of the Scriptures, and a Burmese English dictionary.
Ichabod, son of Ichabod and Sarah (Churchill) Morton, was born in Plymouth in January, 1790. He always lived in Wellingsley, but precisely where he was born I am unable to say. His father built the house now owned by the heirs of Edwin Morton, when Ichabod was a year old, and there he lived until he bought in 1829 the house in which he died. For many years he kept with his brother Edwin, a general store in a building which was erected and occupied as a dwelling house by Eleazer Churchill. The firm of I. & E. Morton early added to their business that of the Grand Bank fishery, and also built vessels engaged in coastwise and foreign trade. They were the earliest traders in Plymouth to abandon the sale of intoxicating liquors, and among the first to join the movement against the institution of slavery. Mr. Morton became also much interested in the cause of education, and in town meetings strongly advocated increasing appropriations for the support of public schools. When the policy was adopted by the state of establishing Normal schools, he only needed the co-operation of the leading men in Plymouth to make his own earnest efforts successful in securing the location here of the school which was established in Bridgewater. Horace Mann publicly recognized in him one of his ablest coadjutors in the cause of education. For a short time his business was interrupted by his association with the Brook Farm enterprise, but the dreams of that social experiment soon gave way to the practical pursuits of business life. He married Patty, daughter of Coomer Weston, and had November 22, 1821, a daughter, Abigail, who married Manuel A. Diaz. He married second Betsey, daughter of Gideon Holbrook, and had George E., 1829, Nathaniel, 1831, Ichabod, 1833, Austin, 1834, and Howard, 1836, and died May 10, 1861. Mrs. Diaz, well known as a writer, died in Belmont in the spring of 1904, and was buried at Mount Auburn.
One of the measures in which at one time Mr. Morton was much interested, was that for a division of the town. In 1855, at the time when the construction of town water works was decided, it was supposed by many in the south part of the town that the pecuniary burden which the enterprise would impose on the town, it was their duty to adopt every means to escape. Henry W. Cushman, who had been Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1851 to 1853, had expressed a desire for the incorporation of a town bearing his name, and it was understood that the christening might confer a financial benefit on the town so named. It was thought therefore that the time was a favorable one to have the southerly part of the town set off under the name of Cushman. If I remember rightly the dividing line asked for in the petition of Caleb Morton and others ran from the harbor, through Winter and Mount Pleasant streets. Favorable reports were made in both 1855 and 1856, but the bills recommended for passage were rejected. Mr. Morton took an active part in urging the division, but I suspect that neither he nor any person now living regretted the issue.
Two other attempts to divide the town have been made since Kingston was set off and incorporated in 1726. In 1783 ten heads of families representing themselves as composing one-sixth of the precinct of Manomet Ponds petitioned the General Court to have Cedarville and Ellisville set off to Sandwich. The petitioners who were given leave to withdraw were, Seth Mendall, Wm. Ellis, Thomas Ellis, Eleazer Ellis, Barnabas Ellis, Phineas Swift, Samuel Morris, Prince Wadsworth, Samuel Gibbs and Catherine Swift. Another movement in favor of a division was started in 1837, but when brought before the town it was defeated by a vote of 376 to 246.
While the question of the division was pending in 1855 and 1856, I was chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and of course was cognizant of all that was done to defeat the measure. In those days the members of the legislature remained during the week in Boston, or its immediate vicinity, only going home to spend the Sabbath. The board invited them to make an excursion to Plymouth on Fast Day, and entertained them at the Samoset House. It is needless to say that the argument was conclusive. A more difficult task awaited the board the next year to oppose a petition to change the shire to Bridgewater. As soon as the legislature of 1857 came together, the board of which I was still chairman, placed printed remonstrances in the hands of reliable men in every town in the county, which poured into the legislature bearing, I think, the names of a majority of the voters of the county. A similar petition was sent to the legislature at a time earlier than I can remember, headed by Col. Sylvanus Lazell of Bridgewater, who unfamiliar with the meaning of words, claimed that Plymouth had been a seaport long enough, and that it was Bridgewater’s turn. At that time a resolve was passed by the legislature requiring the submission of two questions to the voters of the county: First, are you in favor of a removal of the shire, and second, in what town shall the shire be located. In answer to these questions a majority voted for a removal, and singularly enough, a majority also voted in favor of Plymouth for the location. With the erection of a Court house in Brockton, and the erection of a Registry in Plymouth, I think the crisis is passed, and that no further attempts will be made to remove the shire. The increasing population of Plymouth will serve to check the disturbance of the equilibrium of the county, which the growth of Brockton has heretofore caused.