Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

“Said he could not see the town

There were so many houses.”

Howland street was laid out August 6, 1728, by Thomas Howland, through his land, and by deed of that date, under the name of Howland street, was dedicated to public use. For more than a hundred years it extended only as far as the present westerly line of the Gas works land, though originally laid out to the shore, but on the tenth of September, 1859, it was formally laid out in accordance with the original intent of Mr. Howland.

Main street, once called Hanover street, like Court street, was one of the original ways, not formally laid out, but from time to time changed along its lines. The first important change was effected May 26, 1851, by straightening the westerly line from the corner of the land now owned by Wm. P. Stoddard, to the Plymouth Bank Building. Up to that time the Thomas house, now the Plymouth tavern, had a front yard perhaps twenty feet deep, and the law office of Wm. Thomas was on the southeast corner of the lot. Next south of the Thomas house and land, was an old house built out to the Thomas line, and both estates were cut off at the above date, thus establishing the present line of the street. Another important change was made August 3, 1886, by running a new line on the westerly side from the bank to Town Square, moving all the buildings back to the line, and giving the street at the narrowest point between Middle and Leyden streets, a width of fifty-eight feet seven inches. Its present name of Main street was adopted by the town in 1823. Middle street was laid out August 6, 1725, by Jonathan Bryant, Consider Howland, Isaac Little and Mayhew Little, owners of the land “for and in consideration of the public good, and for the more regular and uniform situation of the town of Plymouth, and to be forever hereafter called King street.” At the time of the revolution it informally received its present name, which was finally adopted by the town in 1823, and on the 6th of March, 1899, it was widened to its present width. The way from the foot of the street to Water street, which for the purposes of this narrative, may be considered a part of the street, was laid out September 21, 1768, and May 13, 1807.

Two remarkable coincidences have occurred in connection with Middle street. In the early part of the 18th century one of the Bryant family kept a tavern on the corner of Main and Middle streets, which is called on the records Bryant’s tavern, and in 1834 Danville Bryant kept a tavern on the same site. The other coincidence relates to the third Parish, which was established in Middle street, and built a meeting house in 1744, where the house occupied by Mr. Frink now stands. Rev. Thomas Frink of Rutland, Vt., was settled as its pastor, and more than a hundred years later our present townsman, bearing the same name, came to Plymouth, and now lives on the same site. These coincidences are constantly occurring as if men were mere puppets following unconsciously certain predestined lines. When the Plymouth Woolen Mill went into operation about 1865, a Scotchman by the name of Fernside was employed as a wool sorter. After the manufacture of flannels was abandoned he bought and settled on land in Duxbury, which a man of the same name occupied more than two hundred years before. A story of what perhaps may be called a coincidence, was told me by our townsman Wm. Burns. He came from Scotland, and on his arrival between 1850 and 1860, was employed in the Cordage Company’s store at Seaside. One day a man drove up to the store, and as he alighted, Mr. Burns said to him, “Good morning, Mr. Glass,—when did you come over?” “What do you mean by coming over?” replied the man. “Why, from Scotland,” said Mr. Burns. “I never was in Scotland, my ancestors have lived in Duxbury since about 1640.” “Is not your name Glass?” continued Mr. Burns. “Yes,” said the man. “Why, I thought you were Mr. Glass, a neighbor of mine in Scotland,” said Mr. Burns. This may, however, not have been a coincidence, but a remarkable perpetuation of a family type. I have had in my own experience more than one illustration of the descent of family types, through many generations, one of which recently occurred. A stranger met me in the street and asked me if I was Mr. Davis. I said, “Yes, and your name is Howland.” “How do you know that?” he asked, “I have never seen you before.” I said, “I know by your hand with its web fingers,” instances of which I have known in five generations of the family of Henry Howland, one of the early members of the Plymouth Colony. It is true that he might have descended from a female Howland, and thus borne another name, but I was right in calling him by that name.

North street was laid out in 1633, and at various times was called New street, Queen street, Howland street and North street, which last name was adopted by the town in 1823. The upper half of the street, on its northerly side, has been changed since 1830 by the erection of the following houses; that of Dr. Brown, built in 1833 by Jacob Covington, on the site of the old Marcy house; the next house built in 1830 by Rev. Frederick Freeman, the pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational church; the easterly addition of the house of the late Edward L. Barnes on the site of the house of Capt. William Rogers, and the house now occupied by Isaac M. Jackson, built about 1850, by Thomas T. Jackson, on the site of a house, which within my memory, was occupied by William Morton Jackson, and Richard Bagnall and others.

On the upper half of the street on the southerly side the following houses have been built since 1830; that built in 1838 by Ebenezer G. Parker, the cashier of the Old Colony Bank, and now occupied by the Misses Russell; that built in 1832 by Mrs. Betsey H. Hodge, recently occupied by Mrs. Thomas B. Drew; that occupied by Benjamin A. Hathaway, and built by Abraham Jackson on the site of one previously occupied by him, which was built about 1745 by Colonel George Watson; and finally the public library building built by the heirs of William G. Russell and Mary Ellen, his wife, on a part of the old Jackson land.

On the lower half of the street there have been several changes in its boundaries. From the way leading to the oil works, as Winslow street was called, at a point in front of the Willoughby house, there was for many years a way with steps running easterly and reaching the street below at an acute angle, thus breaking the continuity of the stone wall bounding the street. About 1858, while I was chairman of the selectmen, the board discontinued this way, and rebuilt the wall on a continuous line.

On the other side of the street there was another way with steps at its upper and lower ends opening opposite the northerly door of the Plymouth Rock House, and reaching the street below immediately above the house which stood on the corner of Water street. This way has also been discontinued by the selectmen. Through my youth a row of balm of Gilead trees stood below the wall extending from the elm tree in front of the house of Mrs. Ruth H. Baker to the way above mentioned. The Linden tree standing on the corner of Cole’s Hill, has an interesting romance associated with it. The tree was planted by a youthful couple as a memorial of their engagement, and when not long afterwards, in 1809, the engagement was discontinued, and the memorial was no longer prized by the lady in whose garden it had been planted, she one day pulled it up, and threw it into the street. My father, who happened to pass at the time, picked it up and planted it where it now stands. He lived in the house now known as the Plymouth Rock House, where he died in 1824, and under his careful nursing it survived its treatment, and has grown into the beautiful tree, now blessing so many with its grateful shade. In that house I was born in 1822, and lived until I was more than twenty years of age, and hundreds of times I have climbed the branches of the Linden, often with book in hand, seeking shelter from the summer sun.

North street received a new laying out February 11, 1716, and still another on the 7th of October, 1765, and after the estates on Water street below Cole’s Hill had been bought by the Pilgrim Society in 1856, and other dates, land was thrown out by the society, and the corner rounded.