North River, have been and are places of delivery for the productions of Halifax.

Of the white pine and other forest trees, very large tracts have been prostrated by the gales of Oct. 1804, and Sept. 1815. On this last occasion the saw mills are not sufficiently numerous, or supply of water copious enough to convert them into boards and plank, without detrimental delay. Fuel on the spot sells in Halifax, oak 82, 50, and pine 82 the cord. The arable lands, easier of tillage than those of Plympton, yield an average of Indian corn, 15 bushels, rye 10, and oats 20 bushels the There are farms in this town which keep twenty head of cattle, and orchards that in good seasons yield 25 barrels of cider, but in 1813, only one barrel of cider was made in the town. So various and uncertain are fruit bearing seasons, and so destructive is the canker worm to the apple tree. Cider, butter, and cheese, with other articles, are carried to market. Of sheep there may be 700 or more kept in the place.

acre.

Rivers, Brooks, and Ponds. The Winnatuxet stream, after passing Plympton, crosses the S. W. section of this town two or more miles to its junction with the Bridgewater or Teticut Great River. Crooked, sluggish, fordable, and liable to freshets, it varies from fourteen to thirty feet in width. Its borders afford much fresh meadow. Raven's and Lucas's Brooks are tributaries. Small as the Winnatuxet is, we are told of three vessels having been built on it within the limits of this town, which passed to the sea at Newport; one as early as 1754, built by a Mr. Drew.† Yet in the summer there is, at times, a deficiency of water for a grist mill on this stream, across which are several small bridges.

Moonponset Pond, in the north section of the town, is two miles long and more than half a mile wide. It has

• Cider has been often sold for one dollar the barrel, the liquor only. At Ply. mouth, in 1813 and 14, a period of war, it was $7,50, and more; and we have known oranges to be as plenty, and nearly as cheap, at Plymouth, as apples were at that period.

† John Drew, a native of Wales, came to Plymouth as early as 1660, and was, probably, a ship carpenter. In 1670, he possessed a fishing shallop. Three of his sons settled in Plymouth and two in Duxbury. He has numerous descendants in these towns and other places, many of whom have been of the same profession.

an inlet from White's Pond in Pembroke, and an outlet through that town and Bridgewater to the sea by Taunton River, by which route alewives pass into both ponds. It contains, also, other small fish. A neck, which may contain thirty acres, intersects the Moonponset north and south, and a bridge connects the shores, so that it seems to be two ponds. A part of the northern extreme and outlet is in Pembroke limits. Iron ore has abounded in this pond, and 100 tons, annually, continues to be procured. The road from Plymouth to Bridgewater passes the south west margin of this pleasant pond, from which point of view one of its sections is scarcely seen, so that the traveller mistakes, doubtless, the south shore of the neck or peninsula, we have described, to be the extent of the pond, which is not the fact. Another point of view must be attained to embrace its whole surface. The word Moonponset is not easily explained; we believe it a collective or augmentative term. It may be "much nets," or "many ponds." It gave name to the territory.* Moonpenset Pond covers 1000 acres. The sandy neck that intersects it is, in places, thirty feet high.

White's Pond in Pembroke, and Jones' River Head Pond are about a mile apart. The waters of the first, as we have stated, pass to Narragansett Bay, and those of the latter through Kingston to Plymouth harbour.

Mills. There are four saw mills, two grist mills, one blowing furnace, one air furnace, one cotton factory, and, formerly, a windmill.

1790, souls 662; families 124. Population, A. D. 1800, 642; houses 95.

1810,

703; taxable polls 120. There is, in military affairs, one uniformed light infantry company (which marched to Boston, 1814) and one of militia, and both are annexed to the first regiment, fifth division.

Many of the inhabitants of this small village have attained great age. As many as five or six, of those who have died in twelve years past, were ninety years old.

• Halifax has a north east boundary of a mile and a half on Jones' River Head Pond.

Mrs. Briggs, the mother of the late minister of the place, died, two years since, aged 94, and Mr. John Briggs, aged 98, is yet living. The people of Halifax are, with a few exceptions, direct descendants of the Plymouth first planters. Some few names, such as Thomson, Waterman, Bosworth, Briggs, Sturtevant, make nearly half the population. Of Thomson there were, in 1790, thirty two males over 16 years of age. The name of Bosworth, however, spread over Plymouth Colony, and thence to Rhode Island. We trace it to Nantasket in 1670, when persons of this name emigrated thence to Plymouth. There are evidently a few Hingham and Weymouth early names, also, in Halifax and its vicinity.

Among those, who have passed off the stage of human life with reputation and credit, we may, with propriety, notice Thomas Croade, Esq. a magistrate and merchant, who abode and died at Halifax. He lived, also, at Plymouth. Much of the recording in the probate registry, at one period, appears to be in his hand-writing, which is elegant for the period in which he lived. The late Mr. Croade, a merchant of Warren, Rhode Island, was of the same lineage. This name is not to be traced among the first colonists.

Church history. There is one Congregational religious society in Halifax. The meeting-house, a small edifice, is situated on elevated ground on the road from Plymouth to Bridgewater, and the prospect from it, southerly, is commanding, Monts Hill, in Kingston, being in full view, seven miles distant, S. E.

Succession of Ministers.

Rev. John Cotton, ordained 1735, resigned 1756. William Patten, ord. 1757, dismissed 1768. Ephraim Briggs, ord. 1769, died 1801, aged 72. Abel Richmond, ordained 1801.

Mr. Cotton graduated at Cambridge, 1730. His voice became impaired, which alone led to his resignation; and even with this infirmity the people wished for his continuance. He died in civil office in his native town, Plymouth, 1789, aged 77 years. His printed works are,

"Seasonable Warnings to the Churches of New England," "Tracts on Infant Baptism," "History of Plymouth Church." He was a member of the convention for forming the state constitution, town and county treasurer, register of deeds, a man of method, of few words, of much reading on historical, religious, and also medicinal subjects. His library, chiefly of ancient literature, was considerable.*

Mr. Patten, who graduated at Cambridge, 1754, was born at Roxbury, and, it is stated, was at Halifax about ten years, and subsequently at Hartford, Connecticut, about four years. He was an eloquent and popular preacher. He died at his native place, leaving a son, the Rev. Dr. Patten, settled in the ministry at Newport, Rhode Island.

Mr. Briggs, who graduated at Cambridge, 1764, was of Norton,† and served as a sergeant in the war of 1756, at Crown Point.

Mr. Richmond, the present pastor, is a graduate of Brown University, 1797.

HISTORY OF PLYMPTON, (CARVER AND A PART OF HALIFAX INCLUSIVE.)

IN 1637,

1637, "Lakenham Farm," then so called, situate east side Six Mile Brook, on the path to Namasket, was granted to Mr. Jenny, of Plymouth, who was an assistant. He held it by the same tenure as similar grants, no longer than while resident at Plymouth; if he removed, it reverted; a necessary policy of that early period to keep the people together, and thereby prevent the dissolution of an infant colony, then, on all sides, exposed to danger from indiscreet dispersion. This farm falls within Carver. The name, from several small lakes, is applicable to the place, particularly Wenham Pond, in

Mr. Cotton, before his settlement, kept sohool at Billingsgate, (Cape Cod) Rochester, and Middleborough, and preached at Manomet Ponds and Wareham. †That part of Norton now Mansfield, where he has a son settled in the ministry, another at Chatham, and another in Maine.

its immediate vicinity; still it is a name which may have been in use in England.

1640, "Colebrook South Meadows" and "Lakenham West Meadows," were granted divers persons. At this early period, some scattered cottages began to extend on the western precincts of the township of Plymouth, "on the path to Namasket," and successively in 1650 and 1662. "Winnatuxet, or the New Found Meadows," began to be granted to persons, whose lineal descendants now dwell there.* In 1664, South Meadows were purchased from the natives. About 1700, settlements extended, when lands there sold at 2s. the acre.

In 1702, "a burial ground, training field, ministerial lands, as near the meeting house as may be convenient," was laid out in the upper society, now Plympton.

The south part of the territory was then called "Samson's country," from the sachem of it, for whom and his wife a reserve of 200 acres was made, 1705. Their privileges were "fishing in the brooks and ponds, to make tar and turpentine, and to hunt on any undivided lands; to cut poles, and to get bark in undivided cedar swamps to make houses," &c. This man was a mighty hunter in days of yore. Tradition says, "a number of deer had come to a little brook to drink, when he killed so many at a shot, (too many to be here stated) as acquired for him immortal fame among the huntsmen of the forests. His real name was Assoomsin-ewet, literally, "he gives food," doubtless conferred for these heroic exploits.†

In conclusion it may be remarked, that the corners of Carver, Wareham, Rochester, and Middleborough, where they unite, were not much settled until about the year

• Bradford, Cushman, Sturtevant, Morton, King, Wright, &c. &c.

Sporting Anecdote.-About the year 1730, John Rider of Plymouth killed three deer at a shot in that town. It was in the summer season, in a rye field; tradition still designates the place on the South Pond road. It was out of season by law to kill deer. The superiour court, then in session in that town, excused the man on the spot, it being in protection of his standing grain This anecdote was related in England, by the late General Winslow, in very high circles. It excited the smile of incredulity in that isle of hark! forward! Yet no event is more trae. They were shot in range, reaching across the fence to the rye heads,