Mr. Foster was a son of deacon Thomas Foster, who, as well as his father, deacon John Foster,* frequently represented Plymouth in the General Court. The schoolmaster died, 1777, aged 74. A gentleman of the same name, late of Charlestown, (S. C.) an officer in one of the banks of that city, was his son. Mr. M. Cushing, born at Hingham, went from Plymouth to Charlestown, (Mass.) and from thence to New York where, it is said, he died. He fitted some young men of Plymouth for the university while at Charles town. Mr. C. Cushing within a few years died at Boston, clerk of the supreme judicial court. Mr. Stockbridge, who was of Hanover, died young. Dr. Lothrop, at Plymouth, of all the persons, now passing in review before us, only survives. Dr. Forbes, born at Bridgewater, was a minister of Raynham, and a professor of Brown University. Mr. Barrows, of strong passions, alienated the respect of the scholars, which led to his removal. His latter days were passed in the vicinage of Dighton. It is probable he was of Attleborough. Alexander Scammel, born, as has been stated, in that part of Mendon, now Milford, in the county of Worcester, graduated at Harvard College, 1769, and kept school first at Kingston. He repaired in the year 1771 to Portsmouth, N. H. where, under the auspices of a cousin of his name in the government employ, he entered upon the business of surveying and exploring lands, and of the royal navy timber, about 1772. In an interval of suspended occupation he kept school six weeks at Berwick; and at one period entered on the study of law with Mr. John Sullivan,† whom he stiles, "an excellent instructer and worthy patron." • Deacon John Foster died, 1741, aged 76. It is said he was a very independent member of the General Court, always declining executive favours. He held however many town offices, and was county treasurer. The "instructions" given by the town to his son Thomas, in 1765, appeared, we believe, in the Annual Register. He inclined to the loyal side in politicks, and was a respectable and useful man in the municipal and civil concerns of the time. Branches of this family are in Middleborough, Kingston, Norfolk, (Vir.) &c. A John Foster appears in Marshfield, 1689, probably the person first named, who removed to Plymouth. The late Gen. Sullivan. It appears that he was "to take the heads of the rivers, and Capt. Holland the mouths, to be inserted in his maps of America." It remains therefore to his scholars, now become men, and whose affections he commanded, to receive renewed instruction from their preceptor, while they may be tracing up the course of rivers on our maps. In August, 1772, he appears to be serving " on board the sloop Lord Chatham, bound from Piscataqua River to Boston, to send dispatches, plans and reports, &c. to the lords of the treasury." This vessel mounted swivels, and carried small arms, and her place of rendezvous was Falmouth, now Portland. Thus we trace Mr. S. from the seat of the muses and the village school, to the surveyorship of the then royal forests of New Hampshire and Maine; and shortly after ward, in the changeful course of events, rising rapidly in the military career, until we find him the confidential friend of Washington, whose early years, like his, were passed in the manly and useful profession of a surveyor, an employment, which, while it inures the constitution to fatigue, also aids the acquirement of what in military language is called " coup d'œil." One of the most remarkable traits in the character of Gen. Washington was, it is said, his intuitive knowledge of men. Doubly honourable indeed, then it is, to have received his confidence! Col. Scammel, adjutant general of the American armies, and field officer of the day, was wounded in a reconnoitre at the successful siege of York Town, September 30, 1781, of which wound he died in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, October,* where is a monumental tablet "Which conqu❜ring armies, from their toils return'd, Plymouth, October, 1815. HUMPHREYS. 1777. Col. Scammel, then of the third regiment of New Hampshire, was wounded in the battle of Saratoga. In 1780, the levy of the state was reduced to two regiments, when he commanded the first; he was also brigade major, 1775, of that state. PROGRESS OF VACCINATION IN AMERICA. BY DR. FANCHER. 275... New Jersey STATE. 500.... New Jersey and New York 1804 650....N. Jersey, N. York and Connecticut. 69 1805 700....Connecticut 35 Stopped the spreading of the small-pox, near the Scotch plains, New Jersey. Discovered a method expediting the disease; producing symptoms-two or Sent the Vaccine matter to West-India Islands. (Stopped the ravages of the small-pox, among the United States' troops at Swanton Falls, Lake Champlain. Sent Vaccine matter to various parts of the globe, by Capt. Herod, bound on a trading voyage. Sent the Vaccine matter to Rio Janeiro, and supplied the United States' squadron at New London. Prevented the small-pox spreading, in Hartford, Connecticut. Sent the Vaccine matter to Russia. Supplied United States' ship Guerriere-and furnished the Northern army Sent Vaccine matter in a crystaline state to China-Established a Vaccine Supplied foreign Missions with the Vaccine-stopped the small-pox among 35,870-Total. 345 None have died of the Vaccine, and none have taken the small-pox. • The principal object of this Institution is to furnish Mariners, bound on voyages, with the Vaccine, free of expense, for more generally diffusing the benefits of this benign discovery in every region of the globe. RUSSIAN VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. (Translated from the "Journal des débats" of Sept. 8, 1815, for the Historical Society.) THEY write from Cronstadt, August 5, 1815, as fol lows July 31, at 4 P. M. the ship Rurik, destined to make discoveries, came to sail. This vessel has been constructed and equipped, at the expense of the Chancellor of the empire, Count Nicolas Petrowitsch Romanzow, with the sole end of contributing to extend the sphere of the sciences. This object of general utility has determined the government to permit him to bear the Russian military flag. This ship is commanded by Lieut. Kotzebue, son of the celebrated writer of that name, who has already made the tour of the world, with Capt. De Krusenstern, on the Nadeshda. There is, on board of the Rurik, two other lieutenants of the ship, Schichmarew and Sacharun, of whom the first, although older in the service than M. de Kotzebuë, has willingly consented to serve under his orders. Beside Dr. Ezchobz, of the University of Dorpat, Mr. Chamisso, a celebrated naturalist, of Berlin, is of the voyage; also, the Danish naturalist, Wormskild, and the Russian painter, Choris. The Rurik will, it is said, double Cape Horn in the course of December, and employ the year 1816, and the beginning of 1817, to visit, in the South Sea, the places which have not hitherto been sufficiently examined. During the summer of 1817, it will coast the interior of America, even to Behring's Straits; and it will return by that of Torres, to the Cape of Good Hope, in a manner that it will, probably, return to Cronstradt in the month of August, 1817. Still it is left to the disposition of M. Kotzebue to prolong his voyage yet a year beyond this term, if he should judge it necessary, the better to fulfil the end of the expedition; which has been entirely conceived, and will be directed, after the plan given by M. Krusenstern. We may promise, therefore, that it will do honour to our country, and to M. Count Romanzow, who has already given many proofs of his zeal for the publick good, and the progress of the sciences and the arts. Note. An extract from Lloyd's Lists to January 23, 1816, republished in the Centinel shipping list, Boston, Mass. March 6, 1816. "Russian ship Rurik, Kotzebue, bound on a voyage of discovery, was spoken, Nov. 23, 1815, lat. 6 N. lon. 22 W." PAPER MONEY. (An extract from the Diary of a gentleman who died in 1756, and who was in civil office, and a member of the general court of Massachusetts, many years.*) 'SOME time about the year 1703, upon the occasion of the Indian War, came forth "Province Bills," which we call Paper Money, which at first were of good credit, and have then, and since, done considerable service in the expeditions, paying off the soldiers, and other publick charges, in building a College, Castle, Forts, &c. But they have also done considerable damage, in that, by reason thereof, all the stirring silver coin has been sent out of the country; and by its being undervalued, many quarrels and law suits have been occasioned. Men that have salaries, and set fees, have been very much wronged, and it has raised the price of almost every thing double; and what will be the event of it GOD only knows." A BARQUE BUILT AT PLYMOUTH, 1641. THE contributors for the building of a barque of 40. or 50 tons, January 24, 1641; estimated at the charge of 1.200. The late Judge Parsons, after reading this Diary, remarked on the writer, "that he was always correct, in religious, moral, and political opinions, in every thing." |