USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 234
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Stephen Ellis.
William Washburn, sergt.
Jonathan Barrows.
Ignatius Loring.
Joel Ellis.
John Shaw, sergt.
Nathaniel Atwood.
Perez Bradford.
Isaac Cushman.
Joseph Atwood, sergt.
Robert Sturtevant.
Nehemiah Bisbee.
Zephaniah Perkins.
Simmons Barrows, corp.
Bartlett Murdock.
David Briggs.
Abner Bishee.
Roland Hammond.
Benjamin Benson.
Jabez Muxam.
Ebenezer Durham.
The members of Capt. Shaw's company were :
Nathaniel Shaw, capt.
Hezekiah Cole.
Jonathan Tilson, Ist lieut.
Nathan Cobb.
Francis Shurtleff, 2d lieut.
Danicl Faunce.
Joshua Perkins, sergt.
John Rickard.
Joseph Cobb, sergt.
William Sturtevant.
Eleazer Crocker, sergt.
Issachar Fuller.
Barnabas Lucas.
Elisha Lucas, sergt. Consider Chase, corp.
John Sherman.
Samuel Cobb, corp.
John Atwood.
Eleazer Rickard, Jr., corp.
Benjamin Shurtleff.
Job Weston, sergt.
Adam Wright.
Ebenezer Soule, corp.
Levi Wright.
Levi Bryant, drummer.
Benjamin Wright.
Zebedee Chandler.
Nathaniel Churchill.
Isaiah Tilson, drummer.
Lemuel Stephens. John Stephens.
Ezekiel Loring.
Ebenezer Cushman.
Lemuel Crocker.
Amaziah Doten.
John Lucas.
Joseph Ransom.
David Wood.
Elijah Ransom.
Ebenezer Lobdell.
Isaac Rickard.
James Doten.
Joshua Totman.
1
had sent orders for the immediate return of Capt. Balfour to Boston, and that in obedience to that order his embarkation had been effected only an hour or two before. The regiment consisted of six or seven hundred men. and Capt. Balfour afterwards stated that if he had been attacked he should have surren- dered without firing a gun. Thus Marshfield not only narrowly escaped furnishing the first battle-field of the war. but also furnishing a victory with the moral effect of which that of the skirmishes of Con- cord and Lexington would present no comparison.
The officers of the First Regiment were Theophilus Cotton, of Plymouth, colonel ; Thomas Lathrop, of Plymouth, lieutenant-colonel; John Gray, of King- ston. first major : and Seth Cushing, of Plympton, second major. The Plympton companies in this regi- ment. all of which went to Marshfield, were under the command of Capt. John Bradford, Capt. Thomas Loring, Capt. William Atwood, and Capt. Nathaniel Shaw. The members of Capt. Bradford's company were as follows :
John Bradford. capt.
Ezekiel Johnson.
Jesse Sturtevant, lieut.
Isaac Lobdell.
James Harlow, ensign.
Elijah McFarlin.
Thomas Sampson. sergt.
Josiah Perkins.
C. Sturtevant, sergt.
Isaiah Ripley.
Issachar Bisbee, corp.
William Ripley.
Freeman Ellis, corp.
Zahdiel Sampson.
Richard Bosworth, corp.
Ephraim Soule.
Zenas Bryant, drummer.
Ephraim Tinkham.
Ezekiel Palmer, fifer.
Isaiah Thomas.
John Churchill.
Nathan Tinkham.
Josiah Tomson.
Joseph Wright.
George Bisbee.
Nathan Churchill ..
John Briggs.
Sylvanus Bartlett.
Jonathan Curtis.
John Weston.
Jacob Cushman.
Ephraim Tomson.
Stephen Churchill.
Ebenezer Tomson.
Josiah Cushman.
Adam Tomson.
Elias Churchill.
Joshua Carter.
Barnabas Harlow.
Samuel Parris.
Oliver Holmes.
Samuel Sturtevant.
Isaac Waterman.
The members of Capt. Thomas Loring's company were:
Thomas Loring, capt.
Elkanah Cushman, Jr.
Joseph Crocker, corp.
Edward Stephens.
Edward Stephens, Jr.
Ebenezer Ransom, drum- mer.
William Stephens.
James Churchill.
Benjamin Bryant.
Samuel Lucas.
- Elijah Bisbee, Jr. Thomas Cushman.
Ebenezer Churchill.
Gideon Bradford.
Benjamin Cushman. Caleb Cushman. John Churchill.
1120
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
John Dunham.
John Shurtleff.
Eleazer Robbins.
George Hammond.
Noah Pratt.
Ambrose Shaw.
Sylvanus Dunham.
Benjamin Shaw.
Simcon Dunham.
Benjamin Shaw, Jr.
Silas Dunham.
Caleb Atwood.
Elijah Dunham.
Jonathan Shaw.
Daniel Vaughan.
Nehemiah Shaw.
Daniel Vaughan, Jr.
Elijah Lucas.
William Cobb.
Isaac S. Lucas.
Joseph Vaughan.
Eleazer Rickard.
Samuel Vaughan.
Abner Rickard.
Abiel Shurtleff.
Elijah Rickard.
Thomas Savery.
Joseph Bondman.
Andrew Barrows.
Whether the soldiers who served at this time were credited to the town as a part of its quota in the war cannot be ascertained. It is certain, however, that the rolls containing their names were returned to the State authorities, and it is probable that many of the survivors became pensioners of the government. In 1776 the following members of Capt. Nathaniel Shaw's company, which represented the south part of the town, now Carver, were sent to Boston on tem- porary service :
Francis Shurtleff, Ist lieut. Samuel Cobb.
Joseph Cole, 2d lieut.
Asa Dunham.
Timothy Cobb, sergt.
Noah Fuller.
Samuel Lucas (3d), sergt.
Isaac Shaw Lucas.
Consider Chase, sergt.
Abijah Lucas.
Samuel Vaughan, sergt.
Eleazer Robbins.
Joseph Ransom.
Ebenezer Ransom, drum- mer.
Benjamin Shurtleff, Jr.
Sylvanus Stephens, fifer.
Daniel Vaughan.
Hezekiahı Cole.
Thomas Savery. Isaac Lucas.
The following men enlisted in the company of Capt. Nelson, of Plymouth, in the same year, for service at Fort Edward :
Corporal Sturtevant. Stephen Atwood.
Nathaniel Pratt.
Amaziah Doten.
Elijalı McFarlin. Elijah Dunham.
Elijah Rickard. Silas Dunham.
Sylvanus Stephens. Benjamin Tubbs.
Joseph Whitten.
Jonathan Rickard.
The following enlisted in the same year, for tem- porary service in Boston, in the company of Capt. Stetson :
John Muxam.
Elcazer Rickard.
John Tilson.
Gideon Bradford. James Bishop. Nehemiah Sturtevant.
Sergeant Sturtevant.
The following enlisted for temporary service in Boston, in the same year, in Capt. Thomas Turner's company :
Joshua Loring, sorgt.
Moses Standish. Josiah Perkins.
Peleg Sampson. Ebenezer Churehill.
In the same year Joseph Whitten enlisted for tem- porary service in Capt. Amasa Soper's company.
The following enlisted in 1777 for service at Bris- tol, R. I. :
Joshua Perkins, Ist lieut. Joshua Totman.
Abiel Shurtleff. James Murdock.
Joseph Barrows. Andrew Barrows.
Samuel Lucas. John Shaw (3d).
William Wasbburn. Jabez Muxam.
Simeon Barrows. Asa Sturtevant.
Peleg Barrows. Asa Barrows.
Bartlett Murdock. William Morrison.
Benjamin Ward. Ellis Griffith. .
In the same year the following members of one of the Plympton companies, then in command of James Harlow, were sent to Boston on temporary service :
Elijah Bisbee, Ist lieut.
Job Weston, 2d lieut.
Benjamin Fuller.
Joel Ellis, Jr., sergt.
Ebenezer Bonney, sergt.
Stephen Ellis, sergt.
Nathaniel Fuller, sergt.
Noah Bisbee, corp.
Theophilus Rickard.
Nathaniel Sherman, corp.
Isaac Rickard.
Gid. Bradford, drummer.
Simeon Bonney.
Joseph Wright. Isaac Wright.
Calvin Bradford.
Samuel Wright.
Josiah Cushman.
Elisha Whitten.
Jacob Cushman.
Levi Wright.
John Chamberlin.
Samuel Wright (2d).
The following members of another of the Plympton companies, then commanded by Capt. Thomas Samp- son, were sent to Bristol, R. I., in 1777 :
Thomas Sampson, capt. Jacob Bryant.
Zephaniah Perkins. Fraucis Cook.
Ebenezer Soule. Jabez Weston.
Eleazer Ripley.
John Churchill.
Ephraim Soule.
George Bisbee.
Samuel Ripley.
Samuel Bonney.
Shadrach Standisb.
Zachariah Standish.
Josbua Bryant.
Benjamin Soule.
Asaph Soule.
Moses Standish.
Stephen Churchill.
William Churchill.
Peleg Sampson.
Caleb Loring.
Nathan Bryant.
In the same year the following enlisted for eight months' service :
Ezra Perry. Zepbaniah Doty.
Caleb Cushman. Benjamin Lucas.
William Ripley.
Isaac Lueas.
John King. Elijah Raymond.
Noah Fuller.
Bela Lucas.
The following enlisted in the same year for three years :
Andrew Cushman. Luther Bryant.
Josiah Perkins. Ferdinand Hall.
Consider Pratt. Isaac Tinkhaiu.
Jolın Morris. Ezra Perry.
Jonathan Holmes.
William Ripley.
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Freeman Ellis.
. Nathaniel Harlow. Joshua Loring. Ezra Perry. Josiah Perkins.
John Lucas, corp.
David Ransom, Jr.
Nehemiah Cobb.
1121
HISTORY OF PLYMPTON.
James Harlow. Joseph Chamberlin. James Bonney. James Bishop. Joshua Churchill.
Isaac Bonney.
On the 20th of April, 1778. William Ripley, Sam- uel Lucas, Thomas Savery, Isaiah Cushman, and Elijah Bisbee were chosen a committee to take into consid- eration a plan of government sent to the town for approval. and on their report it was rejected by a vote of fifty-five to seventeen. On the same day one hundred pounds were appropriated for the benefit of the families of soldiers. In this year the following recruits were raised for three months' service in Rhode Island under Gen. Sullivan: From the company of Capt. James Harlow, Nathaniel Sherman, Josiah Cushman, and Samuel Wright ; from the company of Capt. Thomas Sampson, Barnabas Harlow, corporal, Peleg Sampson. and Samuel Gardner ; and from the company of Capt. George Hammond, James Murdock and Josiah Barrows, Jr. In the autumn of the same year the following recruits were enlisted for temporary service in and about Boston, under Gen. Heath : From the company of Capt. Sampson, Peleg Sampson, Thomas Churchill, Arthur Chandler, and Francis Cook ; from the company of Capt. Shaw, John Shaw, Benjamin Shaw. James Howland, James Vaughan, and Samuel Cobb. In the same year Ichabod Finney, Joseph Perkins, and Zachariah Cushman, from the company of Capt. Sampson ; Joseph Crocker, Samuel Cobb, and Asa Dunham, from the company of Capt. Shaw ; Simeon Bonney, Jr .. and Joseph Whiting, from the company of Capt. Harlow ; and Barsillai Besse and Ephraim Barrows, from the company of Capt. Hammond, enlisted to march to Fishkill for nine months' service. In the same year Seth Churchill, Jr., Benjamin Bryant, and Seth Johnson, from Capt. Sampson's company ; Barnabas Cobb, from Capt. Shaw's company ; Nathaniel Pratt, Jr., and Joseph Whiting, from Capt. Harlow's company ; and William Washburn, from Capt. Hammond's company, enlisted for eight months, and marched to Peekskill, N. Y. In the same year David Churchill, Jr., James Soule, and Joseph Churchill, from Capt. Sampson's company ; David Wood, Jr., John Dunham, and Samuel Lucas (3d), from Capt. Shaw's company ; Jacob Wright, Jo- seph Wright, and John Bisbee, from Capt. Harlow's company ; and Daniel Bumpus, from Capt. Ham- mond's company, enlisted to march to Providence on six months' service. In the same year Ebenezer Cushman and Amos Jeffrey, of Capt. Sampson's com- mand; Joseph Lucas, Jr., and Benoni Shaw, of Capt. Shaw's; Josiah Ripley, sergt., and William Sampson, of Capt. Harlow's ; and Joshua Perkins, Jr., of Capt. Hammond's, were sent to Cambridge under Gen. Na-
thaniel Goodwin, of Plymouth, to guard the prisoners of the captured army of Burgoyne.
In the same year the following members of the Plympton companies enlisted for two months' service in Rhode Island, under Gen. Sullivan.
From Capt. Sampson's company :
Perez Bradford, sergt. Ichabod Churchill.
Eleazer Ripley, sergt. Arthur Chandler.
Ephraim Soule, sergt.
Zebedee Chandler.
John Churchill.
From Capt. Shaw's company :
Noah Pratt. Edward Stephens.
Benjamin Ransom. Daniel Vaughan.
Jobn Rickard.
Isaac Shaw.
Issacbar Fuller, Jr.
From Capt. Harlow's company :
Asapb Bisbee. William Chamberlain.
Samuel Bradford. Nathan Wright.
Nathaniel Harlow.
Nathan Perkins.
James Holmes.
From Capt. Hammond's company :
Benjamin Barrows. Ellis Griffin.
Asabel Lyon. Samuel Bridgham.
In the same year Sylvanus Bramhall, Samuel Bry- ant, and Asa Sturtevant enlisted for two years' service, and Josiah Harlow, Thomas Leshert, Noah Pratt, James Dunham, Jr., John Bates, Elijah Rickard, Noah Fuller, Zephaniah Doten, Benjamin Lucas, John King, Asa Barrows, Japhet Benson, Benjamin Blossom, Ebenezer Perkins, Peter Thayer, Noah Eaton, Isaac Thayer, Benjamin Fuller, Abner Har- low, Reuben Bisbee, and Jacob Bryant for eight months.
In the same year Samuel Cobb, Joseph Crocker, Asa Dunham, Ephraim Barrows, and Simeon Bonney enlisted for nine months.
In the same year the following enlisted for three years' service :
Francis Shurtleff.
Benjamin Tubbs.
Zebedee Lyon. Swansea (negro).
Ebenezer Dunham.
Robert Nosno.
Jesse Murdock.
Elnathan Benson.
Mordecai Barrows.
Asa Barrows.
Elisha Morton.
In the same year the following enlisted for one year's service :
Josiah McFarlin. Samuel West.
Lazarus Harlow. Nathan Thrasher.
Stephen Churchill.
Josiah Perkins.
Andrew Cusbman. Caleb Stetson.
Josiah Perkins (4th).
Caleb Cushman.
Isaac Tinkbam.
Silas Sturtevant.
Isaac Standish.
Peleg Standish.
John Morris.
John Taylor.
Thomas Cushman.
71
1122
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
In the same year Noah Sherman, John Stephens, and John Sherman, from Capt. Shaw's company, en- listed for temporary service under Gen. Heath in and about Boston.
On the 19th of May, 1779, the new constitution which was submitted to the town was rejected. On the 2d of August Seth Cushing and George Ham- mond were chosen delegates to the convention to be held in Cambridge, to consider the question of con- federation. In that year the following men enlisted for three years' service.
From Capt. Sampson's company :
Benjamin Blossom.
Zebedee Cushman.
William Gannett.
Isaac Bisbee.
Ebenezer Standish.
From Capt. Harlow's company :
John Barnes. William Harlow.
Ebenezer Wright.
From Capt. Hammond's company :
Edward Murdock.
Prince Newport.
Ellis Griffith.
From Capt. Shaw's company :
William Cobb. Elijah Dunham.
In the same year the following enlisted for two months' service in Rhode Island.
From Capt. Sampson's company :
Caleb Churchill. Isaac Bisbee.
Francis Ripley.
From Capt. Shaw's company :
Joseph Whiting.
Asa Dudham.
Isaac Cobb. Consider Lucas.
From Capt. Harlow's company :
Theophilus Rickard. William Harlow.
George Harlow.
From Capt. Hammond's company :
Wolly Holmes. Thomas Johnson.
In the same year Zebedee Chandler, Nathan Wright, Benjamin Pratt, and Gideon Shurtleff, respectively, from the companies of Capts. Sampson, Harlow, Shaw, and Hammond enlisted for six months' service in Rhode Island, and in the same year Eleazer Holmes and Noah Eaton from Capt. Harlow's com- pany ; Seth Randall, Barnabas Jackson, and Ford Bryant from Capt. Sampson's; Benjamin Barrows and John Washburn from Capt. Hammond's; and Simeon Dunham from Capt. Shaw's company, enlisted for nine months' service in the Continental army.
In 1780 the following general recruits were raised for three months' service in the army :
Barnabas Cobb. Isaac Cobb.
John Sherman. Levi Shaw.
Issachar Fuller.
Lieut. Nehemiah Cole.
Calvin Perkins.
Cornelius Bryant.
Abiel Shurtleff.
Charles Howland.
Lemuel Cole.
Carver Barrows.
Ellis Griffith.
Ephraim Barrows.
Henry Wall.
Consider Lucas.
Moses Barrows.
Reuben Totman.
Theophilus Rickard.
Issachar Fuller.
Gideon Shurtleff.
Elijah McFarlin.
John Chamberlin.
Ichabod Finney.
Ford Bryant.
Joseph Tinkham.
Edward Wright.
William Gardner.
Jabez Wright.
Joshua Churchill.
Ebenezer Standish.
Moses Barrows.
Dependence Shurtleff.
William Shurtleff.
David Soule.
John Wait.
Lieut. Jacob Weston.
C. Smith.
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The following enlisted for six months' service in the same year :
Francis Ripley.
Ebenezer Perkins.
John Barnes. John Perkins.
Nathan Wright. Ichabod Shurtleff.
Asaph Bisbee. Noah Pratt.
William Gannett.
Elisha Lucas.
Isaac Whitten.
Isaiah Cushman.
Joseph Wright.
Eleazer Holmes.
William Ripley.
John Appling.
Robert Waterman.
Zebedee Cushman.
Jacob Loring Ruggles. Asa Harper.
Jacob Loring. Ebenezer Wright.
Oliver Bradford.
William Sampson.
Ephraim Lucas.
Isaac Weston.
Consider Lucas.
Luther Bryant.
In 1781 the following men were sent to Rhode Island for forty days' service :
Thomas Sampson, capt. William Whiting.
Silas Sturtevant, lieut. Theophilus Rickard.
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Peleg Sampson, corp. Jonathan Tilson.
Edward Cole, Jr. William Cobb.
William Harlow. Levi Atwood.
Consider Lucas.
John Dunham.
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Isaac Bonney.
Benjamin Bosworth.
Ebenezer Ransom.
Eliphalet Waterman.
Eleazer Holmes.
Josiah Parris.
William Cushman.
Joshua Palmer.
George Harlow.
Iehabod Hatch.
Consider Bryant.
Asa Soule.
Isaac Bisbee. Caleb Sturtevant.
Robert Harlow.
Samuel Fuller.
Isaac Whitten.
Zachariah Standish.
Ebenezer Standish. David Sturtevant.
Caleb Churchill.
James Harlow.
Zephaniah Soulo. Silas Dunham.
Francis Riploy.
Zebedee Cushman.
Calvin Perkins.
Considor Bryant.
Joseph Tinkham.
Calvin Perkins.
James Holmes.
Zacchous Soulo.
In the same year the following recruits were raised for the Continental army :
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Issachar Fuller.
Zebedee Chandler.
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Patrick Bryant. Elisha Morton.
Moses Dunham. Benjamin Pratt. James Whitten. Moses Wright.
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1123
HISTORY OF PLYMPTON.
Ephraim Pratt. Ferdinand Hall.
Edward Murdock.
Noah Eaton.
Jonathan Holmes.
Pero Marden.
The following men enlisted in the same year for five months' service in Rhode Island :
Joseph MeFarlin.
Simeon Loring.
James Bishop, Jr.
William Wall.
And. finally, in the same year, the following men enlisted and marched to West Point :
Joseph Churchill. Ebenezer Standish.
Ichabod Shurtleff.
James Harlow.
William Ripley.
Joshua Perkins.
Ephraim Lucas.
Isaac Bonney.
John Dunham, Jr.
John Barnes.
The above list, as perfect as the defective rolls at the State-House and private papers in the hands of | of Deacon Jeremiah Thomas, of Middleboro', and the writer can make it, covers six hundred and thirty- six separate enlistments. According to the United States census of 1790 the population of Plympton was nine hundred and fifty-six, and that of Carver eight hundred and forty-seven, making the population of Plympton during the Revolution about eighteen hundred. It is not probable that many towns can boast, as it is possible for Plympton to do, of having furnished enlistments nearly equal in number to one- third of their population. Of course, it must be borne in mind that in the above computation the several en- listments of the same soldiers are counted. It is ap- parent that the military spirit of the town was peculi- arly active. For some time before the war four militia companies existed within her borders, and as early as 1701, before the incorporation of the town, when it existed only as a precinct. a training-place was provided for its inhabitants by a vote of the town of Plymouth. When the war broke out, the old parent town, with a much larger population, contained only the same number of companies. The number of men in Plym- outh of whom nominal military service was required was much larger, but a large portion of them were members of the alarm-bands only, which were simply annexes of the train-bands, and only liable on special occasions to be called upon for active duty.
1721, and had a son, Jonathan, who married Deborah, daughter of Elisha Bradford, of Kingston, and great- granddaughter of Governor Bradford. The last Jonathan, of Plympton, was the father of Deborah, the subject of this sketch, who was born Dec. 17, 1760. Her great-great-grandfather, Alexander Stan- dish, married Sarah, daughter of John Alden, and it will thus be seen that her ancestry was a distin- guished one, and that the blood of Bradford, Standish, Alden, Lucas, and Sampson mingled in her veins. At the age of five years she lived for a short time with a maiden lady by the name of Fuller, and then entered the family of Mrs. Thacher, probably the wife or widow of Peter Thacher, of Middleboro'. At the age of ten she became an inmate of the family there probably remained until she enlisted, a part of the time teaching one of the schools of that town. In May, 1782, having secured a male dress, made by a tailor in Middleboro' of cloth spun and woven by herself, she disappeared from that town, first going to New Bedford with the expectation of there shipping on board of a privateer. Not liking the appearance of the officers of the vessel, she traveled to Wrentham and Dedham, and finally to Belling- ham, where, under the name of Robert Shurtleff, she enlisted on the 21st of May as one of the quota of the town of Uxbridge. She was attached to the company of Capt. Wells, in Col. Shepard's regiment and Gen. Patterson's brigade, and in the descriptive list of the company was described as five feet seven . and a half inches high, with hazel eyes, inclining to blue. From Bellingham she was sent to Worcester, West Point, Harlem, and White Plains. Her com- pany was afterwards transferred to Col. Henry Jack- son's regiment, and, according to her own statement repeatedly made, took part in the siege of Yorktown, and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. The surrender took place, however, Oct. 19, 1781, and if the above date of her enlistment be correct this pas- sage in her history must be omitted. Her own state- ment was that she enlisted in May, 1781 ; but certain records in Middleboro' seem to make the statement a doubtful one. It must be left, therefore, a mooted question whether, on the one hand, the records in Middleboro' are incorrect, or whether her statements, made probably some years after the enlistment, are founded on an imperfect recollection of her service.
The Revolutionary history of Plympton must not be closed without special reference to Deborah Samp- son, a native of the town, who in male entire cnlisted as a soldier in 1782, and served without detection until October, 1783. She was a descendant from Abraham Sampson, who came from England about 1629, and settled in Duxbury. Isaac Sampson, son In June, 1782, she was wounded in the temple and the groin, and though sent to the hospital, her sex escaped discovery. The bullet in her groin she extracted with her own hands, and thus the wound in of Abraham, was one of the earliest settlers of Plymp- ton, and married Lydia, daughter of Alexander Staudish, and granddaughter of Miles. Jonathan Sampson, son of Isaac, married Joanna Lucas in ' that locality was concealed from the eyes of the sur-
1124
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
geon. In the summer of 1783 she was attacked by a fever and sent to a hospital in Philadelphia, where Dr. Binney, the physician in charge, discovered her disguise, and caused her to be removed,-first, to the apartments of Mrs. Parker, the matron, and then to his own house. Representations were at once made to Gen. Patterson, as whose aide-de-camp she had served for a time, and on the 23d of October, 1783, she was discharged. In November she returned home, and April 7, 1784, married Benjamin Gannett, a farmer of Sharon. After her discharge she received the following certificate :
" This may certify that Robert Shurtleff was a soldier in my Regiment in the Continental army for the town of Uxbridge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and was enlisted for the term of three years ; that he had the confidence of bis officers, did his duty as a faithful and good soldier, and was honorably discharged the army of the United States.
" HENRY JACKSON,
" Late Col. in the American Army."
In 1805 she was placed on the pension list in obedience to the following order :
-
" WAR DEPARTMENT, March 11, 1805.
"SIR,-You are hereby apprised that Deborah Gannett, who served as a soldier in the army of the United States during the late Revolutionary war, and who was severely wounded therein, bas this day been placed on the Pension list of the United States at the rate of four dollars per month, to commence on the first day of January, 1803. You will be pleased to enter her name on your books and pay her or her legally-author- ized attorney on application accordingly.
"I am, sir, very respectfully, " Your ob't serv't, " H. DEARBORN. " BENJAMIN AUSTIN, EsQ., Boston."
On the 20th of January, 1792, the following re- solve was passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts in recognition of her services :
" Whereas, it appears to this Court that Deborah Gannett enlisted under the name ef Robert Shurtleff, in Capt. Wells' company in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment May 21, 1781, and did actually perform the duties of a soldier in the late Army of the United States to the 23rd of October, 1783, for which she has received no compensation; and, whereas, it further appears that the said Deborah exhibited an extraordi- nary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a faithful gallant soldier, and at the same time preserved the virtue and chastity of her sex unsuspected and unblomished, and was discharged from the service with a fair and honorable character ; Therefore, Resolved, that the Treasurer of the Commonwealth be and hereby is directed to issue his note to said Deborab for the sum of thirty-four pounds, bearing interest from October 23, 1783.
Deborah Gannett died in Sharon, April 29, 1827, at the age of sixty-eight years, leaving her husband, Benjamin, who died Jan. 9, 1837, at the age of eighty ycars, and a son, Capt. Earl B. Gannett, who died June 9, 1845, at the age of fifty-nine years.
In 1832 an act was passed by Congress awarding pensions to widows of soldiers, and in accordance with the spirit of this act, a special provision was made for the payment of a pension to Benjamin Gannett as the husband of a deceased soldier, and he received the same during the remainder of his life.
For some years after the Revolution Plympton, like most small towns, felt the burdens which the war had imposed, and the drain on its financial resources which the constant demand for men and means had caused. It was not until the early part of the present century that a new wave of activity and enterprise began to set in. Up to the time of the Revolution the occupation of the people had been chiefly con- fined to agriculture. A few saw-mills and grist-mills were in operation, and the old forge, ereeted by Joseph Thomas and afterwards owned by Joseph Seott and a Mr. Beacham, of Boston, had kept steadily at work. Where the taek-factory now stands an old furnace, ereeted in or about 1713, had manufactured more or less eastings, and in the latter part of its eareer, at the beginning of the Revolution, was engaged in the manufacture of cannon and eannon-balls from the ore found in the ponds of the neighborhood. During the Revolution, however, this furnace eeased opera- tions, and Mr. Gideon Bradford, its last manager, re- moved to Charlotte Furnace, in the south part of what is now Carver, where it is said the first hollow-ware in this country was cast. To the Parker family belongs the credit of ereating that revival of business which, during many years, while, in anticipation of steam, the water-power of the country held undisputed sway, made Plympton an active and prosperous town. Rev. Jonathan Parker, the second minister of the town, married Ruth, daughter of Rev. John Avery, of Truro. His children were Ruth, Jonathan, John Avery, Elizabeth, and Avery. He married for a second wife Lydia, daughter of Joseph Bartlett, of Plymoutlı. His son, Jonathan, born in 1736, on ac- count of a blindness which had afflicted him from early manhood, was able to make little use of the in- tellectual vigor he had inherited from his father. He married, in 1765, Abigail, daughter of Polyearpus Loring, and had Oliver, born in 1766; Polycarpus, 1767; John Avery, 1769; Ruth, 1771; Jonathan, 1774; Jacob, 1776; and Abigail, 1778. He bought a privilege on the Winnatuxet River of James Allen, Jeremiah Allen, John Brown, and Martha Brown in 1786, on which he built a forge and blacksmith-shop 'for the manufacture of shovels. Of his children, John Avery married Averick, daughter of Shadrach Standish, of Plympton, and early removed to Dart-
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