USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of shipbuilding on North river, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with genealogies of the shipbuilders, and accounts of the industries upon its tributaries, 1640 to 1872 > Part 34
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Josiah Keene mar. Hannah, dau. of John Dingley, and had one child, John, b. 1667. Simeon Keene, the shipwright, was b. Sept. 30, 1725, and d. "of a Saturday, July the 17th day of the month, 1790." He mar. in 1751 Lydia Stevens, who was b. July 19, 1728. They had children : 1. Lucy, b. Nov. 18, 1752 ; mar. Oliver Porter 1773. 2. Nathanael, b. Aug. 8,
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1754; 3. Ruth, b. July 31, 1756 ; mar. Peaboly Little, and d. 1781. 4. Lydia, b. April 28, 1758. 5. Simeon, b. Nov. 26, 1761 ; mar. Christina Joyce. 6. Stevens, b. June 24, 1764. 7. Deborah, b. July 30, 1766. 8. Benjamin, b. Mar. 29, 1769. 9. William, b. July 11, 1771, d. Sept. 11, 1792. Five of Simeon's (the ship-builder's) children survived him, they were Lydia, Simeon, Stevens, Benjamin and William. Benjamin succeeded to the yard, and carried on the business of ship-building there. Barstow Carver, father of Hatch Carver, worked for him at one time. Benjamin Keene was a man of some property, very stern and arbitrary, and did not desire too many friends. He married Susanna Church, and had children : 1. Benjamin, now deceased. 2. Cornelius, who d. in Nov. 1888, in his 89th year. 3. Nathaniel, who resides in Marsh- field. 4. Martin, who d. April 17, 1864, aged 49 years. 5. William, who left a numerous family in Hartford, Conn. 6. George R., now living in Abington, where he has a family. 7. Lydia, deceased. 8. Almira, who d. in March, 1884, aged 80 years. 9. Harriet, now living in Marshfield, and 10. Susan, deceased. MARTIN mar. and lived on Decatur St., Charles- town, during the latter part of his life, and was employed on the Charlestown Navy Yard. He left two sons and one dau. One son is mar. and resides in Weymouth, Mass., where he has two children, Mabel E. and Lillian F. The other son, Charles W. Keene, is unmarried and resides at Sea View Vil- lage, Marshfield, Mass. Ada, the dau. married a Mr. Rein- hart. She d. Nov. 11, 1876, aged 22 years, leaving one child, Ada K.
Keene's yard was located on the Capt. Day place, where the Hall's afterward built. On this farm there is a well of fresh water that ebbs and flows with the tide. Simeon Keene built in 1787 the sch. "NEPTUNE," 64 tons, owned by Simeon Keene, Sr. and Jr., Marshfield ; and in 1789 the slp. "INDUSTRY," 60 tons ; owned by Joseph and Elisha Phillips, William Macomber, Joshua Vinal and Simeon Keene, Marshfield. He also built the following vessels : In 1793, the brig "DOLPIIIN," 122 tons, of Boston ; in 1794, the ship " SUPERB," 335 tons, of Boston ; in 1795 the brig "DESPATCH," 139 tons, of Portsmouth. The ship " COLUMBIAN PACKET," 220 tons, of Marshfield, built in 1802, Joseph Hunt, Adam Fish and Chandler Sampson, of Marshfield, owners, was probably built by the Keene family.
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VESSELS BUILT BY THE KEENES.
Benje Hleen
built in 1805 the sch. "SAT- URN," 107 tons, owned by Ben- jamin and Isaac Keene, and Samuel Baker, of Marshfield ; and in 1818 the sch. "EOS," 85 tons, of Boston, sold at the
Sandwich Islands, January 25, A. D., 1820. The Keenes built many other vessels here, but no record has been found by which they may be identified. The only other vessel of which we have positive proof of having been built by the Keenes is the sloop "NORTH RIVER PACKET," 38 tons, built in 1820. She was owned by Benjamin and Isaac Keene, Jr., Alden Briggs, Pembroke, Benjamin Hatch, Daniel Phillips, David Church, Nathaniel Pratt, Luther Little, Danforthe Hall, John Bourne, Jr., of Marshfield. She was afterward sold to Boston, and owned in 1839 by John Belcher, of Bos- ton, and Benjamin Bramhall, of Quincy. This was doubt- less the last vessel built by the Keenes. Between 1820 and 1825 no record has been found of vessels having been built here. In the absence of the five years history of these yards, a few old and interesting items, and one or two anecdotes, will be inserted. In the Boston Gazette and Country Journal of Dec. 13, 1773, is recorded the death of a Marshfield man, as follows :
" Last Friday evening being very dark and rainy, Mr. Ezekiel Kent, of Fox Islands, formerly of Marshfield, having been on board a sloop lying at Minot's T, to see an acquaintance, about six o'clock, was returning to the vessel to which he belonged, but unfortunately fell from the T and was drowned. He was 27 years of age, and a man well respected."
A most remarkable story is related in the Massachusetts Spy for the week of August 18th to 21st, 1770 :
" Last Tuesday a whale about forty feet in length ^was discovered by a small fishing schooner off Marshfield, which was then attacked by three large sharks, one of whom the fishermen killed. It measured sixteen feet long, and upon opening it they took out of its paunch as many pieces of the whale as would make a barrel of oil, and it was thought the liver of the shark would make two or three barrels more. The whale was so wounded. and worried by the sharks that it became an easy prize for the fishermen, who carried it into Marshfield."
It will be seen that the men of Marshfield were alive to the whaling interest at that early date, and the above-mentioned whale probably furnished all the oil they burned during their short evenings for many a night. In two old papers there are related accounts of two very large families which are considered interesting enough to record here. One is taken from The Boston Evening Post, of April 20, 1767 :
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INTERESTING ITEMS RELATIVE TO MARSIIFIELD.
" About a month since was born at Gen. Winslow's farm, a daughter of John Fullerton, whose age is 73 years, his wife's 47, the child being his seventeenth. He has had two daughters that are grandmothers, the one has had two grandchildren, and the other three; the last mentioned was present at the birth of her sister. Mr. Fullerton has had fifty grand and great-grandchildren, forty of which are now living."
The account of the other family appears in a paper seven years earlier, as follows, from The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, Monday, October 20, 1760 :
" We hear from Marshfield in the County of Plymouth, that on the 2nd, inst., died there Mr. William Carver, aged 102 years, who retained his reason to the last. He was brother's son to the ancient Gov. Carver of the Plymouth Colony, and has left behind him the fifth generation of male issue in all, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great- grandchildren, ninety-six."
In the same paper of a later date, (Monday, April 12, 1762), is the following :
" We hear that the body of William Preston, of Dorchester, was taken up at Marshfield on Saturday, the 3rd, and decently interred there. He was drowned in September last, as we then gave an account, going home in a canoe from Castle William, where he had been to receive some money, the most of which was found loose in his pockets when taken up."
There is a very aged man now living in Marshfield whose ancestors lived at White's ferry. This man is Benjamin White, who, at the time of writing, is probably the oldest man in Marshfield. He is a lineal descendant of Peregrin White, the first white child born in New England, and was himself born in Hanover, Aug. 27, 1795. Mr. Cornelius White, great grand- father of Benjamin, lived at White's ferry. He was a ship- builder, and a man of considerable means in his day. He owned the ferry boat at one time, it is said. He had a son Benjamin, a wilful lad, who fell in love with Miss Hannah Decrow, a young lady of powerful build and great beauty, but who was not considered good enough for the son of an opulent shipbuilder and ferryman. This young Ben., appears to have been a favorite with his father, and was threatened banishment if he persisted in his attentions to Miss Decrow. The young man married her, and, it is said that true to his word, his father banished him to Hanover. This was about 1743, when Mr. White, Sr., purchased of Jeremiah and Walter Hatch many hundred acres of heavy timbered land on what is now Centre St., the old habitation being on the spot now owned by Frank Fish. Mr. White, Sr., gave him this valuable tract of territory, started him in housekeeping in great style for those
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MARSHFIELD.
days, and gave him also a horse, two cows, a yoke of oxen, and a gundalow, which he kept at North River bridge. Mr. White, Jr., cut and carted his valuable ship-timber to North River bridge, loaded it aboard his "gundalow," and freighted it down to his father's yard at the ferry. Mrs. White was a resolute, God-fearing woman, and, in opposition to her more worldly companion, she was bound to have her children baptized in the true faith, as we find by the church records of Rev. Benjamin Bass, dated Sept. 7, 1754, " were baptized four children of Benjamin White, (his wife owning the covenant), Penniah, Robert, Hannah and Benjamin, (the father's name), who was not considered in the baptism of the children." Benjamin, Sr., died Feb. 10, 1786, aged 65, and his wife (Miss Decrow) March 22, 1814, aged 94. Her son Benjamin grew to man's estate and married Miss Mary Chamberlin, of East Bridge- water, in 1780, and died in Hanover July 12, 1839, aged 88, and his widow March 27, 1841, aged 86. The present Benja- min, son of the above, inherited the estate of his parents, and lived there with his wife ( Miss Mary Hall, of Marshfield) and family, until 1847, when he sold all his possessions in Hanover, and moved to Gravelly Beach in Marshfield. He has a son Benjamin F. now living in North Pembroke. John Tower related an anecdote in the North River Pioneer some years ago about "Uncle Josh " Stetson, of Hanover, on mowing, as follows :
" Wal," said Uncle Josh, "I should raly like to see one young man more that knowed how to mow. Nobody seems to know anything about how to swing a seythe nowadays, and you can't find one man between here and Pembroke meeting house but what will tangle down more grass than his neck is wuth. I tried most everybody I could think of, and finally got a chap to help, but bless ye, he'd lop in and lop out, and 'twas more work by half to go over after him than 'twas to do the whole myself."
" We thought that you never wanted any one to help you mow," we suggested.
" Wal, I don't; but I 'spose a man has a right to be sick once in a while, ain't he? When I lived down to the old place they called me the best mower on the river, and I'd beat everybody on Sitewate side, and one morning when I was down side of the river fishing for parch, who should I see coming across the medder on t'other side, but old Marmaduke Mc- Donnellson. Says he ' Josh, I've got a boy ter hum that will mow round ye four times in half a day.' 'Fetch him down here,' says I, 'and we'll see.' 'Do ye mean it ? ' says he. 'Sartain,' says I, and he started for home arter the boy. While he was gone, (he lived way up in the south end of the " two-mile,") I started for home arter grandsir's scythe, and got back agin down to the river afore Me. got along with his boy. Pretty soon 1 see him coming with his son Sam. 'Wal, Josh,'he said, ' where ye goin' to mow ?' ' Begin right where ye stand and go down river,' says I, 'and
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the one that gets to White's ferry fust is the best feller.' That made old Mc. look rather blue, and he said, 'Sam, I'll go home and get the old horse and wagon and a load of provisions and foller along down. Ye'll get mighty hungry fore ye get to White's ferry.' Wal, we struck in, and the way we made the grass fall was a caution. Grandsir went up on the hill and watched, but he told me arterwards that he couldn't see noth- ing but a winrow of grass flying in the air, and going at the rate of ten miles an hour."
" How did you get across Stony brook ?" we inquired.
" Never noticed the brook at all, mowed right across it down past Little's bridge and Will's Island, swam across the river to the ferry, and struck in on t'other side, and in less than two hours 1 met Sam just pulling himself out of Fulling mill creek." .
" That must have made about eighteen miles," we remarked.
" Wal, yes. Always mowed nine miles an hour, could mow ten if I let out a link."
We left " Uncle Josh " sharpening his seythe for a second crop.
But now let us return to the history of the shipbuilding at White's Ferry. The Halls first occupied this yard in 1825. They commenced building near the mouth of the river but later moved up to the Capt. John Day place, where they had two yards, and sometimes two and three vessels on the stocks at one time.
Luke, William and Samuel were descendants of Adam Hall, of trans-atlantic birth, who came to Marshfield early in the last century and mar. in 1725, Sarah Sherman, a grand-daughter of Peregrin White, and settled in Marshfield. She died Ang. 7, 1768, aged 67; they had children : 1. William, b. Jan. 11, 1726; 2. Thomas, b. July 17, 1728; 3. Adam, b. Oct. 21, 1729 ; 4. Joseph, b. Nov. 6, 1733; 5. Sarah, b. Sept. 18, 1735; 6. Jesse, b. Sept. 27, 1737; 7. Mercy, b. Sept. 12, 1739; 8. Levi, b. Oct. 25, 1744.
Adam Hall, 2d, mar. in 1752, Kezia, dau. of Samuel and Sarah Sarah Rogers Ford ; their children were : 1. Adam, b. Jan. 27, 1757 ; 2. Mercy, b. Sept. 7, 1759, mar. Andrew Keen, April 2. 1795 ; 3. Susanna, b. Nov. 8, 1761, died unmarried ; 4. Kezia, b. Dec. 30, 1764, mar. Proctor Sampson ; 5. Luke, b. April 20, 1767, father of the shipbuilders, mar. in 1793, Anne, dau. of Barnard and Experience Tuels. He died on Staten Island, June 28, 1815, aged 48 years ; 6. Samuel, b. Aug. 3, 1770, d. 1806. He was Captain of the North River Packet " Dolphin ;" 7. William, b. Aug. 28, 1774; and 8. Jesse. Of
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HALL'S SHIPYARD.
the other members of the Hall family, Luke Hall mar. Jane Hatch of Scituate, April 26, 1763, and had children : 1. Sarah, b. June 30, 1764, mar. Isaac Porter, 1785; 2. Hervey, b. March 12, 1774.
Of another branch, Joseph Hall, mar. Susanna -, and had children : 1. Joseph, b. July 21, 1775 ; 2. Sarah, b. Feb. 13, 1777 ; 3. Rachel, b. Sept. 29, 1778 ; 4. Deborah, b. Jan. 20, 1781; 5. Peleg, b. Nov. 16, 1782 ; 6. John, b. May 14, 1785 ; 7. Martin, b. Aug. 15, 1787 ; 8. Luther, b. Aug. 5, 1789 ; 9. Isaac Randall, b. Nov. 14, 1791.
Of still another branch, John Hall mar. Deborah -- , and had children : 1. Abigail, b. Dec. 4, 1739 ; 2. Rhoda, b. March 27, 1741 ; 3. Lydia ; b, March 30, 1743 ; 4. Lemuel, b. July 15, 1747.
The only other branches of which we have records, were Katharine Hall, who mar. Joshua Bramhall of Hingham, 1747, John Hall, Jr., who mar. Zilpha Crooker, 1746, and had chil- dren : 1. Lemuel, b. July 15, 1747 ; 2. Deborah, b. Dec. 23, 1748 ; 3. John, b. Oct. 15, 1750; 4. Francis, b. April 15, 1752 ; 5. Martin, b. March 1, 1754, 6. Luther, b. Sept. 14, 1755 ; 7. Calvin, b. Nov. 4, 1758.
Luke, William and Samuel were sons of Luke and Anna Tuels Hall ; they built in Marshfield together from 1825 to 1828, when Samuel, who was then about 28 years of age (being b. April 23, 1800) left the firm. He served his apprenticeship at Dea. Elijah Barstow's in Hanover. Luke and William continued in business together until 1837, from which time until 1840, Luke built alone. The sch. "DRAY," was built by the Halls at the Ferry. In 1825, they built the sch. "DANIEL," 72 tons, of Marshfield ; owners, Caleb Prouty, Jr., Scituate, Jabez Hatch, Daniel Phillips, Luke, William and Samuel Hall of Marshfield, and the same year, 1825, the sch. "TRITON," 75 tons of Dux- bury, of which Samuel Hall was master carpenter. The same year the brig " SMYRNA," 162 tons, of Boston, was built in Marshfield, probably at this yard. In 1827, the brig " WAV- ERLY," 232 tons, was built by Samuel Hall and sold to Plymouth and afterward to Salem. This was the last of Samuel Hall's building in Marshfield. To go back to his early life, when he had attained his majority, he left Barstow's Yard in Hanover, and with twenty-five cents in his pocket and a broad- axe on his shoulder he went to Medford and from there to
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HALL'S SHIPYARD.
Camden, Me., from which latter place he returned to Marsh- field. From Marshfield he went to Duxbury and built for Ezra Weston, with Henry Taylor as foreman. In 1837-8, he built on his own account in Duxbury, and in 1839, removed to East Boston. In April, 1839, he commenced the work of preparing a ship-yard about where the end of Maverick street is now. The first vessel ever built in East Boston was in 1834, so he can be called one of the pioneers there. In 1839, he built his first ship there, the "Akbor ;" from then until 1860, he built 110 vessels, some of them the largest, fastest and best ships that ever "skimmed the seas." Among the largest were the " Game Cock," in 1851, of 1392 tons, the "Oriental" in 1854, of 1654 tons, the " Wizard," 1853, of 1600 tons, and the " Highlander," in 1858, of 1049 tons. While in East Boston, Samuel Hall became interested in much beside shipbuilding. In 1847 he was president of the Dry Dock Company ; he was president of the East Boston Ferry Company from the time of its organiza- tion in 1852, until it was bought by the city ; he was president of the Maverick National Bank, (now located in Boston) from its incorporation until his death, which occurred Nov. 13, 1870. He mar. first, Christiana Kent, no children ; 2nd Huldah B. Sherman, by whom he had children : 1. Huldah, died in infancy ; 2. Samuel, b. 1833, mar. Harriet A. Lovejoy ; 3. Walter Scott, mar. Mary Gregory ; 4. Marcia, b. 1836, mar. George W. Emery, late Governor of Utah ; 5. Anna Tuels, died young ; 6. Ifuldah Augusta, died young; 7. Amanda White, died young ; 8. Hattie G., b. 1853, mar. William A. Rogers.
Few of the old ship-carpenters of North River are now living, but there is one residing in Marshfield who worked for the Halls from the time they began building ; this is Hatch Carver. Among the Marshfield ship-carpenters we find the descendants of many of the most noted men in the colony, but none perhaps more noted than Carver, the first Governor of the infant settle- ment in Plymouth in 1620. Hatch Carver, b. 1812, a lineal descendant of the Governor is now living near Roger's Hill. He was the son of Barstow Carver and Lucy Hatch Carver, and nephew of Luke Hall. He mar. Roxanna T. Sylvester, of Marsh- field, afterward of Quincy. Hle first went to Quincy intending to learn the trade of blacksmithing of his father-in-law, but getting dissatisfied he returned to Marshfield and went to work for Luke Hall on the shipyard at the Ferry. After working for Mr. Hall for a time he went to New York city, and worked
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VESSELS BUILT BY THE HALLS.
at his trade on East River nine years, when he again returned to his old home and worked in the shipyard and taking vessels down the river. He worked for Luke, William and Samuel Hall, building mostly packets to run on the river and small schooners, as the sch. "Daniel " and the slp. "Susan." About 1830, the Halls commenced building for Ezra Weston of Dux- bury, and a vessel for Russell of the Plymouth Iron Co. ; also several barks for a Commercial Wharf Company, and many for the Cape. Mr. Carver appears now to be taking life easy in apparently comfortable circumstances, with all his family settled around him. In his younger days he was something of a sports- man, and some thirty to forty years ago, he in company with Amos W. Cross, of Boston, a noted hunter, for nine years made annual trips into the wilderness of Maine hunting moose, bear and deer, which were at that time very common in many parts of the state. Mr. Carver claims to have killed the largest deer, (four hundred pounds) ever known to be captured in that region, it had fat two inches thick on the ribs, the antlers, of unusual size, are still owned by Mr. Carver, and show the mark of the first bullet, which missed. Mr. Carver has enjoyed perfect health all his days and has good prospects of exceeding his four score years.
After Samuel Hall retired from the firm, Luke and William continued shipbuilding here. They have numerous descendants living in Boston, East Boston, Quincy, Newtonville, Hingham and elsewhere. Luke and William built in 1828 the brig, afterwards bark, "NEWTON," 283 tons, of Boston. Jesse Dunbar, Sr. and Jr., of Scituate and others, owners ; in 1838, she was owned in New Bedford, and used whaling in the Pacific Ocean. In 1843 the crew mutinied and a new crew was shipped at Oahu, H. I. ; in Dec., 1844, Capt. Sawyer died at San Diego, Cal. ; in 1854 she sent home from the Northern Pacific, 140 bbls. of sperm and 600 bbls. of whale oil and 16200 lbs. of bone. She was lost in the Ochotsk sea in 1857, being stove by the ice. In 1829, the brig "FLORA," 151 tons, of Boston, was built in Marshfield, probably by the Halls. They built in 1830 the brig "GEM," 162 tons, of Boston ; in 1841, she was sold and used whaling in the Atlantic. In 1851, she returned leaking after starting on a new voyage, making 8000 strokes per hour; she was withdrawn from whaling in 1855. The " Gem" was at one time owned in Salem and used in the African trade. The Halls built, in 1831, the slp. "LEADER," 42 tons, a North River packet ; owned by Luther
BRIG "NORFOLK," 135 TONS. Built by the Halls, in 1833, at the Ferry.
1
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VESSELS BUILT BY THE HALLS.
Rogers, Sr. and Jr., Stephen and Moses Rogers, Proctor Bourne, Jabez and Benjamin Hatch, Christopher Oakman, Jonathan Stetson, Wales Rogers, Luke and Wm. Hall of Marshfield, Ephraim Randall, Horace Collamore of Pembroke, mı Waterman, Joseph S. Bates, Elijah Barstow, Jr., Jos. .Haviland Torrey, Reuben and Geo. Curtis, and Tilden Crooker, of Hanover ; and the same year, 1831, they built the brig " FAIRY," 185 tons, of Boston, of which Luke Hall was master carpenter. She was afterward sold to Provincetown and used whaling. The Halls built, in 1832, the brig "ECHO," 197 tons, of Boston ; Luke Hall, master carpenter. The brig " NORFOLK," 135 tons, was built by Luke and Willliam Hall, in the spring of 1833, and was sailed by Capt. Reuben Matthews in the Norfolk, Va., and Boston trade, about 1837. Capt. F. M. Boggs commanded her at one time, and while under the command of these two captains she was also in the St. John trade, bringing plaster and fish from St. John, and taking merchandise back, and she went one trip to the West Indies. Soon after 1837, Capt. Reuben Matthews commanded her in the Philadelphia, St. John and Halifax trade. In October, 1844, she left Philadelphia under Capt. Matthews bound to Port Spain, Island of Trinidad, with a cargo of bread stuffs, &c., and never was heard from after leaving the Delaware. To Capt. Richard Matthew and Capt. F. M. Boggs, the writer is indebted for much valuable information concerning some of the above vessels. Many have been the pleasant chats with Capt. Boggs at his office, 47 So. Market street, Boston, where hangs a crayon picture of the brig " Norfolk." Several who have contributed valuable facts to this book have passed away during the last year. It is to be regretted that Capt. Boggs is of the number. He died Jan. 19, 1889, honored and esteemed by hundreds of friends. He was a man of marked energy, a thorough seaman and an able commander. Born in New York, 78 years ago, he was taken, while still an infant, to Nantucket, and there left to his own resources at an early age, his father perish- ing at sea, and his mother dying before he was beyond boyhood. At the age of ten he sought his fortune on the sea as cook on a Bermuda bound sloop. Through the various grades from cabin boy he pushed his way pluckily, till at the age of twenty-six he became a master. He was then running in the old packet line between Boston and Philadelphia, and afterward took command of the steamers on the same route. Between these commands, however, he was in business in Philadelphia, and was post-
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VESSELS BUILT BY THE HALLS.
master at Waquoit, Mass. He was at one time partner with John M. Kennedy & Co. Capt. Boggs took great interest in the Boston Marine Society, serving as one of its trustees. He left a widow and three children.
William and Luke Hall built the fishing schooner "DANIEL WEBSTER." In 1833 they built two vessels, the brig "DOVER," and the schooner "DOVER." The schooner " Dover " was of 87 tons, and owned by Luke Hall, the mas- ter carpenter, William Hall, Elijah Ames and Jabez Hatch, Marshfield. The brig "Dover" was of 166 tons and owned at Boston, by Luke and William Hall of Marshfield. In 1834, the Halls built three vessels. The first was a North River Packet of 36 tons, which had 24 owners as follows : The slp. "SUSAN," 36 tons, built by Luke and William Hall and owned by them and Proctor Bourne, Jabez Hatch, Israel Carver, Jonathan Stetson, Benjamin and Emmons Hatch, Asa F. Curtis, Amos Sherman, Nath. Bonney, James Hall and Henry Clapp, of Marshfield, Aurora W. Oldham, Horace Colla- more, John Holmes, Calvin Shepard, George Curtis, Ephraim Randall, Ezra Hatch and Alden Briggs, of Pembroke, Samuel Foster, Elijah Cudworth and Joseph Clapp, of Scituate. Smith Kent worked on the "Susan " in 1833. Mr. Kent remembers that in one year about this time 26 vessels came down river that were built on the yards above. The Halls' second vessel this year, 1834, was the sch., afterward brig, " DEPOSIT," 125 tons, of Boston ; owners, Luke and William Hall, Ephraim Randall, Benjamin and Jabez Hatch of Marshfield, afterward sold to a Mr. Kent, and commanded in 1839 by Capt. Howes in the West India trade ; sold later to Mr. Upton of Salem, and run to Para. She would sail like a witch. The last vessel built by the Halls this year was the sch. "UNCLE SAM," 118 tons, of Boston, built in 1834, Luke Hall, master carpenter. The brig " ESTHER," 135 tons, was built at Marshfield, in 1835, by William and Luke Hall, and owned by Fabens of Boston ; she was lost in a gale off Cape Cod about 1852. The Halls built in 1836, the sch. "PLANET," 98 tons, of Scituate ; owners, Asa Curtis, Seth Webb and Elijah Jenkins, Jr., Scituate, Luke and William Hall, - of Marshfield. She was afterward sold to Newport, from which port she sailed and was never heard of after. The sch. "GRAND ISLAND," 106 tons, was built in Marshfield in 1835-36 of oak; was repaired in 1852 and owned in 1861 by Kebbin and others, Newburyport, Capt. Reed ; and in 1874 by William MeIntyre of Camden, Me.
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