USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1878 > Part 4
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9 11 Canker
3|16 Consumption
6 3 20 Nephritis
4
29 Congestion of Lungs
29 Mary Crotty (Conwell) 78
Feb. 2 Russell O. Barton . 37 19
3 Orinda Tenney Loud
66 5 Oliver Beals Shaw 64 2
11 William Francis Cushing
12 Lydia P. (Robinson) Pratt
13 Nellie Coffey .
Mar. 6 Rebecca G. (Cheever) Tirrell 10 Julia (Murphy) McCue
69 80
10
12 Consumption
. Old Age
Consumption
19 Patrick Cahill . 39 Drowning
= 29 Abigail D. (Pratt) Thomas 83 6
30 John Fogarty . 6-
2
April 2| Mary S. (Kelly) Evans
72
.
Water Around Heart, Kid- ney Complaint
.
4
Whooping Cough .
19 7 27 Consumption
66 14 John P. Dailey 25 9|10 Consumption
22 Orville Giles 70 7
24 Josie Nichols 21 7
66
28 George Wightman 30
May
3 Thomas S. Blanchard 38
3 | Ann ( Bates) Weston 93 2 17 Old Age
3 Jennie Russell Pool
4 Asa Hawes 49 9 Hemorrhage
2
1 2 12 Cholera Infantum
8 John F. Moriarty
13 Ellen L ( McCormick) Welch
21
1
16 General Debility
66
13 Male child of George and Marga- ret M. McFaun
Stillborn
5
5 Lung Fever
4
2 Constinption
8
·
Drowning .
31 Samuel Jones 23
1
.
Consumption
5
Phthisis Pulmonalis
10 Paralysis .
3 Pneumonia
24
37 4 Scrofula
4 10
22
Acute Meningitis
. 1-
. . .
23 Old Age
Lung Fever
3 Brain Disease
19| Pneumonia
9 Consumption
8 21 Typhoid Pneumonia
6 19 Pneumonia
00 00 00 €+ 00 00
21 Alice Smith .
.
22 Mary Elizabeth McGrath
.. 22 Augusta M. Barrows (Reed) 51
·
. Old Age
Weymouth.
· Stillborn
1 Rebecca Moore Robertson 1 Stephen Humphrey .
1
3 Roger Clifford Blanchard 6 John O'connell .
12
8 Tumor
11 Michael Joseph McGrath
1
11 Finetta Parker (French) Bicknell 11 Jennie Gertrude Tirrell .
5
15 Alfred Bergeron 17
30 Joseph Michael Tracy
4 Male child of Eliphalet H. and Sa- rah W. Belcher 7 Rena Imogene Ball
3 24 Purpura Hæmorrhagica
4 Morris Joseph Curran
20 D .nnis Kelley . 26 1: liza P. Coyle .
2
6 10 20 Consumption .
Diphtheria
7 Charles Otis Redmond 8 John Dunphy . 9 Ethel Shaw Cook
5
66
AGE.
Date of Death.
Name of Deceased.
Disease or Cause of Death.
Place of Death
Yrs.
Mos.
Dys.
June 1 Julia Curran
2h
Weymouth.
66 5 Nabby L. ( Waterman) Bates
86
1|17 Old Age
6 Ann (Rice) Holbrook . .
75
2 22| Pneumonia
2
11
Bright's Disease Consumption
-
"
25| Ellen (Hayes) Donovan
52
1
"
28 Patrick J. Coleraine ..
4
6
July
1 George H. Bates
Dropsy .
1 Catherine N. (Doyle) Curran 35
40
..
12| Josephine Emma Wright
23
5
32
5
16 Consumption Hepatitis Chronic
..
20 Henry Clifford Pratt
15 10 1 |Consumption Old Age
24 Emma Dunbar House
1
Cholera Infantum
66
29 Edwin Otis Merritt
3
10 12 Scarlet Fever
Aug. 4 Sadie Jane Redmond
11 21 Canker
-
5 Augustus T. Hollis
51 1
3 Tuberculosis
5 24 Diarrhea .
3h
1123
Rheumatism and Typh. Fever Bright's Disease
Sept.
Samuel M. French
66
2 |James A. Borden .
6
18 Cholera Infantum
1 21 Scrofula
66
7 Mary (Cushing) French . 7 Mary Elizabeth Cohen 9 Willard Simpson Vining
1
1 9 Dentition
66
3 2.2 Taber Mesenterica
66
66 1
Dropsy
10
18
2 Cancer
16 Agnes Healey .
7 1
3 Gastro Enteritis Consumption 2h
66
6 .
18 Ellen (Donovan) Welch 18 John Angustus Fitzgerald 19 Ruth (Tirrell) Bates 21 |Florence Bentley
51
5
3 Fever and Canker
1 19 Convulsions
22 Thomas F. Brasnahan
11|27 Teething
24 George Clayton Stetson
36
66
29 Honora (Donovan) Welcli 92
Oct. 5 Lilian Franklin Reed
15 4
7 16 Leucocythæmia
11 8 Phthisis
10| Luey (Jacobs) Chipman
29 80
6 1|Pneumonia 4
3
4
5 Diphtheretic Croup
38
Peritonitis
66 23 Lydia Gertrude Crocker 24 Sarah Ella (Torrey) Bates
32 10|15
11 18 Cholera Infantum
1
8 Consumption
id
.6 30 |F. Augusta (Easterbrook) Dailey, 31 John Cunieff
21 10
Nov. 2 Susan (Loud) Tirrell
17 Heart Disease
. 3 Daniel Whittemore .
94 31
3 12 Typhoid Pneumonia
5 Mary (Sullivan) Dillworth
70 General Debill y
66
66
11 Sarah Kingman 81
.
5
5 Teething
16
18 Oscar Warner Christerson 17
18 Eliza (Moore) McCue .
51
1
3
Bilious Fever Sunstroke
9 William Ryan
18 Charles Sumner Evans
19|Female child of Edward and Rose S. Madigan
20 |Elsie Lee Briggs
2.
James R. Hone
18 40
17 8 4 Cholera Infantum Diarrhea .
..
4 Emeline Mildred French
6
5 Adeline A. (Cain) Raymond
46 31
9
7
old Age
10 Ruth (Wales) Quindley 13 William Russell White 16 Quincy Adams Tirrell
45
1|14 Cholera Infantum Suicide by Poison Old Age
5 14 Dropsy .
S Gustave Alfred Johanson 9|Catherine O'Brien . .
11 |Edward Francis Ry .11 .
14| Elwin Worth Davis
18|Elmira L. (Belcher) Graves
5116 11/25 Dentition
25 Jeremiah Sweeney 28 Agnes L. Caulfield
28 Female child of David M. Nellie B. Kidder
28 Mary (Riley) Higgins
60 26
..
Stillborn Lung Fever 11 24 Pulmonary Phthisis Typhoid Fever
66
6 Edward Augustus Joy
34 9 Consumption
2 22 Influenza
»
3 Daniel Kelley .
2 William Doran
..
28 Mary F. (Thayer) Gray
16 Deborah Ford . .
27 Fannie M. Binney .
67
AGE.
Date of Death.
Name of Deceased.
Disease or Cause of Death.
Place of Death
Yrs.
Mos.
Dys.
Nov. 13 Mary (Francis) Steward
32
5
Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Weymouth.
16 Celia (Bates) Cushing .
93
5
Pneumonia
19 Amanda M. (Gardner) Sherman,
44
21
20 James Yourell
4 10 20 Lung Fever
23 Edward Cullen
49
8
8 Pneumonia
25 Rose E. (Hughes) Cullnan
33
Pneumonitis
28 Albert Joyce
77
11
Debility
29 Diantha (Gurney) White
64
5
4 Apoplexy
Dec.
1|Mary Eleanor Keene
4 Convulsions
6
10 Consumption
6 Edward Tobin
68
5 18 Heart Disease
66
6 Lavinia (Littlefield) Holbrook
69
2 18
9 Male child of Wmn. H. and Mary W. Goodwin .
7
15 Lyman Dexter Raymond
11 |21
Cerebral Hemorrhage
66
18 Julia (Briunir) Casey
60
3
Phthisis
18 Frank Otis Dodson .
2 11
Diphtheria 66
18 William J. G. Vinal .
2|11 |12
27 Edward Pray .
73|11
Cancer
30 James Fennell
38|
2 11 Heart Disease
66
The marriages, births, and deaths are presented for examination by parties interested, who are requested to notify the town clerk of any inaccuracies that may be found. Thus far all errors or omissions reported have been corrected.
Of the two hundred and twenty-four births recorded in the year 1878, one hundred and two were males and one hundred and twenty- two were females.
The parents of these children were born as follows : One hundred and twenty in Weymouth ; one hundred and ten in other towns of Massachusetts ; in New England States, two hundred and forty-eight ; in Ireland, one hundred and thirty-four; British Provinces, twenty- eight ; England, three ; New York, six ; Scotland, three ; France, one ; Germany, one ; on the ocean, one ; other places, twenty-four.
Of the one hundred and thirty-three deaths registered for the year 1878, sixty-two were males and seventy-one females. Fifty-eight were persons of foreign parentage.
The excess of births over deaths for the year 1878 is ninety-one.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS AMBLER, Town Clerk. WEYMOUTHI, January, 1879.
16
4 Mary G. (Maxville) Starr
28
10 E. Marshall Field .
3b 6 Diphtheria
66
LIST OF TOWN OFFICERS OF WEYMOUTH.
TOWN CLERK. FRANCIS AMBLER.
TOWN TREASURER. ORAN WHITE.
- SELECTMEN AND OVERSEERS OF POOR.
JOHN W. BARTLETT, NOAH VINING, THOMAS H. HUMPHREY, WILLIAM NASH, C. S. WILLIAMS.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
JAMES HUMPHREY,
C. C. TOWER,
ELIZABETH HAWES, for 3 years, HENRY DYER, JOHN H. STETSON.
WILLIAM C. WRIGHT,
AUDITORS.
E. S. BEALS, ELIAS RICHARDS, LORING TIRRELL.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
NORFOLK, SS.
To either of the constables of the town of Weymouth, in said county, Greeting : -
In the name of said Commonwealth, you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of Weymouth aforesaid, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, to meet at the town hall, in said town, on Monday, the third day of March next, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to act on the following articles, viz. : -
1st. To choose a moderator for said meeting.
2d. To choose all necessary town officers for the ensuing year.
3d. To hear the reports of the several boards of town officers, and of any committee appointed at any former meeting, and act thereon.
4th. To raise such sum of money as the town may deem necessary for the repairs of highways, townways, and bridges the ensuing year, and to determine the manner of expending the same.
5th. To determine what sum of money the town will raise for the support of public schools the ensuing year, and appropriate the same.
6th. To raise money for the support of the town's poor, for repair of school-houses, for police, and for all other necessary town charges.
7th. To determine in what manner the taxes shall be collected the ensuing year ; to fix the rate of interest, if any shall be charged, upon all taxes which remain unpaid after the time fixed for payment.
8th. To act upon the list of jurors prepared and posted by the selectmen.
9th. To see what sum of money the town will appropriate for the payment of State aid to disabled soldiers and seamen, and their families, and the families of deceased soldiers and seamen.
10th. To see if the town will authorize its treasurer to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary to defray current expenses of the town, and for the payment of any part of the town debt that may be wanted.
11th. To see if the town will raise and appropriate money to aid in paying the expenses incident to Memorial Day.
70
12th. To see if the town will instruct the school committee to ap- point a superintendent of schools.
13th. To see if the town will raise and appropriate any sums of money for alterations and improvements in the Athens and Commer- cial Street Schoolhouses, and for furnishing. better accommodations for the Centre Mixed School, now located in the town house.
14th. To see if the town will authorize the sale and conveyance of the Perkins Schoolhouse and lot, and the expenditure of the proceeds of such sale in alterations of the Broad-street Schoolhouse.
15th. To see if tlie town will raise and appropriate any sum of money to complete the grading and fencing of the Franklin School lot.
16th. To hear and act upon the report of the committee appointed by the town to consider what action should be taken in relation to the gift of Miss Susan Tufts to aid in founding a public library in Weymouth.
17th. To take any action in relation to establishing a town library ; appointing committees or officers therefor ; appropriating the money received for dog licenses, or raising and appropriating any other sum of money for that use, and to take any other action relating to such library as may be deemed desirable.
18th. On petition of John Reidy, Jr., and nine others, to see what action the town will take in relation to a claim of Michael McAuliffe for damage to his carriage on the highway in said town of Weymouth.
19th. On petition of Noah W. Torrey and nineteen others, to see if the town will cause Torrey Street to be worked fifty feet wide, and thoroughly repaired.
.20th. On petition of J. Hardwick and ten others, to see if the town will build a reservoir near the junction of Bridge and Neck Streets and raise and appropriate money for the same.
21st. By request of Augustus J. Richards, to see if the town will take any action on the petition of Adoram Clapp and others, to annex a small portion of Braintree to Weymouth.
22d. By request of Augustus J. Richards, to see if the town will cause a history of the town to be prepared, or take any action regard- ing the same.
23d. By request of Augustus J. Richards, to see if the town will cause a copy of its ancient records to be prepared for preservation ; also to index the same.
And you are directed to serve this warrant, by posting up attested copies thereof, in three public places in each ward of said town, seven days, at least, before the time for holding said meeting.
71
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this warrant, with your doings thereon, to the town clerk, at or before the time of meeting aforesaid.
Given under our hands at Weymouth, this twentieth day of Febru- ary, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy- nine.
JOHN W. BARTLETT, NOAH VINING, T. H. HUMPHREY, WILLIAM NASH, C. S. WILLIAMS, Selectmen of Weymouth.
A true copy. Attest :
Constable of Weymouth.
REPORTS
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
AND
Superintendent of Schools,
OF THE
TOWN OF WEYMOUTH
For the Year 1878.
م
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
THE School Committee of Weymouth respectfully submit to the town their Annual Report, as follows : -
The whole number of teachers employed in our public schools at the close of the first term of the current year was fifty, -of whom two in the High schools, three in the Grammar grades, and one in the Primary grade are ranked as assistant teachers.
The annual salaries of these teachers, at the rates now paid them, amount to twenty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars ($21,880) ; and the yearly pay of janitors of the school buildings, at present rates, to the sum of fourtecn hundred and fifty-five dollars ($1.455). An advance in salary, since our last report, has been made in only one instance, and a reduction, occasioned by a change in grade, has more than balanced this advance.
Although it would be a pleasant service to add something to the meagre pay of many of our faithful teachers, if the means which we could rightfully use were sufficient for that purpose, yet we cannot rec- ommend, while the present depression in business continues to affect so seriously the incomes of those who defray the public charges, that the appropriation for the support of schools be increased with a view to any advance in teachers' wages ; but, on the other hand, we should deprecate action by the town which would compel a reduction of the salaries now paid our teachers, as likely to result in changes most unfortunate in their influence upon the schools.
The fact that Weymouth has not been extravagant in this matter of teachers' salaries during the era of extravagance, in comparison with other towns of equal population and wealth, would render any present reduction unjust as well as impolitic. By the last report of the Board of Education it appears that only two or three towns in the State, which are near this in population and valuation, pay so little to their female teachers ; and that of twenty-one towns in Norfolk County, only five pay so small wages as this, and that four of those are the lowest in population and valuation.
The changes in teachers and schools during the past year have been
76
as follows : - In the First Ward an assistant was employed in the Athens Primary, half time, for seven weeks ; and the recitation-room on the second floor was furnished for her use. In the Second Ward, the three Grammar grades have been transferred to the new building on Broad Street, - for which the name "Franklin Schoolhouse " is submitted, - and a new school containing all the Primary grades has also been placed in it. In the Commercial Street house, vacated by this transfer, a new school, embracing all the pupils of the Upper Inter- mediate grade in the ward, has been established, and the School Street Middle Intermediate also placed in it. In the Fourth Ward, a two-story addition has been made to the Pratt Schoolhouse, and two convenient and much-needed recitation-rooms finished and the upper one furnished for the use of the assistant in the Grammar grade.
In the the Third and Fifth Wards no changes in schools have occurred.
During the last year eleven teachers have terminated their connec- tion with our schools, viz. : Mr. Edward N. Dyer, of the Athens Granmar; Mr. Lucius Brown, of the Commercial-street Grammar ; Miss Cora H. Alger, of the School-street Intermediate ; Mrs. Abbie A. Shaw, of the Pleasant-street Intermediate ; Mrs. Flora A. Tilden and Miss Helen A. Nevers, of the Tremont-street Intermediate ; Miss Abbie L. Loud, of the Mt. Pleasant Intermediate ; Mrs. J. E. French, of the Main-street Primary ; Miss S. C. Vining, of the Central-street Intermediate ; Miss Mary F. Logue, assistant in the Torrey-street Grammar; and Mrs. Mary E. Hutchinson, of the Pond-street Inter- mediate.
Six transfers have been made, viz. : Miss Martha J. Hawes, from position of assistant in Commercial-street Grammar to Commercial- street Middle Intermediate ; Miss Hattie B. Baker, from the School- street Intermediate to the Mount Pleasant Intermediate ; Mrs. A. F. Gardner, from the Middle-street Primary to the Franklin Pri- mary ; Miss Josephine A. Raymond, from the Pleasant-street Primary to the Pleasant-street Intermediate ; Miss Mary A. Webster, from the Commercial-street Primary to the High-street Primary ; and Miss Carrie L. Farren, from the High-street Primary to the Middle-street Primary.
Thirteen appointments have been made, viz. : Mr. James J. Pren- tiss, to the Athens Grammar; Miss Fannie C. Foye, assistant in Athens Primary ; Mr. Tilson A. Mead, to the Franklin Grammar ; Mr. James E. Humphrey, assistant in Franklin Grammar; Miss Myra M. Holmes, to the Commercial-street Upper Intermediate ;
77
Miss Hattie B. Baker, to the School-street Intermediate ; Miss Lillian A. Harlow, to the Pleasant-street Primary ; Misses Helen A. Nevers and Mary B. Tirrell, to the Tremont-street Intermediate ; Miss L. B. Holbrook (provisionally), to the Main-street Primary ; Miss Cathe- rine L. Logue, assistant in the Torrey-street Grammar ; Miss Hattie D. Hall, to the Central-street Upper Intermediate ; and Miss Martha E. Belcher, to the Pond-street Intermediate.
The committee are gratified to be able to report that all of our schools, embraced in the High and Grammar grades, are in charge of teachers of ability, experience, and tact ; that they are, almost without exception, in good condition in respect to discipline and interest in school work, and that they give evidence that there has been syste- matic and thorough instruction by their teachers, and much intelligent and persevering effort for improvement on the part of the pupils. We believe that these grades, as a whole, were never making more satis- factory progress than at the present time, but we ask them to remem ber that there are degrees in their excellence, and to feel confident that even those in the front rank will find a well-beaten track yet a long way in their advance.
We can cheerfully make a like report in regard to many of the schools of the lower grades ; but there is in themless of uniformity, both in respect to the character of the disciplineand of the instruction. In a majority of our Primaries, excellent work has been done in all of the branches of reading, arithmetic, language, and writing, and in some, the improvement has been very marked. The writing in several of the schools of this grade is especially noticeable for its excellence, and entitled to high commendation.
Failures in respect to order have been more frequent in the Inter- mediate grades than in others, and have resulted, in several instances, in their falling below grade, checking promotions, and disarranging the whole system of schools ; thus illustrating the help derived from grad- ing in discovering weak and inefficient teaching, and in enforcing a speedy remedy.
We do not wish to be understood as reporting these grades to be less prosperous than in previous years, but only to express the opinion that some of these schools have made considerably greater advances than others within the last year, and have thus rendered more conspicuous the mediocrity of those whose monotony has not been disturbed by any access of enthusiastic ardor.
The schools have been, until the Christmas vacation, under the charge of Mr. W. G. Nowell, the superintendent of last year. Hav-
78
ing been elected for only half of the year, his term expired at that time, and the committee were unanimously of the opinion that his further retention would not be desirable. They wish, however, to express the conviction, in view of the improved methods of teaching introduced by him, and the enthusiasm which he has created among teachers, especially in the lower grades, that his employment has been profitable to the town, and cannot fail to bring lasting benefit to the schools.
On the question of the necessity for the employment of a superin- tendent in the future, there is but one opinion among the committee. They do not believe that it is possible to expend $25,000 annually in behalf of two thousand pupils, either intelligently or economically, except by the assistance of some one who shall devote himself to the work of directing and systematizing the fifty schools of the town. The person who can do this most efficiently should be one who, by his literary attainments, his thorough and practical knowledge of the science of modern teaching, his executive ability, and his integrity, can command the respect of the committee, teachers, and patrons of our schools. They are also of the opinion that it is next to an impossi- bility to secure such a superintendent for the salary which has been appropriated for that purpose for the last three or four years. If the committee are to be directed to employ a superintendent hereafter, it is recommended urgently that not less than $1,500 be appropriated for that purpose.
There is a substantial concurrence, among those who have given the subject full consideration, in the conclusion that the number of hours of school attendance is too great, especially in the Primary grades of our schools. There is, of course, a limit to profitable daily mental ap- plication as well as to physical. If that limit be passed, there is no gain in the mental result. There will be, in consequence, either injury from over-work or a diluted mental effort. The importance of cultivating the habit of intensity of mental application cannor be over-estimated. The pupil should neither be encouraged nor permitted to extend through six hours the mental labor which can properly be done in two, three, or four.
The acquisition of knowledge, even in our schools, is not as important as the training which gives the power to acquire knowledge readily by a concentration of the mental faculties. This being admitted, it remains to ascertain, if possible, what the limit of average mental application is, in pupils of different ages. Fortunately the subject has been thoughtfully considered and investigated by individuals and societies,
79
at home and abroad, who have viewed the matter both from an educa- tional and a humanitarian standpoint, and whose observations and experiments have been sufficiently broad and extensive to give their opinions great weight. They are practically unanimous in the con- clusion that children up to the age of eight years cannot profitably spend more than three hours per day in school work, and children from eight to ten not more than three and one half or four hours. This conclusion is indorsed by the Medico-Legal Society of New York, than which there is no higher authority.
Influenced by these considerations, the committee in September limited the daily school attendance to three hours for the lower Primary grade, and four and one half for the middle Primary, the attendance of different classes or divisions being so adjusted as to cover the full six hours of the school day to the best advantage.
For a long time, it was the settled practice of the School Committee of this town to examine annually all the teachers employed by them. This practice was discontinued ten or fifteen years ago. There has not been, during that time, any substitute for this method of ascer- taining whether teachers are keeping up to the standard of qualifica- tion by which the committee test all new candidates. It is a fact, at once admitted and deplored by most of those who have been engaged for many years in teaching, that it has a tendency, especially in the lower grades of school, to dwarf and narrow the teacher's powers. The committee acknowledge, with satisfaction, that many of our teachers, conscious of this tendency, are constantly seeking to count- teract it by study and reading outside of the common routine of school work. The committee have thought best, as an incentive to such study, and for the sake of bringing all teachers, old and new, to a common standard, to institute triennial examinations of all teachers employed in our schools. To enable them to prepare for such an examination somewhat leisurely, it is proposed that the first of these shall be divided, the first portion to be given in April, and the remainder in November of this year. It is intended that teachers shall be examined upon the same studies and upon questions of the same general character as those included in the recent examinations of new applicants for positions in our schools. If the standard shall seem too high, it is well to remember that it is considerably lower than that required for graduation from our High Schools. While the results of these examinations will be of value as indicating the attainments, habits. and purposes of teachers, they are not, of course, to be made an absolute and final test, in every instance, of a teacher's
80
fitness to continue in our schools. Exceptional success as a teacher, and rare tact and aptitude for instruction and school government, will undoubtedly be deemed, in some measure, substitutes for that mental culture the lack of which such examinations may have revealed.
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