Plymouth memories of an octogenarianDavis, William T. (William Thomas)
History
Plymouth memories of an octogenarian
Davis, William T. (William Thomas)
Plymouth (Mass.) -- History
Samuel Shaw, a son of Southworth and Maria (Churchill) Shaw, was
born in Plymouth in 1808, and married Mary Gibbs, daughter of
Simeon Dike, and died May 28, 1872. Mr. Virgin, the son of John and
Priscilla (Cooper) Virgin, married in 1816, Mary, daughter of Isaac
and Lucy (Harlow) Barnes, and died April 19, 1869. Henry Tilson, who
died in January, 1835, and Wm. P. Ripley have been already referred
to. William Z. Ripley, the son of William P. and Mary (Briggs)
Ripley, was born in Plymouth and married Adeline B. Cushman. He
finally removed to Boston. William T. Hollis, as already mentioned
in connection with the Bradford tavern, was the son of Henry and
Deborah (Leonard) Hollis, and was born in Plymouth in 1826. He was
jointly with Thomas Prince, proprietor and editor of the OLD COLONY
MEMORIAL from 1861 to 1863, and of the _Memorial and Rock_ after
the _Memorial_ was consolidated with the _Plymouth Rock_, jointly
with Thomas Prince and George F. Andrews, from 1863 to 1864. He
died unmarried at the Plymouth Rock Hotel only a few years ago.
Southworth Barnes, son of William and Mercy (Carver) Barnes, was born
in Plymouth, and married in 1833, Lucy, daughter of John and Lydia
(Mason) Burbank. After his death, which occurred October 29, 1861,
his store was taken by Stevens Mason Burbank, nephew of his wife, who
married in 1851, Cornelia, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Bradford)
Doten. The rooms over the stores in the building in question were
occupied by various persons at various times for miscellaneous
purposes. Among the occupants were the Plymouth Anti-Slavery
Society, Thomas May, Benjamin F. Field and Abel D. Breed, tailors,
Benjamin Hathaway, manufacturer of neck stocks, Clary and Burr,
barbers, Dr. Sanborn, dentist, the _Plymouth Free Press_, newspaper,
P. T. Denney, and N. A. T. Jones, tailors, Thomas B. Drew and Thomas
D. Shumway, dentists.
The occupant of the next house from 1828 to 1837 was Daniel Gale, a
tailor whose shop on the other side of Main street has been already
mentioned. He was a son of Noah and Rebecca Gale, but where he was
born and when, I do not know. He married Elizabeth, daughter of
Edward Winslow of Duxbury, and probably about 1837 moved away from
Plymouth, as I find no record of his death. Like all men in his line
of business in localities too small for keeping an assortment of
cloth, he was only a tailor, and not a draper. Customers furnished
their own cloth, and by an unwritten law the tailor was entitled to
the remnants from which in time considerable profit accrued. These
remnants were universally, in Plymouth at least, called cabbage.
Hence the word cabbage as applied in the sense of stealing or, to use
a milder phrase, of taking possession of. Mr. Gale, after a residence
of some years in Plymouth, built the block of houses between Sandwich
street and the Mill pond, which in my boyhood was known as Gale’s
Cabbage, implying that it was built from the profits of his remnants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account