While the question of the division was pending in 1855 and 1856, I was chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and of course was cognizant of all that was done to defeat the measure. In those days the members of the legislature remained during the week in Boston, or its immediate vicinity, only going home to spend the Sabbath. The board invited them to make an excursion to Plymouth on Fast Day, and entertained them at the Samoset House. It is needless to say that the argument was conclusive. A more difficult task awaited the board the next year to oppose a petition to change the shire to Bridgewater. As soon as the legislature of 1857 came together, the board of which I was still chairman, placed printed remonstrances in the hands of reliable men in every town in the county, which poured into the legislature bearing, I think, the names of a majority of the voters of the county. A similar petition was sent to the legislature at a time earlier than I can remember, headed by Col. Sylvanus Lazell of Bridgewater, who unfamiliar with the meaning of words, claimed that Plymouth had been a seaport long enough, and that it was Bridgewater’s turn. At that time a resolve was passed by the legislature requiring the submission of two questions to the voters of the county: First, are you in favor of a removal of the shire, and second, in what town shall the shire be located. In answer to these questions a majority voted for a removal, and singularly enough, a majority also voted in favor of Plymouth for the location. With the erection of a Court house in Brockton, and the erection of a Registry in Plymouth, I think the crisis is passed, and that no further attempts will be made to remove the shire. The increasing population of Plymouth will serve to check the disturbance of the equilibrium of the county, which the growth of Brockton has heretofore caused. CHAPTER XXXI. The following professional men have not heretofore been mentioned in these memories: Dr. F. G. Oehme, a German homeopathic physician, came to Plymouth about 1857, and occupied for a time the house on Middle street, now owned by Charles H. Frink, and later bought the house on Court street occupied in recent years by George E. Morton. He had an office at one time in the second story of the building on Main street, now occupied by H. H. Cole. He sold his dwelling house in 1873 to Martha T. Bartlett, the widow of Ephraim Bartlett, and removed to Long Island, from thence going to Portland, Oregon, where he died in 1905. Dr. Ervin Webster, born in Vermont, January 25, 1828, came to Plymouth in 1850, and established himself as a botanic physician in the rooms on Main street, now occupied by Loring’s watchmaker’s store. With his son, Olin E., four years of age, he was drowned in Billington Sea, August 28, 1856.