‘;. ** érituate Ztaisturiral éurietp jlietnsletter aw. :2“ 276 Samau, ma. 02066 4. (611-545-mas) 6J¢haaq¢rguqg¢¢»a;muz¢uSau¢¢u . .,. .- » ._ Q . _ _¢.¢,Q0?{_- ;__. * .. aft-§'§4’i.§' __,.-___ . p_> ,- .- I .‘ _;_.’Y_;:Kk<§~,>w-‘.1 \§’_.. ‘:3 ;.‘_>p_“';,,¢3__ _____:: 5' - ‘ _.-g Volume 1 Issue 6 January, 1997 The January Meeting of the Scituate Historical Society will be held at 6:30 I’.M. on Saturday, January 25, 1997. This will be a dinner meeting at the Harbor Methodist Church. The cost for the dinner will be $9.00. ¢ We have to give the church a count of people attending the dinner and we don't have too much time. Send a check made out to the Scituate llistorical Society with your reservation to Laidlaw Historical Center, P.O. Box 276, Scituate, MA 02066. Additional parking will be available at the St. Mary's parking lot, corner of First Parish Road and Front Street, with Monsignor's blessing and our appreciation. We have a most interesting program coming up at this meeting. Our speakers will be Tom Mulloy and Bill Carter. These two men are avid and highly experienced skin divers. They will discuss shipwrecks that have occurred along Scituate's coast and artifact and treasure recovery. lf you think treasures are only found in waters in faraway places, you're wrong! In early August Tom Mulloy notified us that he had discovered a cannon off the North Scituate coast. The cannon was very old and is potentially very significant to Scituate's maritime history. Tom has donated the cannon to the Maritime/Irish Mossing museum, and while the it is undergoing preservation treatment to remove chlorides, research will continue on it. Another wreck discovery by Tom has the potential to re-write the early history of Scituate's mossing industry. So for a fascinating look at Scituate shipwrecks, treasure, and artifacts never seen before by the public join us on January 25. Tom Mulloy is a lieutenant in the Quincy Fire department and has been with them since 1975. He also holds a U.S. Coast Guard captain license and is an Emergency Medical Technician. Tom has resided in Scituate for 23 years. He has been a certified diver since 1967, now making more then 80 dives per year. For the past 15 years he has specialized in wreck diving and underwater photography along the New England coast. He has also dived in Canada, the Caribbean, California, Hawaii and the Mediterranean. Bill Carter is a resident of Marshfield. He has been wreck diving for 28 years and presently uses his boat named the Wreck-Hunter. He is a researcher and has catalogued hundreds of wrecks along the New England coast. Bill assisted Evening Magazine in their first underwater wreck program and ,like Tom, will be assisting Our Society in further underwater archaeological discoveries. * I I AA I \ aulu Ln \ uu'\ A 3 A u| \ Scituate Historical Society p. 1 January - RESERVE EARLY Only the rst 200 reservations accompanied by payment will be accepted. Mail the form below to: Laidlaw Historical Center P.O. Box 276 Scituate, MA 02066 Enclosed is my check made payable to the Scituate Historical Society for the dinner meeting on Saturday, January 25, 1997. NMENumber of reservations ______________i________________ Amount of check $ Archives Corner This book, entitled “General Lawes and Liberties of New Plymouth”, I658-1691, poorly bound, marked Vol. I., Town Records, was in 1891, kept in the house of the Town Clerk of Scituate. unprotected from lire. At the annual town meeting in Scituate, March 4, 1901, the following vote was passed: "That the town authorize the Selectmen to deposit in the State Archives, a volume of the Laws of the General Court made in 1658 and continued until 1691 as requested by Robert T. Swan, Commissioner of Public Record.” It was temporarily placed in the custody of the Commissioner of Public Records, and proved to be a copy of the “LAWS OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY”, and is the only one ever found by him in his examinations. The introduction to Vol. Xl., of the Plymouth Colony Records says “A manuscript volume of the Laws belonging to the Town of Scituate has been of great service in supplying some deficiencies and illegible portions; all of which addittions, whether in text or margin, are prined in brackets l], and in some cases with the letter S appended.” This volume was re-bound in its present form by the Commissioner and deposited in the State Archives. In the Annual Report of the Town of Scituate, for the year ending December 31, 1909, Article 26 states: “Voted, That the town rescind its vote of March 4, 1901, whereby it was voted to authorize the Selectmen to deposit in the State Archives, a volume of the laws of the General Court, made in 1658 and continued until 1691, as requested by Robert T. Swan, Commissioner of Public Records, and instruct the Town Clerk to consult the Secretary of the Commonwealth in regard to its retum to the town. On the 27th day of May l9()9, pursuant to the above vote of the town, it was delivered into the hands of the Town Clerk, Jetson Wade, Esq. and signed by Wm. M. Olin, Secretary of the Commonwealth. In next month’s issue of “Archives Comer”, I will detail some of the contents of this one and only book of its kind in Massachusetts, and our most highly protected and most valuable book in our Town Archives. Dorothy Clapp Langley Scituate Historical Society p. 2 January — -i 15th. Went over to James and got (torn) ee of Walnut. In the afternoon we Carted Wood out of (torn) swamp. I went down to Cohasset. (torn) of Snuff, 2 pounds 5 shillings Od. old ten. 16th. I wrought in Clockwork. Daniel and John Elmes Extream Sick. But little hope of their lives. 17th. In the forenoon I helped git re wood. In the aernoon I wrought in Clock work. Daniel Seems Better. Doctor there. £ 18th. I wrought in the Clockmaking business. Daniel Very Sick. 19th. Lot and I ground Scythes in order to mow in the Salt Meadow. James Could not help us for he was obliged to assist (torn) at Pratts for Mr. John Departed this Life this (torn) Morning at aboute two oClock. (torn) Daniel Very Sick Indeed. The Doctor has almost given (torn) him over. I went down to Cohasset this day and bought Some Brandy and Logwood for him. Father killed a lamb and boild his head and kidneys & c. August the 20th. I went to meeting. The Revr. (torn) Grosvenor preach'd. There was a good many folks put notes being Sick with the Bloody flux; Daniel sent one. I-Ie seems no better. John Ellmes No better. The Text this Day was in Proverbs the 27th C. lst. Verse; the words are Boast not thy Self of tomorrow for thou knowest not What a Day may bring forth. There has been Several folks in the parrish Died the Last Week of the Bloody ux. To wit the Wife of Mr. Eli Curtis Buried Last week, Capt. James Turners Wife w(torn) Now lays unburied, a Child of Joshua Otiss Jun buried this afternoon, one of them a boy named Insign, the other a girl named Charlotte. 2 lst. James, my Self, Lot and Francies mowd in the I-Iubbe meaddow. Daniel Seems to be Very Low and Weak. 22nd. James, my Self, Lot, Francis, and Daniel Cerlow Mowd on the Hubbe Meadow. The Weather Very hot. Daniel Very Sick. 23rd. James I and Lot mowd on the I-Iubbe Meadow. We nished it. Daniel Seems a little better. John Elmes is Very Sick. 24th. Lot and I mowd the Strip by the beach. Father and Franc. Raked on the I-Iubbe Meadow. 25th. James and I made Cyder for him. This is the Second. Father and the Boys Raked on the I-Iubbe meadow. We are in hopes that Daniel is growing Better. John Elmes they Don't Call any better. There is little hopes of his Ever going abroad again. Johns Wife is Sick with the Same Disorder tho not Extream bad. Daniels Wife and Youngest Child Namely Azotus are poorely; with the Same Disorder to wit the bloody ux. Capt. Noah Otis Lost a Child. It died with the Above Sd Disorder this Week.” (End of Diary). This is only a small part of the diary. Everywhere in the diary there is manual work nearly every day, Sunday excepted. of course. Earlier in the diary, Israel. his father, his brother Daniel, and many of his friends and neighbors spend weeks cutting the new hay with scythes, raking it in the elds day after day to cure it. and then hauling it to the barns for storage until winter. Just before the haying season began, Israel and his friend Amos joumeyed on horseback to see Israel's homesick sister who had recently married and moved west to Chestereld, Mass. in the west-central part of the state. That journey to Chestereld took them from May 24th to June 7th when they were back in Scituate again. Today he probably would have done it in a day. As for what Israel called the “bloody ux”, it really was an aggravated form of what we know as diarrhea, or stomach u. Having no ways to really ght the bloody ux, other than rest and home-made concoctions, many people su"ered excessive discharges of uids from their bowels, became dehydrated, and often died as a result.