Excerpt from A History of the Town of Acushnet: Bristol County, State of Massachusetts It has been said that "of making many books there is no end." In the interest of common humanity there should, however, be an end to the large class of books which demoralize, deprave and degenerate. But the history of all parts of our country should be written and put in a form for perusal, reference and preservation. Every organization and person who is engaged in an effort of this character is doing a commendable work, which should be encouraged and assisted by everyone who has it in his power to do so. In the research for material for my genealogy of the Howland family in America, which 1 published in 1888, I made memoranda of historical matter relating to the town of Acushnet, found in records and old documents, and what was related to me by aged people, some of whom were born soon after the Revolutionary war, recalling what was told them of incidents occurring many years previous to that event. The passing away of these people, and the possibility of the destruction of valuable and interesting old records and documents, led me to decide to undertake the arduous task of placing what I possessed and could gather in the accompanying form. Realizing the importance of absolute accuracy in writing history, I have spared no time or labor in endeavoring to verify, if possible, every item on the following pages. Notwithstanding this some errors will doubtless be found herein. Several of the most highly respected and prosperous families in southern Massachusetts had their early New England homes within the boundaries of this town. Here they have been represented for two and a half centuries. The knowledge that the interest and value of this work would be greatly enhanced by sketches of these families, led me to prepare and insert a number of them, together with likenesses and brief biographies of past and present citizens, also cuts of public buildings, residences, and views of some of the many attractive spots in the town. These will be appreciated by descendants of these persons, and by writers of history, biography and genealogy in the future. All the biographical sketches were written by myself and the halftones of persons were furnished at my earnest solicitation.1 am sorry some who were appealed to for such declined to respond, for it is certain that many of their friends and relatives now, and their posterity will regret their decision. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.