Mr. William Davis, he was stricken with paralysis, and died almost immediately.

   At the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the incorporation of Bridgewater, which occurred three years after his death, the Hon. Aaron Hobart of East Bridgewater, delivered an address in his memory, the concluding words of which are as follows:   "It has been said to be as difficult to compare great men as great rivers.   Some we admire for one thing and some for another and we cannot bring them together to measure their difference.   But, taking into account, as well as we may, all the various talents and acquirements that combine to make up the whole man, I think it may justly be said, without being invidious, that the old town of Bridgewater, though numbering among her sons many eminent men has never produced his superior.   He has now passed away, full of years and full of honors; but his genial face, his tall, erect, dignified person and elastic step will not soon fade from the memory of those who knew him.   Nor will the remembrance of his life be limited to the days of his contemporaries.   Another generation will keep his memory green."

   The engraving which faces the title page of this volume was made from a portrait by Bass Otis, of Boston, a native of East Bridgewater.   It well represents his appearance as remembered by the writer, who was twenty-four years of age at the time of his death.   The plate, which was engraved by F. T. Stuart, formerly of East Bridgewater, has been in possession of the family about forty years, and has been furnished to Mr. Alden for this re-print.

   A few years since there was found, among the papers of Judge Mitchell, the original deed of Massasoit (or Ousamequin as he then signed himself) by which he conveyed the territory of the town of Bridgewater to Miles Standish, Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth, the committee appointed by the original purchasers.   A photographic fac-simile of this valuable document is in possession of Hon. Benjamin W. Harris, who has now deposited the original in the archives of the "Old Bridgewater Historical Society."   A view of Sachem's Rock, where this deed was signed and delivered will be found on page 12 of this volume.