110 THE DORSET COLONY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



Weymouth plantation one generation afterwards. In the list of 

 this company Joseph Hull is described as of Somerset, a minister, 

 aged 40 yeare. He was accompanied by his family of eight 

 persons and three servants. The Dorset contingent comprised 

 Thomas Holbrooke, of Broadway, and family of five persons; of 

 the remaining number the greater portion have no local origin 

 assigned to them. 



Having been ordered to send a deputy to the General Court, 

 William Reade, of Batcombe, tailor, was selected. During the 

 years 1635-6 "commissioners were appointed to establish the 

 bounds between Mount Wollaston and Weymouth, of which Fore 

 River and the Smelt Brook formed a part, thence by a straight 

 line running south a little westerly, until it reached the line of 

 Plymouth Colony ; also between Weymouth and Bare Cove, after- 

 wards Hingham, of which line Back River and a creek called 

 Fresh River former a part, thence on a line nearly parallel with 

 the western boundary to the Plymouth Colony line. These 

 bounds, which were the more ancient ones re-established, have 

 remained to the present time with little, if any, change." 



" For the better protection of the various towns in the colony 

 from the Indians it was ordered by the General Court that no 

 dwelling house should be built more than half-a-mile from the 

 Meeting House." However, notwithstanding this prohibition, the 

 people of Weymouth soon scattered themselves over a territory 

 from two to three miles in extent, the larger number living in 

 North Weymouth, commonly known as Old Spain. The houses 

 of the inhabitants were mostly rude structures built of logs, and 

 thatched with the coarse grass found at the head of the beaches 

 above the salt water, which was carefully preserved for the purpose 

 by order of the town. 



The Indian title to the district was extinguished by purchase 

 April 26th, 1642. A copy of the instrument is extant, and will 

 be found at large in Mr. Gilbert Nash's interesting sketch of 

 Weymouth. It is couched in very quaint language, and contains 

 abundant evidence that the settlers knew very well how to drive a 



