Sudden Death, 1841

His death had come “by unfair means,”…several men went to the cemetery with shovels in hand to dig up the remains of Thomas Randall.The rotting corpse was carried through the streets of Mattapoisett…

When you have a moustache… circa 1912

In 1902 the State Board of Charity delivered its annual report to the Massachusetts legislature. The report was not a positive one. It noted the large number of complaints about the state’s almshouses including overcrowding, dilapidated housing, squalid living conditions and vermin.

The report indicated that the almshouse in Rochester was home to four people, one man and three women. It stated that the almshouse itself was “in very bad condition and beyond possibility of repair”. Rather than spend money to build a new almshouse and continue employing and supporting a keeper for the almshouse, Rochester decided to board out the inmates… read more at http://southcoasthistory.wordpress.com

William Rattican 

J. E. Norton Shaw. Committed suicide after accidentally shooting his wife at their home in Mattapoisett, 1926.

Departed