HISTORY 
OF 
\/ 
The humane Society. 
OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. HISTORY 
OF 
THE HUMANE SOCIETY 
OF THE 
Comntontoealtf) of iHassadjusrtts: 
WITH 
A SELECTED LIST OE PREMIUMS 
AWARDED BY THE TRUSTEES, FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO THE 
PRESENT TIME, 
AND A 
LIST OF THE MEMBERS AND OFFICERS. 
Prepared bv Direction of the Trustees. 
BOSTON: 
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 49 FEDERAL STREET. 
1876. In accordance with the precedents of the Society, a vote of the 
Trustees was passed April 7, 1876, directing F. B. Crowninshield, 
President, C. A. Curtis, Treasurer, and A. T. Perkins, Secretary, to 
have the History and By-laws of the Society reprinted, together with a 
List of the Officers and Members, and a Selected List of the Premiums 
awarded. The following statement is by them, on behalf of the Trus- 
tees, respectfully presented to the members of the Society, and to others 
interested in its objects. They have reprinted the History of the Society 
almost exactly as it came from the hands of Messrs. Francis Parkman, 
John Homans and John L. Gardner, in 1845, making only such addi- 
tions as the lapse of thirty years has rendered necessary. 
F. B. CROWNINSHIELD. 
CALEB A. CURTIS. 
AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS. HISTORY. 
“The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts,” was instituted in 1786. Its origin at 
that time, or the immediate occasion of its formation, 
was the result of an interview between the late Rev. 
Dr. James Freeman, Dr. Aaron Dexter, Royall Tyler, 
Esq., and Dr. Moyes, a gentleman from England, then 
residing in Boston, who, though blind from his child- 
hood, had distinguished himself by his scientific attain- 
ments, and by his zeal for the interests of philanthropy. 
In conversing on the various charitable institutions 
established in Great Britain, Dr. Moyes, as we learn 
from a document already published, “suggested the 
outlines of a plan of a society, similar to that of the 
British Royal Humane Society, incorporated in 1774, 
in imitation of one in Holland, to restore to life persons 
apparently dead,” &c. The proposal engaged the 
earnest attention of the above-named gentlemen, who 
communicated it to the Hon. James Bowdoin, afterwards 
its first President, and obtaining with his the cordial 
concurrence of several other influential citizens, it was 4 
HISTORY. 
resolved at once to carry it into effect. Subscriptions 
were opened for the establishment of a fund, and a 
meeting of the subscribers, thenceforth its members, 
being held at “The Bunch of Grapes Tavern,” in State 
Street, a Society was duly organized, January 5, 1786, 
by the appointment of officers, in number and descrip- 
tion precisely the same as have been annually elected 
from that to the present time. 
The Society was incorporated in 1791, John Hancock, 
Esq., being then the Governor of the Commonwealth. 
And “the end and design of the institution,” as ex- 
pressed in the Act, is “ for the recovery of persons who 
meet with such accidents as to produce in them the 
appearance of death, and for promoting the cause of 
humanity, by pursuing such means, from time to time, 
as shall have for their object the preservation of human 
life, and the alleviation of its miseries.” 
The formation of charitable societies, now so common, 
was at that time of very rare occurrence ; * and among a 
people just tasting the first fruits of their independence, 
and engaged in establishing their own institutions, 
excited no common interest. The excellence of the 
objects proposed, approving themselves at once to 
* Excepting the Marine Society, founded in 1742; the “Massachusetts Congrega- 
tional Charitable Society,” incorporated in 1786; and the “Society for Propagating 
the Gospel among the Indians, and others, in North America,incorporated in 1787, 
no charitable associations, originating among our own citizens, had as yet been 
formed. The Boston Dispensary was of much later origin ; and the bnly exceptions 
that can be adduced to the statements above made, are the institution of “The 
1 Quarterly Charity Lecture,” and the Boston Almshouse. HISTORY. 
5 
every enlightened mind ; the example of a most flour- 
ishing society for the same purpose in Great Britain, 
commanding the general as well as the royal patronage, 
united, perhaps, with a disposition in our community, 
early developed, and still active, to delight itself in 
things new, gave to the beginnings of this Society a 
marked distinction. Nor did this cease with its earliest 
days. For a series of years, the most respectable and 
influential of our citizens, in different parts of the 
Commonwealth, were enrolled among its members. 
The most distinguished professional gentlemen, lay as 
well as clerical, were selected for its orators ; liberal 
contributions to its funds showed the sense entertained 
of the importance of its design; while its anniversaries, 
in the pleasant month of June, which the Executive, 
with the legislature of the State, then in session, repeat- 
edly adjourned to attend, were honored by crowded 
assemblies, and attended by somewhat of the “ pomp 
and circumstance ” belonging to those days, but which, 
with familiarity and changes in the habits of society 
have now passed away.* 
* The first Catalogue of the members of the Society was appended to Dr. 
Lathrop’s Discourse at the first Anniversary, 1787, and contains one hundred and 
forty names. The Catalogue of 1810 exhibits the names of six hundred and eleven 
members, residents of various parts of the Commonwealth, besides a list of honorary 
members, among whom are Drs. Fothergill and Lettsom, with the Earl of Stamford 
and others of Great Britain, Dr. Baron of Calcutta, Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, and 
various distinguished gentlemen in other parts of the United States. 
Members were at first, and afterwards, for a long series of years, admitted only on 
the recommendation of a Trustee, or some other member. And in instances as late 
as 1824, were on their request as formally dismissed, or in other words released from 
the payment of an annual subscription. 6 
HISTORY. 
No sooner was the Society formed, than application 
for the aids it contemplates was presented. Of the first 
meeting of the Trustees, at the house of Dr. John 
Warren, February, 1786, one month from the time 
of its organization, the following is a part of the 
record. 
“It being made to appear to the Trustees, that Mr. Andrew 
Sloane had, since the institution of the Society, by a signal exertion, 
saved a lad from drowning, who had fallen into the ice through the 
Mill-Dam : — Voted, That said Sloane be paid the sum of twenty- 
eight shillings, agreeably to the fourteenth article.” 
As this was the first premium adjudged, followed 
soon after by one of a similar description, so the first 
instance of resuscitation communicated was that of a 
child of a painter in Boston, who, in October of 1787, 
fell into a deep cistern, and was taken out apparently 
dead; but by the persevering use of the methods 
recommended by the Society, under the direction of an 
intelligent neighbor, was completely recovered. Such 
were the beginnings of a long series of cases, amounting 
to many hundreds in number, which, in their various 
degrees of human peril and suffering on the one hand, 
of heroic exertion and humanity on the other, have 
awakened the sympathies and obtained the premiums 
of the Society. 
Of other objects soon engaging their attention, 
was the erection of huts on exposed portions of the 
coast, for the shelter of shipwrecked seamen. To this. HISTORY. 
7 
however, as forming an important part of its present 
arrangements, we shall have occasion to advert more 
particularly hereafter. In immediate connection with 
this, was a proposal, in 1788, to erect houses, and even 
to settle families on the Isle of Sables, near Cape 
Breton, for the protection of the many, in each year, 
who were wrecked on that desolate spot. But the funds 
of the Society being wholly inadequate to an undertak- 
ing of such magnitude, a committee was appointed to 
present an address to His Excellency Governor Han- 
cock, who was a proprietor of a large part of the island, 
and to request his recommendation of the object either 
to the legislature of the State, or to the Congress of the 
United States, as he might deem most expedient. The 
Governor complied with the request, by sending a 
message to the General Court; and a communication 
was at the same time held with some influential citi- 
zens of Halifax, (Nova Scotia,) near to which, also, 
Cape Sable is situated. But of the results of these 
measures, the records of the Society do not furnish 
information.* 
At this period, and for many years subsequent, it was 
usual with the Trustees to make an annual visit to the 
* The following article, as it shows the importance of the matter, is extracted from 
a Halifax newspaper of July, 1787 :— 
“The number of vessels continually wrecked on Cape Sable Island makes it 
highly necessary, that some steps should be taken by government to settle a family 
or two there. The expense could not be great; and there cannot be a doubt that 
the New England States would cheerfully join with the government here, and the 
underwriters, in a measure, by which their interests, and the lives of so many 
valuable fellow-creatures might be preserved.” 8 
HISTORY. 
islands in the harbor, in order to inspect their huts. 
On these occasions the President was authorized to 
invite the Governor, with distinguished strangers, and 
such other guests as he should deem proper. On one 
of these anniversaries, Governor Hancock being by 
indisposition unable to attend, ordered a salute to be 
fired in honor of the Society, as their boat passed the 
Castle William ; for which courtesy he received their 
vote of thanks. The Trustees had the frequent morti- 
fication, as will hereafter be seen, to find their huts 
plundered, or the materials destroyed. But the painful 
duties of these visitations seem to have been abundantly 
relieved by a measure of festivity not unknown in those 
days to the fathers, and even to the highest dignitaries 
of the Commonwealth, under the burdens of their 
official duties. And probably it was in some observa- 
tion of the tendencies of a generous hospitality to 
profusion, that the Trustees have from time to time 
adopted, for their own direction, some very judicious 
resolves, in the shape of sumptuary laws ; of which, if 
the effects, - with the usual slowness attending this 
species of regulation, have not been manifest to them- 
selves, they will hope that they may yet be tasted to 
their fullest extent by their successors. 
As this Society was for many years one of only three 
or four charitable institutions within Massachusetts, 
proposals were occasionally made to engraft other 
objects upon its original purpose. Among these we HISTORY. 
9 
find a communication from the Rev. Dr. Belknap, the 
distinguished biographer and historian, suggesting that 
some provision be made for the sick-poor, and particu- 
larly for exposed children. A large committee, of whom 
were Judge Lowell, Dr. Belknap, Judge Sullivan, and 
Thomas Russell, Esq., were appointed from the Society 
at large to consider and report upon the subject, who 
recommended a consultation with the Medical faculty, 
in order most effectually to provide “ for the sick-poor, 
for the assistance of lying-in women, and for foundlings/’ 
They also reported in favor of procuring subscriptions 
for a public Dispensary ; and thus probably originated 
that excellent institution, which for now more than 
fifty years has been the instrument of great good in 
our city. 
The condition and sufferings of American citizens, 
then in captivity among the Algerines, was in 1794, a 
subject of deep interest. At a meeting of the Trustees, 
May 5th, of that year, the President and four other 
gentlemen were selected as a committee to apply to 
the General Court for a brief to collect money in their 
favor. They received, also, a letter from the Vice- 
President of the United States, with several letters 
from the captives themselves in Algiers, addressed to 
the American Consul. But upon mature deliberation it 
was deemed expedient to defer any active measures for 
the present. 10 
HISTORY. 
In the course of two or three successive seasons 
several deaths had occurred to persons bathing in Cam- 
bridge river, particularly among the students of the 
College. A committee, of whom were Dr. John War- 
ren and Dr. Dexter, was therefore appointed “to confer 
with a committee of the College and the inhabitants 
of Cambridge upon the expediency and practicability of 
erecting a bath upon that dangerous river, for the pur- 
pose of preventing such accidents and to this object 
the Society appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars.* 
The yellow fever having prevailed in Boston, Phila- 
delphia, and other of our cities during the summer and 
autumn of 1798, the Trustees offered a piece of plate 
of the value of fifty dollars “for the greatest number of 
important and well-substantiated facts instrumental in 
giving origin to the yellow fever in the United States.” 
The premium was awarded to Samuel Brown, M. D., 
and his dissertation was published at the expense of the 
Society. 
As might have been anticipated, or rather as experi- 
ence made probable, many mistaken or deceptive appli- 
cations were made to the Society for its rewards, in 
cases either not coming within its province, or when, 
in the actual relieving of a sufferer no danger had been 
incurred, or with collusion and intention to deceive, 
* For some measures, which the Trustees also adopted at a later period for the 
encouragement of a swimming-school in Boston, specially for the benefit of the boys 
of the public schools, by inviting the co-operation of the Mayor and Aldermen, and 
appropriating one hundred dollars for the purpose, see Note, under the Catalogue 
of Premiums awarded. HISTORY. 
11 
when the whole story was a fabrication, and no danger 
to any party existed. Of this latter species of baseness, 
as when claims were made for meritorious efforts in 
drawing a man out of the water, who, it appeared upon 
inquiry, “ had never fallen into the water at all," some 
few instances are of faithful record in our Appendix. 
With a view to discourage all such plotters, as well as 
to preclude fruitless applications, the Trustees did, in 
1799, cause public notice to be made, both of the proper 
objects of their institution, and of the nature of the 
services which they considered as alone entitled to 
a reward. Signal exertions, not merely those which 
common humanity would demand, and which it would 
be disgraceful in any human being to refuse, coupled 
with personal exposure and danger, are represented in 
their Resolutions as indispensable. “ Signal exertion,” 
as is expressed, “includes the endangering of life, or 
incurring some damage by impairing the health, or 
injuring apparel, or other property.” 
In November, 1801, the Rev. Dr. Parker informed 
the Trustees, “ that a gentleman had made an offer of 
four hundred dollars to the Humane Society for the 
purpose of erecting a building for those persons who 
are so unfortunate as to become insane.” The subject 
was referred by the Trustees to the Society at their 
semi-annual meeting, in December, who appointed a 
large committee to consider the subject and report at a 
future meeting. 
o ' 12 
HISTORY. 
This appears to have been the first suggestion of a 
subject of great moment, which afterwards engaged 
much of the attention of the Society. No measures, 
however, seem to have been adopted in relation to it 
until 1816, when, at the meeting of the Trustees in 
October of that year, a communication was received 
from the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hos- 
pital, inviting attention to the subject, and submitting 
certain proposals to our consideration. The proposals 
themselves were not adopted ; but at the meeting of 
the Trustees on November 6th, the President, Dr. 
Dexter, communicated the following letter: — 
To the President and Trustees of the Humane Society : 
Gentlemen : We, the subscribers, members of the Humane Society, 
actuated solely by a desire to promote a cause most interesting to 
humanity, and of a nature consistent with the general design of our 
institution, respectfully request that the funds of the Society, so far as 
. they are disposable by the Trustees, may be applied to the encourage- 
ment of the Hospital for Lunatics, proposed to be established in this 
town, or its vicinity. 
This letter was signed by George Cabot and thirty- 
four other members of the Society, and it was unani- 
mously 
Voted, That the Trustees do authorize the Treasurer to subscribe 
five thousand dollars in behalf of the Society towards the establishment 
of an Hospital for insane persons. 
It was also Voted, That the Rev. Charles Lowell, Samuel Parkman, 
Esq., and Dr. Spooner, be a committee to confer with the Trustees of 
the “Massachusetts General Hospital,” and request the aid of that 
Corporation in the proposed establishment. HISTORY. 
13 
Thi§ committee conferred agreeably to their appoint- 
ment. The offer of the Trustees was accepted by the 
General Hospital Corporation on certain terms and 
conditions mutually agreed ; the Treasurer subscribed 
the five thousand dollars ; and “ thus,” says the history 
of 1829, “the Humane Society laid the foundation of 
the Asylum for the Insane.” 
At a stated meeting of the Trustees in July, 1820, an 
additional donation, of seven hundred and fifty dollars, 
was made to the “ Massachusetts General Hospital,” on 
the same terms and conditions as the previous sum. 
And in August, 1824, upon the Report of a committee, 
consisting of Rev. Dr. Lowell, Dr. J. C. Warren, and 
Judge Thacher, appointed to consider the expediency 
of affording further aid, it was unanimously voted to 
appropriate “ a sum sufficient to support six free or 
charity beds, within that institution, on condition that 
the occupation of these beds be at the disposal of the 
officers of this Society, namely, the President, Vice- 
Presidents, Secretaries, and Treasurer, each one bed ; 
and, provided, that the number of charity beds, pre- 
viously existing in the Hospital, be not diminished in 
consequence of this donation, but that the beds sup- 
ported by the Humane Society be considered as added 
to those existing.” This grant was limited to three 
years, but, upon the expiration of that term, was 
renewed on like conditions, and so continued, as will 
appear, until 1834. 14 
HISTORY. 
In September, 1830, Rev. Dr. Lowell, John Heard, 
Esq., and Dr. Hayward, were appointed to consider and 
report the expediency of appropriating an additional 
sum from the funds of this Society in aid of some other 
humane and charitable object. Accordingly, in the 
following December, they reported that “they knew of 
no object more deserving, or more needed in the 
present condition of the community, than an establish- 
ment for Lying-in women; and proposed that five 
thousand dollars be appropriated in aid of this object, 
on condition that twelve thousand dollars more be 
raised, by subscription, within six months.” The com- 
mittee advert, in their Report, to the fact we have 
already stated, that the idea of a similar institution was 
suggested at an early period of this Society ; that with 
the advancing population of the city, the want of such 
an asylum had become the more urgent; and that the 
object itself was altogether in accordance with the 
general design of this Society,—which is, as expressed 
in the Act of incorporation, “ the preservation of human 
life and the alleviation of its miseries.” This Report 
was accepted, and the same committee were authorized 
to carry it into full effect. 
The Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 
having proffered their aid towards the same object, a 
conference was held with a committee of that Board. 
Another and larger committee, composed of five of our 
Trustees, was appointed for the collecting of subscrip- HISTORY. 
15 
tions, and inviting- the co-operation of the “ Massachu- 
setts Charitable Society.” Both these objects having 
been accomplished, the result was the establishment, in 
1832, of “ The Boston Lying-in Hospital,” as it is 
now conducted. The Act of incorporation, afterwards 
obtained, reserves to this Society the right of visiting, 
or exercising a supervising power over its affairs. In 
virtue of this provision, two of its Board of Trustees 
are annually appointed from the Trustees of the Humane 
Society. In January, 1834, three hundred dollars were 
appropriated from our funds, to the support of three 
free beds in the Lying-in Asylum ; and the same grant 
was continued annually, until 1838, when, on application 
from the Directors of the Lying-in Hospital, for addi- 
tional aid, to meet some pressing exigencies, a donation 
was made of nine hundred dollars; it being understood, 
that this special grant should be regarded as exempting 
the Society, for the future, from any annual contribu- 
tions in support of that institution. 
In consequence of the provision from our funds, for 
free beds in the “ Lying-in Asylum,” it was deemed 
expedient that the number of beds, provided by us, in 
the General Hospital, should be diminished. Accor- 
dingly, since 1834, three hundred dollars only, instead 
of six hundred, have been annually appropriated for 
beds in this latter institution. These are under the 
charge of the President, who gives orders, as occasion 
arises, for the admission to them of proper subjects. 16 
HISTORY. 
Applications are very frequently made. It is seldom 
that these, our free beds, are at any time unoccupied ; 
and during the term of twenty years, that has now 
elapsed since this excellent provision was adopted, a 
very large number of sick-poor have partaken of its 
benefits.* 
HUTS FOR SHELTER. 
At an early period of the Society, as has been already 
seen, the erection of huts for the shelter and comfort 
of persons unfortunately shipwrecked was among the 
objects of its attention. Within a few months after its 
organization appropriations were made for this purpose. 
Several huts, on exposed parts of the Massachusetts 
coast, have been from time to time erected, repaired, or 
renewed, as circumstances required, furnished with fuel 
and other articles most needful for the exhausted mari- 
ner. At no period have the Trustees lost sight of this 
object; but as the number of dwelling houses along 
the coast has very much increased during the last 
twenty years, it has not been necessary to add to the 
* It appears from the records of the Massachusetts General Hospital, which were 
carefully examined by the Superintendent, for the purpose, at the request of the 
committee, that, during the twenty years, from 1825 to 1845, “there have been 
admitted to the free beds of the Humane Society, on order of its officers, 171 
patients, who remained in the Hospital 1054 weeks, making the average time for 
each patient, six weeks and one day. 
Besides these, others appear to have been admitted, and to have occupied our 
charity beds, “by the order of subscribers,” so that the whole number probably, 
exceeds 200. Since 1845, the Society having regularly continued to subscribe for 
free beds in the Hospital, the number who have received assistance from that source, 
up to 1876, is very large. HISTORY. 
17 
number of our huts in the same ratio as we have in- 
creased our life-saving stations ; and, of the huts now 
existing and their respective locations, the following is 
the enumeration : 
At Nantasket Long Beach, . . one. 
“ Nauset Beach, “ 
“ Milk Island, Cape Ann, . . 
“ Orleans Beach, “ 
“ Wellfleet, “ 
At Nantucket, also, there are three huts, under the 
charge of individuals of that Island.* 
We regret for the sake of our common humanity to 
be compelled to say, that neither the sacredness of the 
charity, nor the urgent necessity to the shipwrecked 
sufferers of the materials supplied ; nor yet the thought 
of the bitter disappointment and distress, which the 
want of them at such a crisis must occasion, have pro- 
tected these humble but hallowed abodes from plunder. 
* It was usual with the Trustees, in their arrangements for the Huts, to engage 
the assistance, or to avail themselves of the counsel, of judicious individuals, most 
conversant with the locations of the coast. Many valuable services of this nature 
were rendered and gratefully acknowledged. At a meeting in October, 1802, it 
appears that the late Rev. Dr. Freeman, having been requested, by a preceding 
vote, to “inquire for the most important places on Cape Cod, where small Huts 
may be erected to , receive shipwrecked seamen, and to determine how many be 
necessary,” and having fulfilled this commission to the great satisfaction of the 
Trustees, it was 
Votedf “ That the thanks of the Society be given to the Rev. Mr. James Freeman 
for his very judicious and accurate report, respecting the Huts on Cape Cod ; and, 
that two thousand copies be printed in a large type, and distributed in several parts 
of this Commonwealth, for the benefit of seafaring men.” 18 
HISTORY. 
Scarcely had one been erected on Lovell’s Island, in 
1789, before it was found necessary to offer rewards 
for the discovery of the perpetrators of so base an 
outrage. And even to the present, in instances not a 
few, have the Trustees found themselves obliged to 
repair the wastes of this peculiarly cruel and wanton 
depredation, in comparison of which, as was indignantly 
said by an eloquent preacher on one of the annual 
celebrations, “ common robbery is righteousness.’’ * 
LIFE BOATS. 
It has also been a favorite and highly important 
object of the Society to provide Life Boats as among 
the surest means of preserving human life in its most 
exposed and threatening positions ; alike valuable to 
them who are in peril, and to them who are willing to 
attempt their rescue. Accordingly, as early as October, 
1807, one was completed under the direction of a 
skillful committee, and with the advice of some expe- 
rienced mariners, was stationed at Cohasset, where it 
remained until 1813. 
The honor of this inestimable invention belongs to 
Henry Greathead, Esq., a native of South Shields in 
England. And though like many others of the most 
valuable discoveries, which science and art, quickened 
by humanity, have made for the benefit of our race, it 
* Rev. Thomas Thacher, in his Anniversary Discourse of June, 1800. HISTORY. 
19 
failed at first of attracting' notice ; yet such was the 
experience of its utility, that it at length obtained the 
attention of the British Parliament, who voted to its 
inventor the sum of twelve hundred pounds sterling, 
while two thousand more were presented him by indi- 
viduals to encourage the building of his Boats. In 
several instances one hundred pounds were subscribed 
by Humane Societies for the same purpose ; and the 
gift of a costly diamond ring was presented to Mr. 
Greathead, by the Rmperor of Russia. 
At different periods of our own Society, since that 
already referred to, measures have been adopted in 
reference to this object. Particularly at the meeting of 
the Board in January, 1840, a committee was appointed 
to carry it into execution. But the funds of the Society 
not admitting of a large expenditure for this single, 
however desirable, purpose, it was with high satisfaction 
that at the meeting of April, in the same year, the 
Trustees received an official communication of a Resolve, 
passed by the Legislature of the State, of which the 
following is a copy. 
(Comtnonfoealtfj of fHagsadjusettg. 
In the year one thousand eight hundred and forty. 
Resolved, That there be allowed and paid out of the Treasury of the 
Commonwealth, to the President and Trustees of the Massachusetts 
Humane Society, the sum of five thousand dollars, for the purpose of 
furnishing Life Boats, to be stationed at the most exposed parts of the HISTORY. 
20 
seacoast within this Commonwealth, and that a warrant be drawn 
therefor. And that the said Society be requested to report to the 
Governor and Council their expenditure of the funds appropriated bv 
this Resolve, together with the number and stations of the boats. 
House of Representatives, March 21, 1840, passed. 
Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker. 
In the Senate, March 21, 1840. 
Daniel P. King, President. 
Approved, 
Marcus Morton. 
With this liberal and effective aid, altogether worthy 
of an enlightened commonwealth, the Society was at 
once enabled to accomplish its desired purpose. And 
under the superintendence of the President, Benjamin 
Rich, Esq., and of the late lamented Henry Oxnard, 
eleven boats, together with one provided from the 
Society’s own fund, were completed, and an official 
Report, of which the following is a copy, was at the 
ensuing session of the Legislature, agreeably to the terms 
of the Resolve, presented to the Governor and Council. 
Boston, January 4, 1841. 
To his Excellency John Davis, and to the Honorable Council: 
The Trustees of the Humane Society of Massachusetts beg leave to 
present to your Excellency, and to the Honorable Council, the follow- 
ing Report, as submitted to their own body by a committee chosen 
from themselves to carry into effect the above-mentioned Resolve. 
The committee, in addition to a Life Boat provided by the Humane 
Society, have built eleven, which are stationed in the following places : 
One boat at Nantucket, one at Martha’s Vineyard, three at Cape Cod, HISTORY. 
21 
which are arranged by John Atkins, Esq., with the approbation of the 
Selectmen ; one at Cohasset, one at Nantasket Beach, one at Lynn, 
one at Gloucester, one at Sandy Bay, one at Plumb Island, under the 
care of the Humane Society at Newburyport; with one on Scituate 
Beach, which will be paid for by the Massachusetts Humane Society. 
The whole number of boats thus provided is twelve ; all of which 
are furnished with oars, buckets, and four bars of iron for ballast. 
These can be taken out when it is necessary to transport the boats to 
any distance. A house twenty feet long, eight feet and a half wide, 
shingled on the top and battened on the sides, has been built for each 
boat. 
The following, may it please your Excellency and the Honorable Coun- 
cil, is a part of the letter addressed, in the name of the Trustees, to the 
Selectmen of one of the towns within which the boats are stationed, ana 
signed by our President, Benjamin Rich, Esq. Similar tiotices were 
given to the authorities of the other towns. 
Boston, August io. 1840. 
To Hon. George B. Upton, and the Selectmen of Nantucket: 
Gentlemen : With the money granted by the State, the Massachu- 
setts Humane Society have a Life Boat finished, which they wish 
placed in the best situation to relieve shipwrecked mariners on your 
Island. They wish you to select ten active men, one of whom to be 
appointed as chairman, (sending in their names, which are to be 
recorded in the books of the Society,) to take charge of said boat, 
any five or six of whom being present can manage her. But their 
services must be considered as granted voluntarily for humane and 
charitable purposes. And whenever any meritorious act is performed 
by the volunteers in the boat, in rescuing lives, they shall be suitably 
rewarded on a full representation of the same to the Society. 
It is necessary that a suitable house should be built to protect 
the boat from the weather; the bill of which will be paid on pre- 
sentment. 22 
HISTORY. 
[Here follows a detailed statement of the cost of the 
boats, and of the articles supplied, all included with the 
above, in the Report to the Council, but unnecessary 
here to repeat.] 
From the foregoing statement it will appear that, of the five thou- 
sand dollars received by the Trustees from the treasury of the Common- 
wealth, there have been expended for the purposes for which it was 
granted, four thousand nine hundred and sixty-two dollars, seventy- 
two cents, leaving a balance unexpended of said grant of thirty-seven 
dollars twenty-eight cents; which, together with the sum of two 
hundred dollars received from the Newburyport Marine Society, leaves 
a balance of two hundred thirty-seven dollars twenty-eight cents in the 
hands of our Treasurer for the above-named purposes. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 
By direction of the Trustees, 
Francis Parkman, 
Henry Oxnard. 
At a subsequent meeting of the Trustees, the follow- 
ing letter from the Council, in reply to the Report, was 
presented, and ordered to be placed on file. 
To Rev. Francis Parkman, 
and Henry Oxnard, Esq. 
Gentlemen : The Committee of the Council, to whom was referred 
the Report of the Humane Society, of their expenditure of five thou- 
sand dollars granted by Resolve, March 21, 1840, have received the 
same and found it satisfactory. They respectfully suggest, that 
advantages would arise from publication of the stations of each boat 
in the newspapers, as it would also give satisfaction to the members of 
the Legislature. The points or places where the boats are stationed 
should be accurately defined, so that shipwrecked vessels might direct HISTORY. 
23 
their course, if in their power, to such places. The Committee would 
be happy to confer with you upon this subject, if you should think 
any advantage would arise therefrom. 
With great respect, 
Jos. Grennell, 
By order of the Committee. 
Council Chamber, January 12, 1841. 
Agreeably to the above suggestion, publication was 
duly made of the numbers and stations of the Life 
Boats ; and an accurate list, as they are at present 
located, will be found in the Appendix. 
In the session of 1841, an additional grant, of thirteen 
hundred and fifty dollars, was made by the Legisla- 
ture ; and an acknowledgment of the same, with a 
statement of the expenditure, was presented, as before, 
to the Governor and Council, by the President of the 
Society. 
The equipment of the Society at the present time, 
[1876,] exactly ninety years from its foundation, is 
very complete. It has sixty-two boats, commanded 
by experienced officers, and manned by volunteer 
crews, composed of the boldest and most enterprising 
men on the seaboard. These boats are located at the 
most exposed points on the coast of Massachusetts, 
ranged along from Ipswich River on the north, to the 
Island of Cuttahunk on the southern boundary of the 
State. 
Fifteen mortars are placed where the rocks or sand 
bars project into the sea, so that if a vessel should 24 
HISTORY. 
go ashore within three hundred yards of the land, her 
crew would have a fair chance of being saved by lines 
thrown over them, as no boats could live in the 
cross-seas which are so terrible at these shallow and 
most dangerous places. 
Mr. R. B. Forbes, Vice-President of the Society, with 
the assistance of Colonel Laidley, United States Army, 
and Mr. C. A. Curtis, one of the Trustees, aided by 
Captain George Dewey, United States Navy, have 
recently been making a series of experiments in casting 
lines from rifled guns, with such success that the great 
range of five hundred yards has been obtained. If this 
range can be relied upon, it is probable that rifled guns 
will be substituted for mortars at such places as Peaked 
Hill Bars, and others of the more dangerous points 
along the coast. 
The officers of the Army and Navy of the United 
States, stationed in Massachusetts, have always shown 
the greatest interest in the Society, and have from time 
to time rendered most valuable services to it. 
The inhabitants of the State,—women as well as men, 
as our records show—have exhibited instances of heroic 
courage, and have displayed humane characteristics 
which have been surpassed by no other people. 
Owing to the exertions of the Trustees of the Society 
from time to time, especially those of William Appleton 
and Samuel Hooper, both of whom were members of 
Congress from Boston, the usefulness of the Society H1STORY. 
25 
was so demonstrated to the United States Government, 
that grants at different times, amounting to many thou- 
sand dollars, have been made and expended in boats, 
huts, rafts, mortars, and other apparatus, as the set- 
tlement of our accounts with the government show — 
by means of which hundreds of valuable lives have 
been saved, and supplementary life-saving stations have 
been established under the supervision of government 
officers of the most efficient character. The State of 
Massachusetts has at times, when the needs of the 
Society were greater than they are at this moment, 
generously assisted it with very considerable sums of 
money. 
The Society has the utmost reason to acknowledge a 
paternal Providence, and to congratulate a benevolent 
community on the good already accomplished, and the 
far greater good to be anticipated from these wise 
provisions up to 1845, one of these boats alone,— 
that stationed at Hull,—had been the means of saving 
thirty-six lives and the number rescued by our life 
boats there and elsewhere may be counted by hundreds. 
And if the inhabitants of these and other exposed 
portions of our coast have found demands upon their 
heroism and humanity, frequent and urgent beyond 
what might seem their due proportion, they will find, 
we are persuaded, corresponding satisfaction, in having 
been the instruments, under heaven, of delivering from 
death and giving back to domestic love, to friendship, 26 
HISTORY. 
usefulness, and shall we not hope, to “newness of life,” 
their rescued and grateful fellow-citizens. 
If we look only to the special purpose for which the 
Society was established, “ the preservation of human 
life,” without including in the estimate the various 
kindred objects which at different periods have engaged 
its attention and been aided by its funds, we find ample 
testimony of its beneficial influence. It would be diffi- 
cult to exhibit with any exactness of numbers the 
individuals, whose names in the course of the ninety 
years since its institution have been enrolled on its 
records, either as the instruments or objects of the 
humanity it encourages ; who have saved, or have 
themselves been saved from “ going down to death.” 
* At the anniversary of “The Royal Humane Society,” in 1804, it was stated 
that since its institution in 1774, a period of only thirty years, two thousand eight 
hundred and fifty-nine persons of all ages and conditions had been recorded in its 
books as rescued from imminent peril and restored to life ; and that four thousand 
five hundred and eighty-seven individuals had been rewarded by its funds for humane 
exertions. It was customary, also, at those anniversaries, to assemble as many as 
could be cbllected of the persons thus recovered, who went in procession and were 
seated together in a conspicuous part of the church. On one occasion, the numbers 
of this singular company exceeded seven hundred ; and their anthem of thanksgiving 
was that of the healed King of Judah: “The grave cannot praise Thee : Death 
cannot celebrate Thee : they that go down to the pit cannot hope for 'l'hy truth. But 
the living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day.” 
A Hymn was composed by Mrs. Morton, for the anniversaries of our own Society, 
one stanza of which is supposed to be sung by the persons recovered. The Hymn 
itself was repeatedly sung by Mrs. Graupner and others, as appears in the notices of 
the occasion, at the time ; but we believe that in no instance was there an assem- 
blage of the persons restored. 
The following is the well-known stanza : — 
“ Since twice to die is ours alone, 
And twice the breath of life to see, 
Oh ! may we, prostrate at Thy throne, 
Devote our second lives to Thee.” HISTORY. 
27 
But when we add to these the far wider circle of kindred 
and friends, of fathers and mothers, of wives and sisters, 
whose distracting fears or speechless anguish have been 
changed to exulting joy, there rises to our view a 
countless multitude, who have had reason to bless its 
instrumentality. To appreciate the value of any single 
case, we have but to make it our own. The parent has 
but to think of the child “once dead and alive again,” 
or the wife saved from widowhood, of receiving back 
her husband; and in every instance of such deliverance, 
and every effort of successful humanity, what fountains 
are opened of gratitude and joy! Not that we imagine, 
that but for any awards, which we can adjudge, such 
generous efforts would not have been made. We have 
too much confidence in the impulses of that nature, 
which God has given us, and in the teachings of that 
religion, which the Son of God’s love has brought us, 
to suppose, that without the bestowment of pecuniary 
bounty men will be wanting to their fellow-men in the 
hour of peril. God has touched the heart of His chil- 
dren to finer issues, and has set that within us, to answer 
to the calls of human suffering, which depends on no 
societies, or on what societies can bestow. To encour- 
age, therefore, and reward; to quicken rather than 
awaken benevolence; and to provide efficient means, 
which an enlightened philanthropy may employ, is the 
chief purpose of our Society. For the extent to which 
this purpose has been accomplished, it becomes us 28 
HISTORY. 
gratefully to acknowledge the sovereign /Arbiter, “ with 
whom are the issues of life and death and to conse- 
crate all our endeavors by our faith in Him, who, in 
a sense far surpassing that, in which even the most 
faithful of His disciples may hope to imitate Him, “came 
not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And 
amidst the calamities and crimes disordering society, 
which the lover of his race is so often called to contem- 
plate and deplore, it is grateful to turn our thoughts to 
those heroic deeds, such as we here exhibit, which may 
at once restore our confidence in the nature, of which 
we are all partakers, and reveal to us the power of that 
religious faith, which is the only unfailing source of 
generous action. OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES 
OF 
THE HUMANE SOCIETY, 
FOR 1876-7. 
PRESIDENT. 
FRANCIS B. CROWNINSHIELD. 
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT. 
ROBERT B. FORBES. 
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT. 
Rev. SAMUEL K. LOTHROP, D. D. 
TREASURER. 
CALEB A. CURTIS. 
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 
Dr. CHARLES D. HOMANS. 
RECORDING SECRETARY. 
AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS. 
FRANCIS BACON, 
JAMES DAVIS, 
JOHN P. BAYLEY, 
TRUSTEES. 
NATHANIEL THAYER, 
HENRY A. WHITNEY, 
H. HOLLIS HUNNEWELL. LIST OF OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 
From its Formation to the Present Time. 
JAMES BOWDOIN, 
THOMAS RUSSELL, 
JONATHAN MASON, 
JOHN WARREN, 
AARON DEXTER, 
WILLIAM SPOONER, 
PRESIDENTS. 
JONATHAN AMORY, 
BENJAMIN RICH, 
FRANCIS PARKMAN, 
DAVID SEARS, 
F. B. CROWNINSHIELD. 
THOMAS RUSSELL, 
JONATHAN MASON, 
JOHN WARREN, 
SIMEON HOWARD, 
JOHN LATHROP, 
THOMAS DAWES, 
WILLIAM SPOONER, 
SAMUEL COBB. 
FIRST VICE PRESIDENTS. 
BENJAMIN RICH, 
JOHN C. WARREN, 
CHARLES LOWELL, 
FRANCIS PARKMAN, 
ROBERT G. SHAW, 
JOHN HOMANS, 
ROBERT B. FORBES. 
JOHN WARREN, 
SIMEON HOWARD, 
fOHN LATHROP, 
Aaron dexter, 
WILLIAM SPOONER, 
SAMUEL PARKMAN, 
SAMUEL COBB, 
[ONATHAN AMORY, 
fOHN C. WARREN, 
SECOND VI,CE PRESIDENTS. 
CHARLES LOWELL, 
FRANCIS PARKMAN, 
ROBERT G. SHAW, 
DANIEL P. PARKER, 
ABBOTT LAWRENCE, 
WILLIAM APPLETON, 
SAMUEL HOOPER, 
ROBERT B. FORBES, 
SAMUEL K. LOTPIROP. 
TREASURERS. 
SIMEON HOWARD, 
SAMUEL PARKER. 
EDWARD GRAY, 
JOHN ELIOT, 
SAMUEL COBB, 
EPHRAIM ELIOT, 
HENDERSON INCHES, 
JOHN L. GARDNER, 
CHARLES AMORY. 
F. B. CROWNINSHIELD, 
JOSEPH P. GARDNER, 
CALEB A. CURTIS. HISTORY. 
31 
THOMAS WELSH, 
JOHN CLARKE, 
SAMUEL PARKER, 
AARON DEXTER, 
WILLIAM SPOONER, 
GEORGE G. LEE, 
CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES. 
CHARLES LOWELL, 
JOHN HEARD, Jr. 
JACOB BICELOW, 
JOHN HOMANS, 
SAMUEL K. LOTHROP, 
CHARLES D. HOMANS. 
RECORDING SECRETARIES. 
JOHN CLARKE, 
SAMUEL PARKER, 
JOHN AVERY, Jr. 
EDWARD GRAY, 
CHARLES DAVIS, 
FRANCIS J. OLIVER, 
FRANCIS PARKMAN, 
SAMUEL A. ELIOT, 
JOHN L. GARDNER, 
SAMUEL HOOPER, 
HENRY A. PEIRCE, 
JOHN P. BAYLEY, 
AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS. 
SAMUEL PARKER, 
TORN LATHROP, 
AARON DEXTER, 
OLIVER WENDELL, 
SAMUEL STILLMAN, 
NATHANIEL BALCH, 
SAMUEL HENSHAW, 
PETER THACHER, 
THOMAS WELSH, 
JOHN AVERY, Jr. 
JOHN CLARKE, 
JEREMIAH ALLEN, 
WILLIAM SPOONER, 
SAMUEL PARKMAN, 
JAMES SCOTT, 
EDWARD GRAY, 
WILLIAM PHILLIPS, 
JOSEPH COOLIDGE, 
WILLIAM EMERSON, 
SAMUEL BRADFORD, 
JONATHAN CHAPMAN, 
BENJAMIN RICH, 
JOSEPH S. BUCKMINSTER, 
THOMAS DAWES, 
CHARLES LOWELL, 
GEORGE G. LEE. 
EPHRAIM ELIOT, 
JONATHAN AMORY, 
HENDERSON INCHES, 
ANDREW RITCHIE, 
JOHN C. WARREN, 
BRYANT P. TILDEN, 
SAMUEL COBB, 
JOHN HEARD, Jr. 
PETER O. THACHER, 
FRANCIS PARKMAN, 
JOSEPH COOLIDGE, 
ROBERT G. SHAW, 
DANIEL P. PARKER, 
TRUSTEES. 
JOHN GORHAM, 
GEORGE HAYWARD, 
EDWARD H. ROBBINS, 
JACOB BIGELOW, 
JOHN C. GRAY, 
SAMUEL A. ELIOT, 
CHARLES P. CURTIS, 
JONATHAN M. WAINWRIGHT, 
JOHN L. GARDNER, 
JOHN HOMANS, 
HENRY OXNARD, 
ABBOTT LAWRENCE, 
WILLIAM APPLETON, 
CHARLES G. LORING, 
ROBERT B. FORBES, 
SAMUEL HOOPER, 
DAVID SEARS, 
SAMUEL AUSTIN, 
CHARLES AMORY, 
FRANCIS B. CROWNINSHIELD, 
SAMUEL K. LOTHROP, 
y. MASON WARREN, 
FRANCIS BACON, 
GEORGE B. UPTON, 
WILLIAM AMORY, 
HENRY A. PEIRCE, 
JAMES DAVIS, 
HENRY P. STURGIS, 
DAVID SEARS, Jr. 
JOHN P. BAY LEY, 
NATHANIEL THAYER, 
TOSEPH P. GARDNER, 
CHARLES D. HOMANS, 
JOHN HEARD, 
AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS, 
HENRY A. WHITNEY, 
CALEB A. CURTIS, 
IT HOLLIS HUNNEWELL. LIST OF GENTLEMEN WHO HAVE DELIVERED DIS- 
COURSES BEFORE THE HUMANE SOCIETY SINCE 
ITS INSTITUTION. 
1787 ... . JOHN LATHROP, D. D. 
1788 .... SIMEON HOWARD, D. D. 
1789 .... PETER THACHER, D. D. 
.1790 BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE, M. I). 
1791 SAMUEL PARKER, D. D. 
•1792 .... JOHN BARTLETT, M. D. 
O793 ... . . JOHN CLARK, D. D. 
,1794 • • • • THOMAS BARNARD, D. D. 
►1795 . . . Hon. JOHN BROOKS. 
-1796 . CHANDLER ROBBINS, D. D. 
-1797 .... JOHN FLEET, M. D. 
►1798 . . . WILLIAM WALTER, D. D. 
0799 .... ISAAC HURD, M. D. 
,1800 .... Rf.v. THOMAS THACHER. 
1801 ... JEDIDIAH MORSE, D. D, 
-1802 . ELIPEIALET PORTER, D. D. 
1803 . . JOHN S. J. GARDNER, D. D. 
1804 .... JOHN HOWARD, M. I). 
■1805 . . THOMAS GRAY, D. D. 
-1806 .... THADDEUS M. HARRIS, D. D. 
1807 .... Rev. WILLIAM EMERSON. 
• 1808 .... THOMAS DANFORTH, M. D. 
1809 .... JOSEPH M’KEAN, LL. D. 
1810 . . JOHN T. KIRKLAND, D. D. 
► 1811 LEMUEL SHAW, LL. D. 
1812 . Rev. HENRY COLMAN. 
1813 .... JAMES KENDALL, D. D. 
1814 JOHN ALLYN, D. D. 
1815 . . x Rev. HORACE HOLLEY. 
1816 . . JOHN GORHAM, M. D. 
1817 WILLIAM TUDOR, Esq.* 
* At a special meeting of the Society, March, 1818, it was voted, partly in con- 
sideration of the increasing number of charitable occasions, to discontinue the public 
celebrations. Most of the preceding discourses were published. ACT OF INCORPORATION. 
(fTommonfoeaitfj of Massachusetts. 
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE. 
AN ACT 
To Incorporate and Establish a Society by the name of The Humane 
Society of the Conunonwealth of Massachusetts. 
WHEREAS, it is the duty of government at all times to 
countenance and support its citizens in their exertions for 
alleviating the distresses of their fellow-men ; and whereas, 
divers persons have petitioned this Court for an act of incor- 
poration whereby they may more effectually carry into 
execution their benevolent designs : — 
Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the 
same, That the Hon. Thomas Russell, Esq., Jonathan Mason, 
Esq., John Warren, M. D., Rev. Simeon Howard, D. D., Rev. 
Samuel Parker, D. D., John Avery, Jun. Esq., Rev. John 
Lathrop, D. D., Rev. Peter Thacher, Rev. John Clarke, Dr. 
Thomas Welsh, Aaron Dexter, M. D., and Mr. Nathaniel Balch, 
together with all those who now are, and such others who shall 
become members thereof, be, and they are hereby erected into 
and made a body politic corporate forever, by the name of The 
Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 34 
CHARTER. 
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the 
said Corporation are hereby declared, and made capable in law 
of having, holding, purchasing, and taking in fee simple, or any 
less estate, by gift, grant, devise, or otherwise, any lands, 
tenements, or other estate, real and personal; provided that 
the annual income of the said real and personal estate shall not 
exceed the sum of four thousand pounds ; and also to sell, 
alien, devise, or dispose of the same estate, real and personal, 
not using the same in trade or commerce. 
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the 
said Corporation shall have full power and authority to make, 
have, and use a common seal, and the same to break, alter, and 
renew at pleasure; that it shall be capable in law to sue and 
be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered 
unto, defend and be defended in all courts of record, or other 
courts or places whatsoever, in all actions, real, personal, and 
mixed, and to do and execute all and singular other matters 
and things, that to them shall and may appertain to do. 
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the 
said Corporation may make, establish, and put in execution 
such laws and regulations as may be necessary to the govern- 
ment of said Corporation ; provided the same shall in no case 
be repugnant to the laws and constitution of this State; and 
for the well governing of the said Corporation, and the ordering 
of their affairs, they shall have such officers as they shall 
hereafter from time to time elect and appoint; and such officers 
as shall be designated by the laws and regulations of the said 
Corporation for the purpose, shall be capable of exercising 
such power for the well governing and ordering the affairs of 
the said Corporation, and calling and holding such occasional 
meetings for that purpose, as shall be fixed and determined by 
the said laws and regulations. CHARTER. 
35 
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the 
end and design of the institution of the said Society, is for the 
recovery of persons who meet with such accidents as produce 
in them the appearance of death, and for promoting the cause 
of humanity by pursuing such means from time to time, as 
shall have for their object the preservation of human life, and 
the alleviation of its miseries. 
And be it further enacted, That the place where the first 
meeting of the said Society shall be held, shall be in the town 
of Boston ; and that the Hon. Thomas Russell, Esq., be, and 
he hereby is, authorized and empowered to fix the time for 
holding the said meeting, and to notify the same to the mem- 
bers of the said Society, by causing the same to be published 
in one of the Boston newspapers fourteen days before the time 
fixed on for holding the said meeting. 
In the House of Representatives, Feb. 21, 1791. 
This Bill having had three several readings, passed to be 
enacted. 
DAVID COBB, Speaker. 
In Senate, Feb. 23, 1791. 
This Bill having had two several readings, passed to be 
enacted 
SAMUEL PHILLIPS, President. 
By the Governor approved. 
JOHN HANCOCK. 
True copy. Attest, 
JOHN AVERV, Jun., Secretary. GENERAL STATUTES OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
Chapter i 6i , Section 88. 
OF OFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY. 
{Injury or removal, etc., to property of Humane Society.) 
Whoever unlawfully enters any house or hut, the property 
of the Humane Society, and wilfully injures, destroys, removes, 
or carries away any food, fuel, oil, candles, furniture, utensils, 
or other property belonging to said Society, or unlawfully or 
wilfully enters any boat-house of said Society, and carries away, 
removes, or injures, any life-boat, car, or any of the ropes, 
tackle, oars, or any appurtenance thereof, or wilfully injures, or 
destroys, or unlawfully uses or commits any trespass upon the 
property of said Society, intended or kept for the purpose of 
saving or preserving human life, or commits any trespass upon 
such hut or boat-house, shall be punished by a fine not exceed- 
ing one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the jail not 
exceeding ninety days ; but the penalties of this section shall 
not apply to persons for whose use said boats, houses, and 
other property are intended and kept. Pilots, commissioners 
of wrecks, sheriffs and their deputies, and constables, shall 
make complaint against all persons guilty of any offence under 
this section. BY-LAWS. 
ARTICLE I. 
The officers of the Humane Society of the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts shall consist of twelve Trustees, of whom 
one shall be President, two Vice-Presidents, one Treasurer, 
one Recording Secretary and one Corresponding Secretary. 
There shall also be annually appointed, from the Board of 
Trustees, a Standing Committee of three, a Finance Committee 
of two, and an Auditing Committee of two. 
ARTICLE II. 
The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, Recording Secre- 
tary, Corresponding Secretary, and Trustees, shall be elected 
by ballot at the Annual Meeting, and shall hold their offices 
until others are chosen in their stead. In case of the death, 
absence or inability to act, of any officer, his duties shall 
devolve as follows, to wit: In case of the President, his duties 
shall devolve upon the first Vice-President; in case of the first 
Vice-President, upon the second Vice-President; in case of the 
Treasurer, upon the Recording Secretary; in case of the 
Recording Secretary, upon the Corresponding Secretary; and 
in case of the disability of both Treasurer and Recording 
Secretary, the duties of Treasurer shall devolve upon the 
Corresponding Secretary. 38 
BY-LAWS. 
ARTICLE III. 
The Trustees, a major part of whom shall constitute a 
quorum, shall have the entire care and management of all the 
concerns and funds of the Society, and may fill any vacancy in 
their board or in the offices of the Society. They shall also 
adjudge such rewards of merit as they may see fit, agreeably 
to the Charter and the By-Laws of the Society. Upon the 
resignation of any Trustee, his membership in the Society 
shall continue without further personal service, all persons 
chosen Trustees, thereby becoming members of the Society. 
ARTICLE IV. 
The Treasurer shall be in duty bound to see that all property 
belonging to the Society is held in its corporate name, and all 
evidences of said property shall remain in his custody. He 
shall have power to collect all dividends and other dues to the 
Society, and all transfers of stocks and other property of the 
Society shall be signed by the Treasurer and approved by one 
or more of the Finance Committee, which approval shall be in 
writing on the transfer signed by them. The Treasurer shall, 
with the approval of the Finance Committee, make all invest- 
ments of the funds of the Society, and charge the same from 
time to time. The Treasurer shall also at the Annual Meeting, 
and at such other times as he may be requested so to do, by 
the Trustees, make a full exhibit of the accounts of the 
Society, which shall be examined and approved by the Auditing 
Committee at least once in every year. No money shall be 
paid by the Treasurer, without a vote of the Trustees or an 
order from the President, or on account of bills duly approved 
by the chairman of the Standing Committee. BY-LAWS. 
39 
ARTICLE V. 
The Recording Secretary shall record all the votes of the 
Society, and shall keep an abstract of its proceedings, and 
shall record in full all such communications as the Trustees 
shall direct, and shall call the meetings of the Society and of 
the Trustees. 
ARTICLE VI. 
The Corresponding Secretary shall perform all the corres- 
pondence of the Society, reporting the same for the approval 
of the Trustees. 
ARTICLE VII. 
The Standing Committee shall have the general charge and 
detail of all the Huts, Boats, and Life-Saving apparatus of 
every kind, belonging to the Society, and shall make a written 
report, to be presented at the meeting of the Board. 
ARTICLE VIII. 
The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be holden on the 
second Tuesday in April, at which time it may elect members 
by a two-thirds vote, and the President shall call special meet- 
ings either of the Society or of the Trustees, at the request of 
three of the Trustees. 
ARTICLE IX. 
Notice of all meetings of the Society shall be given by 
publishing the same in some daily morning newspaper in the 
city of Boston, not less than three times. The first publication 
to be seven days before, and the last on the day of the 
meeting. x • 40 
BY-LAWS. 
ARTICLE X. 
Meetings of the Trustees shall be held on the first Friday 
of every month, at such time and place as the Recording 
Secretary shall appoint, unless otherwise directed by the 
Trustees. Notices of such meetings shall be sent to them 
one week previous to such meeting, and if it be a special 
meeting, it shall be so stated in the notice. 
ARTICLE XI. 
Any person within this Commonwealth, or any citizen of 
this Commonwealth, who shall by signal exertion or peril save 
or attempt to save human life, or any person who shall by 
signal exertion or peril save or attempt to save the life of a 
citizen of this Commonwealth, may be entitled to receive a 
reward not exceeding twenty dollars in money, or either of the 
medals, or the certificate of the Society. 
ARTICLE XII. 
There shall be a common seal of the Society, and on it 
engraved a representation of the rescue of Moses by the 
daughter of Pharaoh, with the motto, I drew him from the 
waters. Exodus xi. io. 
ARTICLE XIII. 
These By-Laws may at any time be amended, at any meeting 
of the Society called for that purpose. PREMIUMS AWARDED BY THE TRUSTEES. 
Of the large number of Premiums awarded for benevolent 
exertions, we select those chiefly which appear to be distin- 
guished from the rest, by the merit and interest of the case, or 
the amount of the premium. The present list will be found, 
therefore, to include not more than a quarter part of the whole 
number, and, with few exceptions, are such as were thought 
worthy of some special consideration by the Trustees.* 
The first List of Premiums which was published, was that 
appended to the discourse delivered before the Society, at its 
anniversary of June, 1792. It is thus introduced: 
“The Trustees, with great pleasure, announce to the public 
the exertions of such of their fellow-citizens as have been 
instrumental in saving from death a number of persons, who 
must otherwise inevitably have perished. For such exertions, 
the following premiums have been adjudged.” 
1786. To Mr. Andrew Sloan, who by signal exertion saved 
a lad from drowning among the ice near the Mill Damf in 
Boston, £0 28 o 
* A large number of other cases will be found in the former publications of the 
Trustees, for which smaller sums were awarded, varying from one or two to ten 
dollars. 
f The “Mill Dam,” at the time of this I'ecord, was near what is now Causeway 
Street. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
42 
1787. To Mrs. Mary Capell, who, by persevering use of 
the methods recommended by the Society, resuscitated the 
child of a painter who fell into a deep cistern and was taken 
out apparently dead, £0 28 o 
1789. To Lieut. Scott, of His Most Christian Majesty’s 
Ship, the Leopard, for risking his life, in jumping from the 
stern of said ship, then in the harbor of Boston, and saving 
the life of a young lad,—A Gold Medal, jQ2 12 o 
1790. To Mr. Goffe, for receiving into his house, for the 
purpose of using the means of resuscitation, the body of Mr. 
Davis, who fell from the stern of a ship, at Governor’s Wharf, 
when this act of kindness was refused at Mr. Davis’s own lodg- 
ings,—the thanks of the Society, and a Premium of o o 
1791. To M. Julien Jean Durotoer, for saving the lives 
of Daniel Pierce and three other men, who were shipwrecked 
near Nantucket Shoals, in December last, £3 o o 
1792. To John and Thomas Burgess, keepers of the light- 
house at the Gurnet, for their exertions in saving the lives of 
two of the unfortunate crew of the ship Columbia, wrecked on 
Duxbury Beach, £300 
To Mr. Richard Hall, on representation of Rev. Dr. Os- 
good, of Medford, for saving the life of a young student, in Mr. 
Woodbridge’s Academy, a Silver Medal, with suitable in- 
scriptions, to be presented by the President of the Society. 
1793. To S. Delano, Jr., for saving the crew of the ship 
Rodney, wrecked on Duxbury Beach, a Medal of Gold, 
valued at £4 12 4 
To R. Hall, Jr., for saving a boy, a Medal of Silver, 
value, £1 13 o 
To P. Geyer and others, for saving the lives of several 
persons, wrecked on Long Island, £2 8 o PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
43 
To the Rev. Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Elisha Doane, five guineas, 
to be by them distributed among those benevolent persons, 
inhabitants of Cohasset, who exerted themselves in saving 
Capt. Hans, Peter Klein, and the crew of the ship Gertrude 
Maria, of Copenhagen, when in imminent peril of death. 
1794. To J. Whitney and L. Morse, for saving a man 
from drowning, $10 
To S. Smith, 60s., and H. Bredlee, 30s., for saving a 
man, $15 
To W. White, for saving a woman, $5 
To Dolphin Galler, for saving the life of a child of Mr. 
George Churchill, of Plymouth, $10 
To John Howell, George Dunton, and John Brown, for 
saving the life of a son of Mr. Parker, who had fallen through 
the ice in the Mill Creek, $17 
1795. To Robert Rogers, for saving the lives of four boys, 
overset in a boat where the water was seven feet deep, $5 
To Nathaniel Trench and Son, for saving the lives of 
0 
Henry Emmes, John Emmes, J. Snelling, and William Harris, 
who were overset in a small boat in the harbor of Boston, and 
would have perished but for the said Trench, $8 
1796. To Timothy Pike and Joseph Barrett, for resusci- 
tating a person of seventy years of age, who had fallen into the 
water in passing over the causeway, $5 
To Patrick Morgan, for bringing on shore the body of a 
child of Henry Rogers, of Springfield, {§5 
To Ebenezer Adams and Loraine Fenno, for saving the 
life of Peter Munwell, between Spectacle and Thompson’s 
Islands, $10 
To Samuel Polly, for saving Benjamin Buckman, who was 
overset in a gale of wind upon Chelsea shore, $10 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
44 
To Jacob Whipple, for saving Andrew Magee, William 
Penniman, and his daughter, who were overset in a sudden 
gust of wind, $10 
1797. To William Hancock and Samuel Bunting, for 
attempting to save the life of Mr. Tileston, who was suffocated 
in a well upon the Boston Pier, ten dollars each, $20 
To Jonathan Cooper, for bringing up said Tileston, Han- 
cock, and Bunting, who were also suffocated in their attempt to 
save Tileston, $10, and a Silver Medal, value, $4, $14 
To Adam Smith, for saving two children at Hancock’s 
Wharf, $8 
To Silas Libbey, for taking up a son of Major Hasty, of 
Scarborough, $10 
To Major Libbey, for his uncommon despatch in procuring 
a Physician for the above case, a Silver Medal, $6 
To Wilson Adlington, for saving the life of Francis Whis- 
ton, $6 
1798. To Joshua Hardy and George Rex, for saving a 
child of Edmund Steven, four dollars each, $8 
To Samuel Cox, Jr., for saving John Thompson, $10 
To John Hebden and Ebenezer Ward, for their exertions 
in saving the life of Ralph Riddle, $10 
To Mr. John Low, on representation of Mrs. Catharine An- 
nesly, who was a spectator of the act, for descending into a 
well, and rescuing thence a child, $4 
To Mr. Samuel Cox, on representation of Shubael Bell, Esq., 
for perilous efforts in saving John Thomas, upset in a boat, $10 
And to the Man, who lives on Governor’s Island, for receiv- 
ing and relieving the same, $4 
1799. To Mr. Jonathan Loring, for signal exertions in 
saving the life of a child, as testified by several respectable 
persons, $8 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Mr A. Clapp; for going into the water with his clothes 
on, and exertions in saving a child, $8 
To a young lad, by the name of Peter Moody, for saving 
two persons from drowning, $10 
1800. To Isaac Wheeler, for saving the life of Allen 
Nickerson, when in much peril, $10 
To Capt. George Crowninshield, on representation of 
Rev. William Bentley, of Salem, for special exertions in saving 
a youth in imminent peril, a handsome Gold Medal, with a 
suitable inscription, $20 
[801. To Capt. James Perkins, Sen., and James Perkins, 
Jr., of Arundel, Me., Two Silver Cans, as an honorable testi- 
mony from the Trustees, for their signal exertions in saving 
the lives of six persons, when in the utmost danger,* $60 
45 
* At a meeting of the Trustees, October 6, 1801, on a communication from the 
Hon. Daniel Dewey, representing the extraordinary exertions of Mr. Joseph North, 
of Augusta, Maine, in saving the life of Mr. Amos Bond, from drowning, a gold 
medal was voted to Mr. North, and silver medals to each of two other individuals 
who assisted him. The inscription on the former of which, as directed by a com- 
mittee appointed for the purpose, was as follows: 
PRESENTED 
BY THE 
humane Soctetg of fHassarijusetta, 
TO 
Mr. JOSEPH NORTH, Jun., 
WHO, WITH A SOUL SUPERIOR 
TO ALL CONSIDERATIONS OF PERSONAL 
SAFETY, PRESERVED THE LIFE OF 
Mr. AMOS BOND, 
WHEN DROWNING IN A RAPID AND MERCILESS 
CURRENT NEAR KENNEBECK BRIDGE, 
in Augusta, April 17, 1801. 
Also the life of • 1 
WILLIAM PITT, 
NEAR THE SAME PLACE, 
August, 1798. 46 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
1802. To Ephraim Colver, of Chesterfield, for saving the 
life of a young man in Westfield River, $10 
To Adam Wallace Thaxter, for saving the life of a 
child, $5 
To George Johnson, of Salem, for saving the life of Virgil 
Maxey, $ 1 o 
To Mr. Parsons, for receiving into his house the body of 
Quaco, a Negro, (who was drowned at the bottom of the Com- 
mon,) for the purpose of using the resuscitative process, $5 
1803. To Nehemiah Jequith, aged 76, for saving the life 
of John Danley, of Tyngsborough, who had fallen through the 
ice in Merrimack River, $10 
To Josiah Bates, David Cole, and Eben Cole, for saving 
the life of Levi Gifford, at sea, $9 
To Asa Pettengill, of Methuen, for saving the lives of 
several persons near Bodwell’s Falls, $3° 
To Henry Bragdon, for saving the life of Mr. Hatch, who 
fell from a small float in York River, $8 
To Nathaniel Davis, for saving the life of Hugh Ramsey, 
in Mystic River, $10 
To Griffin Barnes, for his signal exertions in saving the 
life of a child of Mr. Norcross, a Gold Medal, $8 94 
1804. To John Barnes, for saving the life of Ephraim 
Davis, a Medal, $g 89 
To Ephraim Hoskins, for saving the life of a son of Mrs. 
Farmer, Plymouth, $10 
To Isaac B. Rich and Joshua Smith, for saving the life of a 
man who fell into the Dock near Bray’s Wharf, $12 
To Moses Wadsworth, for attempting to save the life of 
J. Jackson, who fell through the ice in a pond at Med- 
field, $10 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
47 
To Paul Davis, for saving the life of Jonas Twiss, who fell 
through the ice near Prison Point, $10 
To Elisha Abbott, for saving two children who fell from a 
wharf near Charlestown Bridge, $10 
To Oliver Jordan, for his signal exertions in saving a 
young lad from drowning, $5 
To Mr. Bray Cox, $io, and to the other persons with him, 
being thirteen in number, $5 each, for their humane exertions 
in saving three men and a woman, as stated in Rev. Mr. 
Alden’s letter,* $75 
To George Sampson, Jr., for signal exertions in saving the 
child, mentioned in Dr. Thacher’s letter,* $10 
To the Rev. Timothy Alden, of Portsmouth, for the use of 
Mr. Benning Hall, for his signal exertions in saving the life 
of a young lad, named John Hart, from drowning, $10 
1805. To Anthony Gowen and Peter Bretton, for their 
exertions in saving the life of a son of Rev. Dr. Eckley from 
drowning, and for bringing up the dead body of the drowned 
seaman, who was with him, five dollars each, $10 
To the Owner of the House, who received the dead body 
of said seaman, $5 
To Mr. William Leonard, and the other persons of Ply- 
mouth, who preserved the captain and seamen of ship Pliber- 
nia, when shipwrecked, as mentioned in the letter of Dr. James 
Thacher, $50 
To Joseph Preston and Joseph Chase, for their exertions 
in saving the life of one John Green, $10 
To Jacob and Peter Long, for taking from the water a new- 
born mulatto child, $4 
* The letters of Dr. Thacher, of Plymouth, and of Rev. T. Alden, of Portsmouth, 
exhibiting highly interesting cases, appear in the appendix to Dr. Howard’s and Dr. 
Gray’s anniversary discourses, 1804-5. 48 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To William Power, commander of the schooner Eleanor; 
to Archibald St. Dennis, commander of the schooner Plough- 
Boy ; and to John Power, commander of the Minerva, for their 
signal exertions in rescuing and receiving on board their 
respective vessels the passengers of the ship Jupiter, foun- 
dered at sea, — a Silver Can, each, with suitable inscriptions, 
emblematical of the event, the value not to exceed the sum of 
thirty dollars each, together with the thanks of the Trustees to 
the crews of their respective vessels, $90 
1806. To Benjamin Page, of Quincy, for signal exertions in 
saving a son of N. Curtis, . $10 
To Samuel Jones, for saving a child of Mr. George Single- 
ton, who had fallen into a well of thirty feet in depth, when 
there were about twelve feet of water therein. $10 
To Ebenezer Rowe and Shubael Selley, on recommenda- 
tion of Rev. Alden Bradford, of Wiscasset, twenty dollars, 
each, for their humane and gallant exertions in saving Joseph 
Boynton and James Elandley, together with the thanks of the 
Trustees, $40 
Also, to the same, for their perilous, though unsuccessful 
efforts to rescue Master Coffin, five dollars each, $10 
To Barker Bryant, and his assistants, for taking from 
a fishing-boat, Abigail Brown, when in imminent danger of 
drowning, $16 
To Benjamin Tarbell, for signal exertions in saving a child 
that fell into a well at Castle William, measuring ninety feet 
deep, $10 
1807. To Joel Phillebrook and James Fuller, for saving 
Capt. Thomas Chase, and twelve others, from the wreck of the 
schooner Welcome Return, when in imminent danger of perish- 
ing on a desolate coast, thirty dollars each, $60 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
49 
To Ichabod Hall and Sylvanus Sturtevant, for humane 
exertions in saving, the one an adult, the other a young child, 
the cases being stated by James Thacher, M. D., Plymouth, $10 
1808. To Jesse B. Wilcox, for saving Richard Day, in a 
very perilous condition, as stated by Rev. Dr. Gardiner, a spec- 
tator of the transaction, and assisting in the same, $10 
To L. Stephenson, of Cohasset, for his great exertions in 
preserving Mrs. Snow from drowning; and his laudable, though 
unsuccessful, exertions in endeavoring to save the three children 
of Mr. Snow, a Gold Medal, of $10 
Also, to Newcomb Bates and four others, for aiding in the 
same, a Gold Medal, of the value of $5 to each, $25 
To Holbrook and Jordan, for saving several who were 
overset in a boat on Dorchester Flats, $10 
To Josiah Lambord, Joseph Rich, and four others* all of 
Truro, for saving a number of people left upon the wreck of 
the schooner Active, of Harpswell, which foundered October 
28, near Cape Cod Lighthouse, six dollars each, $36 
1809. To Messrs. White, More, and Gurney, ten dollars 
each, for their exertions in saving two men belonging to Fort 
Independence, who in a violent snow-storm had fallen through 
the ice, in crossing from South Boston, • $30 
To Bill, a native of the Sandwich Islands, for jumping into 
the water, (“ paying no regard thereto, being perfectly used to 
it in his own country,”) and rescuing a man who had fallen in, 
and could not swim, $5 
1810. To Sheldon Hobbs, a youth of fifteen years, for 
rescuing two children of Berwick, Maine, who had fallen under 
the ice while skating, a Gold Medal, $10 
To Mr. Silas Hathaway and his son Frederick, the thanks 
of the Trustees, and a premium of ten dollars, for their very 50 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
laudable exertions in saving the life of young David B. Harvey, 
of Plymouth, $10 
1811. To Levi Stoddard, for taking up Capt. Stairs from 
a wreck, when in a perilous condition, $10 
To John Allen, Jr., on recommendation of Dr. James Thach- 
er, of Plymouth, for his heroic exertions in saving the life of the 
son of Mr. John Patee, a Gold Medal, $io 
1812. To Caleb Hopkins Rand, a lad of fourteen, for 
plunging into a cistern and rescuing his brother, who when 
taken out was apparently dead, a Gold Medal, $10 
N. B. It appeared in this case to the Trustees, that a man 
who was near to the cistern at the time of the accident, thought 
the danger so great, that, although earnestly solicited, he refused 
any assistance. 
To Samuel Bannister, for saving the life of a lad, who was 
drowning on the north side of Long Wharf, the Society’s Gold 
Medal, $10 
To Charles Willard, a minor, for saving the life of George 
Baker, $10 
1813. To Romanus Emerson, Charles Harrington, and 
six others, for great exertions and considerable expense in 
saving a soldier caught in the ice in a boat, when deserting 
from Governor’s Island, $5° 
To John Farrington, for heroic exertions in saving the life 
of John Cotton, of Malden, who fell through the ice in attempt- 
ing to cross Mystic River, $10 
And to Mrs. Farrington, for her kindness when Mr. Cotton 
was brought to her house, $2 
To Mr. Ellis Bartlett, for great and signal exertions in 
saving Capt. Wendell Churchill, whose schooner was cast on 
shore, near Plymouth Harbor, tbe case being recommended by 
Dr. James Thacher, $10 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
51 
To Capt. William Martin, Master of the brig Iris, for 
generous and persevering exertions in saving the life of Capt. 
John Howe, in the harbor of St. Ubes, the Society’s Gold 
Medal,* $io 
To John Palmer, for saving the life of Green Sears, by 
signal and persevering exertions, the Society’s Gold Medal, 
or $10 
1814. To William Savage, of Boston, for heroic exertions 
in saving two children, when in great danger of drowning, the 
Society’s Gold Medal, of value $10 
To John Dunn, for saving the life of John Baxter, $10 
To Thomas Carter, of Newburyport, for saving his class- 
mate, Joseph Coolidge, while bathing in Charles River, at 
Cambridge, June 8th, the Society’s Gold Medal, and that the 
Corresponding Secretary present to him the same, $10 
To N. Nash, for saving a son of Lewis Leland, $10 
To Jacob Robinson, for his exertions in saving the life of 
Benjamin Foster, on the 17th June last, a Gold Medal, or $10 
To John R. Moore, for persevering exertions in saving the 
life of a little girl, on Sunday, September 18th, $10 
1815. To William Brintnell, for his humane attentions 
and exertions in receiving into his house the captain, crew and 
passengers of the sloop Mason’s Daughter, eight in number, 
after she was wrecked on a rock, in Broad Sound, near one of 
the Brewster Islands, $10 
To Isaac Merrill, for exertions in saving the lives of two 
men, at Amoskeag Falls, the Society’s Gold Medal; or, at 
his option, $iu 
* Dr. Lathrop, in presenting this case, mentioned in detail some circumstances 
attending the preservation of Capt. Howe, of which not the least remarkable was, 
that in dragging for him, one of the hooks of the drag inserted itself into his cheek, 
while another of the hooks caught in the ribband with which his hair was tied, held 
fast, and was the means of saving him. 52 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
And to Josiah Gillis and Israel Hardy, for assisting in 
the same, five dollars each, $10 
To Mr. Lawrence Nichols, for his very extraordinary 
exertions and well-directed efforts in saving the lives of Messrs. 
Isaac Rouse and J. P. Richardson, when in imminent danger, 
near Boston Light House, on the 16th of June last, a Gold 
Medal, of the value of $30 
To John Peterson, of Edgecomb, Maine, and to Josiah 
Frith, of Wiscasset, for saving the lives of John Cochran and 
Allen Malcomb, a Gold Medal, or ten dollars each, $20 
To John Sevey, for humane efforts in saving Joseph Roby, 
of Wiscasset, the Society’s Gold Medal, $10 
To John Nicholson, of Plymouth, for saving the life of a son 
of Mr. Ansel Robbins, a Silver Medal, of the value of $5 
To Henry Doane, George Hall, Obadiah Lincoln, and 
Levi Oakes, all of Cohasset, for their skill, perseverance, and 
heroism, in saving the lives of two men from the wreck of the 
schooner Armistice, of Portland, thrown on Cohasset Rocks by 
the great storm of the 31st of August last, the Society’s Gold 
Medal, each, with suitable inscriptions thereon, $40 
To John Wood, for extraordinary exertions in saving a little 
boy, of four years old, when in great danger of drowning in 
the Mill Creek, $10 
1816. To Alexander Mitchell, and four others, for their 
hazardous, persevering, and laudable exertions in attempting to 
save the lives of two sons of Mr. A. Harlow, of Cambridge, and 
of Mr. Kimball, Gold Medals of ten dollars each, $50 
To Benjamin Rice, and his young brother, William, “ for 
extraordinary and hazardous exertions in rescuing Mrs. White- 
field and her grandson, a boy of about seven years of age, both 
of whom, in attempting to cross Accossnet River, between PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
53 
New Bedford and Fair Haven, had fallen under the ice, and for 
a considerable time were in the utmost peril, from which they 
were delivered by these two boys, in the presence of a number 
of men, whose efforts were paralyzed by fear, a Silver Medal, 
of five dollars each, with fifteen dollars in money to the elder, 
and five dollars in money to the younger, and the thanks of the 
Trustees for their noble exertions,” $30 
To Shepherd Blanchard, for saving a child at Commercial 
Wharf, 20th July last, $10 
And to John Kimball, for rescuing from imminent danger 
of drowning, Francis Abbot, the same day, $10 
To Braddock Loring, for his laudable, though fruitless 
endeavors to save the life of a child, $10 
To Milton Moore, of Russell, on representation of Hon. 
Justin Ely, for “bringing to the shore, at the peril of his own 
life, the body of Asa Adams, of Weston, who had sunk to the 
bottom of a pond in West Springfield, and was senseless, but, 
by great exertions, restored to health,” $15 
To Samuel Williams, of Augusta, Maine, on representation 
of Samuel Howard, Esq., for saving the life of Frederick Lith- 
gow, who had sunk to the bottom of Kennebeck River, and 
was taken up senseless, but afterwards resuscitated, a Gold 
Medal, with suitable inscriptions, to the value of $15 
1817. To Lieutenant Salter, of the United States Navy, 
for his intrepid and persevering exertions in saving, at the great 
hazard of his own life, the lives of two women and one man, 
in Boston Harbor, the Society’s Gold Medal, with suitable 
inscriptions, $10 
To Midshipman John F. Howell, to Midshipman George 
D. Dodds, and to Mr. John McCloud, Boatswain, of the ship 
Independence, a Silver Medal, each, with suitable inscrip- 
tions. 54 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
The particulars of this interesting case, with the correspond- 
ence between the President of the Society and the commanding 
officer of the Independence, are detailed at length in the 
Records of the Trustees. A brief account is exhibited in the 
note below, taken from the Columbian Centinel of that date.* 
* “On one of the remarkable cold days of last February, the following occurrence 
happened, the publication of which must be highly gratifying to the friends of 
humanity. 
“On the morning of the 4th of February, two women embarked in a small boat, 
with only one boatman, to go on board the United States ship Independence, to 
which their husbands belong. There was much ice in the harbor, and the boat was 
driven by it from her course to the mouth of Medford river. Many persons standing 
on the wharves, saw the unhappy situation of these people with those distressing and 
painful emotions arising from a view of fellow-beings perishing, and the deprivation 
of the power of even attempting their rescue. They were considered lost by those 
on shore. Lieut. William Finch, then commanding officer of the Independence, 
despatched a cutter with two midshipmen and a crew to their lelief, furnishing such 
means as the ship afforded, to facilitate and effect it. After several unsuccessful 
attempts, and an interval of half an hour, the cutter returned with great difficulty, 
the men being nearly deprived, by the intense cold, of the power of exertion. Lieut. 
Finch, thinking it still possible to release and save the sufferers, appointed a fresh 
crew and ordered another attempt. Lieut. Wm. Dayton Salter asked permission 
to take charge of the cutter and direct the operations. The permission was given, 
and after great exertions and perseverance, he succeeded in getting within a short 
distance of the boat, and found the two women and man stretched at length and 
quite motionless. By the aid of planks, ropes, &c., Lieut. Salter, with his men, 
was enabled, with great hazard and difficulty, to take the poor sufferers from the 
boat on board the cutter, and covering them with blankets and jackets, kept them 
alive, and after two hours’ labor in clearing themselves of the ice, arrived in safety 
on board the Independence. In the prosecution of this arduous and humane enter- 
prise, Lieut. Salter was, more than once, in imminent danger of drowning, the 
plank giving way under his feet, and he and those with him suffered much from the 
frost. This conduct called forth the spontaneous admiration and applause of all on 
board the ship. Stout hearts were melted, and hard faces suffused with tears of joy. 
By kind and judicious attentions the rescued were eventually restored to health, and 
Mr. Salter recovered the use of his feet and hands.” 
“Information of the above circumstances, and other facts connected witn them, 
was communicated to the Trustees of the Massachusetts Humane Society, who, 
at a late meeting, voted that the thanks of the Society be presented to Lieut. Wil- 
liam Finch, for the promptness and judgment evinced by him, while commanding 
officer of the United States ship Independence, in giving such orders, and devising 
such measures as were, under the favor of Providence, the means of saving the lives 
of John Mannuel, Elizabeth Ireson, and Olive Brown, when in the most imminent 
danger in Boston Harbor, Feb. 4th, 1817.” PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
55 
To William Tewksbury, of Deer Island, for the very extra- 
ordinary exertions by which four persons were saved on the 
26th of May last, seventy dollars in money, and a Silver 
Medal, of the value of ten dollars, $80 
To his son, Abijah R., $35, and to his wife Elizabeth $20 for 
their efficient aid, $55 
Also, to Charles Sturgis, for assistance on the same 
occasion, $5 
1818. To Zaccheus Wyman, of Utica, State of New York, 
for exertions in rescuing John P. Bigelow,* son of Hon. Timothy 
Bigelow, of Medford, from imminent danger of drowning in the 
Middlesex Canal, fifteen dollars in money, or a Gold Medal, 
of that value, at his option, $15 
To Captain William Allen, of Plymouth, for uncommon 
gxertions, as stated by Dr. James Thacher, in saving the lives 
of two lads, in Plymouth Harbor, 22d April last, $20 
To Jotham and Henry Fuller, for saving the life of Mr. 
Baldwin, of Fitchburg, in March last, ten dollars to the former, 
and five to the latter, $15 
To Joseph Bolton, of Biddeford, for extraordinary exertions 
in saving Daniel Brainerd, of Saco, when in great peril, $20 
To Thomas Dolliver, for rescuing John Barnes, Warren 
Alexander, and Henry Marston, when in peril of drowning, in 
the Light House Channel, $5 
Also, to his son Thomas, for assistance on the same occasion, 
a Silver Medal. 
1819. To Mr. John Wilson, one of the Branch Pilots of 
Boston, for generous exertions in saving the lives of Capt. 
Nathaniel W. Merrill, and his men, when exposed to imminent 
peril, on the wreck of the “Susan and Sarah,” December 6, 
1818, a Gold Medal, of the value of fifteen dollars, with 
* The late Hon. John P. Bigelow, Mayor of Boston. 56 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
suitable inscriptions, and to his men, three in number, ten 
dollars each, $45 
To William Wiltshire, Esq., Consul of His Britannic 
Majesty, at Mogadore, Morocco, for generous and disinterested 
exertions in rescuing Capt. Riley from slavery among the Arabs, 
the Society’s Gold Medal, with suitable inscriptions, $20 
To Captain Eleazer Graves, for rescuing a number of 
persons from a British brig which had been wrecked, and con- 
veying them to Cowes ; also, for bringing home three American 
children, who were on board the brig, the Society’s Gold 
Medal, $20 
1820. To Edmund R. Smith, and others, for saving seven 
men from perishing in the ice at South Boston, $45 
To Moses Robinson, and his two Brothers, of Waldo- 
borough, Maine, for saving two men in Boston Harbor, five 
dollars each, $15 
To Mr. Holmes, in rescuing a number of United States 
soldiers from imminent danger of perishing in the ice, near 
South Boston, $10 
And to others who assisted, together with the thanks of the 
Trustees for their efforts, $25 
To Major John Bartleman, of the British Royal Marines, 
for saving, at great personal peril, William O’Brien, a Gold 
Medal, $20 
To Horatio Sprague, Esq., an American merchant, resi- 
dent at Gibraltar, for his benevolence and patriotism, evinced 
in reimbursing William Wiltshire, Esq., British Consul at Moga- 
dore, the money advanced by him in rescuing Capt. James 
Riley and his companions from slavery, the Society’s Gold 
Medal, with suitable inscriptions, and an honorary member- 
ship of the Society, $20 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To William Tewksbury, of Deer Island, in consideration 
of his many signal and perilous exertions in the cause of 
humanity, the sum of forty dollars, towards the purchase of 
a boat, $40 
1821. To Cyrus Rye, of Maine, for rescuing four children, 
in danger of being drowned, $10 
To John Bulfinch, of Union, Maine, for rescuing Edward 
Foster, at great hazard, the Society’s Gold Medal, with 
inscriptions, $10 
To James P. Kidd, of the Independence, for saving, at the. 
peril of his life, a young lad named Bassett, a Gold Medal, 
with suitable inscriptions, $15 
To William H. Fowle, and Henry R. Dearborn, two 
young gentlemen at Mr. Knapp’s Academy, for rescuing, at 
the peril of their lives, Charles Rich,* son of Benjamin Rich, 
Plsq., their fellow-student, when in imminent peril of drowning 
in a pond in Roxbury, the Society’s Gold Medal, with suitable 
inscriptions for each, $20 
To John Lakin, a fisherman, for rescuing Capt. Eastman 
and a soldier of Fort Independence, when in peril, $10 
To Corporal George McAuly, William McGee, and 
three others, stationed at the United States Fort, near Ports- 
mouth, for rescuing the captain, crew, and passengers of 
the schooner President, of Thomaston, when wrecked on the 
Whale’s Back, near Portsmouth, April 20th, the Society’s 
Silver Medal, of five dollars, and three dollars in money to 
each, $40 
To Henry Willard, of Roxbury, for heroic exertions in 
rescuing, at imminent hazard, the son of Mr. Elijah Mears, a 
Gold Medal, $10 
57 
* Afterwards Rev. Charles Rich, of Nantucket. 58 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Jonathan Lawrence, keeper of the Lighthouse, for 
rescuing three men when in danger of drowning, on the 16th 
of April last,* $10 
1822. To Henry Atwood, commander of the brig Draco, 
for his perseverance and humanity, whereby Captain William 
Fortune, and ten of his companions were saved from perishing 
on the wreck of a British brig, during a tempestuous night, 
January 5th, 1822, the Society’s Gold Medal, $20 
Also, five dollars to each of his Four Seamen, who, at the 
risk of their lives, assisted, $20 
To Captain John Smith, of the ship Hannah, of St. Johns. 
N. B., for relieving and saving the survivors of the crew 
of the brig Amsterdam, shipwrecked November, 1820, a Gold 
Medal, $15 
To Captain Simeon Nickerson, of the Phoebe, of Dennis, 
for judicious and humane exertions in rescuing from great peril 
Samuel Topliff and S. G. Lowe, when upset in a boat, the 
Society’s Gold Medal, twenty dollars, and to his son, assisting 
him, five dollars, $25 
To Rufus Hazard, a colored person, for extraordinary exer- 
tions and great hazard, in attempting to save Samuel Williams, 
who had sunk in Squamcook River, $10 
* That of the many applications made for rewards, some were found deceptive or 
groundless, will appear from the following extract from the records of this date, 
Sept. 3d, 1821. Other cases for like reasons were dismissed. “A certificate of the 
conduct of Daniel Geary, in rescuing John Carroll from danger of drowning in 
Reading Pond, in August last, with a certificate of a Justice of the Peace for 
Middlesex County annexed, was submitted for consideration ; and the same having 
been investigated, it appeared that the leading facts of the case were as follows : 
Two young men and a boy were in a small boat, fishing in Reading Pond. The 
boy fell out of the boat in a fit, and probably would have been lost had those in the 
boat not assisted him. But having sunk once, and rising, he was taken into the boat 
again.” From a view of the facts, the Trustees were unanimously of opinion, that 
no one was entitled to any reward whatever, it being an act only of common 
humanity, the refusing of which would have been disgraceful. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
59 
1823. To Benjamin Snow, for saving Francis Marandi, 
when drowning near Sargent’s Wharf, $10 
To Robert Porter, mate of the “ Swift Messenger,” for 
saving Miss Ryland, a passenger who had fallen from the 
vessel and must otherwise have drowned, $10 
N. B. At the monthly meeting of the Trustees in August, 
1823, premiums, varying in value from two to ten dollars, were 
awarded in fourteen different cases, one of which was to 
Daniel Whitney, a boy of 13, for saving Ebenezer Morton, 
a boy of eleven years. The whole amount appropriated at this 
meeting was $82 
1824. To Levi Gurney, Horace Whittemore, James 
Gordon, and J. Porter, for their exertions in saving from 
drowning a son of Mr. Nathaniel R. Sturgis, while skating on 
the Mill-dam basin, ten dollars each, or the Society’s Gold 
Medal, $40 
To William S. Bridge, for extraordinary efforts in saving the 
lives of two seamen, upset in a boat, a Gold Medal, $10 
And to L. Nickerson and William Wheaton, assist- 
ing, $15 
To James S. Cutts, twenty dollars, to N. Sherman, ten 
dollars, and to Henry Gardner, five dollars, for perilous exer- 
tions in saving two boys of Salem, $35 
To Thomas Ward, for great judgment and presence of 
mind, in saving eleven persons, upset in Boston Harbor, June 
14th, $20 
N. B. At the monthly meeting in August, 1824, premiums 
varying from one dollar to twenty, upon sixteen distinct applica- 
tions, were awarded, the whole amount bestowed being $121 
Of these sixteen premiums, one of ten dollars was awarded to 
Paul Baxter, for saving the life of a son of Bradford Sumner, 60 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
Esq., who had fallen from a wharf into the water; another of 
twenty dollars, to Gabriel Mahony, who jumped from the 
brig Webster into the Atlantic, and saved L. P. Curtis ; and a 
third, on the representation of Rev. Dr. Brazer, to Nathan 
Fisk, of Salem, and to two others, of Beverly, ten dollars 
each, for rescuing three men, in great danger of drowning; 
together with five dollars each, to two boys, Thomas Neat 
and Thomas Clemens, assisting. 
To William Parkman, aged 13 years, for saving William H. 
Barnes, bathing near Hancock’s Wharf, $10 
To William Dole, of Newburyport, for signal exertions in 
saving Charles Defond, $10 
To Henry R. Dearborn a Silver Cup, and to Frederick 
Dabney a Silver Medal, for laudable efforts in rescuing 
Alexander F. A. Dunn, $20 
1825. To Nathaniel French, Caleb Beal, and Elijah 
Beal, for extraordinary exertions and great hazard, in rescuing 
Capt. Abraham Tower from a perilous situation, ten dollars 
each, or a Cup, ' $30 
To John Smith, and his wife, Mary Ann, for rescuing Mrs. 
Jerusha Simonds, fallen from a bridge into a canal, near Lex- 
ington, $10 
To Abijah R. and George Tewksbury, for hazardous exer- 
tions in saving the lives of John Gates and Benjamin Price, 
when in great peril, twenty dollars, or a Medal, each, $40 
To Mrs. Rebecca Wilson, for successful exertions in res- 
cuing two boys, Edward Howe and Horace Clarke, who had 
fallen from a wharf at Charlestown, $5 
To Henry Parkhurst, a lad about ten years old, for saving 
John Towers, $10 
To Rufus G. Amory, JV., for saving a lad, $8 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
61 
1826. To G. W. Simpson, for rescuing Capt. Hill and his 
crew, $10 
To Solomon Hopkins, of Truro, for saving Josiah Cook, 
upset in a boat, in Barnstable Bay, $10 
To Benjamin Hodgkins, for perilous efforts in rescuing 
Geo. R. Sargent and Wm. Freeman, $20 
To John S. Pulsifer, aged ten, for rescuing a son of Jona- 
than Mead, who had fallen from a wharf, $10 
To Timothy Allen, for saving five persons, upset in a boat, 
in Charlestown River, $20 
And to his two men, assisting, five dollars each, $10 
To Charles Harlow, for saving a young child, $10 
To William P. Mead, for rescuing two men, when in immi- 
nent danger in Ouincy River, a Medal,* $10 
1827. To John C. Knowles and Son, of Eastham, and to 
Colonel Joseph Holbrook, with two others, of Wellfleet, for 
spirited exertions in rescuing Capt. Josiah Trott and crew, 
when in imminent danger of drowning, off Cape Cod, ten 
dollars each, $50 
To Reuben Coombs, mate of the Pilot-boat Leader, for 
rescuing Capt. Seth Adams, his crew and passengers, when in 
in imminent peril, near the Devil’s Bank, a Silver Pitcher, of 
the value of $50 
Also, the thanks of the Trustees, to John R. Parker, Esq., 
for communicating the danger to Mr. Coombs, by his tele- 
graph. 
To Asaph Greene, on representation of Col. Joseph May, 
* At the meeting in December, Mr. Heard reported, that, upon diligent inquiry 
into several cases committed to him at the last meeting, he had reason to believe that 
the several persons represented to have been saved from drowning, had intentionally 
thrown themselves into the Mill Creek, for the purpose of obtaining the Society’s 
premiums. That he had therefore refused to award any compensation for the 
services thus pretended to be rendered. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
62 
for rescuing from suffocation in a privy, a son of Charles C. 
Nichols,* $10 
1828. To a daughter of Joseph Tufts, of Malden, for rescu- 
ing a son of Eben. Nichols, who had fallen into a well, the 
Society’s certificate of thanks, together with $5 
To James Stratton, who, in rescuing a boy in danger of 
drowning in the river, near Rev. Dr. Sharp’s Church, had 
damaged his clothes and incurred a fit of sickness, $20 
To William G. Badger and J. B. Porter, on recommenda- 
tion of N. G. Snelling, five dollars each, for laudable efforts in 
saving William P. Fuller and George Holt, who had fallen 
under the ice in fishing,! $10 
* At the meeting in August, of this year, a resolution was adopted, that, “con- 
sidering the numerous cases, annually presented to the notice of the Society, of men 
and boys losing their lives from ignorance of the art of swimming, and believing it to 
be fully within the objects of this Society to aid the means of preventing death, as 
well as to resuscitate those in whom animation is suspended, the Trustees view with 
peculiar pleasure the establishment of a Swimming School in this city, under the 
charge of Dr. Leiber,” and with a recommendation to the inhabitants of Boston to 
avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded to acquire the practical knowledge 
of so important an art, they appropriated from the funds of the Society one hundred 
dollars, for the instruction of such a number of pupils as Dr. Leiber might be willing 
to receive. A committee from the Trustees was accordingly appointed to confer with 
the Mayor and Aldermen of the city, to invite their concurrence, and also with Dr. 
Leiber, who expressed his deep sense of the approbation bestowed upon his under- 
taking by the “ Humane Society.” And being desirous to receive as many scholars 
under their grant as he could, without injury to his private pupils, he fixed the num- 
ber at thirty-six, thus allowing four pupils from each of the public schools in Boston. 
This proposal was made public through the newspapers, but failed of receiving the 
attention to which it appears entitled, as only eight scholars availed themselves of the 
offer. 
At the meeting of October, in the same year, the Recording Secretary, agreeably 
to a former vote, presented an engraved form of “Vote of Thanks,” with suitable 
devices, to be signed by the President and Secretary, and to be presented in the name 
of the Society, in cases which neither sought nor justified pecuniary compensation, or 
else as accompaniments to such compensation. Accordingly, in the list of premiums 
that follow, many instances will be found of such acknowledgments. 
f Mr. Inches, to whom the case was committed, having at the same meeting 
reported a state of facts in reference to the application of one Parker for saving out of PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
63 
1829. On representation of N. G. Snelling, Esq., there was 
granted to Richard Hosea, the Society’s Gold Medal or a 
Silver Cup, for plunging into the water with his clothes on, 
and rescuing a son of Mr. Joseph Bassett, who had fallen from 
Tilley’s Wharf, $10 
To William Allen, for generous exertions in saving a 
person who had fallen into the water from Russia Wharf, 
(though declining to make application for a premium,) a Silver 
Medal, or the Society’s certificate of thanks. 
To Silas Seaver, and two others, who, as stated by Capt. 
William Porter, had, at the peril of their own lives, saved John 
Green, accidentally fallen from the steamboat Connecticut, 
near Nahant, five dollars each, $15 
To Stephen Twist, for rescuing three men who were upset 
in a boat near Fort Pickering, Salem, on the 9th of July last; 
and who also had incurred some hazard in endeavoring to save 
a little boy at another time, $15 
To James Hyde, Jr., for heroic exertions, as attested by Mr. 
George Fuller, in saving his son, a lad of ten years old, at 
imminent hazard, a Gold Medal, of the value of $10 
To Peter Brown, for saving, with much meritorious effort, 
the life of Eliza Hedgeman, $5 
To Alpheus Spear, of Quincy, for his exertions in rescuing 
E. Bell, John Delano, Jr., and a little boy, 9 years of age, when 
in danger of drowning, by the upsetting of a boat near Quincy, 
a Gold Medal, or, at his option, $10 
the water one Joseph Foster, and it appearing doubtful whether the said Foster had 
ever fallen in, it was voted, nemine contradicente, that no premium be awarded. 
Also, a declaration under oath having been made before a Justice of the Peace, at 
Lechmere Point, purporting that Joseph Gilson, with three others, had taken James 
Hedly from Miller’s River, but it appearing that no peril was incurred, and no 
exertions made but such as common humanity would demand, no compensation was 
allowed. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
64 
To Andrew Eaton, for perilous exertions in saving the life 
of a son of Capt. Nathan Blood, who had fallen from Crownin- 
shield’s Wharf, in Salem, Nov. ioth, a Medal, or $10 
To Benjamin Oliver, Elisha B. Witherall, and Elisha 
H. Baker, a Silver Medal each, and the Society’s certificate, 
for saving the lives of Joseph Smith and three others, seamen, 
the only survivors of eight, who were upset at sea in Lat. 
42 50, Lon. 63, on the 4th of September last. 
These survivors were landed at Wellfleet, from the schooner 
Maria, Capt. Henry Baker, to whom the Trustees voted the 
Society’s certificate of thanks, for his kindness and attention 
to the sufferers. 
N. B. At the same meeting of the Trustees, Dec. 1829, six 
other premiums of less amount were awarded, on the report of 
the respective committees. 
1830. To John Bruce, for saving, at great hazard, the 
officers and crew of the Peruvian, when driven on the rocks on 
the night of the 17th of March, a piece of plate, with suitable 
inscriptions, to the value of $20 
Also to Sumner Lawrence, who assisted Mr. Bruce, a piece 
of plate, $ 15 
To Samuel Craig, for exertions in rescuing three female 
children, in danger of drowning, $10 
1831. To William Morton, a seaman, who, at the most 
imminent peril, in a heavy gale, boarded the wreck of the 
schooner Hallet, Dec. 11th, and rescued Heman McLeod, a 
seaman, the only person left on board, $20 
To Mrs. Hopkins, a passenger on board the packet from 
Ellsworth, for meritorious exertions, when the vessel was 
wrecked off Cohasset a few days previous, $10 
To John Barker, Henry J. Turner, Esq., John J. Lothrop PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
65 
Nathaniel Hooper, Jr., and four others, recommended by 
Rev. Jacob Flint, for humane and effectual efforts in rescuing 
the perishing crew of the schooner Boston, wrecked upon 
Cohasset Rocks, a Gold Medal of the value of ten dollars 
each, $80 
To Mr. Weatherbee, for rescuing from imminent peril a 
young boy, $10 
1832. To William Johnson, for saving two men by the 
name of Phillips, at the imminent hazard of his own life, $20 
To Mr. James Beers, of Chatham, in acknowledgment of 
his singular skill, courage, and benevolence, by which, with the 
blessing of Divine Providence, fifteen persons were rescued 
from imminent danger, in a night of extreme severity, and when 
their condition seemed hopeless — the certificate of the thanks 
of the Trustees, and a donation of $50 
To Capt. Collins and his two men, for humane exertions in 
saving Mr. Seth Thaxter and two others, $20 
To James Leonard, for having at much hazard rescued Mr. 
William Welsh, $10 
Other applications were made at the same time, which, 
having been duly considered, were dismissed, as not entitled to 
the notice of the Trustees. 
. To Isaac Sprague, for much personal labor and humane 
exertion in rescuing a man, who had fallen from his boat, $10 
1833. It appearing, on representation of William Goddard, 
Esq., that James Smalley, William Bush, Josiah Cook, with 
nine others, inhabitants of Provincetown, did, on the first day of 
December last, by humane and intrepid exertions, take from the 
wreck of the ship Warren, when cast ashore on Cape Cod, the 
two mates, six seamen, and a boy, the only survivors of the 
crew, together with the lifeless body of the captain, and of one 66 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
of his men, who had perished in the rigging: And it also 
appearing, that these benevolent individuals received the 
persons saved into their families, and having treated them 
with great kindness for several days, furnished them gratui- 
tously with a passage to Boston, when sufficiently recovered to 
depart: — Therefore it was voted, unanimously, to present 
twelve dollars, either in money or in a gold medal, to each 
of the individuals who saved the crew ; and three dollars, in 
addition, to each of those who with exemplary kindness received 
them into their houses, $162 
To Joseph Tolman, for saving the life of a boy, fallen into 
the water, $10 
1834. A communication was this day, Jan. 3d, presented, 
stating the humane and generous efforts of John Grozier and 
T. Small, assisted by Mr. Paine, in rescuing a crew of a vessel 
in imminent danger. And it appearing that Mr. Paine, by the 
upsetting of the boat, in which he had embarked, lost his life, 
leaving behind a widow and children destitute — therefore it 
was voted that fifty dollars be presented to the widow, and that 
ten dollars, or the Society’s Gold Medal, be given to each of 
the individuals instrumental in saving the crew, $yo 
To George P. Tewksbury, Captain of the Quarantine Boat, 
for saving the life of a child in imminent danger, $10 
To George W. Adams, for saving three men, the value of a 
Gold Medal, with three dollars for the loss of a part of his 
clothes, #13 
1835. To John L. Britton, John Peasley, and two 
others, for humane and perilous exertions in saving Hervey M. 
Briggs from drowning in the harbor, the sum of forty dollars, 
divided according to their respective merits ; the largest share 
of which to be given to Britton, $40 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
67 
To Susan Fisher, of Medford, for rescuing her brother and 
sister from peril, $10 
To Adolphe Benjamin Hermieux, a French lad, (on rep- 
resentation of John W. Langdon, Esq.,) who jumped from his 
vessel into the water, with his clothes on, and saved an 
American Boy, a Gold Medal, and the Society’s certificate of 
approbation for his generous conduct.* 
1836. On the representation of Captain Phelps, of the brig 
Regulator, that he and his crew were saved from death by the 
kind and intrepid exertions of the officers and crew of the brig 
Cervantes, when shipwrecked, on the 5th of February last — it 
was voted, unanimously, that a Gold Medal, with ten dollars in 
money, be presented to the captain and each of the crew, nine 
in number, of the Cervantes ; and that the letter of Capt. Phelps 
be published, with the view of procuring aid for the survivors of 
the shipwreck. The whole sum voted was $180 
To two boys, of the name of Cartwright and White, for 
saving a third, when under the ice, a Gold Medal each. $20 
On recommendation of Capt. Rider, a Gold Medal was given 
to the mate of his vessel, and $7 each to two of his men, for 
their exertions in saving seven men from the schooner Aurora, 
wrecked off Cape Hatteras, Feb. 2, $24 
To Shubael Cottle, for his generous efforts to save the 
life of Capt. Uriel Mayhew, of the schooner George, a Gold 
Medal, of the value of $20 
To James and Joshua Y. Beers, on representation of Andrew 
L. Simpson, for saving the lives of all on board of the ship 
Mercury, when wrecked off Nantucket, a medal each, $20 
1837. Two Greeks belonging to the brig Alexandras, having 
saved the life of a child, on the 7th of September, and the 
* We have heard, through a gentleman acquainted with the friends of young 
Hermieux, of the very high estimation in which this medal, and the accompanying 
document, are held by his family in France. 68 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
President, upon learning that they were about departing from 
the country, having presented, to each of them, a Gold Medal, 
in the name of the Society, it was voted, unanimously, to 
confirm the grant, $20 
To Joseph Stevens, a lad of 16 years of age, in the employ 
of Jones, Lows, & Ball, for saving a boy from drowning, a 
Silver Medal, $5 
To John L. Britton, for rescuing, at the hazard of his own 
life, a little girl, who had fallen into the water from the Mill 
Dam, a Gold Medal, $10 
To James Dolliver, for saving from drowning a young boy, 
named Stearns, $7 
To James P. Harvey, for rescuing a child, at much personal 
hazard, a Gold Medal, $10 
To Emanuel Jackson, for saving a lad of seven years old, 
fallen from Sargent’s Wharf, $J 
To Mrs. Elizabeth Bryan, for rescuing, at some personal 
peril, a little child from a clay-pit, $4 
To Joseph Lucas, of Plymouth, for saving a boy in danger 
of drowning, $10 
To Henry Dearborn, for saving the life of a lad, in danger of 
perishing in the Frog Pond, a Gold Medal of the value of $10 
Also, to the very destitute mother of said lad, $3 
1838. To Rufus Beckford, on representation of Mr. G. 
Stanley, for saving a boy, who had fallen from the Eastern 
packet, $10 
To William Mills, for saving, at some risk, a boy from 
drowning in a pond at South Boston, $5 
To Warren Reed, and Samuel Brown, two lads, of Salem, 
for rescuing, with much heroic exertion, a young son of Mr. 
John Marks, the Society’s Gold Medal, each $20 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
69 
To James Saurin, for rescuing young Martin Bates from 
drowning, July 27th, $5 
To Abraham Rich, for saving, by great exertions, a man and 
three women, who were clinging to a boat, upset near Deer 
Island, a Gold Medal of the value of $20 
1839. To John Kent, for saving one of the crew of the 
Revenue Cutter, $7 
To Michael Wilson, for a similar effort of humanity, $8 
To Langford W. Torino, for saving two boys, who had 
fallen through the ice, $5 
To Edward Armstrong, Wm. S. Hutchins, John Grozer, 
and Daniel Smith, for rescuing, at the peril of their own lives, 
the officers and crew of the brig Lucy Ann, of Portland, 
wrecked near Truro, a Gold Medal of ten dollars, to each, 
together with the Society’s certificate, in approbation of their 
generous efforts, $40 
To Robert Corran, on recommendation of M. Brimmer, 
Esq., for intrepid exertions in saving a boy, who had fallen 
from Commercial Wharf, $15 
To J. L. Prouty, of the Revenue Cutter, and to J. Curtis, 
assisting him, for their successful efforts, as represented by 
Capt. J. Sturgis, in rescuing Laurence Hickey, when fallen 
under the ice — a Gold Medal each, $20 
To George F. Coverly, for saving, at much hazard, a lad 
from drowning, $15 
To Samuel K. Bailey, on representation of William Hay- 
den, Jr., for rescuing, at imminent peril, Mr. Murphy, fallen 
overboard, the Society’s Gold Medal, $15 
[Mr. Murphy soon afterwards died in consequence of the 
exposure.] 
To a lad named W. F. Miller, for saving a child, who had 
fallen from Doak’s Wharf. $10 70 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Patrick and Levi Gilman, for saving two men from 
drowning, and recovering the dead body of another, five dollars 
each, $10 
To Jonathan Collins, of Truro, for having risked his life, 
to save five persons, belonging to Provincetown, and who, 
having been upset in a boat, must have perished, but for his 
assistance. $10 
To Cushing Horton, and three others, crew of the fishing 
schooner Xyphian, for saving five persons clinging to a wreck, 
five dollars each, $20 
To William P. Bowen, ship carpenter, for jumping from a 
wharf, and rescuing a child, $10 
To Capt. Benjamin Andrews, keeper of the Light House 
near Sandy Bay, for having, at imminent peril, saved two men 
who were clinging to the masts of a boat, which had upset and 
was sinking under them, the Society’s Gold Medal, and to his 
Wife and Daughter, assisting him, three dollars each, $16 
1840. To Joseph Howard, Samuel Parker, and seven 
others, for boarding the wreck of the brig Independence, during 
the heavy gale of 15 th Dec. last, and taking thence the crew 
from the rigging, at much hazard, five dollars each, $45 
To Isaac Small, who, during the same severe gale, went on 
board the brig Austin, wrecked at Provincetown, and at the 
peril of his own life, and by signal exertions, rescued a disabled 
seaman, the President was authorized to present a Quadrant, 
with a suitable inscription, in token of approbation of his heroic 
conduct. 
To Gorham Riggs, Doand Ryder, and nine other persons, 
who, during the same dreadful tempest of Dec. 15th, went on 
board a vessel in Gloucester Harbor, and were the means, 
under Divine Providence, of saving several persons, five dollars 
each, $55 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
71 
To S. Norbery, captain of a Swedish vessel, and also to his 
Mate, for their humane exertions in saving the crew of a 
disabled vessel, at sea, a Gold Medal each, $20 
To Samuel Pierce, and his Son, for assistance rendered to 
the crew of the schooner Scio, when driven on shore at Well- 
fleet, in the gale of 15th December, five dollars, $10 
To Benjamin Heath, on representation of Rev. Sebastian 
Streeter, for heroic and successful exertions in saving a woman, 
who had thrown herself into the water near Warren Bridge, $20 
To Charles E. Pitman, for saving from drowning a child of 
Mr. Brown, who had fallen into deep water, near the Lowell 
Railroad, and must have perished but for the heroic exertions 
of Mr. Pitman, a Gold Medal, $20 
To Peter Murphy, of Charlestown, on representation of C. 
Tyler, Steward of the McLean Asylum, for rescuing Mary Ann 
Crarie, who had fallen from the Charlestown Branch Railroad, 
and must otherwise have perished, $10 
To Sewall Reed, for saving from drowning a boy sixteen 
years of age, near Battery Wharf, $10 
To James W. Newcomb, for exertions in a similar case, as 
represented by Mr. Samuel Prince, $8 
To Aaron L. Sargent and Kilby P. Sargent, who, on 
representation of the Selectmen of Gloucester, had ventured 
through the breakers, in a boat, and at some hazard had saved 
Capt. George Murdock from his schooner, stranded on the Bar, 
five dollars each, $10 
To George Brown, for saving from drowning, Mary Ormond, 
of Charlestown, $5 
1841. To George S. Fogg, on representation of Amos 
Tufts, for rescuing from drowning a deranged person, who, on 
leaving the Lowell Cars, had jumped into Charles River, $10 72 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Charles R. Cheney, of Lowell, on statement of Rev. U. 
C. Burnap, for rescuing two boys from drowning, $10 
To Adin Allen, of Springfield, on representation of Rev. B. 
C. Cutler, for his heroic exertions in saving a person from 
drowning, in Connecticut River, the Society’s Gold Medal, 
and their certificate of thanks, $10 
To James Paxter, for rescuing a child, at much personal 
risk, who had fallen overboard near Lewis Wharf, a Gold 
Medal, $io 
To John Brown, a fisherman, who, according to certificate 
of Hon. Judge Prescott, and others, had during a severe squall 
ventured out in a small boat, a mile and an half from Nahant, 
and rescued three persons in great peril, from the upsetting of 
their boat, the Society’s Gold Medal, $io 
To Midshipman Charles Weston, for his gallant conduct 
in jumping overboard to the rescue of a man, who had thrown 
himself from the ship Columbus, in a fit of delirium tremens, a 
Gold Medal, $io 
To Charles F. Smith, for saving the life of Charles F. 
Bradford, $5 
To John Pool, for rescuing a little girl from drowning, near 
the Marine Railway, $4 
To J. Wheeler, for saving, at the imminent peril of his own 
life, George Hatch, a boy who had fallen overboard, a Gold 
Medal of the value of $10 
To Archibald Smith, who saved a little child, of three years 
old, $$ 
And to Patrick Cavanagh, for saving another, $5 
1842. To Milton Hall, Jr., for having, with great exer- 
tions and much hazard, saved a man who had fallen into Charles 
River, the Society’s Gold Medal, and ten dollars in money, $20 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
73 
[Mr. Hall had previously been the instrument of saving the 
lives of two lads, when in great peril.] 
To Mr. John Porter, for saving a child from drowning, in 
the Dock, near Commercial Wharf, $10 
To Bayan Corland, for humane efforts in saving Gerry 
Stafflin, as attested by John P. Langdon, $10 
Also, to his Son, for aiding him, $5 
To George Fogg, who jumped overboard and rescued from 
drowning a lad named Burrill, the same individual having twice 
before been the means of saving life, (see 1841,) $10 
To Alexander Redman, who had jumped overboard and 
saved from drowning a son of Mr. Jones, Atkinson street, $10 
To Edward Powers, for a similar act of humanity, and with 
greater personal hazard, a Gold Medal, $10 
To C. F. Stebbins, for rescuing a boy from drowning in the 
Dock, at Sargent’s Wharf, $7 
To William W. Perkins, who, with heroic courage, jumped 
from the end of Comey’s Wharf, an height of 15 feet, and res- 
cued from drowning a lad, who had already been long in the 
water, and was senseless, a Gold Medal, $10 
To Mr. T. S. Greenwood, keeper of the Light House at 
Ipswich, and to Joseph Marshall, for noble exertions in 
saving the survivors from the wreck of the schooner Deposit, 
driven on Lakeman’s Ledge in a severe gale, Dec. 23, 1839, a 
Gold Medal each, $20 
[The survivors thus rescued, were Mrs. Cotterill, the wife of 
the captain, George Emery, and Chandler Mahoney. Captain 
Cotterill, with three others, perished.] 
To Martin Winch, a lad of 16 years, who saved the life of a 
child three years of age, who had fallen from a wharf at South 
Boston, a Gold Medal, of the value of $10 74 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
1843. To W. R. Tuck, Benja. F. Merrill, and Thomas 
Little, for saving, at much hazard, three seamen of the British 
steamer Caledonia, when upset in a boat at midnight during a 
violent storm, five dollars each, $15 
To Capt. Ezekiel Darling, of Marblehead, a Gold Medal, 
and to John Gardner, and four others, seamen, five dollars 
each, for their exertions in rescuing the crew and passengers 
of the brig John Hancock, of Quincy, wrecked on Tinker’s 
Island, near Marblehead, March 17th, $35 
To Ezra Brown, and Nathan Boynton, who, at the hazard 
of their lives, saved from drowning a woman, who attempted 
suicide by jumping from a wharf near Charlestown Bridge, ten 
dollars to the former, and to the latter, seven, $17 
To Benjamin Buckley, who saved the life of a boy, who fell 
into the water, July 16th, near South Boston Bridge, $8 
To Isaiah Harding, the captain, six dollars, and to each of 
the six men composing the crew of the Life-Boat at Chatham, 
for their services in attempting to rescue, at much hazard, the 
crew of the brig President, in May last, four dollars each, $30 
1844. To John C. Nichols, for his successful exertions in 
saving, at the risk of his own life, a little girl who had fallen 
from the Eastern Steamboat Wharf, a Gold Medal, $10 
To John Carlin, for generous efforts in saving the life of a 
little boy, James Denny, who had broken through the ice, near 
Liverpool Wharf, a Gold Medal, $10 
To Thomas S. Harman, for saving from drowning a child 
named Charles Nichols, fallen from a wharf, a Gold Medal, $10 
To Patrick Welch, for saving, at some risk, the life of 
William Redmond, $7 
To Samuel Hill, for rescuing from drowning a lad, fallen 
overboard near the Eastern Railroad Depot, a Medal, of the 
value of $10 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
75 
To Capt. Cobb, for jumping from the deck of his vessel, and 
saving a lad from drowning, the Society’s Medal, $io 
To Moses B. Tower, John W. Tower, William James, and 
five others, for their humane and heroic exertions in saving, by 
the Life-Boat of the Society, stationed at Hull, the officers and 
crew of the brig Tremont, of New York, wrecked on Point 
Alderton Bar in a violent gale, on Monday, Oct. 7, ten dollars 
in money to each, together with the Society’s Gold Medal 
to Capt. Tower, in token of the approbation of the Trustees of 
his and their meritorious conduct, $90 
1845. To nine of the first crew of the Society’s boat at 
Hull, for their gallant though unsuccessful attempt to rescue 
those on board the ship Massasoit, wrecked on nth of Decem- 
ber, at Point Alderton, $90 
To seven of the crew of the Society’s boat at Hull, who 
made a second gallant and successful attempt and succeeded 
in rescuing Captain Berry and eleven others, from the ship 
Massasoit, wrecked at Point Alderton, Dec. nth, $105 
To Greely Stevenson Curtis, for his gallant and success- 
ful exertions in rescuing a youth from drowning among the ice 
in the Back Bay, in Boston, a Gold Medal, and a certificate 
of the Society. 
1846. To the captains and crews of the Humane Society’s 
boats at Nantucket, for their gallant and successful exertions in 
rescuing the officers and crew of the brig Mariner, wrecked off 
Nantucket : To Captain Heman Eldridge, a Gold Medal. 
To his crew, George Fisher, Joseph Perry, Hiram Fisher, 
Jesse Eldridge, and William Patterson, a Silver Medal, 
each. 
To Capt. Eben Gould, a Gold Medal. To his crew, 
Moses Hamilton, Theophilus Key, John Hale, Henry 
Young, and Meltiah Fisher, a Silver Medal, each. 76 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Charles O. H. Hill, for signal exertions in rescuing 
William Sheir from drowning, $10 
To William Sheir, for signal exertions in endeavoring to 
save William Thompson from drowning. $10 
To P. Bayle, for signal exertions in rescuing John Carney 
from drowning, $5 
1847. To Mr. Cummings, for his gallant and successful 
exertions in saving human life, a Gold Medal. 
To Silas Hale, of Stowe, for signal exertions in saving T. 
Bucker from drowning, $10 
To F. E. Jackson, for signal exertions in saving William 
Bennett from drowning, $5 
1848. To Ivory B. Goodwin, for signal exertions in rescu- 
ing William O. Brian from drowning, $5 
To Robert Milliken, for signal exertions in rescuing M. C. 
Driscoll from drowning, $10 
To Dr. Parkman, for signal exertions in rescuing John 
Collins from drowning, $5 
1849. To Robert B. Forbes, since Vice-President of the 
Humane Society, for gallant and successful efforts in saving 
life at the wreck of the ship Charles Bartlett, in the Atlantic 
ocean, a Gold M^dal. 
To the Society’s crew, W. R. Blower, T. Ellis, A. Nye, B. 
Atwood, D. Nye, and S. Harding, for their signal and suc- 
cessful efforts in rescuing the crew of the schooner Only 
Daughter, of Lubeck, Maine, $35 
To Capt. James Cunningham, of the ship Riga, for his 
signal and humane exertions in saving life, a Silver Medal. 
To Joseph PIarding, for signal exertions in saving life in 
the case of the Franklin, $10 
To six men of the Franklin, for their gallant and successful 
efforts in saving life, a Silver Medal each. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
77 
To Mulford Rich, for signal exertions in saving human 
life, $20 
Note. — From the time of the foundation of the Society, 1786, to the year 1849, it 
will be seen by this record, that the Humane Society had conferred One Hundred 
and Sixteen Gold Medals. Since 1849, it has been the custom of the Society to 
present their new Silver Medal, as the highest award it is in their power to give, and 
equivalent to the presentation of the Gold Medal of former times, which was conferred 
when the rescuer showed uncommon courage and perseverance in saving human life 
at the risk of his own. 
1850. To five men of the Society’s Life-Boat at Plymouth, 
for signal exertions in saving life from a wreck, $25 
To William W. Hooper, for signal exertions in saving 
human life, $5 
To T. Mahoney, for signal exertions in saving human 
life, $20 
To I. Hayden, and D. Stoddard, for signal exertions in 
rescuing the crew of the shipwrecked brig L’Essai, $10 
To six men of the Society’s Life-Boat at Cohasset, for signal 
exertions in saving the crew of the St. John, wrecked on 
Minot’s Ledge, $30 
1851. To Thomas Jefferson Allen, for gallant and suc- 
cessful efforts in rescuing Francis Devereux from drowning, a 
Silver Medal. 
To Thomas Valley, of East Boston, for gallant and success- 
ful efforts in saving human life, a Silver Medal. 
To Benj. Tufts, for signal exertions in saving a youth from 
drowning at India Wharf, $10 
1852. To W. Champlin, I. Curtis, W. T. Murphy, and W. 
Sibley, of the Pilot Boat Yankee, for their gallant and success- 
ful efforts in rescuing lives from a wreck, a Silver Medal 
each. 
To Mr. Lord and Mr. Hamilton, for their signal and 
humane exertions in aid of the bark Josepha, $10 78 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To I. L. Kehew, of Salem, for his gallant and successful 
exertions in saving human life, a Silver Medal. 
1853. To W. McArdle, for signal exertions in saving 
human life, $3 
To Thomas Courtney, for signal and humane exertions in 
saving human life, a Bronze Medal. 
To E. Storey, for signal exertions in saving human life, $5 
1854. To I. L. Hatch, for signal and humane exertions in 
rescuing Herbert Murphy from drowning, $20 
To E. Holmes, captain, and four of the crew of the Society’s 
Life-Boat at Duxbury, for signal exertions in rescuing the ship- 
wrecked brig Valasco, $30 
To six men of the crew of the Society’s Life Boat of Chat- 
ham, for signal and humans exertions in saving human life, $30 
To James Gibb, I. M. McLean, and W. R. Thyne, of the 
Three Bells, for their gallant and successful efforts in saving 
human life, a Silver Medal each. 
To Edward Mellen, and I. W. Marshall, of the ship San 
Francisco, for gallant and successful efforts in saving human 
life, a Silver Medal each. 
To E. T. Lowe, James Creighton, James T. Watkins, G. 
C. Stanford, and John F. Crosdell, of the bark Kelly, for 
gallant and successful efforts in saving human life, a Silver 
Medal each. 
To James Savage, for gallant and successful efforts in 
saving human life in the case of the brig Elizabeth, a Silver 
Medal. 
To Charles B. Lucas, for gallant and successful efforts in 
saving human life, a Silver Medal. 
To B. W. Hollis, for gallant and successful efforts in saving 
human life, a Silver Medal. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
79 
1855. To Michael Barrett, for gallant and successful 
efforts in saving a child from drowning, a Silver Medal. 
To George M. Olmstead, for gallant and successful efforts 
in saving human life, a Silver Medal. 
To Charles Wagner, for signal exertions in saving human 
life, $15 
1856. To nine men of the schooner Favorite, of Marblehead, 
for signal and humane exertions in saving human life, a Bronze 
Medal each. 
To T. McCarty, for signal exertions in saving human life, $5 
To W. A. Cooper, of Scituate, for signal exertions in saving 
human life. $5 
To George Tewksbury, and Charles S. Tewksbury, for 
signal exertions in saving human life. $10 
[The family of Tewksbury, of Deer Island, have up to this 
time saved the lives of thirty-three persons, and their humane 
exertions have been repeatedly acknowledged by the Humane 
Society.] 
1857. To twenty-four men who, on January 20th, assisted 
in rescuing the crew of the ship Californian, wrecked near 
Cohasset, $48 
To Mrs. Mary Anne Kimball, of Cohasset, for her gener- 
ous and humane conduct towards the shipwrecked crew of the 
ship Californian, a Certificate. 
To the crew of the Humane Society’s Life-Boat at Annis- 
quam, for the rescue of the schooner Scion, $40 
To Jonathan Snow, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing the crew of the Ellen Maria, a Silver Medal. 
To D. S. Linnell, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing the crew of the ship Orissa, a Silver Medal. 
To the Humane Society’s boat’s crew, for rescue of crews of 
the Orissa and Ellen Maria, at East Orleans, $60 80 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
1858. To George Snell, Esq., for his gallant and success- 
ful efforts in the rescue of a man from drowning among the ice 
at Jamaica Pond, a Silver Medal. 
To Edward Ward, and John L. Savage, for their humane 
and successful efforts in rescuing two young men from drown- 
ing among the ice on the Back Bay, $16 
To L. S. Fickett, of Millbridge, for his humane and success- 
ful efforts in rescuing Catharine McLaughlin from drowning, $5 
1859. To Edward Lary, and Francis McGuire, for 
humane and successful efforts in rescuing from drowning two 
boys, to each a Bronze Medal. 
To Miss Elizabeth Whitmore, for her courageous and suc- 
cessful rescue from drowning, in the Back Bay, of a lad named 
Brigham, a Silver Medal. 
To John S. Parker, for gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing two boys from drowning, a Silver Medal. 
To J. M. Dolliver and P. H. Chandler, for gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing from drowning Captain Apter of 
the schooner Caroline, a Silver Medal each. 
To the crew of the Humane Society’s Life Boat No. 3, Cart. 
Thomas Hudson, H. PIudson, S. Grace, M. Grace, C. Lin- 
coln, E. Richardson, I. Hayden, crew, for their humane 
conduct in rescuing nine men from the British brig Herald, 
wrecked at Nantasket Beach : to Capt. Hudson a certificate, to 
the crew $48 
To Q. R. McField, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing from drowning George Clarke, a Silver Medal. 
1860. To William A. Roff, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing from drowning Edgar F. Matthews, a Silver 
Medal. 
To Dominicus Pool, Captain, and to the crew of the Humane PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
81 
Society’s Life Boat at Squam Bar, for humane conduct in 
rescuing the crew of the schooner Magellan Cloud, $25 
To Joseph Peabody Gardner, afterwards the Treasurer of 
l 
the Humane Society, for his gallant and successful rescue from 
drowning in the Back Bay of a youth named Clarke, a Silver 
Medal. 
To Captain John Wilson, of the brig Minnie Sheffer, for 
his gallant and humane conduct in rescuing six hundred and 
six persons from the Royal Mail Steamer Connaught, burned 
at sea, a Silver Medal and the Certificate of the Society. 
To the Captain and crew of the Humane Society’s Life 
Boat at Nantasket, for humane efforts in rescuing eight persons 
from the wreck of the schooner Nevis, $65 
To Philip H. Folger, for repeated exhibitions of courage 
and humane conduct on the coast of Nantucket, the Certifi- 
cate of the Society. 
To John Fitzgerald, for his gallant and successful efforts 
in rescuing Klla Brown from drowning at Boston, a Silver 
Medal. 
1861. To Jacob Hittinger, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing from drowning Herbert E. Johnson, a 
Silver Medal. 
To Three Men of the Pilot Boat Friend, for rescuing from 
drowning Captain James M. Dolliver, $25 
To Timothy McIntire, a deaf cripple, for his courageous 
and successful efforts in rescuing from drowning a son of 
E. G. Martin at Boston, a Bronze Medal. 
To Captain Samuel James, of Hull, for his humane and 
successful efforts in rescuing twelve persons from the ship 
Maritana, wrecked near Boston Light, the Certificate of the 
Society. 82 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To H. S. Lich, S. James, G. Kittle, R. S. Hunt, and F. B. 
Wellock, for their humane and successful efforts in assisting 
at the rescue of twelve persons from the wreck of the ship 
Maritana, $50 
1862. To John Regan and David McCarty, for their 
humane efforts in rescuing Cornelius Coonley from drowning, $6 
To Michael Casniff, for his humane efforts in rescuing a 
child from drowning, $2 
To Andrew Lally, for his humane efforts in rescuing John 
Bartlett from drowning, $3 
To Robert Torrence, for his humane exertions in rescuing 
a child from drowning, $3 
1863. To Mrs. Lucinda B. Cutter, daughter of General 
John S. Tyler, for her courage and great presence of mind as 
displayed in rescuing two young men from drowning at Nahant, 
a Silver Medal, 
To Mr. Luscomb, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing a person from drowning, a Silver Medal. 
To John Thomas, of Beverly, seaman of U. S. Steamer 
Katahdin, for his gallant and successful efforts in saving two 
persons from drowning in the Mississippi River, the Certificate 
of the Society. 
1864. To John Courtney, of East Abington, for his 
humane and successful efforts in rescuing from drowning a 
daughter of Henry B. Rogers, Esq., a Certificate and $20 
To Col. Samuel M. Quincy, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing from drowning in Quincy Bay, Mr. Hender- 
son Inches Dehon, Miss Caroline Dehon, and Mr. Ashburton 
Webster, a Silver Medal. 
To the crew of the Humane Society’s Life Boat at Mono- 
moy, for their humane and successful rescue of the crew of 
the wrecked bark Lagrange, $52 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
83 
To Robert Shaw, for his humane exertions in rescuing from 
drowning Mr. John Tyler and his son, $6 
To Charles L. Williams, Francis Williams, T. P. Stone, 
and William Stone, who put off in dories in a gale of wind, 
and rescued five persons, survivors of nine, capsized in Salem 
Harbor, $10, and a Certificate to each. 
1865. To Cornelius O’Brien, of Boston, for his humane 
efforts in rescuing from smothering in a vault, Richard O. 
Neil, $15 
To Ralph Black, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing from drowning Mary Coleman, at Quincy, and for 
recovering the body of Catharine Conner, a Silver Medal. 
To Philip Thrasher, of Marblehead, nine years of age, for 
his humane and successful efforts in rescuing a child named 
Holt, six years of age, from drowning, a Bronze Medal. 
To Frederick Remsdal, of Nantucket, for his gallant and 
successful rescue of one of the wrecked crew of the schooner 
Emeline Treat, a Silver Medal. 
To Alfred Mayo, for gallant and successful efforts in rescu- 
ing one of the crew of the Clemantha Hopkins, wrecked on 
Cape Cod beach, a Silver Medal. 
To Michael Corcoran, of Charlestown, for his humane 
and successful efforts in rescuing from drowning Michael 
Townley, $10 
1866. To Capt. Arthur F. Clarke, for his gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing from drowning, at Nahant, E. 
Lindsey Amory, of Boston, a Silver Medal. 
To Capt. Edmund Burke, of the brig Fredonia, for his 
gallant and humane conduct in rescuing the passengers and 
crew, three hundred and eight in number, of the ship Grati- 
tude, lost at sea. 84 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Paul Francis Knowles, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in the rescue of Malvonia Henly from drowning in 
Boston harbor, a Silver Medal. 
To W. C. Lee, of Newton, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing Z. T. Cushman, and a youth named Levitt, 
from drowning in Baptist Pond, a Silver Medal. 
To Daniel O’Connell, for his humane and successful 
efforts in rescuing Elizabeth Duffy from drowning at Boston, $10 
To William Falkner, of Boston, for his gallant and suc- 
cessful efforts in rescuing a daughter of Arthur Lithgow 
Devens from drowning at Nahant, a Silver Medal. 
To Samuel T. Hanscomb, of Boston, for his gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing the young men Donnelly and 
Jones from drowning at Cambridge, a Silver Medal. 
1867. To H. B. Jones, Captain of the Humane Society’s 
Life Boat at Monument, and his crew, J. B. Lynch, L. B. 
Briggs, Robert Reany, C. W. Holmes, I. B. Bartlett, P. 
Bartlett, and C. Reany, for their humane and successful 
efforts in rescuing the officers and crew of the shipwrecked 
bark Velma, $100 
To Byron Rich and N. B. Holmes, for their gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing two children of Mrs. E. A. F. 
Cook from drowning at Quincy, a Silver Medal each. 
To Dudley D. Davis, of Salem, for his gallant and suc- 
cessful efforts in rescuing from drowning Edward and Henry 
Tucker, a Silver Medal. [Within twenty years Mr. Davis 
has rescued from drowning sixteen men and one woman.] 
To Capt. John Giles, of Humane Society’s Life Boat at 
Rockport, and his crew, W. Grimes, A. Grimes, S. York, G. 
Cleary, I. Hurley, and I. Hobbs, for their humane and suc- 
cessful efforts in rescuing the officers and crew of the wrecked 
schooner Addie Low, $70 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
85 
1868. To Bridget Mary O’Toole, for her courageous and 
successful efforts in rescuing Jane Devlin from drowning at 
Nahant, a Silver Medal. 
To William H. Burroughs, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing E. H. Pierce and P. Scanland from drown- 
ing at Charlestown, a Silver Medal. 
To John Finnigan, a lad of twelve years of age, for his 
humane and successful efforts in rescuing two boys from 
drowning at Boston, $5 
To John J. Lannin, for his humane and successful efforts in 
rescuing Hugh Shield from drowning at Rowe’s Wharf, $5 
1869. To Daniel Donaly, for his humane and successful 
efforts in rescuing Edward Hatch from drowning at Boston, a 
Bronze Medal. 
To Ambrose White, Daniel Parsons, Isaac Morse, and 
Joseph Hillur, for their gallant and successful efforts in 
going in a gale of wind, and at great peril, to the rescue of the 
crew of the yacht Edith, wrecked near Gloucester, a Silver 
Medal each. 
To James Rowe, for his humane and successful efforts in 
rescuing G. M. Paul, I. E. Giles, and G. S. Giles, from drown- 
ing at Rockport. Mr. Rowe elected to take a Certificate. 
1870. To Stephen O. Schoff, for his gallant and success- 
ful efforts in rescuing two sons of W. PI. C. Hayden, of New- 
tonville, from drowning, a Silver Medal, 
To Lieut. Zalinski, United States Army, for his gallant 
and successful efforts in rescuing a soldier from drowning in 
Boston Harbor, the Certificate of the Society. 
To Private Michael Brown, United States Army, for his 
gallant and successful efforts in rescuing a fellow soldier from 
drowning in Boston Harbor, a Bronze Medal. 86 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To James Cuthburtson, for his gallant and successful 
efforts in rescuing Franklin Snow, Jr., from drowning at Com- 
mercial Wharf, Boston, a Silver Medal. 
To Mrs. Harriet Trimble, for her courageous and humane 
efforts in rescuing Thomas McLaughlin from drowning at 
Hull, $10 and the Certificate of the Society. 
To Lieut. Commander N. M. Dyer, United States Navy, 
of Melrose, for his gallant and successful efforts in plunging 
into the sea from the United States ship Ossipee, in rough 
weather, and rescuing one of his crew from drowning, a 
Silver Medal. 
1871. To Lieut. George Wilson, for his gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing two sons of P. Foster from 
drowning at Lawrence, a Silver Medal. 
To A. Fanning, I. Gardner, I. Hamblin, G. A. Vedder, H. 
C. Coffin, W. M. Bates, J. Holmes, and S. Key, for their 
gallant and successful efforts in the rescue of the crew of the 
schooner Mary Anne, wrecked among the ice on Nantucket 
Bar. The steamer Island Home had made an unsuccessful 
effort to rescue the crew, when it was effected with boats. A 
Silver Medal and $10 to each. 
To T. S. Sanbury, I. Fisher, H. C. Coffin, J. G. Smith, I. 
P. Dunton, I. G. Appleton, J. P. Coffin, and V. Small, for 
their humane and successful efforts in rescuing the crew of the 
schooner Mary H. Banks, wrecked off Nantucket, $68 
To Captain J. A. James, of Humane Society’s Nantasket 
Beach Life Boat, and his crew, Wm. James, P'rancis James, 
Benjamin Pope, James Low, James Pope, Alonzo Mitchell, 
John Augustus, and George Augustus, for their gallant and 
successful efforts in rescuing the crew of the schooner W. R. 
Georn, wrecked on Nantasket Dec. 23, 1870, $95 PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
87 
1872. To John S. Trowbridge, for his gallant and success- 
ful efforts in rescuing James Crowley from drowning in Mystic 
Pond, a Silver Medal. 
To Captain B. S. Cromwell, for his humane and successful 
efforts in rescuing the crew of the schooner White Swan, 
wrecked off Cape Pogue, the Certificate of the Society. 
To C. H. Lovett, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing Mrs. Adams from drowning at Cohasset Narrows, a 
Silver Medal. 
To Edward Colt, for his humane and successful efforts in 
rescuing three men from drowning in Massapoag Pond, the 
Certificate of the Society. 
1873. To William Dinden, for the gallant and successful 
efforts of himself and his crew G. Fuller, H. R. Cobb, and M. 
Evans, in rescuing the crew of the schooner Anna Maria, cap- 
sized off Thacher Island;—to Captain Dinden a Silver 
Medal ; to his crew, $50 
To S. A. Smith, who led the party, and to C. C. Church, 
Orin Keeny, and Wm. Vedder, who went on the first attempt, 
and to Ira Lines, who went on the second attempt, and to 
Wm. Haskins, H. I. Allen, and F. S. Allen, who went 
on the third attempt, for their gallant and successful efforts 
in rescuing the crew of the schooner Mary Grain, wrecked 
on Nashawena ;—to S. A. Smith a Silver Medal ; to the 
crew, $ 120 
To Dr. John Collins Warren, for his gallant attempt, at 
the imminent peril of his own life, to save a youth from 
drowning among the ice at Ward’s Pond, a Silver Medal. 
To Herbert T. Siiaw, for his gallant and successful efforts 
in rescuing James Welch from drowning at Ward’s Pond, a 
Silver Medal. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
88 
To Harriet C. Davis, for her humane exertions in assisting 
at the rescue of Quasett, a Certificate. 
To D. F. Larkin, Jr., Albert Crandall, I. S. Crandall, 
B. Greene, J. Harvey, Courtland Gavit, Eugene Nash, 
Edwin Nash, and W. Nash, for their humane efforts at the 
wreck of the steamer Metis, off Watch Hill, a Certificate each. 
To Rev. Mr. Ancient, for his noble and humane efforts at 
the wreck of the steamer Atalanta, off Halifax, a Certificate. 
To Mary Anne Keyes, for her courageous and judicious 
conduct at the late fire on Hanover street, whereby a number 
of women were saved from being burned to death or from 
serious injury, a Silver Medal. 
1874. To Howard Hoppin, of Providence, for signal exer- 
tions in rescuing Charles L. Perkins and a lad named Pillsbury, 
from drowning in Big Turkey Pond, a Certificate. 
To Patrick Sullivan, Quartermaster United States frigate 
Wabash, for signal exertions in rescuing from drowning at sea, 
seaman Westphail, a Certificate. 
To Robert Rensselaer Fuller, and Sylvester Russell 
Crocker, for signal and humane exertions in rescuing Captain 
I. P\ Adams of Cotuit, a Bronze Medal each. 
To Midshipman Lucian Young, United States Navy, for 
signal and humane exertions in rescuing from drowning sea- 
man James Anderson, a Certificate. 
To John Langdon, for gallant and successful endeavors in 
rescuing James O’Brien, a Silver Medal. 
To Captain N. E. Glover, for gallant and successful 
endeavors in rescuing PVancis Packard from drowning, a 
Silver Medal. 
1875. To the crew of the Society’s Life Boat at Quidit, for 
humane exertions in the rescue of the crew of the William 
Henry, $4 each. PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
89 
To Dennis McCarthy, for gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing five persons from drowning near Fort Winthrop, a 
Silver Medal. 
To Walter S. Pember, for gallant and successful endeavors 
in rescuing Mr. John Taylor from drowning, a Silver Medal. 
To Francis E. Green, and Miss Lina F. Coe, for signal 
and humane exertions in rescuing Jesse E. Cole from drown- 
ing, the Certificate of the Society to each. 
To Capt. Charles Thomas, of the British steamer Greece, 
for humane conduct in rescuing James Austin and George 
Roberts, and for bringing to this country 400 persons from the 
wrecked ship Europa, the Certificate of the Society. 
To I. A. Wyman, for his gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing Mrs. G. A. Colburn from drowning in a well at 
Lowell, a Silver Medal. 
To H. C. Nye, Master United States Navy, and to J. L. 
Hensiker, Master United States Navy, for gallant and success- 
ful efforts in rescuing Lieut. James Franklin from drowning, a 
Silver Medal each. 
1876. To I. Morris Meredith, Richard C. Hurd, and 
Edward Robbins Wharton, for gallant and successful efforts 
in rescuing Mary Elinor Perkins and Charles B. Perkins from 
drowning in Jamaica Pond, a Silver Medal each. 
To James G. Abbott, for gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing Robert Davis and William Bertram from drowning at 
Lawrence, a Silver Medal. 
To William Pepper, for humane exertions in rescuing 
several persons blown into the water by the late explosion of 
gas at South Boston, a Bronze Medal. 
To Simeon T. Hall, for gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing W. B. Goff from drowning, a Silver Medal. 90 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
To Norman B. Scribner, for gallant and successful efforts in 
rescuing Caroline M. Clark from drowning, a Silver Medal. 
To Captain D. L. Gifford, of the ship Young Phoenix, 
for his generous and humane conduct at the time of his 
rescue of the passengers and erew of the British ship 
Strathmore, wrecked on the Crozet Islands, the Certificate 
of the Society. APPENDIX. 
A salute from the Castle, with "the Governor’s barge to 
accompany them,” may seem in these times a somewhat super- 
fluous demonstration of respect to a charitable society, not yet 
incorporated, on its customary tour of duty. But those were 
days of ceremony and salutes. French officers were among us, 
the ancient manners were not forgotten, and Governor Hancock 
perfectly understood the characters of the men for whom he 
ordered that token of respect. In truth, among the founders 
and early promoters of this Society were to be found those, 
who were not only by courtesy and designation of office, 
“Honorable” and “Reverend,” but were actually honored and 
revered as the “stay and the staff” of the community. 
The first on its records, and its first President, was James 
Bowdoin, at the time of its formation the Governor of the 
State ; a Christian gentleman, a ripe scholar, and an incorrupt- 
ible statesman, who, before his country’s independence, incurred 
the royal displeasure by his assertion of his country’s rights ; 
and afterwards for his distinguished attainments in science was 
counted worthy of & fellowship with the Royal Society of Lon- 
don ; * who, to the refinements of letters united a political 
sagacity and firmness, of which the Commonwealth had full 
benefit in a crisis of peculiar danger. His administration, alike 
EARLY MEMBERS. 
* This honor has been very rarely conferred upon Americans. Before the election 
of Governor Bowdoin, three of our countrymen only had been thus distinguished. 92 
APPENDIX. 
for its integrity and courage, is a stern rebuke to those poli- 
ticians, of which the race began in his day and has not ceased, 
who in a time of popular tumult stoop to purchase popular 
favor at the costly sacrifice of the public welfare and the still 
costlier, of the permanent respect of mankind.* 
Next is Thomas Russell, the first Vice-President, who among 
the merchants of Boston, confessedly “ sat chief; ” whose wealth, 
not of inheritance but of honorable industry, no man could 
envy who knew of his charities ; and whose princely hospi- 
tality at once did honor to the city where he dwelt, and was the 
delight at the time, and the cherished recollection for years 
after, of the multitude of strangers who shared it. Then fol- 
lows Dr. John Warren, the trusted physician, remembered of 
many yet alive, who, with great skill and incessant activity in 
his profession, combined an ardent zeal for the best interests of 
humanity. His patriotism, a family virtue, inherited from his 
fathers, was kindled afresh and kept glowing till his death by 
the fondness of his fraternal love, and the recollection that a 
brother’s blood was the price of his country’s freedom. — Dr. 
Simeon Howard was the first Treasurer, “an Israelite indeed,” 
whose faithfulness in the little intrusted to his keeping f might 
well be taken for example by others, holding like dignities, and 
to whom men have committed much. A patriarchal simplicity 
engrafted on his intellectual and moral worth never failed of 
conciliating regard. — We might speak of Dr. Clarke, the first 
Corresponding Secretary, a polite scholar, a persuasive preacher, 
* The following is taken from the records of a meeting of the Trustees, Nov. 8, 
1790: — “The Vice-President, Thomas Russell, Esq., communicated an invitation 
from James Bowdoin, Esq., to attend the funeral of his father, the late Hon. James 
Bowdoin, on Wednesday next, 3 o’clock, P. M. Thereupon, Voted, that the mem- 
bers of the Humane Society be requested to meet at th# Massachusetts Bank, on 
Wednesday next, at half past two, for the purpose of attending the funeral of their 
late worthy President.” 
J The funds of the Society were at first very inconsiderable. 1'he condition of 
membership was the annual payment of a crown, or of one dollar ten cents. But on 
representation of the treasurer, Dr. Howard, “of the exceeding trouble of making 
change ” in the payment of such a sum, crowns having become scarce, the price was 
altered to one dollar. APPENDIX. 
93 
and a favorite, alike with the aged, who loved him as a son, and 
with the young, to whom he was even as a brother. And when 
we have added to these the names of Lloyd and of Bulfinch, of 
Dexter and Freeman, of Parker and Lathrop, and of others, the 
founders or first members of the Society, it will not be difficult 
to admit, that few companies, civil or military, of laymen or of 
clergymen, ever passed Castle William, before or since, more 
worthy of the Governor’s salute, than was the company of that 
day, which was August 5, 1790. 
Of the gentlemen thus constituting the first Board of Trus- 
tees, many continued in their places for a long series of years. 
Dr. Aaron Dexter, who, as has been seen, was one of its 
founders, resigned its presidency in 1827, having been con- 
nected with the Society in official relations for nearly forty-two 
years,—a period far exceeding the usual term of any man’s 
connection with any such institution. Dr. Warren and Dr. 
Lathrop, also among its founders and first governors, resigned 
their respective places. — the former as President, the latter as 
Vice-President, in 1813, after faithful services from 1786, of 
more than twenty-seven years. 
Others also, the immediate successors of the founders, con- 
tinued in trust through many successive years. The doctrine 
of rotation in office, with other popular theories, with which it 
is allied, had not then so obtained as to require that good men, 
proved to be such, and laden with experience, should go out, 
only that others, not proved, might come in. Bishop Parker, 
Dr. John Eliot, Samuel Parkman, Joseph Coolidge, Esqs., 
with others, continued to be rechosen from year to year until 
their deaths, as were also the Rev. Messrs. Emerson and 
Buckminster; who died, however, at a much earlier period of 
life. The Society have been favored with the valuable ser- 
vices of many of our leading and influential citizens. Among 
them maybe named Charles Lowell, D. D., Andrew Ritchie. 
Thomas Handasyd Perkins, John C. Warren, M. D., Henderson 
Inches, George Hayward, M. D., Jacob Bigelow, M. D., John 
C. Gray, Samuel A. Eliot, Charles P. Curtis, Jonathan M. APPENDIX. 
94 
Wainwright, D. D., Charles G. Loring, Abbott Lawrence, 
Samuel Austin, Joseph P. Gardner, and others. Nor should 
the long services of the late President, the Hon. David Sears, 
be forgotten, who for so many years presided over the delibera- 
tions of the Trustees and the meetings of the Society, with an 
impartiality'and courtly dignity peculiarly his own. 
MEETINGS OF TRUSTEES AND SUMPTUARY LAWS. 
The meetings of the Trustees were, at first, on the last 
Monday of every month. They were soon changed to the first 
Monday evening of each month, and so continued for almost 
thirty years. But in January, 1814, when probably the advanc- 
ing age of some of the members of the Board made their 
assembling in the day more agreeable to them than in the 
evening, the hour of meeting was changed to two o’clock ; and 
after the transaction of such business as might occur, the 
Trustees, together with such guests as their host might have 
seen fit to unite with them, dined together. The day was 
subsequently changed to the first Friday of each month ; and, 
ever since 1823, this has remained the stated day. Though 
the meetings be thus frequent, very few occur without some 
applications for premiums, or subjects arising, of more or less 
moment, to call attention. And not seldom, as must be seen 
in the Catalogue of Premiums, cases of a highly interesting 
nature and suited to command an earnest sympathy with suffer- 
ing on the one side, or a warm admiration for heroic efforts on 
the other, are presented. 
We have adverted, on a previous page, to Sumptuary Laws ; 
and in recurring to the Records, which, for higher purposes, we 
have not failed carefully to consult, we find that, at a meeting 
of the Trustees, at the house of Dr. Spooner, 2d of June, 1826, 
the following resolution was placed upon the records :— 
“ Voted, unanimously, that if, at any future meeting of the 
Trustees, there be more than four dishes of meat, fish and soup APPENDIX. 
95 
included, on the table, and two dishes of pastry, it shall be the 
duty of the presiding officer to order each extra dish to be 
removed. It being understood that the master of the house 
be at liberty to determine which those dishes shall be; and that 
the Secretary furnish each member with a copy of this vote.” 
The terms in which this salutary regulation is expressed, 
amounting even to arithmetical precision, would seem to leave 
little scope to diversity either of opinion or action. But as the 
interpretation of the article belonged to each individual Trus- 
tee, and as no presiding officer, in any remembered instance, 
found it his duty to interpose authoritatively for the literal 
enforcement of the act, no effect has hitherto followed, differing 
at all from what any careful observer of the courses of human 
society will have learned to expect from all such judicious and 
well-meant regulations. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
We here assemble, under one note, a few separate articles, 
extracted from the records of different dates, which may show, 
in connection with the “ History,” the different objects which 
have been the subjects of attention with the Society. 
It appears that the erection of Light Houses, where greatly 
needed, sometimes engaged their consideration. 
At a meeting of the Society, February 6, 1792, it was 
Voted, That the President, the Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, 
and Corresponding Secretary be a committee to wait upon His 
Excellency the Governor, and request him to represent to such 
officers of the government as he may think proper, the necessity 
of having a Light House erected on some part of Cape Cod, in 
order to preserve the lives and property of those who navigate 
the Bay of Massachusetts ; and to desire that such Light House 
may be erected at the charge of the Continent. 
Also, 96 
APPENDIX. 
Voted, That the President, Dr. Welsh, Dr. Dexter, and Hon. 
General Lincoln, be a committee to confer with the gentlemen 
of the Marine Society, upon the subject to inform them of the 
measures already taken by this Society, and to request their 
concurrence in the same. 
In the succeeding month, we find the following:— 
“ The committee appointed to take into consideration the 
letter from Dr. Thomas Bulfinch, on the method used by the 
savages for the recovery of persons apparently dead from 
drowning, reported, that the facts contained therein are a valu- 
able addition to the history of resuscitation, and that it is one of 
the duties of this Society, to collect every thing of this nature ; 
which, whether founded in reason or experience, should be 
carefully preserved, and may, perhaps, lead to other discoveries 
of still greater consequence to the views of this institution. 
They however take the liberty to remark, that the position in 
which the savages appear to have placed the body, though 
doubtless convenient for the discharge of water, must be highly 
unfavorable to the renewal of respiration.” 
Here follow some valuable medical suggestions, not neces- 
sary, however, here to be repeated. 
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. 
At a special meeting of the Trustees, at the President’s, 
February 23, 1796, 
The President informed the Trustees that the Marine So- 
ciety and the Chamber of Commerce have come to the determi- 
nation to make an immediate application to Congress, that a 
Light House may be erected on the highlands of Cape Cod, 
for the purpose not only of promoting the mercantile interest, 
but also for the preservation of the lives of seamen, and have 
expressed their wishes for a co-Qperation of the Trustees of the appendix. 
97 
Humane Society to obtain so desirable an end. And the Trus- 
tees having taken the subject in consideration, 
Voted, unanimously, That a Memorial be presented to Con- 
gress, and that Rev. Dr. Clarke and Dr. Dexter be a committee 
to prepare and report a Memorial on the subject. 
Such a document, accordingly, was presented at the following 
meeting of the Trustees, and having been read and accepted, 
the President was authorized to sign the same, and to transmit 
it, through the Corresponding Secretary, to the Hon. Fisher 
Ames, then one of the Representatives of Massachusetts to 
Congress. The Memorial itself bears clear evidence of the 
benevolent spirit, as well as of the classic style of the Chairman 
of the committee who prepared it, Dr. John Clarke. 
When the Society, in 1816, had in contemplation a large 
subscription to the Lunatic Asylum, it was thought that some 
doubt might arise as to its legal right to appropriate its funds 
to other than its own original and specific purposes. The 
President, Dr. Dexter, therefore, sought legal counsel for the 
direction of the Trustees upon the subject; and the following 
is the answer received from Judge Dawes :— 
Boston, 5 th Nov., 1816. 
Dear Sir: — I think that the last clause of the Act, namely, 
“ And for promoting the cause of humanity by pursuing such 
means from time to time as shall have for their object the 
preservation of human life and the alleviation of its miseries,” 
will fully authorize us to proceed with the noble design we 
have at heart ; and I can say most sincerely, that I thank God 
it is so. The words may be construed in a more limited sense, 
as referring only to those miseries that attend the families of 
drowned or resuscitated persons. But we are not called to 
make such a construction. Yours faithfully, 
T. Dawes. 
Dr. Dexter. 
JUDGE DAWES’S LETTER. 98 
APPENDIX. 
It was in a liberal interpretation of the foregoing decision, and 
a readiness to co-operate in an object of great public utility, that 
in May, 1843, a donation was made of five hundred dollars, 
from the funds of the Society, in aid of the purchase of a costly 
Telescope for the Observatory established at Cambridge, by 
the government of the University. “ The obvious connection 
between the discoveries in astronomical science and the dimi- 
nution of the risks of navigation,” seemed to some a sufficient 
ground for such an appropriation. And, unquestionably, as 
was urged in its favor, “ every advance in the precision and 
accuracy of all observations of the heavenly bodies, which have 
relation to time and longitude, is an addition, easily appreci- 
able, to the security of human life, when exposed to the perils 
of navigation.” With equal propriety it might be urged, that 
the lights of philosophy and the aids of humanity may alike 
conspire to one great object, “ the alleviation of human misery,” 
and that between all good purposes and enlightened efforts 
there is reciprocal influence. But if, notwithstanding such 
general reasonings, this particular appropriation should still 
appear to any a somewhat large interpretation of a discretion- 
ary power, the Trustees would not be earnest to contend.* 
BENEFACTORS OF THE SOCIETY. 
Besides those who, by the devotion of much time and care, 
particularly in the early periods of the Society, have advanced 
its general interests, it has not been wanting in liberal con- 
tributors to its funds. The following list of donations and 
bequests has been gathered from the records of successive 
meetings of the Trustees, or of the Society, through the whole 
* The connection between the philosophical instrument, above named, and the 
designs of a benevolent society, may, however, be closer than by some seems to have 
been considered. To any ingenuous mind, it will scarcely fail to appear, how natu- 
rally a telescope may awaken compassion ; since he, who, looking through it, shall 
discover with one eye a wreck, too remote for his succor, may weep with the other 
for sufferings which, though seeing, he cannot relieve. APPENDIX. 
99 
term of its existence, and it is possible, therefore, that the 
name of some benefactor may be omitted. But it is hoped that 
the catalogue will be found essentially correct: 
1788. Hon. Thomas Russell, Vice-President, a 
share in Malden Bridge, . . . ,£36 o o 
With payment of assessment on do., . 220 
1789. John Calef, Esq., of St. Kitts, two donations, 3 18 o 
1790. July 4. Hon. Thomas Russell, then Presi- 
dent, three State notes, together with the 
gift “of a common seal for the society, 
engraved on silver,” . . . .31166 
1792. Thomas Dickason, Jr., of London, but resid- 
ing in Boston, on admission as a member, 660 
Hon. William Seaver, Kingston, . . 220 
1793- John Osborn, M. D., Middletown, Conn. . 100 
Samuel Carey, Esq., of Chelsea, . . 2134 
1794. Jonathan Mason, Esq., first Vice-President, $ 100 00 
Elisha Doane, Esq., of Cohasset, the furnish- 
ing the Society’s Huts on Nantasket and 
Scituate Beach, with all necessary sup- 
plies. 
1795. Madam Thayer, of Boston, a legacy, . . 00 
John Bulkley, Esq., of Lisbon, on being 
elected an honorary member, . . . $ 100 00 
Thomas Bulkley, Esq., of Lisbon, . . 50 00 
1796. Thomas Russell, Esq., a generous present 
of a Cabinet, for the use of the Society. 
1797. Mr. Thomas Hancock, . . . . 20 00 
1799. Professor Eliphalet Pearson, Cambridge, . 6 15 
1800. Madam Esther Sprague, Dedham, on admit- 
tance as a member of the Society, . . 8 90 
1801. Rev. William Walter, D. D., a legacy, . 30 00 
1803. John Bulkley, Esq., of Lisbon, a legacy, . £ 100 o o 
1807. Nicholas Gilman, Esq., Exeter, N. H.,. . $5 00 
1811. Madam Esther Sprague, Dedham, a legacy, o o 
1812. Hon. Samuel Dexter, a legacy, . . . $ 50 00 100 
APPENDIX. 
1822. William Lambert, Esq., a legacy, . $ 150 00 
1823. Abraham Touro, a legacy, .... 5,000 00 
1831. Isaiah Thomas, Esq., of Worcester,. . . 30000 
1840. State of Massachusetts, for building Life 
Boats, ....... 5,000 00 
1841. State of Massachusetts, for building Life 
Boats, ....... 1,350 00 
1849. State of Massachusetts, grant, . . . 2,500 00 
1852. State of Massachusetts, grant, . . . 2,500 00 
James Ingersoll, Esq., a legacy, . . . 1,000 00 
1854. Enoch Train & Co., a donation, . . . 200 00 
William Ropes & Co., a donation, . . 150 00 
James Parker, Esq., a donation, . . . 100 00 
R. B. Forbes, for a friend, . . , . 30 00 
G. Howland Shaw, Esq., a donation, . . 100 00 
Colonel Thomas G. Cary, a donation, . . 20 00 
Charles W. Morgan, Esq., a donation,. . 25 00 
1855. United States Government, appropriation, . 10,000 00 
1857. United States Government, appropriation, . 10,000 00 
1870. United States Government, appropriation, . 15,000 00 
1873. Benjamin Hudson, a legacy, which, as Mr. 
Augustus Lowell, Executor, made no 
charge for his services, amounted to . 22,368 97 
1875. James Alexander, Esq., a donation, . . 25 00 
Mrs. I. H. Adams, . . . . . 20 00 
Also, a considerable legacy from the late 
Mr. P. P. F. Degrand, amounting to one- 
twelfth of the property available 
after the decease of certain persons now 
living. 
LIFE BOATS. 
It has been seen in the brief “History” preceding, that a 
grant of five thousand dollars was made by the Legislature of APPENDIX. 
101 
the State to the Society, in March, 1840, for the purpose of 
building Life Boats. During the session of the following year, 
another Resolve was passed, granting thirteen hundred and 
fifty dollars more, for furnishing three additional Life Boats, to 
be stationed agreeably to the directions of the Legislature. 
This sum accordingly was received into our Treasury, and the 
following Report of the expenditure was presented by the 
President to the Governor and Council: 
To His Excellency John Davis, and to.the Hon. Council: 
Agreeably to the resolve of the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
passed March 17, 1841, allowing thirteen hundred and fifty 
dollars from the Treasury of the State, for furnishing three life 
boats, to be stationed as follows : one near Race Point, one at 
Nantucket, and one at Chatham ; I beg leave to report to your 
Excellency, and to the Honorable Council, that it has been 
attended to. Houses have been built, and the boats placed 
therein, and suitable crews appointed by the Selectmen of each 
town for the purpose of managing them. Finding another 
boat was absolutely necessary, and being strongly solicited 
from the town of Plymouth, I prevailed on the mechanics to 
give in a part of their labor, and build the boats fifty dollars 
less each, which enabled me to provide a fourth boat for that 
station, by the Humane Society paying the balance, $175.86, 
as per account annexed. That boat has been delivered to the 
Selectmen of Plymouth, who have had a house erected, and 
men appointed to take charge of her. Thus sixteen life boats 
are now stationed between Martha’s Vineyard and Newbury - 
port, fifteen of them under the direction of the Massachusetts 
Humane Society, and the one on Plum Island under charge of 
the Marine Society of Newburyport. And I have the satisfac- 
tion to state, that they have already been the sole means, under 
Providence, of saving the lives of twenty-eight shipwrecked 
mariners, who otherwise must have met a watery grave, as no 
other boats could have withstood the heavy sea. 
In the gale of the 17th of December last, the ship Mohawk 102 
APPENDIX. 
was cast on shore at Nantasket Beach, when the life boat 
stationed there was launched into the surf, and, in endeavoring 
to save the crew, she was driven on the rocks and badly stove. 
Since which she has been brought to the city and is now 
repairing, will be finished soon and re-placed in its proper 
station, the cost of which will be from sixty to eighty dollars- 
These boats will be constantly wanting repairs, painting, &c. 
&c., and it will be necessary that a small appropriation should 
be made for that purpose, subject to the Treasurer of “ The 
Massachusetts Humane Society,” the amount to be limited to 
seven or eight hundred dollars. No more will be drawn for 
than is actually wanted, and a correct account will be rendered 
of the expenditure. 
I have the honor to be, 
Respectfully, Your ob’t serv’t, 
(Signed,) Benj. Rich, 
President Massachusetts Humane Society. 
Boston, Jan. 11, 1842. 
The number of Life Boats and stations has increased from 
18 in 1845, to 78 at the present time, a list of the locations of 
which may be found on the following pages. 
The Society have ready another fine boat, (included in the 
above number,) but its station has not been fully determined. APPENDIX. 
103 
No. 
Name of Keeper. 
Locality. 
Salary. 
General Remarks. 
I 
T. S. Greenwood 
Ipswich River . 
$IO 
One of the oldest boats, built prior to 1840, and not of much use. 
2 
K. Ellsworth 
Near Ipswich Light . 
IO 
Small Surf-Boat and Carriage. 1850, moved near the beach. 
3 
D. Hooper 
Annisquam Light 
IO 
Same date as No. 1. Has been repaired, and is in good order. 
4 
W. Saunders 
Lanesville .... 
IO 
Double-bottom Wadsworth’s patent, 1858. Small boat. 
5 
|. B. Parsons . 
Rock port . -. . . 
IO 
Same as 1 and 3, recently renovated. House new. 
6 
VV. Thurston 
Rockport .... 
Emerson’s Point, Cape Ann 
IO 
Iron Mortar Station, placed 1858. 
7 
Asa Todd 
IO 
Double-bottom Wadsworth, 1858, lately repaired. 
8 
Albert W. Hall 
Milk Island 
5 
Hut of Refuge, new in 1873. 
9 
A. H. Tuck 
Gloucester .... 
10 
A Wooden Boat, built at Lairhaven, new in 1873. 
IO 
Isaac P. Morse . 
Stage Port, Gloucester 
10 
New Brass Mortar, placed 1872. 
ii 
Charles C. Parsons 
Manchester 
10 
Built at Lairhaven, 1866, removed from Gloucester. 
12 
John H. L. Giles 
Marblehead 
10 
Built in 1872, Nos. 12 and 13 having been sold. House new, 1872. 
14 
A. A. Davis 
Lynn Beach 
10 
Surf-Boat, located 1865. 
15 
Miles Blanchard 
Swampscott 
10 
A fine Boat, by Norcross, 1867. 
16 
W. Luscomb 
Nahant .... 
10 
Large clumsy Boat, 1850, newly located 1871. 
17 
John Hinkley . 
Deer Island 
10 
( A good Wadsworth Boat, 1857. Brass Mortar and French Appa- 
j ratus ; also, a small Surf-Boat, built in 1850. 
18 
Joshua James . 
Stony Beach, Hull 
One of the oldest Boats, frequently repaired. 
!9 
Joshua James . 
Point Alderton . 
1 
New Boat built at Scituate, and new House, 1873. 
20 
Joshua James . 
Stony Beach 
Mortar, placed new, 1876. 
21 
Joshua James . 
Nantasket Beach 
25 
Built at Nantucket, 1855, has new floats of rubber, 1871. 
22 
Joshua James . 
Nantasket Beach 
Hut of Refuge, with stove, &c. Often misused. Burnt April, 1876. 
23 
Joshua James . 
Nantasket Beach 
J 
Hut of Refuge, with stove, fuel, &c. Often misused. 
New Boat, built at Fairhaven, placed in new House, May, 1872. 
24 
Joshua James . 
Nantasket Beach 
5 
LIST OF LIFE-BOATS, MORTAR STATIONS AND HUTS OF REFUGE 
OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS HUMANE SOCIETY, 
MAY, 1876. 104 
APPENDIX. 
No. Name of Keeper. 
p-...% .• . - 
Locality. 
Salary 
General Remarks. 
25 Henry Bates 
Symond’s Cove, North Cohasset 
IO 
Built at Provincetown, 1859, and newly located, 1873. 
Medium size, built 1849, and a Brass Mortar, placed 1871. 
Large clumsy Boat, built in New York in 1852. 
26 B. C. Kimball . 
Pleasant Beach, Cohasset . 
15 
27 1 A. Whittington 
Chapel Harbor . 
l10 
28 A. Whittington 
Chapel Harbor . 
New Boat from Fairhaven, 1871. 
29 J- A. Litchfield 
Near Glades 
IO 
Good model Surf-Boat, built in Boston, 1856. 
30 Charles B. Pratt 
North Scituate . 
IO 
Medium size, built in 1849-50. 
31 J. S. Drew 
Scituate, Bass Cove . 
) 
New Boat, built at Scituate, 1872-73. • 
32 J. S. Drew 
Scituate, Bass Cove . 
V 20 
Small Surf-Boat, built in 1850. 
33 J- s- Drew 
Scituate Harbor. 
f 
New Boat built at Scituate, 1873, to replace Metallic Boat. 
34 pE. P. Welch 
Fourth Clift', Scituate . 
}IG 
Medium size, 1852, and Carriage. 
New Mortar Station. 
33 E. P. Welch 
Near last .... 
36 Charles Sears . 
Cut River, Marshfield 
IO 
New Boat and House, 1876. 
36 A. Cushman 
Duxbury .... 
5 
Small Surf-Boat, 1849. Removed from the beach, 1870. 
38 !J. L). Churchill 
Plymouth .... 
10 
A fine Boat, built in 1859. 
39 P. Manter 
Chiltonville 
10 
Medium size, built 1849. 
40 C. Briggs 
Near Manomet Pt., So. Plymouth 
10 
j Nantucket Surf-Boat, 1855, and Brass Mortar, located 1867, local- 
( ity changed 1876. House new. 
41 James Cushman 
Near Race Point 
10 
New Provincetown Boat, built 1870. 
42 James Cushman 
Near Race Point 
10 
New Brass Mortar, located 1871. 
43 C. A. Cook 
East of Race Point 
10 
New in 1870. 
44 C. A. Cook 
East of last 
10 
New in 1870. 
45 H. Atkins 
Peaked Hill 
10 
j Surf-Boat built at Provincetown, 1852, and Iron Mortar located 
j 1855. 41 to 45 are under the general care of E. S. Smith, Esq. 
46 Milford Rich . 
Newcomb’s Hollow, Wellfleet 
b 
Medium size, 1849. 
Iron Mortar, located 1858. 
47 Milford Rich 
Newcomb’s Hollow, Wellfleet 
48 Justus Higgins . 
Cahoon’s Hollow 
b 
Medium, 1849. 
4q Justus Higgins . 
Nigger Hollow . 
Surf-Boat, 1849, and Hut of Refuge. 
50 N. A. Gill 
Nauset Light 
5 
Provincetown Surf-Boat, 1855. 
51 ; Jonathan Snow 
Nauset Harbor . 
40 
( New Surf-Boat, built near there, 1873, and Iron Mortar, 1855. 
( Plouse fitted for refuge. 
32 j Elisha Cole 
Orleans Beach . 
10 
Surf-Boat, built 1858-9. 
LIST OF LIFE-BOATS, MORTAR STATIONS, ETC.—Continued. APPENDIX. 
53 
J 
F. Graham . 
Wellfleet, inside 
15 
i Surf-Boat and Hut of Refuge, 1867, newly located 1872. Nos. 46 
] to 53 are under the general charge of Capt. J. Snow. 
54 
Caleb Nickerson 
North Chatham . 
7 
Medium, 1849,-—Seldom heard from. 
1 The changes in the harbor of Chatham render the Stations for- 
Chatham .... 
7 merly there (Nos. 55 to 59 inclusive) comparatively useless, and 
( they have been given up. 
6o 
Near the Bar 
Medium Boat, 1849. 
61 
Kroskaty, east end 
Smith’s Point West 
New model double bank Boat, 1872. 
62 
New in 1870. There is a Dory here also. 
63 
From 60 to 7X5 
Tuckanuck, West 
New in 1872. There is a Dory here also. 
64 
are all in charge 
Muskeget, West 
New in 1873. 
65 
of Committee at 
Forked Pond 
Located 1857. Hut of Refuge. 
66 
Nantucket, F. C. 
Hummock Pond 
• 60 
Fine Boat and Hut of Refuge, 1858. 
67 
Sanford, Esq., the 
North of Sconset 
Fine Boat and Hut of Refuge, 1858. 
68 
| Chairman and 
Great Point 
New, and removed from Sconset nearer to Sankaty Light, 1872. 
69 
General Agent. 
In the City 
Removed from Sconset, 1870, and repaired. 
J New Brass Mortar, located 1871. 
70 
Tom Never’s Head 
1 Iron Mortar, located 1856, and Monitor Raft. 
7i 
Nobedeer .... 
Hut of Refuge. 
7i>^ 
Hut of Refuge. 
72 
W. W. Huxford 
Chappequidic, Martha’s Vine’rd 
10 
New Station, not complete, May, 1873. 
73 
Charles Stewart 
South Beach, Martha’s Vineyard 
4 
Old Boat, 1849. New House and Floats of Cork, 1873- 
74 
Asa Smith 
Squibnocket, Martha’s Vineyard 
15 
Old Boat, 1855. 
75 
t r \r Pooeo 
Gay Head Light 
Surf-Boat, 1859, and Iron Mortar and Apparatus. Hut of Refuge, &c. 
. 
10 
j Medium, 1849. 72 to 75 are under the general charge of C. B. 
76 
S 
. A. Smith 
Cuttihunk .... 
10 
) Marchant, Collector at Edgartown. 
77 
S. A. Smith 
Cuttihunk .... 
5 
Medium, 1850. j Near the Light, and very useful and well cared 
79 
Charles C. Church 
Cuttihunk .... 
10 
Surf-Boat, 1850. | for. 
78 
Thomas Bates . 
Boston Light 
5 
New Station Boat, built at Fairhaven, and Brass Mortar, 1873. 
80 
Marcus N. Harris 
Barnstable .... 
10 
Small Surf-Boat, in charge of Keeper of Light. Iron Mortar. 
81 
John Flanagan . 
Winthrop . . . . 
10 
New Boat and House. 
82 
Charles Welch . 
Sandwich .... 
10 
New Boat and House. 
105 CATALOGUE 
OF THE 
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. 
We subjoin the following List of Members of the Society, which is by no means 
complete, but the large number here presented, may show the interest taken in 
the objects of the Society since its foundation, by gentlemen not of Boston only, 
but of various parts of the Commonwealth. 
A. 
Samuel Abbot. 
President John Adams, Quincy. 
Isaac Adams, Orleans. 
Phineas Adams. 
Judah Alden, Duxbury. 
William Alexander. 
Jonathan Amory. 
Thomas Amory. 
Thomas C. Amory. 
James Andrews. 
John Andrews, Roxbwy. 
Charles B. Appleton. 
Nathan Appleton. 
John T. Apthorp. 
Henry Atkins. 
Silas Atkins. 
Charles Atkinson. 
Jonathan L. Austin. 
Richard Austin. 
Charles Amory. 
William Amory. 
John Avery, Jr. 
Jeremiah Allen. 
Samuel Austin. 
William Appleton. 
B. 
Adam Babcock. 
Francis Babcock. 
Luke Baldwin. 
Thomas Baldwin, D. D. 
John Ballard. 
Christopher Barker. 
Josiah Barker, Nantucket. 
Thomas Barnard,D. D., Salem. 
Tristram Barnard. 
John Barrett, Quincy. 
Hon. Josiah Bartlett, M. D., Charles- 
town. 
George Bartlett, do. 
Dr. Thomas Bartlett. 
Joseph Bartlett, Plymouth. 
Dr. Zaccheus Bartlett, do. 
George Baylies. 
Jeremiah Belknap. 
John Bernard. 
Martin Bicker. 
Asahel Bigelow. 
Samuel Billings. 
James Bird. 
Samuel Blagge. 
Edward Blake. 
Major George Blanchard. 
John W. Blanchard. 
Elam Bliss. 
William Boardman, Jr. 
Jeremiah S. Boies, Milton. 
Kirk Boott. 
Ezra A. Bourne. 
Hon. James Bowdoin. APPENDIX. 
John B. Bowen. 
John Boyle. 
John Boyle. Jr. 
Ward Nicholas Boylston, Roxbury. 
Charles Bradbury. 
Gamaliel Bradford. 
Samuel Bradford. 
Dudley A. Bradstreet. 
Major John Bray. 
Major John Brazer. 
Ebenezer Breed, Charlestown. 
William Breed. 
John Brewer, Passamaquoddy. 
Thomas Brewer. 
Oliver Brewster. 
Hon. E. Bridge, Chebnsford. 
Hon. Matthew Bridge, Charles- 
town. 
Nathan Bridge. 
Samuel Bridge. 
Elisha Brigham. 
Andrew Brimmer. 
George W. Brimmer. 
Henry Bromfield, Harvard. 
Hon. Peter C. Brooks. 
Bartholomew Brown. 
Hon. William Brown. 
Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster. 
Charles Bulfinch. 
Caroline Bullard, Medfield. 
Jeremiah Bumstead, Jr. 
Josiah Bumstead. 
Thomas Burley. 
George Burroughs, Jr. 
Rev. Jonathan Burr, Sandwich. 
Martin Burr. * 
William Burrows. 
Benjamin Bussey. 
John P. Bayley. 
Nathaniel Balch. 
Jacob Bigelow. 
Francis Bacon. 
John Bulkley. 
C. 
Hon. George Cabot. 
Samuel Cabot, Roxbury. 
William Cabot, Watertown. 
Benjamin Callender. 
Joseph Callender, Jr. 
Thomas Capen. 
Samuel Carey, Chelsea. 
Rev. Samuel Carey. 
James Carter. 
Edward Cazneau. 
Gardner L. Chandler. 
Francis D. Channing. 
1 Rev. William E. Channing. 
Henry Chapman. 
Jonathan Chapman. 
Joseph Chapman. 
Peter Chase, Nantucket. 
John Chipman, Sandwich. 
His Eminence Cardinal John Che- 
verus. 
Asaph Churchill. 
Chester Clap. 
Benjamin Clark. 
Humphrey Clark. 
Nathaniel Clark. 
William Cleland. 
Benjamin Coates. 
John Coates. 
William Cochran. 
Charles R. Codman. 
John G. Coffin. 
Thomas Coffin. 
J. Smith Colburn. 
Charles Coolidge, Newton. 
Charles D. Coolidge, Roxbury. 
Cornelius Coolidge. 
Joseph Coolidge. 
Joseph Coolidge, Jr. 
William Coolidge. 
Zebedee Cook. 
| Samuel Coverly. 
Allen Crocker. 
Elisha Crocks?. 
Edward Cruft. 
Andrew Cunningham. 
John Cunningham. 
Joseph L. Cunningham. 
Nathaniel Curtis. 
Thomas Curtis. 
Charles Cushing. 
Charles Cushing, Jr. 
Rev. John Cushing, Ashburnham. 
Hon. Nathan Cushing, Scituate. 
Hon. William Cushing, do. 
Thomas Cushing. 
James Cutler. 
F. B. Crowninshield. 
Samuel Cobb. 
John Clarke. 
Charles P. Curtis. 
| Caleb A. Curtis. 
107 108 
APPENDIX. 
D. 
John Dabney, Salem. 
Benjamin Dana. 
Dexter Dana. 
Hon. Francis Dana, Cambridge. 
Hon. Samuel Dana, Charlestown. 
William Dali. 
Peter Roe Dalton. 
Dr, Thomas Danforth. 
Benjamin Davenport. 
Isaac Davenport. 
Aaron Davis, Roxbury. 
Amasa Davis. 
Charles Davis. 
Isaac P. Davis. 
James Davis. 
Jonathan Davis. 
Hon. John Davis. 
Joseph Davis, Roxbury. 
Joshua Davis. 
Samuel Davis, Plyjnouth. 
William Davis, do. 
Hon,. Thomas Dawes. 
Major Thomas Dean. 
William Dehon. 
Benjamin Delano 
Asa Dennel. 
Thomas Dennie. 
Hon. Elias H Derby, Salem. 
John Derby. 
Aaron Dexter, M. D. 
Thomas Dickason, London. 
Rev. Timothy Dickenson, Holliston. 
Elisha Doane, Cohassyt. 
Samuel B. Doane. 
Samuel A. Dorr. 
John Dorr. 
Andrew Dunlap. 
Alpheus Dunham. 
Samuel Dunn. 
Isaac Dupee. 
Gamaliel L. Dwight. 
E. 
Samuel Eames. 
Charles B. Eaton. 
Ebenezer Eaton. 
Joseph Eckley, D. I>. 
Samuel Eliot. 
John Eliot, D. D. 
Andrew Eliot. 
John Eliot, Jr. 
J ustin Ely, West Springfield. 
Rev. William Emerson. 
John Emery. 
William Endicott. 
Ephraim Eliot. 
Samuel A. Eliot. 
F. 
Ebenezer Farley. 
James Farrar. 
Richard Faxon. 
John Fenno. 
Edward Fettyplace. 
James Fillis. 
John Fleet, M. D. 
Thomas Fleet. 
Jeremiah P. Fogg. 
Hon. Dwight Foster, Brookfield. 
James H. Foster. 
Henry Fowle. 
Hon. Samuel Fowler, Westfield. 
Ebenezer Francis. 
Samuel A. Frazier, Duxbury. 
Rev. James Freeman. 
James Freeman. 
Dr. Nathaniel Freeman, Sandwich. 
Adam French. 
John French. 
Benjamin Fuller. 
Robert B. Forbes. 
E. H. Faucon. 
G. 
Abraham W. Gamage. 
Caleb Gannett, Cambridge. 
Rev. John S. J. Gardiner. 
Gideon Gardner, Nantucket. 
Jared Gardner, do. 
John Gardner. 
Joseph P. Gardner. 
John L. Gardner. 
Eben Gay, Hingham. 
His Excellency Elbridge Gerry, 
• Cambridge. 
J. T. Gilman. 
Benjamin Goddard. 
Nathaniel Goddard. 
Thacher Goddard. 
Nathaniel Goodwin. 
Nathaniel Goodwin, Plymouth. 
Ozias Goodwin. 
Randolph Goodwin, Dresden. 
Simeon Goodwin. 
John Gore. APPENDIX. 
109 
Samuel Gore. 
Dr. John Gorham. 
Moses Grant. 
Moses Grant, Jr. 
Benjamin Gray. 
Edward Gray. 
John C. Gray. 
Sylvanus Gray. 
William R. Gray. 
Gardner Greene. 
John R. Greene. 
James Greene, Charlestown. 
Richard Green. 
Daniel Greenleaf, Quincy. 
Joseph Greenleaf. 
Oliver C. Greenleaf. 
David S. Greenough, Roxbury. 
Rev. William Greenough, Newton. 
John Grew. 
H. 
Jared Hall. 
Joseph Hall. 
Benjamin Hammatt. 
Charles Hammatt. 
William Hammatt. 
William Hammatt, Plymouth. 
Samuel Hammond. 
Ebenezer Hancock. 
John Hancock. 
Thomas Hancock. 
Moses B. Harden, Medfield. 
Jonathan Harrington. 
Edward Harris. 
Jonathan Harris. 
Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, Dor- 
chester. 
James Harrison, Charlestcrwn. 
Edmund Hart. 
Oliver Hartshorn. 
Ralph Haskins. 
Elisha Hathaway. 
Judah Hays. 
Caleb Hayward. 
George Hayward. 
Dr. Lemuel Hayward. 
Dr. Nathan Hayward, Plymouth. 
Joseph Head. 
Charles Heard, 
John Heard. 
John Heard, Jr. 
Barnabas Hedge, Plymouth. 
Daniel Hewes. 
David Higgins. 
George Higginson. 
Hon. Stephen Higginson. 
Stephen Higginson, Jr. 
Henry Hill. 
John Hill. 
David Hinkley. 
Hon. Benj. Hitchborn, Dorchester. 
Hon. Samuel Holden, Danvers. 
John Holland. 
John Homans. 
Charles D. Homans. 
Benjamin Homer. 
Charles Homer. 
Henry Homes. 
Samuel Hooper. 
Major Samuel Howard, Augusta. 
Simeon Howard. 
N. Howe. 
Abraham F. Howe. 
Henry Hubbart. 
H. Hollis Hunnewell. 
Jonathan Hunnewell. 
Augustus Hunt. 
Hon. E. Hunt, Northampton. 
Joseph Hunt, Jr. 
Samuel Hunt, Watertown. 
Rev. Joshua Huntington. 
Joseph Hurd, Charlestown. 
Dr. Isaac Hurd, Concord. 
Enoch Huse. 
Zaccheus Hussey, Nantucket. 
William V. Hutchings. 
Henry Hutchinson. 
Ezra Hyde. 
I. 
Henderson Inches, Milton. 
Benjamin Ingalls, 
Daniel Ingalls. 
Daniel Ingalls, Jr. 
Dr. William Ingalls. 
]■ 
Edward Jackson. 
William Jackson. 
Jackson, Plymouth. 
Patrick Jeffrey, Milton. 
John Jenks, Salem. 
Joseph W. Jenkins. 
John Jenkins. 
William Jepson. 
Hon. John C. Jones. 
Stephen Jones, Jr. 
Thomas K. Jones. APPENDIX. 
110 
Benjamin Joy. 
Dr. John Joy. 
K. 
Oliver Keating. 
William Kempton. 
Rev. James Kendall, Plymouth. 
Jacob Kuhn. 
John Kuhn. 
John King. 
John T. Kirkland, D. D. 
Josiah Knapp. 
L. 
Robert Lamb. 
William Lambert, Roxbury. 
Joseph Larkin. 
Robert Lash. 
John Lathrop, D. D. 
John Lathrop, Jr. 
Samuel C. Lathrop. 
Seth Lathrop. 
Stillman Lathrop. 
Abbott Lawrence. 
Caleb Leach, Plymouth. 
Ebenezer Lewis. 
John I. Linzee. 
Hon. James Lloyd. 
Robert Lord. 
Caleb Loring. 
John F. Loring. 
Jonathan Loring. 
Samuel K. Lothrop. 
Joseph Lovering. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
John Lowell. 
John Lucas. 
M. 
William Macey, Nantucket. \ 
Henry Mackay. 
Mungo Mackay. 
John Mackay. 
William Mackay. 
John Marston. 
Hon. Jonathan Mason. 
Simeon Mason. 
Hon. Ebenezer Mattoon, Amherst. 
Joseph May. 
John May. 
John May, Jr. 
Samuel May. 
John Maynard. 
James M’Gee. 
Rev. Jos-ph M’Kean. 
Edward M’Lane. 
John M’Lean. 
Rev. John Mellen, Cambridge. 
Allen Melville. 
Thomas Melville. 
Nathaniel Merriam. 
Jonathan Merry. 
Daniel Messinger. 
Henry Messinger. 
William Minot. 
James Morrill. 
Jedidiah Morse, D. D., Charlestown. 
N. 
Joseph Newell. 
Samuel Newell. 
Charles C. Nichols. 
Nathan Nichols, Malden. 
Perkins Nichols. 
George Noble. 
O. 
James Odell. 
George Odiorne. 
Ebenezer Oliver. 
Edward Oliver. 
Francis J. Oliver. 
Henry J. Oliver. 
Peter Osgood. 
John Osborne. 
Dr. Cushing Otis, Scituate. 
Henry Oxnard. 
P 
Rev. Asa Packard, Marlboro 
Thomas Page. 
Hon. Nathaniel Paine, Worcester. 
Hon. Robert T. Paine. 
William Paine. 
Dr. John Park. 
Daniel P. Parker. 
Rt. Rev. Samuel Parker. 
John Parker. 
Samuel H. Parker. 
Samuel Parkman. 
John Parkman. 
Francis Parkman. 
Charles C. Parsons, 
Gorham Parsons. 
Nehemiah Parsons. APPENDIX. 
111 
Rev. Eliphalet Pearson, LL. D., 
Andover. 
John Peck, Newton. 
Ebenezer Pemberton. 
Hon. Thomas H. Perkins. 
Thomas H. Perkins, Jr. 
Augustus T. Perkins. 
Henry A. Peirce. 
Thomas Perkins. 
William Perkins. 
Charles Phelps. 
Charles P. Phelps. 
Hon. Jonathan Phillips. 
Hon. John Phillips, Andover. 
James Phillips. 
His Honor William Phillips. 
Joseph Pierce. 
Nahum Piper. 
John Pitts, Dunstable. 
Joseph Pope. 
John Pratt, Charlestown. 
William Pratt. 
Ebenezer Preble. 
James Prentiss. 
Rev. Thomas Prentiss, Medfield. 
Samuel J. Prescott. 
James Prince. 
John Prince, Marblehead. 
Thomas J. Prince. 
Edward Proctor. 
Q- 
Hon. Josiah Quincy. 
John W. Quincy. 
R. 
William Raymond, 2d., Nantucket. 
Joseph W. Revere. 
Paul Revere. 
John Rice. 
Benjamin Rich. 
John Richardson. 
Andrew Ritchie. 
Chandler Robbins, Hallowell. 
Edward H. Robbins. 
James Robinson. 
Henry N. Rogers. 
Thomas Rogers. 
Eben. Rollins. 
Major Benjamin Russell. 
John M. Russell. 
Thomas Russell. 
S. 
Francis Sales. 
Samuel Salisbury. 
Samuel Salisbury, Jr. 
F. C. Sanford, Nantucket. 
Samuel Sanger. 
Daniel Sargent. 
Epes Sargent. 
Ignatius Sargent. 
Samuel G. Sargent, Charlestown. 
Charles Savage. 
William Savage. 
David Sawyer. 
James Scott. 
David Sears. 
David Sears, Jr. 
Sanborn, Nantucket. 
Dr. Chas. L. Segars, Northampton. 
Hon. David Sewall, York. 
, Hon. Samuel Sewall, Marblehead. 
Joseph Sewall, 
Robert G. Shaw. 
William N. Shaw. 
Henry Sheafe. 
Dr. William Sheldon, Springfield. 
William Shimmin. 
Andrew Sigourney. 
Elisha Sigourney. 
H. Sigourney. 
Abiel Smith. 
Barney Smith. 
! Benjamin Smith. 
George G. Smith, Danvers. 
\ Joseph Smith. 
: Nathaniel Smith. 
Samuel Smith. 
William Smith, 
j Samuel Snelling. 
i Gideon Snow. 
Samuel Spear. 
' Hon. William Spooner, M. D. 
| Esther Sprague, Dedham. 
William Stackpole. 
Edward Staples. 
Zebina Stebbins, Springfield. 
Hon. William Stedman, Lancaster. 
William Stephenson. 
Robert Stevens, Jr. 
Samuel Stillmam. 
Thomas W. Storrow. 
Juan Stoughton, Spanish Consul. 
His Excellency Caleb Strong, North- 
ampton. 
Nathan Sturgis. APPENDIX. 
112 
U. 
Richard Urann. 
George B. Upton. 
W. 
Rev. B. Wadsworth, Danvers. 
Henry Wainwright. 
Rt. Rev. Jonathan M. Wainwright. 
Ebenezer Wales, Dorchester. 
Thomas B. Wales. 
Samuel H. Walley. 
Lynde Walter. 
William Walter. 
Hon. Artemas Ward. 
Joseph Ward. 
William Ward. 
John Warren. 
J. Mason Warren. 
John C. Warren. 
Henry Warren, Plymouth. 
John Waters. 
David Webb. 
Nathan Webb. 
Rufus Webb. 
Thomas Webb. 
Benjamin Weld. 
William G. Weld. 
Benjamin T. Wells. 
John Wells. 
Titus Wells. 
Henry A. Whitney. 
Thomas Welsh, Jr. 
Hon. Oliver Wendell. 
Daniel Weston, Eastport. 
Ezra Weston, Duxbury. 
Jacob Weston, do. ' 
George Wheeler. 
Moses Wheeler. 
John H. Wheelwright. 
Samuel Wheelwright. 
Benjamin Whitman. 
Davis Whitman. 
Kilborn Whitman, Pembroke. 
Ezra Whitney. 
Jonathan Whitney. 
Samuel Whitwell. 
William Whitwell. 
Joseph Wiggin. 
Thomas Wigglesworth. 
Abraham Wild. 
Eliphalet Williams. 
Henry H. Williams, Roxbury. 
John S. Williams, do. 
Russell Sturgis. 
Samuel Sturgis. 
John L. Sullivan. 
William Sullivan. 
Thomas Sumner. 
Samuel Swett. 
T. 
Thomas Tarbell. 
Peter Thacher. 
Peter O. Thacher. 
Rev. Thomas Thacher, Dedham. 
Dr. James Thacher, Plymouth. 
Charles Thaxter. 
Dr. Thomas Thaxter, Hingham. 
Minot Thayer, Braintree. 
Nathaniel Thayer. 
Rev. Nathaniel Thayer. 
Nathaniel F. Thayer. 
Obadiah Thayer, Newton. 
Samuel M. Thayer. 
Dr. Stephen Thayer. 
Isaiah Thomas, Worcester. 
Dr. Joshua Thomas. 
Hon. Joshua Thomas, Plymouth. 
William Thurston. 
James Thwing. 
Elisha Ticknor. 
Jacob Tidd. 
Hon. David Tilden. 
Joseph Tilden. 
B. P. Tilden. 
John Tileston. 
Samuel Todd. 
Samuel Topliffe. 
Samuel Torrey. 
Eben. Torrey, Lancaster. 
Abraham Touro. 
Isaac Townsend, Northampton. 
Alexander Townsend. 
Russell Trevett. 
William Tuck. 
John Tucker. 
Richard D. Tucker. 
Edward Tuckerman. 
Edward Tuckerman, Jr. 
Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, Chelsea. 
G. Washington Tuckerman. 
William Tuckerman. 
Hon. William Tudor. 
Daniel Tuttle. 
Turell Tuttle. 
Hon. Dudley A. Tyng. APPENDIX. 
113 
John Foster Williams. 
John Davis Williams. 
Thomas Williams. 
William Williams. 
Thomas Williams, Jr., Roxbury. 
Mr. Charles W. Winship, do. 
John Winslow. 
John Winslow. Jr. 
Benjamin Winslow. 
Charles Winslow. 
Isaac Winslow, Mansfield. 
Thomas L. Winthrop. 
Ebenezer Witnington. 
Elijah Withington. 
Abiel Wood, Jr. 
HONORARY MEMBERS. 
Nathaniel Adams, Portsmouth. 
Rev. Timothy Alden, Newark. 
Oliver Baron, Calcutta. 
Andrew Brown, M. D., Edinburgh. 
Thomas Bulkley, Lisbon. 
John Calef, St. Christopher's. IVest 
Indies. 
Ammi R. Cutter, M. D., Ports- 
mouth. 
Anthony Fothergill, M. D., Bath. 
Hon. Thomas Frazer, London. 
Hon. Nicholas Gilman, Exeter. 
Edward Goodwin, M. D.. Bath. 
Dr. David Hull, Fairfield, Conn. 
Hon. Jedidiah Huntington, New 
London. 
His Excellency John Langdon, 
Portsmouth. 
John C. Lettsom, M. D., London. 
Dr. John Osborne, Middletown, Ct. 
Hon. Timothy Pickering, Salem. 
Hon. David Ramsay, Charleston,S.C. 
Dr. Benjamin Rush, Philadelphia. 
William Russell, Middletown, Conn. 
Hon. James Sheafe, Portsmouth. 
Rt. Hon. Earl of Stamford, London. 
Hon Samuel Tenney, Exeter. 
Dr Tedder, President, 
Leopold Stoger, Vice-President, 
Alver Roll, Secretary, of the Humane 
Society, of Vienna, Austria. INDEX. 
Page. 
Institution of the Society, .......... 3 
Founders, or first Members, ........ 5 
First Premiums awarded, .......... 6 
Proposals for a Settlement on Cape Sables, ...... 7 
Annual Visits of Inspection of Huts, ........ 8 
Origin, or first Suggestion of Boston Dispensary, ..... 9 
Relief of American Captives in Algiers, ....... 
Bath-House on Charles River at Cambridge, ...... to 
Donations for an Insane Hospital in 1802, 11 
Grants to Massachusetts General Hospital, ....... 12 
Annual Subscription for Free Beds in Hospital, . . . . • . 13 
Appropriation to Lying-in Asylum, ....... • 14 
Huts for Shipwrecked Mariners, ......... 16 
Life Boats, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 
'Legislative Grants for Life Boats, ......... 19 
Report to the Governor and Council, on Life Boats, . . . . • 20 
Present Equipment, 23 
Grant from the General Government, ........ 25 
Successful Results from Life Boats, ........ 25 
General Remarks, ........... 26 
Officers of the Society, for 1876-7, ........ 29 
Officers of the Society, from its Commencement, ...... 3° 
List of Gentlemen who have delivered Anniversary Discourses, from 1787 to 
1817, . 32 
Act of Incorporation, ........... 33 
Extract from General Statutes, ......... 36 
By Laws, 37 
List of Premiums awarded by the Trustees from the beginning of the Society 
to the present time, .......... 41 
APPENDIX. 
Early Members, ............ 91 
Meetings of Trustees and Sumptuary Laws, ....... 94 
Miscellaneous, ............ 95 
Memorial to Congress, .......... 96 
Judge Dawes’s Letter, ......... 97 
Benefactors of the Society, .......... 98 
Life Boats, 99 
Catalogue of Members, .......... 106