FOREWORD

In view of the significance of this year, 1920, it seemed fitting, even necessary, to have some sort of account of the story of the early days in this section in which we live. For more than one hundred years we were Plymouth, bone of its bone, and flesh of its flesh; events recorded as of Plymouth in the archives of the church, the town and the colony, took place in this part of the colony which was not separated from the mother town until 1726. With the exception of Wareham, Kingston was the last town in this county to be set off from the original territory of New Plymouth.

No popular form of the story had been written. The proceedings of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the town in 1876, and the excellent account in the Plymouth County History, both treat the subject from the point of view of the town. It seemed desirable that there should be a smaller, illustrated booklet issued which should tell in a simple way the story of the Pilgrim days in the Jones River neighborhood, as it was called from the beginning, and the publishing of such a booklet was undertaken by the Kingston branch of the Alliance of Unitarian Women. A committee composed of Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Jones, Mr. Alexander Holmes, Mrs. Sarah Y. Bailey, and Miss Emily F. Drew, with Mrs. Kate Den. Wilson as chairman, met for consultation, and Mrs. Bailey was selected to write the book. Photographs have been taken expressly for the booklet, locating historic sites as accurately as possible. The committee was so fortunate as to secure the loan of plates owned by the Kingston