# Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1710s

> A new inland farming town, built around meadow, swamp, meetinghouse, militia duty, and the obligations of a Congregational parish.

- Place: Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts (41.953, -70.814)
- Years: 1710 to 1719
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/plympton-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1710s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Plympton%2C%20Plymouth%20County%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20United%20States&at=41.9529,-70.8145&year=1715

## Looking around

You stand in a town only lately made separate: Plympton was incorporated in 1707[1][3], after being the Western Precinct of Plymouth[2][3]. Turn toward the green and the center of public life is religious as well as civic: a meetinghouse stood at the southerly end of the green[2], though by 1714 a new meetinghouse was built[2]. Around it lie rich meadow lands and heavily wooded swamps[2], with Winnatuxet River running through the town[2][3] and feeding the farms and mills. The settlement is spread, not dense; in 1695 there had been about forty-five families[2] in this western part of Plymouth. Work is close to hand: first settlers cut trees, built homes, and mostly farmed[1], and a grist mill on the Winnatuxet[3] grinds local grain. Beyond the meetinghouse, roads lead toward Plymouth and Middleboro[3], and news comes by riders, town meetings, church talk, and county business.

## Work: Farms, timber, grain

The daily economy was land and water: settlers cut trees, built homes, and mostly farmed[1], while a grist mill on the Winnatuxet[3] turned local grain in small batches.

## Faith: The meetinghouse town

The town began as a worship district: the Western Precinct of Plymouth[2][3] existed for the support of a learned and orthodox ministry[2]. Reverend Isaac Cushman[2][3] was the settled minister through the 1710s.

## Law & power: Town officers and taxes

Power ran through town meeting, assessors, selectmen, and the Province: a 1713 tax warrant was addressed to selectmen or assessors[5]. Locally, adult male property and tax standing shaped who had a political voice.

## What people feared: War beyond the farms

Plympton itself was inland, but the decade was wartime: Queen Anne's War lasted from 1702 to 1713[4]. Men here would have heard of Massachusetts forces in the 1710 expedition that captured Port Royal[4].

## Home & table: Scattered family farms

This was no dense village: in 1695 the future town had about forty-five families[2]. The landscape around them was meadow land and heavily wooded swamp[2], with farms spread across a much larger town than today.

## Money: Land before cash

Land was the recordable wealth: Plymouth proprietors granted thirty-acre, twenty-acre, and sixty-acre lots[2] from common lands. For actual wages and prices, no Plympton figures for the 1710s were found online.

## Who lived here: English on Wampanoag land

The town history notes Wampanoag presence here long before English settlement, and the river name remained: Winnatuxet was an Indigenous place-name[2][3]. English families arrived through Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate, and nearby towns.

## Roads & news: Roads, church, county

News came by road, meeting, and Sabbath gathering: before 1695 people walked to worship at Plymouth[3], and in the 1710s roads led toward Plymouth and Middleboro[3].

## Year by year

- **1707** (here): Plympton became a separate town on June 4, 1707.[1][3]
- **1710** (the country): Port Royal in Acadia was captured by British and colonial forces, including about nine hundred Massachusetts men.[4]
- **1711** (the country): A large British-colonial expedition against Quebec failed, a major disappointment after Port Royal.
- **1713** (the world): Queen Anne's War ended, easing but not ending imperial and frontier fears in New England.[4]
- **1713** (the country): A Province tax warrant showed Boston relying on town selectmen and assessors to collect provincial revenue.[5]
- **1714** (here): A new Plympton meetinghouse was built, and the older one was sold and converted into a barn.[2]
- **1714** (the world): Queen Anne died and George I became king, news that would have reached Massachusetts through Boston.

## What the sources say

- Plympton was incorporated as a town on June 4, 1707, making it the seventh town in Plymouth County. (from the sources)[1][3]
- Before town incorporation, this place was the Western Precinct of Plymouth, created in 1695 for separate worship and ministerial support. (from the sources)[2][3]
- The early English settlers were drawn by rich meadow lands and heavily wooded swamps within the old Plympton territory. (from the sources)[2]
- The Winnatuxet River, an Indigenous place-name, ran through Plympton and on toward the Taunton River. (from the sources)[2][3]
- The first meetinghouse probably stood before 1698 at the southerly end of the green, opposite an old lane. (from the sources)[2]
- A new meetinghouse was built in 1714, and the older one was sold to Benjamin Soule and turned into a barn after removal to his farm. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1695 the southwestern section of Plymouth that became Plympton had about forty-five families. (from the sources)[2]
- The Reverend Isaac Cushman began preaching in the precinct in 1695, was ordained on October 27, 1698, and remained minister until his death in 1732. (from the sources)[2][3]
- The 1695 precinct order required inhabitants and their local estates to be assessed for the support of a learned and orthodox ministry. (from the sources)[2]
- Before the precinct was set off, men and women from the settlement generally walked to public worship at Plymouth. (from the sources)[3]
- Plympton's early settlers cut trees, built homes, and farmed for the most part. (inferred)[1]
- Adam Wright built an early grist mill on the Winnatuxet River, a small gig-mill said to grind four or five bushels a day. (from the sources)[3]
- A named road to Middleboro is mentioned in early Plympton descriptions, and Plymouth remained the older county and market center to the east. (from the sources)[3]
- When first incorporated, Plympton was much larger than the modern town, including present Carver, much of Halifax, and a strip later in Kingston. (from the sources)[1][3]
- In 1701-1702 the Plymouth proprietors made grants of thirty-acre lots, then later twenty-acre and sixty-acre lots, from common lands. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1703 a three-mile-square tract near Cobb's meadow was granted for a sheep pasture, later disputed among Plymouth, Plympton, and Kingston. (from the sources)[2]
- The Province of Massachusetts Bay was at war during most of the decade, because Queen Anne's War lasted from 1702 to 1713. (from the sources)[4]
- Massachusetts contributed about nine hundred men to the 1710 expedition that captured Port Royal in Acadia. (from the sources)[4]
- A provincial tax warrant dated 1713 was addressed to town selectmen or assessors, showing how Boston reached local towns through their officers. (from the sources)[5]
- No online source found in this search gives Plympton prices or wages for the 1710s. (not known)
- No online source found in this search describes the exact appearance of ordinary Plympton houses in the 1710s. (not known)
- As in other Massachusetts towns of the period, legal voting and officeholding were centered on adult male inhabitants with property and tax standing. (inferred)

## Sources

1. History. Town of Plympton, Massachusetts. https://town.plympton.ma.us/202/History
2. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Part 230: History of Plympton. LDSGenealogy transcription, 1884. https://ldsgenealogy.com/MA/books/History-of-Plymouth-county-Massachusetts-with-biographical-sketches-of-many-of-its-pioneers-and-prominent-men-part-230.htm
3. History of Plympton Massachusetts. Access Genealogy; from Plymouth County Directory and Historical Register of the Old Colony, 1867. https://accessgenealogy.com/massachusetts/history-of-plympton-massachusetts.htm
4. Reflections on Naval History: Collected Essays. U.S. Government Publishing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D208_200-PURL-gpo222148/pdf/GOVPUB-D208_200-PURL-gpo222148.pdf
5. Province of the Massachusetts Bay: James Taylor, Treasurer and Receiver General, to the Selectmen or Assessors. Library of Congress, 1713. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.0330430a/

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1680s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-county-massachusetts/1680s/md) (7 km)
- [Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/middleborough-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1730s/md) (11 km)
- [Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/duxbury-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1730s/md) (15 km)
- [Londonderry, Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/londonderry-rockingham-county-new-hampshire/1730s/md) (111 km)
- [Hillsborough County, New Hampshire in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/hillsborough-county-new-hampshire/1730s/md) (130 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-12 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1710s", https://yorehistory.com/place/plympton-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1710s