Mrs. Sally Merchant, widow of the late Samuel Merchant, who was 89 years old on Aug. 19, is still keeping house for herself and doing her own housework herself. She has lived in the same house that she now lives in for more than 65 years. She is the mother of seven children, all of whom have passed away except one, who is the wife of James L. Shute, who would be glad to give her a home with him if she would live with them.

She is decesended from two of Gloucester's oldest families, her mother being the only daughter of Demic, son of David Day and her father Samuel Davis comes from the first Samuel born in 1703 (?) who came to Sandy Bay in 1715 with his father John Davis.

The first Samuel married Deborah, daughter of Thomas Harris, in 1725, and had a sone born in 1727, who was the second Samuel. He married Anna Baker Plummer, October 8, 1748, and had a sone born in 1750, the third Samuel. The latter married Margaret Grover (daughter of Deacon Ebenezer Grover) May 4, 1778, and a son was born to them in 1782, being the fourth Samuel who was the father of the widow, Sally Merchant. This fourth Samuel, had a son Samuel born April 19, 1807, who died in Bristol Maine, Nov. 9, 1884, leavinf another Samuel, born June 15, 1845, he being the sixth Samuel in a direct line from John Davis, who came from Ipswich to Sandy Bay in 1715.