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Standish Was A Man of Property

Myles Standish left certain property in England to his heir, as well as the Duxbury homestead. Myles Standish’s descendants have, from time to time, claimed this English land.

In the will, which is dated March 7, 1665, appears the following: “I give unto my son and heir apparent Alexander Standish all my lands as heir apparent by lawful descent in Ormistie Bousconge Wrightington Mandsley Newburrow Cranston and in the Isle of Man and given mee as right heire by lawful descent, but surreptitiously detained from mee my great grandfather being a second or younger brother from the house of Standish of Standish.”

Apparently Alexander, who became Town Clerk and a deacon of the Duxbury Church, was more interested in the property at Captains Hill. Unfortunately, the original Standish home burned down and with it all the early records of Duxbury to that time.

Today only the site of the original Standish homestead remains. A public park and a monument commemorate the brave “Captain Shrimpe” who protected the little band of Pilgrims against the menace of unfriendly natives. The monument, measuring 110 feet high, is the second tallest monument in the United States erected to the memory of a single individual. Only the George Washington memorial in Washington is higher.

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