Reading a Town's Memory: teacher guide

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Grade band

Grades 3-5

Subjects

History and Social Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts

Towns

Manchester-by-the-Sea

Duration

Two 45-minute class periods (sequence totals 90 minutes)

Prerequisites

Students can make and read tally marks in groups of five.; Students have read a simple bar graph before. Scaled bar graphs are taught in this lesson.; Students can add and subtract within 100.

Essential question

How does a small town remember its people, and what can a list tell us, and not tell us, about the past?

Version

1.0, 2026-10-05

Review status

Draft: awaiting classroom teacher review

Lesson ID

CAC-LES-005

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• read entries in an 1895 town history list and explain what the year, the names and short notes in an entry tell them.
• sort names from the list into time periods and record them with tally marks, with no more than 2 counting errors per card.
• draw a scaled bar graph in which each square stands for 10 names, with a title, labeled categories and a labeled scale.
• solve at least three one-step or two-step "how many more" and "how many fewer" problems using their bar graph.
• name at least two things the list tells us and two things it leaves out, using evidence from the source.

Massachusetts curriculum frameworks

The list is a primary source. The plain-language version (Reading 2) is a secondary source written by Cape Ann Current for read-aloud use.

Standards checked against the official Massachusetts DESE framework documents on Oct. 5, 2026.

Materials

• Student handout (one per student): Readings 1 to 3, the tally sheet, a graph grid and the questions
• Name cards: Reading 3 cut into Card A, Card B and Card C (one set per group of three or four)
• Square grid paper with squares about 1 centimeter wide, or the graph grid in the handout
• Rulers and pencils
• Chart paper for a class tally table and a class T-chart labeled "The list tells us" and "The list leaves out"
• Optional: a world map or globe to find Lisbon, Virginia, the West Indies and Manchester-by-the-Sea
• Optional: data-sheet.xlsx (class tally sheet) projected or shared

Setup

Print one handout per student. Print Reading 3 and cut it into the three name cards so each small group gets one card. If you have more than three groups, give two groups the same card and let them check each other. Draw the class tally table from the data sheet on chart paper. Draw an empty T-chart on a second sheet. If you use a map, mark Manchester-by-the-Sea before class. Read the teacher background and the sensitive topics note before teaching.

Teaching sequence

1. 5 minutes Day 1 warm up: How does a town remember?
   Teacher: Ask: When people in a town want to remember someone, what do they do? Collect ideas (stones, plaques, songs, stories, photos, lists of names). Explain that long ago many people from Manchester worked on ships, and some of them went to sea and did not come home. In 1895 the town printed a book about its history with a list of those names. Today we read that list like historians and like mathematicians.
   Students: Share ideas aloud or with a partner. Listen to the purpose of the lesson.
2. 10 minutes Meet the source
   Teacher: Read Reading 1 aloud while students follow along, then read Reading 2, the plain-language version. Point out the year at the start of each line, the names after it and the short notes such as "coming from Virginia." Use the map to find Lisbon, Virginia and the West Indies if you have one.
   Students: Follow along. Answer Activity A1 questions 1 to 4 with a partner.
3. 5 minutes Tricky entries
   Teacher: Show the line "1749 or '50." Ask: Do we know the exact year? Show "Edward Lee and 'five others.'" Ask: How many names are printed? How many people does the line talk about? Explain the two special rows on the tally sheet: "Not sure (1749 or 1750)" and "People counted but not named."
   Students: Answer A1 questions 5 and 6. Practice: one tally mark for each printed name.
4. 20 minutes Tally the names (group jigsaw)
   Teacher: Give each group one name card. Model one line on the board (1754: five names, five tally marks in the 1750 to 1799 row). Circulate and ask groups to say each name aloud as they tally, which keeps the count honest and treats each name with respect.
   Students: In groups, read each line, decide which period it belongs in and make one tally mark per name. Count totals for each row of the card. Partners check each other's totals.
5. 5 minutes Combine class totals
   Teacher: Each group reports its totals. Record them on the class tally table (or the data sheet). Add across to get the class total for each period. Ask one formative check question.
   Students: Report card totals. Copy the class totals into the handout.
6. 5 minutes Day 2 review
   Teacher: Review the class totals. Ask: Where should the three "1749 or '50" names go? Agree as a class to keep them in their own "Not sure" bar and to write a note about why.
   Students: Explain where the three names might go and why we cannot be certain.
7. 15 minutes Draw a scaled bar graph
   Teacher: Model the scale: each square stands for 10 names, so half a square stands for 5 names. Show how to draw a bar that ends between grid lines. Remind students to add a title, labels for each period and labels on the scale.
   Students: Draw the bar graph in Activity A3 using the class totals.
8. 8 minutes How many more? How many fewer?
   Teacher: Work the first problem together. Let students solve the rest with a partner, then share strategies.
   Students: Solve Activity A4 problems using the graph and the tally table.
9. 10 minutes What the list tells us and leaves out
   Teacher: Read the last part of Reading 1, where the author quotes the minister's count of about 97. Lead the T-chart discussion. Record student ideas on chart paper.
   Students: Add ideas to the T-chart in Activity A5. Compare 77 names with the minister's count of about 97.
10. 7 minutes Assessment: Memory graph label
    Teacher: Explain the assessment task. Students finish their label and attach it to their graph. Close by inviting students to read one name from the list aloud as a quiet way to remember.
    Students: Write a three-sentence museum label for the graph and turn in the graph, problems and label.

Background for the teacher

The source. In 1895 the Town of Manchester published "History of the Town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895" by the Rev. D. F. Lamson. Appendix L, on pages 358 to 361, is headed "Names of Persons Lost at Sea." Lamson explains that he advertised for information in Salem, Gloucester and Boston papers and in the Manchester Cricket. He thanks John T. Hassam and William H. Tappan and says many names came from the church records kept by the Rev. Benjamin Tappan from 1745 to 1790. The book is public domain, and the Internet Archive has a full scan. Cape Ann Current checked a transcription of the list against the page images.

What the list contains. The list runs from 1717 to 1894. It prints 129 names (counting a name that lacks a first name, such as "[first name not printed] Tucker," as one name). Two lines also count people without naming them: "Edward Lee and 'five others'" (1773) and "Andrew Leach, and 'ten others'" (1776). So the list speaks of 144 people in all. Lamson himself says it gives "nearly or quite 130."

Uncertain dates and possible repeats. Three names are dated "1749 or '50," so they fall on the line between two half-century periods. This lesson keeps them in their own "Not sure" category. Lamson's own footnotes flag other doubts: he says there is "some confusion in names" for 1758; he suggests the 1773 entry and the 1774 list may be the same people (Edward Lee appears in both years); Benjamin Allen is printed twice in 1767; and for the 1827 entry he notes a church record that may refer to the same person as another date. The book also gives 1764 in one chapter and 1768 in the appendix for one group. These are reasons students should treat the counts as "names printed in the list," not as an exact count of people lost.

Why so many names from 1750 to 1799? The source itself offers one explanation students can find: the minister's church records covered 1745 to 1790. The 1776 entries are men lost with two privateers, privately owned armed ships, during the Revolutionary War; the book names the ships "Gloucester" and "Barrington." Do not tell students that more people were lost in those years as a settled fact. The list cannot prove that. A tall bar could mean more losses, better record keeping or both.

What the list leaves out. It gives years, not full dates (the only month is "(Sept.)" in 1827). It gives no jobs and no families, only one age ("age 28" in the 1827 entry, which this lesson's name cards leave out) and few ship names. It does not give whole crews. It was compiled by one author in 1895 from the sources he could find, so it stops in 1894 and certainly misses names. Lamson quotes the Rev. Tappan's November 1774 note: "About 97 have been lost at sea and buried in distant ports since I came to town" (1745). The list prints 77 names for 1748 to 1774, plus "five others" in 1773, so 82 people at most, well under 97.

A local connection for your own interest. Manchester people also appear in Gloucester's records. The City of Gloucester Lost at Sea register lists Joseph Fritz and Joseph Fritz Jr., with residence recorded as "Manchester," among the crew of the schooner Kearsarge, lost in April 1876. The entry says only "Manchester." They are not on Lamson's list, which jumps from 1852 to 1877. This is a good example for older students of how one town's list can miss names. It is not needed for this lesson.

The graph. With a scale of 1 square = 10 names, bars are: 1700 to 1749, 4 names (a little less than half a square); Not sure, 3 names (less than half a square); 1750 to 1799, 100 names (10 squares); 1800 to 1849, 17 names (1 square and a bit more than half of the next); 1850 to 1899, 5 names (half a square). Third graders are expected to estimate bars that end between grid lines.

Handling sensitive topics

This lesson is about remembrance and records, not about how anyone died. Students in Cape Ann may have family members who fish or work on the water, and some may have lost relatives at sea or elsewhere. Use plain, gentle words: "lost at sea," "went to sea and did not come home." The student materials leave out the short notes in the book that describe how people died, and the teacher should not add them. If a student asks how people were lost, a calm and truthful answer is enough: "Sailing long ago could be dangerous, and storms and accidents happened. This list does not tell us what happened to each person." Invite any student who feels sad to take a break or talk with you or the school counselor. Close the lesson with a quiet moment: students may each read one name aloud. Keep the focus on how a community cared enough to write names down so they would not be forgotten.

Discussion prompts

• Why would a town print a list of names in its history book? Who might read it?
• The list says where some ships were coming from: Virginia, Lisbon and the West Indies. What does that tell us about the work of the sea in Manchester long ago?
• Some years have many names and some have only one. Does a tall bar mean more people were lost, or could it mean someone kept better records that year? How could we find out?
• Mr. Lamson asked newspapers and church records for help. Why might a list made from many sources still miss some names?
• How does your family or your school remember people who are gone? How is that like or unlike this list?

Formative checks

• Show me: On a whiteboard, draw the tally marks for the 1758 line of Card A. Check that each student groups tallies in fives.
• Thumbs up or down: "Edward Lee and five others" has six printed names. (Listen for students who explain why this is not true.)
• Point to the bar: Without counting squares, which bar is the tallest? About how many names does it show?
• Exit ticket for Day 1: Where did you put the names from "1749 or '50," and why?

Assessment

Make a Memory Graph page. Turn in (1) your scaled bar graph with a title, labels and a key; (2) your answers to two "how many more" or "how many fewer" problems from Activity A4, with number sentences; and (3) a museum label of three sentences that could hang next to your graph. Sentence 1 tells one thing the list shows. Sentence 2 tells one thing the list leaves out. Sentence 3 tells how the town of Manchester remembered its people.

Points: 20

Answer guidance

A1

• 1. First year 1717; last year 1894 (both shown in the closing paragraph and in Reading 3).
• 2. Five names (Amos Allen, John Tarring, Robert Safty, Joseph Safty, Thomas Hoole). They were coming from Virginia.
• 3. Accept Lisbon, Virginia or the West Indies. Look for the idea that people from Manchester sailed long distances to trade, so the sea was their workplace.
• 4. Any two: newspapers in Salem, Gloucester and Boston; the Manchester Cricket; John T. Hassam; William H. Tappan; the church records kept by the Rev. Benjamin Tappan.
• 5. "'50" is a short way to write 1750. The book is not sure whether these names belong to 1749 or 1750, so we do not know the exact year.
• 6. One name is printed (Edward Lee). The line talks about six people: Edward Lee and five others.

A2

• Card A (1717 to 1759): 1700 to 1749 = 4; Not sure = 3; 1750 to 1799 = 33; 1800 to 1849 = 0; 1850 to 1899 = 0; counted but not named = 0. Card total 40 names.
• Card B (1760 to 1774): 1750 to 1799 = 39; all other name rows 0; counted but not named = 5 ("five others"). Card total 39 names.
• Card C (1776 to 1894): 1750 to 1799 = 28; 1800 to 1849 = 17; 1850 to 1899 = 5; counted but not named = 10 ("ten others"). Card total 50 names.
• Class totals: 1700 to 1749 = 4; Not sure = 3; 1750 to 1799 = 100; 1800 to 1849 = 17; 1850 to 1899 = 5; all names = 129; counted but not named = 15.
• Common errors: counting "Jun." as a separate name; tallying "five others" as five names; skipping the 1756 line's last name (James Allen); counting the two Benjamin Allens in 1767 as one. Accept a group's total within 2 of the answer if the group can explain its counting rule, then correct as a class.

A3

• Title should name the source or topic, for example "Names in Manchester's 1895 Lost at Sea List, by Period."
• Bars: 1700 to 1749, just under half a square; Not sure, less than half a square; 1750 to 1799, exactly 10 squares; 1800 to 1849, between 1 and 2 squares (a bit more than one and a half); 1850 to 1899, exactly half a square.
• Scale numbered by tens with a key of 1 square = 10 names. Categories labeled in time order.
• Sentence examples: "Most names are from 1750 to 1799." "The list has very few names after 1800."

A4

• 1. 100 - 17 = 83 more names.
• 2. 17 - 5 = 12 fewer names.
• 3. Step 1: 4 + 3 + 17 + 5 = 29. Step 2: 100 - 29 = 71 more names.
• 4. 4 + 3 = 7 names in 1700 to 1749; or 100 + 3 = 103 names in 1750 to 1799.
• 5. 5 + 10 = 15 people counted but not named. 129 + 15 = 144 people in all.

A5

• Tells us: names (most of them), the year, sometimes where a ship was going or coming from, that the town wanted to remember these people, who helped make the list.
• Leaves out: exact days, ages (only one entry gives an age, and the name cards leave it out), jobs, families, most ship names, the names of the "five others" and "ten others," everyone else on the same ships who was not from Manchester, anyone the author could not find, anyone lost after 1894.
• Missing names: 97 - 77 = 20, so about 20 names may be missing. Strong answers add that the minister's 97 included people "buried in distant ports," and that the five unnamed people in 1773 make the gap a little smaller (97 - 82 = 15).
• Why 1750 to 1799 is tallest: accept ideas such as more sailing voyages, war at sea in 1776 or better records. The strongest answers connect the idea to evidence in the source (the church records kept from 1745 to 1790) and say that we would need other sources, such as town records or newspapers, to know for sure.

Rubric

Differentiation

Multilingual learners

• Preteach five words with a picture or gesture: voyage, sea, list, tally, period. Write them on the board with a home-language translation if available.
• Read Reading 2 aloud first, then Reading 1, so students hear the meaning before the 1895 wording.
• Give sentence frames for the label: "The list shows ___." "The list does not tell us ___." "The town remembered its people by ___."
• Pair students so one reads each name aloud and the other makes tally marks, then switch.

Students with disabilities

• Give Card A or Card B, which have fewer long lines, to students who need a lighter reading load. Allow a ruler or index card to track one line at a time.
• Offer a graph grid with the scale and category labels already printed, so the student draws only the bars.
• Allow a calculator for Activity A4, or let students solve with base-ten blocks.
• Accept the museum label as an oral response recorded by an adult, or as three sentences with a word bank.
• All directions are given in words and do not depend on color. Large-print copies of the readings can be made by enlarging the handout to 150 percent.

Advanced learners

• Make a second graph with a different scale (1 square = 5 names) and explain which graph is easier to read and why.
• Tally Card C again by decade (1770s, 1780s and so on) and describe the pattern.
• Find every year with only one name. What fraction of the year lines have just one name?
• Write a letter to a future historian explaining why the counts in this lesson are "names printed" and not exact numbers of people lost.

Print, low-bandwidth and extension options

Print: Print the student handout single-sided. Print Reading 3 on card stock and cut it into Card A, Card B and Card C. The graph grid is on its own page. No projector is needed: read Reading 1 aloud and build the class tally table on chart paper.

Low bandwidth: Everything needed is in the handout and the data sheet. The Internet Archive scan is optional. If you want to show the original pages, download the book once on a school connection and keep it on the classroom computer.

Extensions:

• Visit or look up a memorial in your own town and compare what it tells with what this list tells.
• Interview a family member or neighbor about how your family remembers people, and share one idea with the class.
• Older students or advanced readers can explore the Cape Ann Current maritime archive to see how another town, Gloucester, keeps a much longer list.

Google Classroom: ready to paste

Citations and rights

• D. F. Lamson, History of the Town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 (1895), Appendix L, pages 358 to 361. https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00lams. Public domain (published 1895); scan by University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries via the Internet Archive
• Cape Ann Current transcription of the Lamson lost at sea list (131 entries, checked against page images). https://archive.org/download/historyoftownofm00lams/historyoftownofm00lams_bw.pdf#page=401. Transcription of a public domain source
• City of Gloucester Archives Committee, Lost at Sea register (2010), entries for the schooner Kearsarge, April 1876 (teacher background only). https://gloucester-ma.gov/74/Lost-at-Sea. Facts only, cited; register text not reproduced

Lesson text by Cape Ann Current, free to use and adapt under our Free Access and Attribution Policy. Credit: "Source: Cape Ann Current." with a link to https://capeanncurrent.com/classroom/reading-a-towns-memory/. Public domain excerpts remain public domain; other sources keep their own terms, listed above. Version 1.0, 2026-10-05. Draft: awaiting classroom teacher review.