Captain John Manson commanded and owned some of the ships built at Fox Hill yard.  

He was born 5 Jul 1805, Scituate, MA, and died 14 Jul 1889, Scituate, MA.  Son of Nehemiah Manson and Hannah (Lincoln) Manson.    He married Abigail Turner Ford on 1 Sep 1834, in Scituate, MA.  They had 5 children:  Anne Ellms Manson; John Lincoln Manson; George Wales Manson; Edmond Sewall Manson, and Helen Manson.

He commanded first the schooner "James Otis," built in Pembroke, and c. 1830-1 the "Mary," built in Kennebunk; later the schooner "Abigail," built by Magoun & Turner in Brooklyn c1834, afterward the hermaphrodite brig "Allen," the bark "Tom Corwin," built at Fox Hill, and the ship "William Sturgis," built in Medford, all used in the New Orleans and European trade, and in 1851-4 the ship "Meridian," built by Jackson & Ewell, East Boston, 1740 tons. This was the largest vessel then afloat. He commanded the ship "George Peabody" to Europe from Mobile and New Orleans and back from Liverpool with emigrants. From 1858 to the end of his sea life in 1861 he made three voyages in the ship "Golden Fleece," (built by Paul Curtis at East Boston,) to San Francisco. He retired from the sea in 1861 on account of the Civil War. It is remarkable that Capt. Manson never met with any accident except to carry away some small spar or lose a man overboard. (Shipbuilding on North River, 140)

Owned (with George M. Allen, Eaton Vinal, his brother Thomas L. Manson, and Thomas Waterman, of Scituate, who built her) the schooner "Lake," 99 tons, built by Capt. Thomas Waterman in 1840. (Shipbuilding on North River, 139)

During the later part of his sea going he sailed for Wm. F. Weld & Co. He superintended the laying of the keel for the first vessel they ever built. (Shipbuilding on North River, 141)

Owned (along with George M. Allen of Scituate, and Elijah Brooks, master carpenter, of Marshfield) the brig "Allen King," 206 tons, built in 1843 by Elijah Brooks. Being a very fast vessel, she was used as a fruiter, and coined money for her new owners, under Capt. John Manson. He took her to the West Indies, and to Brazil, once or twice, but most of the time to Malaga, in the Mediterranean. He left Malaga with a full cargo of fruit for New York, and arrived back in Malaga, with a full cargo of staves, in 62 days, carrying back to Malaga the report of his own arrival in New York, being the quickest passage ever made. He was 58 days from Gibraltar to New York and back. (Shipbuilding on North River, 279-80)

Owned (along with George M. and William P. Allen) the schooner "Otis," 87 tons, built in 1846 by The Briggs Brothers. (Shipbuilding on North River, 386)

In 1815 he went with his father mackerel fishing in the "Rosebud."  In 1812-13 the British frigate "Nymph," and the British 74 "La Hogue," sent their boats into Scituate Harbor from time to time and burned or carried off the vessels there.  Capt. Manson remembered once when a fleet of these boats were coming in, that the women began to carry off their beds and furniture, but an officer in one of the British boats cried out, "Good women don't carry your beds off, we ain't going to hurt you."  At this time the "Rosebud," which belonged to the elder Manson, the "Orient," and the "Sophronia" were carried off, and five or six other vessels were burned in the Harbor.  The British returned the "Rosebud," which was finally sold to Maine.  The "Orient" they kept, and the master of the "Sophronia," which was loaded with hay, went on board the man-of-war and induced them to giver her up and let him take her back to the Harbor.