The Society was founded by Marie de Verdier, a young Swedish woman who came to this country as the bride of Lothrop Turner, a local sea captain. Arriving around the time of the War of 1812, when Plymouth was experiencing great economic hardship, she went about enlisting the people of Plymouth in benevolent work, eventually founding the Fragment Society on February 18, 1818. Among other things, the group collected donations of scraps or “fragments” of cloth to be re-made into garments for the needy. From that time to the present, the Society has stood ready to give a helping hand to those who have encountered trying circumstances.

Marie de Verdier Turner died in March of 1838 and is buried beside her baby daughter. They are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery near the top of the hill on the left side of the first Summer St. entrance. Her husband died in Havana fourteen years earlier. We were initially funded through bequests starting in 1877 and, because of that, the organization was incorporated in March of that year with the purpose being the relief of the deserving people of said town. For some time, the dues for becoming a member of PFS were 50 cents a year or $10 for a lifetime membership. The current dues are  $50 for a lifetime membership.