USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hingham > An address delivered before the citizens of the town of Hingham : on the twenty-eighth of September, 1835, being the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town > Part 1
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AZ 32624 (8)
2000
AN
ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF HINGHAM,
ON THE
TWENTY-EIGIITH OF SEPTEMBER, 1835,
BEING THE
TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
BY SOLOMON LINCOLN.
HINGHAM: JEDIDIAH FARMER. 1835.
AN
ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF HINGHAM,
ON THE
TWENTY-EIGIITH OF SEPTEMBER, 1835,
BEING THE
TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
BY SOLOMON LINCOLN.
HINGHAM: JEDIDIAH FARMER. 1835.
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST
UN
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Special Collections & Rare Books
Spec. Coll. F
74
H6
L7
1835
n-
1
c
U. In a
ADDRESS.
We can never entirely divest ourselves of a regard for ancestry. A curiosity to know more of the past is ever impelling the human mind to trace, either by the lights of history, or tradition, the connecting links which bind us to remote generations of men. This curiosity is excited to still greater activity by the influence of strong local attachments. Especially when it unfolds to us those traits of character which are ornamental to human nature, we cherish this appetite for what wears the charm of antiquity, as a guide to valuable instruction and the purest delight.
Respect for the dead-love of noble actions-the tender attachment to the place of our nativity harmo- nize with our best sensibilities. We love to indulge and cultivate them. We feel that the mind is ele- vated-the heart is made better, when we can tear ourselves away from the cares and collisions of soci- ety, and give ourselves up to those sublimer feelings,
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almost of religious veneration, with which we con- template the men and the institutions of former days.
These are the feelings and sentiments which have drawn us together to day. We have assembled to commemorate the settlement of one of the oldest towns of New England ; to review the events of two centuries intimately associated with all that can af- ford us interest as a community,-and to pour out our prayers and thanksgivings within the walls of the oldest temple, that remains in New England, as a monument of the picty of our fathers.
We stand between the mighty congregations of the past and the future,-so to contemplate-so to study the character of those who have gone before us, as to result in the greatest good to those who are to come after us. We have come to take a sur- vey of the works of industry, the spread of learning, the progress of civilization, the developement of the principles of liberty within the circle where centre our most grateful recollections, our warmest affec- tions, our brightest hopes.
We would transplant ourselves into the midst of a former age, when the fires of persecution blazed in the land of our ancestors, and a stern despotism was exerted to its utmost extent, to crush the spirit of freedom,-and thence following down the current of time, would trace the daring course of the pilgrim band who sought repose from the storm which raged around them, upon these shores-then desolate- solitary-inhospitable.
In the year 1635, the oppressive laws of the
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Stuarts, designed to enforce an observance of the unscriptural forms and ceremonies of the established Church, were in full force. Fines and imprisonment were frequently imposed to subdue the spirit and break down the influence of those who dared to think for themselves on the subject of religious rights, duties and privileges. The same noble spirit which led the pioneers in the cause of civil and religious liberty to plant a colony upon the desolate shores of Plymouth, and a more numerous company, to leave all that they loved in their native land, to carry on the great work to which their lives and fortunes were devoted, in Massachusetts, was still spreading with amazing rapidity.
In the course of the fifteen years of trial and suf- fering which had been borne by the settlers of Plymouth, with so much fortitude and so much con- fidence in ultimate success, often were the reports of their disasters carried home to their Puritan breth- ren. So far from discouraging the fearless men who were determined to keep alive the spark of civil and religious liberty, they seem to have inspired a deeper and more earnest devotion to the cause. Even under the influence of the splendid forms and showy observances of the English Church, the lofty spirit of the Puritans could not be attracted to a corrupt hierarchy. Their keen sagacity could not fail to penetrate the veil which covered corruption ; and their integrity and independence could not be so warped as to acquiesce in its extravagant demands. The rights of conscience were too clear-too sacred
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to be tampered with. Every attempt to destroy, increased their power.
It was amid the prevalence of such views, and while large companies of men of fortune and educa- tion, and others engaged in agricultural and the vari- ous mechanical pursuits were emigrating to this resting place of freedom, that the father of Peter Hobart, the first pastor of the Church in this place, with his family, came to Charlestown. They arrived in the year 1633. Two years afterwards, that dis- tinguished friend of liberty, Peter Hobart, induced by the solicitation of his friends, and impelled by the "cloud of prelatical impositions and persecutions" which thickened around him, left England with his family and a company of friends, and arrived at Charlestown, in June, upon which event, he recorded in his diary a brief and beautiful expression of his devotion and thanksgiving to God.1
Mr. Hobart was a native of Hingham, in the County of Norfolk, England, a town which contain- ed two years since about 1500 inhabitants, less than half the population of our own. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, England, and or- dained by the Bishop of Norwich in the year 1627. He afterwards espoused the Puritan cause. He was admitted by the Conformists to possess fine abilities.
1 1635, June 8, I with my wife and four children came safely to New England June ve 8 : 1635, forever praysed be the God of Heaven, my God and King."-Peter Hobart's Diary.
" 1635-Mr. Peter Hobart minister of the Gospel, with his wife and four children caine into New England and settled in this town of Hingham."-Cushing's MSS.
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On his arrival here, he was about thirty years of age, in the full vigor of manhood, possessed of great energy of mind and distinguished for independence of character. Although solicited by several towns to take up his residence among them, as their min- ister, he declined, preferring with his friends to commence or rather to establish a permanent settle- ment in this place. As we learn by tradition, he first landed on the North side of the stream which flows into the harbor ;1 and it was upon its banks, under the open canopy of heaven, that the first public religious exercises were performed.
It was on the eighteenth of September, 1635, corresponding to this day, that the Pastor with twenty nine associates drew their House Lots, which extended from the point of land at the head of the harbor, on the North side of the valley, Westerly, to the foot of Baker's Hill.2
The infant settlement received considerable acces- sions of numbers in 1636, 1637 and 1638. In the year 1638, the whole population might have been 300. "All the persons that came from Norfolk in Old England in several years (viz :) beginning to come in the year 1633 until the year and in the year 1639 were 206. The most of them came from Old Hingham, and the rest of them from several other towns thereabout and settled in this town of New Hingham."3 So we are informed by Daniel Cushing, himself one of the emigrants, and subsequently con-
1 At the junction of Ship with North Street.
2 See Note A. 3 See Note B.
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spicuous in our annals, in various public offices, and especially in those of Town Clerk and a Magistrate, in both of which capacities his services were of great benefit to the community in which he lived. Among those who emigrated to this place in the first four years of its settlement, were skilful mechanics, substantial husbandmen, men of education and of considerable property. We recognize among them the ancestors of long lines of civilians, patriots and divines, comprising some of the most illustrious families in New England.
It is upon this day then, two hundred years ago, that we may consider this town to have received its permanent settlement.
Picture to yourselves the condition of this place in the first few years of its settlement. The beau- tiful slopes of land which now meet the eye in every direction, the islands in the harbor and the valley running through the village, were then covered by a heavy growth of forest trees. Here and there, at convenient distances, the emigrants had erected their log huts with thatched roofs, from which the curling smoke issuing through the thicket, was the only visible sight of the habitations of men. Neigh- bor sought neighbor through the Indian paths which wound around the margin of the valley, through which a sluggish stream found its way between pro- jecting eminences and sharp head-lands to the basin which the God of Nature seemed to have scooped out for their express accommodation. Around the indentures which a beautiful sheet of water made
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upon the swelling eminences and upon the banks of the streams in the West and Eastern sections of the town, lingered in gloom and solitude a remnant of the tribe of Wompatuck, the son of Chickatabut, who occasionally chased their game across the paths of the settlers, and had some glimpses of
" the cloud, ordained to grow" " And burst upon their hills in woe."
Here rested our Pilgrim fathers! Rested, did I say? Truc-mind-thought, was free. Con- science had no restraints but truth-liberty no bounds but those prescribed by law. Yet the days were frequently anxious and the nights sleepless. Labor-hard labor was requisite to secure the ne- cessary articles of subsistence. Rules, laws, regu- lations were to be framed and enforced, to secure the great objects of the perilous enterprize. Learn- ing was not to be overlooked. Religion was to be cherished and sustained in all its freedom and pow- er. This was no place for repose. The paths of the Pilgrims to their daily labor were beset with danger ; if they went out to fell the frames of their edifices, the axe was borne in one hand and the musket in the other. If they assembled to perform the solemn services of devotion, it was in a temple fortified against the attacks of the red man, and where the weapons of war were piled around the altars of religion.1 The speaker who exhorted did
1 In 1645, June 24th, it was voted to erect a palisade around the meeting house to " prevent any danger that may come unto this town by any assault of the Indians." --- Town Records.
2
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not gaze upon a cheerful and animated throng like this-but the calm, stern resolve was there. The countenances of the care-worn worshippers express- ed their high purposes. They were men who had drank too deeply at the inspiring fountains of truth, to quail in a determination to maintain it ; and as they bowed in reverence before the altar of God, their lofty spirits kindled into a flame of enthusiasm which carried them triumphantly onward to the accomplishment of their glorious designs.
Among the first objects of our ancestors was the establishment of a Church. Their first meeting house was situated in front of the spot on which the Derby Academy now stands. It was surround- ed by a palisade, and surmounted by a belfry with a bell. Around it, upon the declivities of the hill the dead were buried ; where, after a repose of nearly two centuries, they were disturbed by the march of improvement. The meeting house is gone -the soil upon which it rested is gone-the worship- pers are gone. Not a solitary monument points out the interesting spot where were deposited the remains of the brave, the virtuous, the learned who laid the foundations of our social improvements and religious blessings.1
In the year 1638, we find evidence of a military
1 The remains of Rev. Peter Hobart and Rev. John Norton were removed many years since, from the place of their original interment, to the burial ground in the rear of the meeting house of the First Par- ish, where a simple yet appropriate monument was erected to their memory by their successor, the excellent Gay. The remains of such others as were disinterred on the removal of the Hill, were deposited in the same burial ground by the Selectmen.
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organization of the inhabitants. Suitable provision was made for the defence of the settlement.
The local advantages of the town, its proximity to the metropolis of the Colony, and the industry and enterprise of the inhabitants contributed much to their prosperity, until the year 1645, when an unfortunate controversy arose among them respect- ing military affairs. "The cause of the difficulty was the election of a captain of the company of militia. Anthony Eames, who had been Lieutenant, was first chosen, and was presented to be commissioned by the Council. Before this was accomplished, a dissatisfaction arose with Eames, and Bozoan Allen, a man of considerable influence in town affairs, was selected. Eames and Allen had both been deputies in the General Court. A commission was refused to both the candidates. In the mean time the subject was made a question for discussion in the church, but a majority of the inhabitants, and among them their pastor, adhered to Allen. The military company paraded under his command, and, on ac- count of some alleged misrepresentations, Eames was threatened with excommunication from the Church. He made complaint to the magistrates, four of whom met in Boston and issued warrants against five persons whom they supposed to be the principal offenders. Others were afterwards arrest- ed, and on their refusal to give bonds for their appearance at Court, two were committed. The General Court being assembled before the Court of Assistants, Mr. Hobart and his friends, about ninety
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in number, presented a petition to the former, set- ting forth the arrest and commitment of their towns- men, as they alleged, for words spoken concerning the power of the General Court, and their liberties, and the liberties of the Church. The petitioners were required to designate the magistrate or magistrates whom they declared guilty of infractions upon the popular rights. They then charged Deputy Gov- ernor Winthrop with exercising too much power.
Upon this allegation, a full hearing was had ; and the decision was, that it was not sustained. The petition was voted false and scandalous, by magis- trates and deputies ; but the latter would not agree to any censure. After much discussion and repeat- ed conferences resulting in no decisive measures, the magistrates proposed to refer the matter to the elders. This course was not assented to by the deputies. They were unwilling, and even voted not to impose any fines upon the petitioners unless the party which adhered to Eames were also fined, a disposition of the matter which would have been quite as equitable, probably, as if one of the parties had alone been adjudged to bear the whole weight of the displeasure of the government-and upon a rule too, which if adopted, in many of the cases of obstinate controversy, would often subserve the ends of justice. The final decision of the magistrates, with the concurrence of the deputies, was to impose fines upon the petitioners, Lieut. Eames to be under admonition, and the Deputy Governor Winthrop to be acquitted of all that was alleged against
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him. The Duputy Governor delivered on the occa- sion of his acquittal, a very impressive speech upon the authority of magistrates and the liberties of the people. If we judge from the historians of the time, Mr. Hobart and a majority of our citizens appear to have carried their liberal principles to such an ex- tent as to have endangered all wholesome authority; but the reluctance of the deputies to impose fines leads us to believe that the point of controversy was not the immediate question which excited it, but the more general principles involved in the discus- sion of the powers of magistrates in reference to the rights of the people. Upon these important principles, we have no reason to doubt that our Pastor entertained liberal and correct opinions, yet he might have been indiscreet in his endeavours to promote them.
But the popular feeling had become so strong that the authority of the marshal in levying the fines upon the Pastor and his friends was resisted ; and Mr. Hobart was upon information, summoned to appear before the Governor and Council. He de- clined appearing, and by this course compelled the government to arrest him. He protested against this course however, declaring " that he could never know wherefore he was fined except it were for pe- titioning" and "that if he had broken any wholesome law not repugnant to the laws of England he was ready to submit to censure." He was bound over to the Court of Assistants. He there appeared and again claimed to know what law he had violated.
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He was told after much importunity, that "the oath he had taken was a law to him; and besides the law of God which we were to judge by in case of a defect of an express law." Mr. Hobart replied that the law of God admitted various interpretations. He demanded to be tried by a jury. The result of this trial was the imposition of a second fine on Mr. Hobart. On a subsequent occasion, when he at- tended the General Court with the elders, to give their advice respecting public affairs, he was advis- ed by the Governor to retire, because he had so much opposed authority ; and in 1647, when on a visit to Boston, to attend the solemnization of a marriage, the bridegroom being of Hingham, he was invited to preach. The magistrates sent to him to forbear, for this among other reasons-" that his spirit had been discovered to be adverse to our ec- clesiastical and civil government, AND HE WAS A BOLD MAN AND WOULD SPEAK HIS MIND." 1
This controversy was doubtless injurious to the prosperity of the town; but the reputation of the prominent individuals engaged in it does not appear to have suffered. Joshua Hobart, one of the pop- ular leaders, was afterwards elected Speaker of the House of Deputies, and his brother, the Pastor of the Church, was esteemed worthy of a most honor- able notice in the Magnalia of Cotton Mather.
The first regular account of the expenditures of the town, which is preserved, is that of the year
1 Winthrop II. 221 to 236, 255, 278, 305, 313. Also notes to the saine by Savage.
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1662. The items show an aggregate expense for that year of about thirty-six pounds. The first was to defray the expenses of the Pastor of the Church at the Synod, the next to compensate the Deputies in the General Court, and the next to an individual for " maintaining the drum." In the same account are included expenses on the School House and for the Poor.1 Upon this first page of the records of our financial affairs, we find evidence of the piety, the regard for learning, to law, to the maintenance of a military force, for which our ancestors were distinguished. Let us be admonished by those de- caying memorials, to look well to their example, and in the height of our prosperity not to disregard any of the means by which learning, religion, free- dom, truth are to be maintained.
In the year 1675, New England was filled with alarm by the conspiracy of the celebrated Indian Sachem, Philip of Pokanoket. He had laid his plans with all the skill of an accomplished warrior, and he executed them with such fearful velocity, that it was apprehended by the simultaneous attacks which he caused to be made in different places that the whole country would be laid desolate. The smoking ruins of villages exhibited proof that the master spirit of Philip could be satisfied only by a war of extermination. In this town, three forts were erected and garrison houses established. Troops were furnished to make up the levy which the united colonies had agreed on for a prompt and
1 See Note C.
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vigorous attempt to repulse their infuriated ene- mies. The danger was brought home to the very doors of our citizens. One of them was slain in the south part of this town, and five dwelling houses were destroyed by fire. But the skill and bravery of the colonial troops were an over-match even for the gallant Philip; and the noble chieftain fell a victim to the storm which his own unconquerable spirit had kindled. He fell amid the sepulchres of his fathers, in defence of what he considered to be his dearest rights, and as justly entitled to the name of a patriot warrior, as many others whose achieve- ments have inspired the eloquence of the orator, or been celebrated in the songs of the bard.
A short time after the close of Philip's war, the town suffered a severe loss in the death of the ven- erated Pastor, Hobart. He died January 20, 1678 -9. Mr. Hobart was a scholar distinguished for intellectual vigor, glowing zeal, indefatigable indus- try and various acquirements. Towards the close of life, his mind seemed to rise to higher efforts in the discharge of professional duty ; and the discours- es which have been preserved bear strong evidence of that boldness of denunciation and closeness of application which attracted the notice and secured the approbation of the most learned theologians, as well as of his own flock.1
The successor of Mr. Hobart was the amiable and devout John Norton.2 He was ordained by Mr. Hobart. It was during the ministry of Mr.
1 See Note D. 2 See Note E.
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Norton, that the increasing population of the town required the erection of a new meeting house. The materials of the old house were used in its erection and it was completed and the services of public worship were performed in it for the first time January 8th, 1681-2.1 In this house we now are, -the oldest temple for public worship which remains in New England,-the last monument of the plain, unostentatious, yet durable architecture of the Pilgrims. It was here, a century and a half ago, that the mild exhortations of Norton-it was here, that the persuasive reasoning and profound learning of the venerable Gay, were listened to by a crowd of admiring worshippers.
Before the year 1721, a new precinct was formed in Cohasset, and in that year, Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, a grandson of our own Hobart, was set- tled as pastor of the Church. A third meeting house was erected in the South Parish in 1742, and their first pastor was that eminent divine Dr. Shute. There was no increase of the number of religious Societies until within the present century.2 Since its commencement four have been formed of differ- ent denominations of Christians, which, with two added to the number in Cohasset, make the number of religious societies nine, within the original limits of Hingham.
In running back through the history of this town, we find evidence of the military services of its citi- zens at a very early date. In the war against the
1 See Note F. 2 See Note G.
3
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Pequods, in 1637-in Philip's war of 1675-in the expedition to Canada under Sir William Phipps, in 1690, troops were furnished from this town. In the expedition to Canada, Thomas Andrews was a Cap- tain, but he together with most of the soldiers per- ished either by sickness or in battle. In the war with France, commenced in 1744, some of the citizens of this town were in the expedition to Nova Scotia ; and in the wars against the French and Indians at a subsequent period, a large number of troops enlisted and distinguished themselves by their bravery and good conduct. At the dreadful massa- cre of Fort William Henry, several of our townsmen were present, some of whom fell victims to the barbarity of their foes, while others fortunately escaped to render still more important services to their country in the great contest for Independence.1
In tracing down our history to the period ap- proaching the American Revolution, we find, every where, evidence of the most vigilant regard for those high principles of sound morals and pure religion which constituted the strength of the American character. Whatever differences of opinion existed as to the expediency of subsequent measures, it must be conceded, that the labors of a learned clergy had an excellent influence on the public mind to form it for honorable purposes. Gay, Brown and Shute were the pastors of the churches, than whom few could claim to be instructed by more learned, elo- quent or popular divines. They lived in the dis- 1 See Note HI.
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charge of ministerial duties for periods of uncommon length, and left, we believe, in the virtues of the people, the most beautiful memorials of their worth.
Amid the gloom of long periods of trial, disaster and suffering, to which I have alluded, a brighter light was breaking upon the horizon. The spirit which guided and sustained the Pilgrim, burned fer- vently in the breast of the Patriot. Come in what form it might, whether of ecclesiastical edicts, or political enactments,-despotism over mind, en- croachments upon the rights of property or restric- tions upon those of the citizen, were not to be tol- erated by those who had been educated in the school of the Puritans.
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