USA > Massachusetts > Historical collections, being a general collection of interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c., relating to the history and antiquities of every town in Massachusetts, with geographical descriptions > Part 62
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HALIFAX.
ABOUT 1733, some of the inhabitants of the north of Plympton, the north-east of Middleborough, and the south of Pembroke, built a meeting-house, and became incorporated as a town in 1734, by
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HANOVER.
the name of Halifax. About this period, many towns in British America adopted the name of Halifax, probably in compliment to the Earl of Halifax, or it may be in some instances from a town of that name in England. The people of Halifax are, with a few exceptions, direct descendants of the first Plymouth settlers. Some of the most common names in the town were, Thomson, Water- man, Bosworth, Briggs, and Sturtevant. The first minister was Rev. John Cotton, who was ordained in 1735. His voice became impaired, and he resigned in 1756. He died in civil office, in Ply- mouth, his native town, in 1789. He was the author of a " History of Plymouth Church." Mr. Cotton was succeeded by Rev. William Patten, who was ordained in 1757. Rev. Ephraim Briggs was the next pastor ; he was ordained in 1769, and died in 1801, and was succeeded by Rev. Abel Richmond the same year.
The ponds in this town cover 1,700 acres. Moonponset Pond, in the north part, is two miles long, and more than half a mile wide. The Winnaturet stream, after passing Plympton, crosses the south- western section of this town, two or more miles, to its junction with the Bridgewater or Teticut Great river. It is a crooked, sluggish stream, liable to freshets, and varies from 14 to 30 feet in width. "Small as the Winnatuxet is, we are told of three vessels having been built on it, within the limits of this town, which passed to the sea at Newport ; one as early as 1754, built by a Mr. Drew." Sawing boards and plank, procuring masts, ranging timber and the making of shingles, were the employments of the first settlers ; this business is still followed to some extent by their descendants. In 1837, there was 1 cotton mill ; 1 woollen mill, 3 sets of machinery ; 103,250 yards of cloth were manufactured, valued at $82,600; males employed, 20 ; females, 21. There were 30,600 pairs of shoes manufactured, valued at $27,540; males employed, 40. There are 3 churches, 1 Orthodox, 1 Universalist, and 1 Baptist. Population, 781. Distance, 12 miles westerly of Plymouth, 17 southerly of Weymouth Landing, and 28 miles southerly of Boston.
HANOVER.
HANOVER was incorporated in 1727. The first minister of the place was Rev. Benjamin Bass ; he was ordained in 1728, and continued in the ministry nearly twenty-eight years. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Baldwin, who continued about 23 years, and was dismissed in 1780. Rev. John Mellen was the next minister ; he was installed in 1784, and continued twenty-one years minister of Hanover. His successor was Rev. Calvin Chad- dock, who continued in the ministry in this place just twelve years. Mr. Chapin, the next pastor, continued five years; Mr. Smith, the next in order, was settled in 1827; he also remained five years. Mr. Duncan, his successor, was settled in 1833.
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HINGHAM.
The principal village in this town is called Hanover Four Corners, which contains an Episcopal church, an academy, a number of stores, and perhaps about 20 dwelling-houses in the vicinity. This place is about 14 miles from Plymouth, 9 from Scituate Harbor, and 20 from Boston. Besides the Episcopal, there are 1 Congrega- tional and 1 Baptist church in the limits of the town. Population, 1,435. In 1837, there were 12,000 pairs of shoes manufactured, valued at $10,500; males employed, 35; females, 26. There were 3 forges ; 130 tons of bar iron were manufactured; hands employed, 14. Two air and cupola furnaces, 2 anchor shops, 1 tack factory, at which 8 hands were employed. Considerable business is done in ship-building.
HANSON.
THIS town was formerly included within the limits of Pembroke. It was incorporated in 1820. Rev. Gad Hitchcock, D. D., was ordained the first minister of the place, in 1748, and continued in the office of pastor fifty-five years, and lived to the age of 83. " He was sociable, friendly, and hospitable ; esteemed as a man of talents, and many in his old age profited by his instructions." Rev. George Barstow was successor and colleague with Dr. Hitch- cock, and continued the pastoral relation eighteen years, and died in 1821, aged 51 years. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Howland.
In 1837, there were 48,000 pairs of shoes manufactured in this town, valued at $40,000; males employed, 180; females, 240. There were 3 nail factories; 48 tons of nails were manufactured, valued at $6,240. Population, 1,058. Distance, 15 miles from Plymouth, 15 from Weymouth Landing, and 24 from Boston. There are 3 churches in the town, 1 Congregational, 1 Baptist, and 1 Universalist.
HINGHAM.
THIS town is said to have been settled in 1635, which is the date of the earliest record to be found of the proceeding of planters in relation to the disposal of lands. The exact date when the first English people settled here cannot be ascertained. Among some private papers there is a " list of the names of such persons as came out of the town of Hingham and towns adjacent, in the county of Norfolk, Eng., and settled in Hingham, New Eng.," from which it appears there were inhabitants here as early as 1633. In June of the first-named year, grants were made to a con- siderable number of individuals, and on the 18th of Sept., 30 of the inhabitants drew for house-lots, and received grants of other lands for the purpose of pasture, tillage, &c. The following is a list of
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the first settlers of Hingham, with the year in which lands were granted them in the town :
1635. John Porter, Henry Rust,
Joseph Andrews,
Thomas Chubbuck,
John Smart,
Henry Gibbs,
Francis Smith,
Edmund Hobart, sen. John Strong,
Edmund Hobart, jr., Henry Tuttil,
Matthew Cushing,
Joshua Hobart,
William Walton,
Rev. Peter Hobart,
Thomas Andrews,
Thomas Hobart,
William Arnall,
Nicholas Jacob,
George Bacon,
Thos. Lincoln, weav. Nathaniel Baker, Ralph Smith, Jonas Austin, Thomas Collier, George Lane,
Nicholas Baker,
George Marsh, Abraham Martin,
Thomas Clapp, William Carlslye, Thomas Dimock, Vinton Dreuce,
John Sutton, Stephen Lincoln, Samuel Parker, Thos. Lincoln, farm.,
William Buckland, James Cade,
Thomas Wakely, Thomas Gill, Richard Ibrook,
Thomas Joshlin, Aaron Ludkin, John Morriek,
Jeremiah Moore, Mr. Henry Smith, Bozoan Allen, Matthew Hawke,
John Cutler,
William Cockerum,
John Farrow,
William Cockerill,
Daniel Fop,
John Fearing,
Thomas Nichols, Thomas Paynter, Edmund Pitts, Joseph Phippeny,
William Ripley, John Buck, Thomas Jones, Thomas Lawrence,
Nicholas Hodskin,
John Tucker. 1636. John Beal, senr., Anthony Eames,
Thomas Shave, Ralph Smith, Thomas Turner, John Tower,
Wid. Martha Wilder, Thomas Thaxter.
Wm. Large,
Thomas Hammond, Joseph Hull, Richard Jones,
Joseph Underwood, William Ludkin,
1639.
George Ludkin,
Nicholas Lobdin,
Jeremy Morse,
William Nowlton,
Richard Langer, John Leavitt,
1638. Mr. Robert Peck,
John Otis,
Thomas Lincoln,
Adam Mott,
Joseph Peck,
David Phippeny, John Palmer,
Thomas Minard,
Edward Gilman,
John Parker, George Russell, William Sprague, George Sprague, Thomas Underwood, Thomas Cooper, Samuel Ward, Ralph Woodward, John Beal, jr., Francis James, Philip James, James Buck, Stephen Payne, William Pitts, John Winchester, William Walker. 1637. Thomas Barnes, Josiah Cobbit,
Edward Mitchell,
Clement Bates,
Richard Betscome,
Nathaniel Peck,
Benjamin Bozworth,
Richard Osborn,
Thomas Hett,
Anthony Cooper,
Jarvice Gould,
Wm. Hersey,
John Stephens, John Stoddard,
Thomas Johnson,
Andrew Lane,
Thomas Loring,
Anthony Hilliard,
Jonathan Bozworth. John Prince.
In 1635, Rev. Peter Hobart and his associates from Hingham, in the county of Nor- folk, in England, began a settlement in this town at a place called Bear Cove, which was afterwards called Hingham. "The house-lots of the settlers, as already stated, were drawn 18 September, 1635. The Rev. Peter Hobart was there on that day, and drew a lot with the twenty-nine." Mr. Hobart continued to discharge the duties of his office till his death, in 1679, at the age of seventy-five. He was a man of piety and talents, and had four sons, who all became respectable ministers. Rev. John Norton was ordained colleague pastor with Mr. Hobart a few months before his decease. Mr. Norton died in 1716, and was succceded by Rev. Ebenezer Gay, who continued in the ministry nearly sixty nine years, and died in 1787, at the age of nearly nincty-one years. Rev. Henry Ware, D. D., the successor of Mr. Gay, was ordained about seven months of his decease, and continucd about cighteen years, when he resigned to accept the Hollis professorship of divinity in Harvard University. Rev. Joseph Richardson, his successor, was settled in 1806. The Second church in Hingham was formed in 1745; Rev. Daniel Shutc, D. D., their first minister, was ordained the next year. Hc was pastor here more than fifty-five years. His sight failing him, he ceased from his public labors in 1799, and died in 1802. Dr. Shute had a seat in the convention which formed the Constitution of the United States. Rev. Nicholas B. Whitney succeeded Dr. Shute in 1800. The Third church was formed in 1807, and Rev. Henry Colman, the first minister, was ordained the same year. Rev. Charles Brooks, the next minister, was ordained in 1821.
The following is a representation of the ancient Congregational church in the village of Hingham, the oldest house of worship now
Thomas Chaffe,
John Foulsham, Henry Chamberlin, Stephen Gates, George Knights,
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HINGHAM.
Southern vien of Hingham Church.
standing in New England. It was erected in 1680, was 55 feet in length, 45 in breadth, and the height of the posts was 20 feet. It cost the town the sum of £430 and the old house. Two additions have been made to the building; the first about the year 1730, and the second in 1755. These additions were made, however, with- out materially altering the external appearance and form of the house. It is yet in a good state of preservation, and its frame of oak bears no mark of dilapidation or decay. It cannot now be ascertained at what particular time the first meeting-house was erected; it was, however, a small building, surrounded by a pali- sado, for the protection of the worshippers from Indian assault. Its situation was very near, if not the spot, on which the post-office now stands, near the academy. 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 worshippers are gone. Not a solitary monument points out the spot where were deposited the remains of the brave, the virtuous, the learned, who laid the foundation of our social im- provements and religious blessings."
The village of Hingham is built at the head of a bay, which is an arm of the great bay of Massachusetts. Owing to its situation, it is rather irregularly built, embracing within its limits a number of sandy elevations. The township is seven miles in length, and about five in breadth. The soil in many parts of the town is rich and fertile. There are in Hingham 1 woollen factory, an iron foundry, a brass foundry, and salt works. In addition to these there is the usual variety of mechanical works, as is found in most
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HINGHAM.
towns of a similar size. Here is a printing-office and a bookstore, and a large number of traders in foreign and domestic goods. Ship-building is carried on in the town to considerable extent. About 80 sail of vessels belong to this place, which are engaged in the cod and mackerel fishery and the coasting-trade. Seve- ral regular packets ply between Hingham and Boston, and in the summer months a steamboat plies daily between the places. Derby Academy, a free school, and the Willard Private Academy, are highly respectable seminaries, and promise great privileges to parents. The Hingham Bank has a capital of $100,000. There is in this town a mutual insurance office, and a Savings bank. In 1837, there were 50 vessels employed in the cod and mackerel fishery ; tonnage, 2,894. Twenty-nine hundred quintals of codfish were taken ; value, $8,700. There were 14,436 barrels of mack- erel taken, valued at $105,000; hands employed, 450; “vessels built, 17 ; tonnage of the same, 2,170; value of the same, $73,780." There were 26,064 pairs of boots and 5,654 pairs of shoes manu- factured, valued at $55,967; males employed, 71; females, 51. One air and cupola furnace; 150 tons of castings were made; value, $15,000; the value of wooden ware manufactured was $30,000; hands employed, 80. There were 18,600 umbrellas manufactured, the value of which was $39,500; males employed, 20; females, 53. Various other articles were also manufactured in the town. 'Population, 3,445. Distance, 26 miles from Plymouth, 12 miles by water and 14 by land from Boston.
In the year 1645, an unhappy controversy took place among the inhabitants respecting military affairs. The following account of the affair was taken from Lincoln's Centennial Address :
" 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 com- mission 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 com- mand, and, on account 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 arrested, 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 in number, presented a petition to the former, setting forth the arrest and com- mitment of their townsmen, as they alleged, for words spoken concerning the power of the general court, and their liberties, and the liberties of the church. The petition- ers were required to designate the magistrate or magistrates whom they declared guilty of infractions upon the popular rights. They then charged Deputy Governor 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 magistrates and depu- tics ; but the latter would not agree to any censure. After much discussion and repeated 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
-
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HINGHAM.
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 him. The deputy governor delivered on the occasion of his acquittal a very impressive speech upon the authority of magistrates and the liber- ties 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 extent 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 discussion of the powers of magistrates in reference to the rights of the people. Upon these im- portant principles, we have no reason to doubt that our pastor entertained liberal and correct opinions, yet he might have been indiscreet in his endeavors 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 declined appearing, and by this course compelled the government to arrest him. He protested against this course, however, declaring ' that he could never know where- fore he was fined except it were for petitioning,' 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. He was told, after much importu- nity, 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 re- plied that the law of God admitted various interpretations. He demanded to he 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 attended the general court with the elders, to give their advice respecting public affairs, he was advised 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 ecclesiastical and civil gov- ernment, AND HE WAS A BOLD MAN AND WOULD SPEAK HIS MIND.'"
In King Philip's war, the town suffered in some degree from the incursions of the Indians. In a diary, kept by Mr. Hobart, it is noted that "on the 19th of April, 1676, John Jacob was slain by the Indians near his father's house. He went out with his musket to shoot the deer that trespassed upon a field of wheat, near the place where the meeting-house at Glad Tidings Plain is now situated. The Indians, who had secreted themselves in that neighborhood the night previous, discovered and shot Jacob near the field of wheat. He was found dead, and his musket was battered to pieces." The next day the Indians burnt the dwelling- houses of Joseph Jones, Anthony Sprague, Israel Hobart, Nathan- iel Chubbuck and James Whiton. As a precaution for the security of the inhabitants in case of assault by the Indians, garrison- houses were established in various parts of the town. There were also three forts, but the date of their erection cannot now be ascertained; one of them situated on the hill, which at that time commanded the harbor, (the same of which the mounds are still visible in the burying-yard,) another at the place called Fort Hill, and another " on the Plain about a mile from the harbor." There is a frequent mention of disbursements for the soldiers in the selectmen's book of records about this time.
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HINGHAM.
The following respecting Hingham is from the " Wonder-Work- ing Providence of Zion's Saviour, in New England."
" At this time, also, came to shore the servant of Christ, Master Peter Hubbord, [Hobart] whom the Lord was pleased to make use of for feeding his people in this Wildernesse, being called to Office by the Church of Christ at the Towne of Hingham, which is scituate upon the Sea coasts South-east of Charles River, being a place nothing inferior to their Neighbours for scituation, and the people have much profited themselves by transporting Timber, Planke and Mast for Shipping to the Towne of Boston, as also Ceder and Pine-board to supply the wants of other Townes, and also to remote parts, even as far as Barbadoes. They want not Fish for themselves and others also. This Towne consisted of about sixty Families; the forme is somewhat intricate to describe, by reason of the Seas wasting crookes, where it beats upon a mouldering shore, yet they have compleat streetes in some places. The people joyned in Church covenant in this place were much about an hundred soules, but have been lessened by a sad unbrotherly contention which fell out among them, wasting them every way, continued already for seven yeares space, to the great griefe of all other churches, who held out the right hand of fellowship unto them in Brotherly commu- nion, which may (the Lord helping) demonstrate to all the true 'Churches of Christ the World throughout, although they be distanced by place or Nation, yet ought they never to take up such an Independent way, as to reject the advise and counsell of each other," &c.
Benjamin Lincoln, a major-general in the Revolutionary army, was a native of this town, born Jan. 23d, 1733. The following biographical sketch is taken from Lord's Lempriere's Dictionary :
" His advantages for education were limited, and until the age of forty he was em- ployed in the pursuits of agriculture. He was, however, distinguished for judgment and intelligence, was the representative of the town in the provincial assembly, a colonel of the militia, secretary of the house of representatives, and a member of the council. In February, 1776, he was appointed a brigadier, and soon after major- general in the provincial army, and in February, 1777, a major-general on the conti- nental establishment. His services were conspicuous towards the close of that year in the northern campaign. He was second in command in the army which, under General Gates, captured the British under Burgoyne. On the day after the battle of Stillwater, he received a dangerous wound while reconnoitring. In the following year he was appointed by congress to take the command in the southern department, at the solicitation of the delegates from that portion of the Union. After a number of infe- rior operations, on the 20th June, 1779, he made an unsuccessful attack on the British post at Stone-ferry. He afterwards retired to Charleston, and attempted its defence, but was compelled, on the 12th of May, 1780, to capitulate. He was exchanged in November, and in the spring following joined the army on the North river. At the siege of Yorktown he commanded a central division, and shared largely in the dangers and triumphs of the day. He was designated to conduct the surrendering army to the field where their arms were deposited, and to see the conditions of the capitulation executed. In October, 1781, congress appointed him secretary of the war department, and afterwards, on several occasions, a commissioner to negotiate with the Indians. He resigned his office as secretary in October, 1783, and received, in a resolution of congress, a flattering expression of their respect. After the establishment of peace, he returned to his native state, and in 1787 was appointed to command the troops em- ployed for the suppression of the insurrection in that state. He was also one of the commissioners to propose terms of indemnity to the insurgents. In 1788, he was chosen lieutenant governor. The following year he was a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States, and was appointed collector of the ports of Boston and Charlestown. This office he held, and discharged its duties greatly to the public satisfaction, until the increased embarrassments arising from the restric- tions on commerce induced him to resign, in January, 1809. He died in the house in which he was born, May 9th, 1810, aged 78. General Lincoln was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and president of the Society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts. He published several letters and essays, principally on subjects connected with natural history."
P S C a
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KINGSTON.
HULL.
HULL is the least populous town in Massachusetts, and, except- ing Newburyport, the smallest in territory. The township com- prises the peninsula of Nantasket, which forms the south-eastern side of Boston harbor. The town is formed of five small hills, connected together by very narrow necks. On one of these hills is a well, ninety feet in depth, and is frequently almost full of water. The principal settlement is on Nantasket Head, about 9 miles south-east from Boston, by water, and 22 by land, via Hingham. Population, 180. From twelve to eighteen votes are usually given at the elections.
Hull was incorporated in 1644, and was once a place of some note. In the records of the general court, in 1647, it is mentioned, " There being now divers fishermen and men of good ability in Hull, who may comfortably carry on the affairs of a town, they are enabled, by the authority of this court," &c. It is believed that this place formerly had several Congregational ministers, the first of whom was Rev. Zechariah Whitman, who was a native of Milford, Con. He appears to have been settled here in 1670. Rev. Ezra Carpenter, and Rev. Samuel Veazie, who was settled in 1753, appear to have been the next regular ministers. In 1837, there were 282 sheep; wool produced, 1,150 lbs .; and 2 establish- ments for the manufacture of salt, of which 3,600 bushels were made.
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