USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hingham > History of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 23
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From the Cove, where the mill, the town dock, and the ford crowd in neighborly friendship together, to the further extremity of the " Swamp," this, the first of Hingham's highways, has few spots uncelebrated in her history. Yet almost the whole interest is confined to the northern or upper side; for not only was its other boundary fixed so as to border upon the brook, but in fact the land on that side of the travelled way was generally too swampy to admit of its use for dwellings. Consequently we find that scarcely a building stood upon the southerly side of the street, and probably the only exception was the house of Samuel Lineoln and his son, occupying a site nearly opposite the pres- ent location of the New North Church. A very few years later, however, in 1683 or thereabouts, another mill was built upon the water side, and almost exactly where is now the little red
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blacksmith-shop; parts of the dam may still be seen projecting from either shore of the pond. Starting at the Cove and going westward, we should have seen at this early period the charred remains of the houses of John Otis and Thomas Loring. But lit- tle was left, however; for the fire that destroyed them was an old story many years back, and now had become little more than a tradition. Nevertheless, from a spot nearly opposite the smithy, their owners had looked out many a bright morning on the pretty scene before them. A few steps further, and near the corner of Ship Street, - or Fish Street, as formerly known, and which per- haps was a lane at even this early time, - was the home of Peter Barnes, the ancestor of the present family of that name; and close by, for a neighbor, lived John Langlee, the miller, who was also a shipwright, and later an innkeeper on the same spot. Now, however, he must go a-soldiering, and a-soldiering he went, and not over willingly, we may presume; for not only do we know that he left a wife and one or two babies to fare as the fates should will, but we learn that he was impressed into the service. However, he shared with many a fellow-townsman in the glory of the brave and unfortunate Captain Johnson and his company, and was one of the two men from Hingham who were wounded in the great battle. He was the owner of the island originally granted to Richard Ibrook, now known as Langley's Island, and from him descended Madam Derby. The house of Charles A. Lane stands on the spot where lived Joseph Church, brother of the famous Capt. Benjamin Church, the final conqueror of Philip ; and just beyond was the garrison house of Capt. Thomas Andrews, now occupied by the Misses Lincoln. With Captain Andrews lived his father, Joseph, the first town clerk, at this time one of the old men of the settlement. A hundred feet or so to the south, bubbling and rippling as it danced along, flowed the cool waters of the town brook, crossed a trifle higher up by a bridge, and broadened at that point into a drinking-pond for cattle and horses. Lincoln Building covers the spot from which the little pond long since disappeared. Captain Andrews' next neighbor to the westward was Capt. John Thaxter, who had served with distinction against the Dutch, and who was at this eventful period a selectman and one of the fore- most citizens. His family was a large one, and a son -later known as Capt. Thomas Thaxter - served at Martha's Vineyard under Captain Church. The old Thaxter house was known twenty-five years since, and for many years before, as the Leavitt house. The fine old mansion has given place to St. Paul's Ro- man Catholic Church. In the rear, "Ensign Thaxter's Hill " formed the northerly boundary of a wide training-field, which lay between it and the houses on the street. Next beyond, and just at the bend of the road, was the home of old Edmond Pitts, - Goodman Pitts, as he was called, -a weaver, sexton of the
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church, and a man of no little consequence. The house in its modernized form still remains, and is the first one west of St. Paul's Church. Directly in its front is Thaxter's Bridge, span- ning the brook, and diagonally across the street, as already men- tioned, was the abode of Samuel Lincoln, weaver and mariner, and of his son Samuel, who served in the war as a cornet of cavalry. Opposite the General Lincoln place, Broad Cove Lane, now Lincoln Street, branched off, passed a low, marshy thicket, which, cleared and filled, has become Fountain Square, climbed the gentle slope beyond, and then descended again until it reached the broad, and then deep arm of the sea from which the lane was named. Beyond this point it continued for perhaps half a mile, and terminated in pastures and planting fields beyond. From it another lane running nearly at right angles led, as does the wide avenue which has succeeded, to the deep water at Crow Point and to Weary-all-Hill, since called Otis Hill, where, through other lanes and by deep ruts and numerous bars the rich lands granted as planting lots were reached. Upon Lin- coln Street were located the homes of the Chubbucks, of John Tucker, and perhaps a few others ; and on the corner, and front- ing on Town Street, we should have found Benjamin Lincoln, great-grandfather of General Lincoln. He was a farmer, with a young family, and on his lot stood the malt-house given him by his father, Thomas Lincoln, the cooper ; here was carried on one of the primitive breweries of our ancestors, and here doubtless was enjoyed many a glass of flip. Mr. Lincoln's next neighbors to the westward were his brothers-in-law John and Israel Fearing, who occupied the family homestead nearly opposite to the site of the Universalist Church ; while just beyond, and extending for a long distance up towards the West End, were the domains of the Hobarts, a very prominent family at the time. Here was Edmund the younger, but now a venerable man of seventy-two years, a weaver by trade, prominent in town affairs, and a twin brother of the minister. His house was near Hobart's Bridge, where with him lived his son Daniel, who followed his father's occupation and succeeded to his influence. John and Samuel, elder sons, and both just married, had their homes with or near their father, while just beyond, and opposite Goold's Bridge, the Rev. Peter Hobart occupied the parsonage, which for forty. years had been the centre of social and intellectual life in the town. It may be well to mention here that the brook, which in general occupies nearly its original bed for the greater part of its length, has had its course materially altered in recent years between the site of John and Israel Fearing's house and Hobart's Bridge. It formerly flowed quite up to, and in places even into the present location of North Street between these points ; and the line of the sweep of the marsh and old Town Street is clearly indicated by the segment of a circle upon which the houses from
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Mr. David Cushing's to the Andrews' are now built. Rev. Peter Hobart's neighbors to the westward were Thomas Gill and his sons, Lieut. Thomas, and Samuel, and his son-in-law, Josiah Lane; and beyond them were Thomas and Ephraim Marsh, one or both of whom lived in the paternal homestead which came from George Marsh, their grandfather, and which bounded west- erly on Burton's Lane. On the further side of this passage-way the brothers Ephraim Lane, who served in Captain Johnson's company, and John Lane, the carpenter, occupied their father's place, while near them was George Lane, an uncle. On Mars Hill, Thomas Lincoln, the cooper, one of the old men of the vil- lage, and ancestor of the Benjamin Lincoln family, occupied the spot which has been the home of his descendants to the present time. Jacob Beale lived near by, but the exact spot is not easily located. Apparently Thomas Hobart was the sole inhabitant of West Street at this period, although Caleb Lincoln's house was on the corner, but probably facing Fort Hill Street. The latter's twin brother Joshua, and their father, Thomas Lincoln, the husband- man, were close by, as were Sergeant Daniel Lincoln and his son Daniel, Thomas and Ephraim Nicolls, Moses Collier, and Thomas Lincoln, the carpenter, Henry Ward, Robert Waterman, Samuel Stowell and his sons John and David, Joshua Beale, who main- tained the drum, and his brother Caleb, at this time a con- stable; all were located on Fort Hill Street. Here also, and probably on the crown of the hill, and within a very few feet of the street to which it gave its name, was erected at this time one of the three forts which formed a part of the defences against the Indians. The location was admirable, the eminence over- looking and commanding the fertile fields on its several sides, as well as the village clustered around its base, while the road to Weymouth, much of the water supply, and a wide range of country were within the protecting fire of its guns ; while signals by day or a beacon light at night would carry an alarm to distant points. Leaving this locality and proceeding along what is now South Street, we should have found on the Gay estate of a later day William Hersey, and near him John and James and William Hersey the younger, and Widow Hewitt and her brother-in-law, Timothy Hewitt. On the westerly corner of Austin's Lane, now Hersey Street, were John Beale, and John his son, while on the easterly corner another garrison house formed the connecting defence between the fort at West Hingham and Captain An- drews' garrison house at Broad Bridge. The house belonged to Steven Lincoln, and the Cazneau cottage stands nearly upon its site. In the immediate vicinity were Simon Gross, Joshua Lin- coln, Richard Wood, and Samuel Bate, who had a daughter born April 12, 1676, "in the garrison," - not improbably the garrison house of Steven Lincoln, which was undoubtedly already occupied as a place of refuge in consequence of the alarm pre-
VOL. I. - 15
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ceding the attack of a few days after in the south part of the town. Other neighbors were Dr. Cutler, known as "the Dutch- man," and Arthur Caine; while Joseph Bate's house stood where Mr. William O. Lincoln, who is of the eighth generation occupying the same spot, now resides, - Clement Bate, the father of Joseph, being the first. Next east lived Nathaniel Beal, Senior, cordwainer and constable, and who had formerly been chosen by the selectmen to keep an ordinary to sell sack and strong waters, and who may still have been engaged in the same pursuits. His ordinary and home was about opposite Thaxter's bridge. Across the travelled way, and on the lot occupied by the building in which the District Court holds its sessions, were the stocks, - conveniently near the place where the strong waters, which perhaps frequently led to their occupancy, were dispensed. The street now so beautiful in all its long course from Broad Bridge to Queen Anne's Corner, is the street of the old days which we are picturing, and has undergone little change of location. Its northerly part was known however at that time as Bachelor's Row. We must recollect, however, that the hill upon which Derby Academy stands then extended over the pres- ent Main Street, sloping down nearly to the houses on the west, and that going south it fell away to about the present level of the street in front of Loring Hall, when the ascent again com- menced, terminating in quite a little eminence opposite the Bas- sett house, but which has largely disappeared through the cutting off of the crown and the filling of the swampy tract beyond, -- a process which, repeated a short distance south, in the vicinity of Water Street, has also modified the appearance of Main Street quite materially at that point. The old road was in fact a suc- cession of ascents and descents almost continuously, until after reaching the level above Pear-tree Hill. The first meeting-house stood upon the part of the hill near Broad Bridge, which has been removed, and probably not far from, and a few rods in front of, the site of Derby Academy. It has already been described. Over the hill, and probably to the eastward of the Meeting-house ran a road, and around the base was another, doubtless more easy to travel. These two commencing at the same point near the bridge, soon united into one again at or near where Loring Hall stands. On the slopes of the hill and around the meeting-house our fathers were buried, and there they doubtless thought to sleep undisturbed forever. Their remains now rest in the old fort in the cemetery, of which in life they were the garrison, - a most fitting sepulchre for the sturdy old soldiers. This fort, still in an admirable state of preservation, was probably erected in 1675 or early in 1676, and was the main defence of the inhabi- tants. It overlooked and commanded most of the village and the main approaches thereto, and in connection with the palisaded Meeting-house and the garrison house across the brook, provided
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ample protection to the settlement. The two latter completely covered the stream for a long distance, making it impossible for the Indians to deprive the townspeople of its sweet waters. Nearly every house on the lower part of Main Street was within range, and under the protection of the guns of the fort, which also commanded an unobstructed view of the whole territory between Captain Andrews' and the harbor, whose blue waters, framed in their bright setting of green, then as now made a beautiful and peaceful picture, as seen from its ramparts. The present appearance of the fort is outwardly that of a circular, sodded embankment, two or three feet in height, upon which are . planted several of the oldest of the gravestones; but from within, the earth walls appear to be considerably higher, and the excavation is rectangular, with sides about forty feet in length. In the centre, from the summit of a mound, there rises a plain granite shaft, inscribed upon the southwesterly and northeasterly sides respectively as follows : --
To THE
FIRST SETTLERS
OF
HINGIIAM,
ERECTED BY THE TOWN, 1839.
The late Hon. Solomon Lincoln, in his " History of Hingham," mentions in a foot-note a tradition related to him as coming from Dr. Gay, to the effect that "this fort was built from the fear of invasion by the sea, by the Dutch, etc." There can be no doubt that the tradition referred to another fortification, also in the cemetery, probably built for defence against the Dutch or the Spanish, the remains of which were discovered a few years since while constructing a road in that part of the burying-ground towards Water Street, by Mr. Todd, the superintendent. The location, as described by him, was on the northerly side of the hill formerly owned by Isaac Hinckley, whose family lot is upon its crown, the situation entirely commanding the harbor and its approaches, and affording a magnificent view, and a valuable out- look for military purposes. The defence was probably in the nature of a stone battery, upon which it was intended to mount a gun or guns, and the remains consisted of several tiers of large stones, placed regularly together and backed by earth. Unfortu- nately they have been removed.
On Bachelor's Row, and near where Elm Street now intersects the main highway, Daniel and Samuel Stodder, brothers, and each with a numerous family, occupied neighboring houses. Daniel attained a greater age than has any other person in Hingham, finally dying at one hundred and four years. A few rods south, Ensign Joseph Joy, by occupation a carpenter, bore them company ; and on the opposite side of the street, and not far from where the Old Meet- ing-house now is, was the home of blacksmith and lieutenant Jeremiah Beale, with his family of seven children. Close by, for
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a neighbor, was the famous Captain of the Trainband, Joshua Hobart, the most prominent of the townspeople, excepting his brother, the minister. As already said, his lot included the land upon which the meeting-house of 1681 stands.
Here too, then, or a little later, we should have found probably the only gathering-place outside the Meeting-house, for the ma- trons of these early times in our history ; for here Dame Ellen, the worthy wife of the Captain, kept a little shop, in which were sold the gloves and ribbons, the laces and pins and needles and thread, and possibly even, now and then a piece of dress goods of foreign make, and all the little knick-knacks as dear and as necessary to our great-great-grandmothers as to the wives and sisters of the present day. Upon the homestead of his father on the easterly side of the street, lived Samuel Thaxter, a cordwainer, and ancestor of Joseph B. Thaxter, who occupies the same spot ; while a little south, and about opposite the head of Water Street, Andrew Lane, a wheelwright, settled upon a lot of some four acres, with John Mayo near by. A little beyond, and very near to where Winter Street intersects Main, Jolin Prince, a soldier of the war, made his home. At this point also we should have seen the tannery of the Cushings, stretching for a considerable distance along the street, as tanneries almost always do, with the sides of leather drying in the sun, the bits scattered here and there, the piles of red bark, and the inevitable tan entrance and driveway ; all making the air redolent with an odor by no means disagreeable.
Upon the lot now occupied by Dr. Robbins at the foot of Pear-tree Hill, a few rods north of his residence, Matthew Cushing, who died in 1660 at seventy-one years of age, the progenitor, probably, of all the families of that name in the United States, had established the home which remained uninterruptedly in the family until 1887; and here still lived his wife, who died subsequently to the war, aged ninety-six, his son Daniel, then and until his death town clerk, and one of the wealthy men of the period, and Matthew a grandson, afterwards lieutenant and captain. Not far away Matthew Cushing senior's daughter Deborah lived with her husband, Matthias Briggs, while on the opposite side of the street, at what is now the Keeshan place, Daniel the younger, a weaver by trade, established a home and reared a numerous family. The Cushings were shopkeepers in addition to their other occupations, and probably the little end shop built onto the dwelling on either side of the street contained articles of sale and barter, - produce and pelts and West India goods and ammunition. We may suppose that these small centres of trade, together with the tannery in the immediate vicinity, gave quite a little air of business to the neighborhood, - forming indeed the primitive exchange of the period.
Not far from where Mr. Fearing Burr's store now is, Lieut. John Smith, Captain Hobart's able second in rank, had a home and a fort combined, being one of the "garrison houses" whose wise
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location probably saved the town from a general attack. Lieu- tenant Smith is stated to have been in active service during the war, and to have commanded a fort. He was a man of marked ability, holding many positions of public trust, representing the town in the General Court and succeeding to the command of the foot company in 1683, after the death of Captain Hobart. He was also one of the wealthiest of Hingham's inhabitants, leaving prop- certy valued at upwards of £1100, a considerable sum for . the time. Commencing at his house and thence extending south to the present location of Pleasant Street and east to that of Spring Street and bounded north by Leavitt, and west by Main Street, was a large common or training-field in which, probably not far from where is now the Public Library, was Hingham's third fort, doubtless under the immediate charge of Licutenant Smith ; and which in connection with his garrison house, provided a fair means of defence to most of the houses on the plain. Around this field were the lots of many of the first settlers, and the homes of their descendants formed at this time quite a village. Among them on Main Street was that of Matthew Hawke, afterwards the third town clerk. From him is descended Col. Hawkes Fear- ing, whose house is upon the same spot. Matthew, one of the first settlers, was by occupation a schoolmaster. His granddaughter married John Fearing, Colonel Fearing's paternal ancestor. James Hawke, son of Matthew, also resided at Hingham centre and probably with his father, -he too becoming town clerk in 1700, succeeding Daniel Cushing ; and was himself succeeded in the same office by his son James, also a resident of this part of the town, and with whom the name ceased. He left two daughters, one becoming the mother of John Hancock. Next them was Fran- cis James, and but a short distance further south, about where Mr. David Hersey's house now is, was the homestead of the Ripleys, and on or near it were located John Ripley and John junior and his brother Joshua. Their nearest neighbor, John Bull, " Goodman Bull," was the progenitor of many of the present inhabitants of the town. Bull's Pond, a small bit of water opposite Grand Army Hall, takes its name from the old settler, and marks the location of his property. On Leavitt Street Deacon John Leavitt, tailor, and the father of thirteen children, had the grant of a house lot. He appears, however, to have made his home as far from the centre as he well could, as his residence was in that part of the town known as " over the Delaware." He was not only one of the deacons of the church, but a trusted and leading citizen and officer, represent- ing the town for many years in the General Court. His two sons, Josiah the cooper and farmer, and Israel the husbandman, lived on the same street. Nathaniel Baker, a farmer, large landowner, and a selectman in 1676, and a soldier in the war, was conven- iently located at the junction of Leavitt and East streets. Never- theless we find under date of Dec. 18, 1676 the following : -
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To the Constable of Hingham. You are hereby required in his ma- jestys name forthwith at the sight hereof to destraine upon the goods or chattels of Nathaniell Baker of this Town to the value of twenty shillings for his entertaining a Indian or Indians contrary to a Town order which fine is to be delivered to the selectmen for the use of the Town. Hereof you are not to fail. Benjamin Bate in the name of & by the order of the rest of the Selectmen of Hingham.
This is a true copy of the warrant as attest Moses Collier Constable of Hinghanı.
The fine imposed upon Mr. Baker was in consequence of his disobedience of an order passed by the town forbidding the em- ployment or entertainment of an Indian by any person. It was almost immediately followed by petitions from Baker, John Jacobs, and others to the General Court asking that they be permitted to retain their Indian servants, and it appears from the State Ar- chives that the following similar request had already been granted. It is of added interest for its illustration of the conduct of the war and the standard of the times.
John Thaxter petitions the Hon. Gov. and Council now sitting in Boston &c. that his son Thomas Thaxter was in service under the com- mand of Capt. Benj™ Church at Martha's Vineyard and Islands adjoining where they made many captives and brought them to Plymouth; and Captain Church gave ye petitioner's son an Indian boy of abt nine years old and the selectmen having made an order that no Inhabitant shall keep any Indians in his family, &c. - hence the petition - Granted Jan. 11, 1676.
From the residence of Nathaniel Baker, going east, there were few, if any, houses until reaching the vicinity of Weir river on East Street, then a little travelled lane. Here, however, we should have come upon the farm of John Farrow with whom lived his sons John and Nathan, while beyond and near if not upon the very spot where the Misses Beale now live, was the last residence of Sergeant Jeremiah Beale ; and near him his friend and neigh- bor Purthee McFarlin, the Scotchman, found himself blessed with nine bonny lassies and three sturdy laddies. Beyond, in what is now Cohasset, then known as the Second Precinct, there were a few settlements whose story seems properly to belong to that of our sister town. On the farther side of the common before referred to, Simon Burr the farmer, and his son Simon, a cooper, located on a lane which has since become School Street; and not far off, Cornelius Cantleberry, John Mansfield, and his son John, and perhaps a few others made homes for themselves. On the corner of Union Street Captain Eames had lived, and it was in that part of the town known then as now as "over the river," and where Israel Whitcomb grows his beautiful asters in such profusion, that Millicent Eames, daughter of Capt. Anthony, went to live with her husband William Sprague, the first of a long line of descendants
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many of whom have become celebrated ; and here in this exciting period was a little settlement almost by itself, of which Antony and William Sprague, the younger, Robert Jones, then quite an old man, his son Joseph with his family, and the Lazells, John and his sons Joshua and Stephen, formed the greater part. From the Lazells the street bearing their name was called, and probably their homes were upon it. Leaving the common with its fort in easy reach of all the surrounding houses, and following the general direction of Main street as it now lies, we should have come at Cold Corner to the lot allotted John Tower. Upon it he built his house, which was admirably located for defence from Indian attack, and commanded not only a considerable portion of the highway, but also a long line of the river and no inconsiderable part of the country in its vicinity. Tower was a resolute man, who determined to take advantage of his position and defend his home untrammelled by the behests of the town authorities. To this end he petitioned as follows : -
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