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Hingham 375th Anniversary Committee

Committees: Hingham 375th Anniversary Committee

Test Your Knowledge of Hingham

How well do you know your town? Answers to these five questions will be printed in next week’s Hingham Journal, along with five new questions.

Week 7: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. How did Accord Pond get its name?
   
   Representatives from the towns of Abington, Scituate and Hingham met on the ice in the middle of the pond in winter and agreed to, or were “in accord with,” the terms of a treaty they were about to sign with the Indians. At that time Abington included Rockland, Scituate included Norwell and Hingham included Cohasset.
   
   
2. Where would you find a bronze plaque honoring General Benjamin Lincoln?
   
   In Fountain (Lincoln) Square at the intersection of North and Lincoln Streets.
   
   
3. Who was the first owner of the shipyard at the foot of Ship Street?
   
   Francis Barker, a prosperous shipbuilder and landowner who lived at the Old Ordinary between 1740 to 1795.
   
   
4. What is the present name of Weary-All Hill?
   
   Otis Hill, whose steep sides made one “weary” when climbing.
   
   
5. Why did Hingham’s boundaries change in 1770?
   
   Cohasset separated from Hingham.
   

Week 6: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. Which Hingham persons were financially instrumental in founding Harvard Medical School?
   
   Upon his death Dr. Ezekiel Hersey left his entire estate to his wife, Sarah Langley Hersey, with the request that she give one thousand pounds to Harvard College, the interest to be used for the support of a Professor of Anatomy and Physic.
   
   
2. Roadside milestones tell the distance to Boston and Plymouth. How many are there in Hingham and where are they located?
   
   The three markers are at Queen Anne’s Corner, Main Street in front of Old Ship Church and across from the Cushing Homestead at 210 East Street.
   
   
3. The Second Parish Church was officially established by the General Court in 1746. What is the third oldest church still in existence in Hingham?
   
   The New North Church, founded in 1806 by General Benjamin Lincoln and 98 members of First Parish Church who disagreed with the selection of the new minister there. This dispute led to a bitter social and political conflict between the two churches that persisted for over fifty years.
   
   
4. During the War of 1812 a famous naval battle took place off Scituate. The American captain cried “Don’t give up the ship!”, which became a slogan for the American side. Where did Hingham residents view the battle and who uttered these words?
   
   Hingham people viewed the battle from the top of Turkey Hill, where a signboard describes the event. Captain James Lawrence, who cried “Don’t give up the ship!” died of wounds suffered during the battle.
   
   
5. Name the first steamboat to run on a regular schedule between Boston and Hingham.
   
   The side-wheeler Eagle ran regular trips to and from Boston in 1819 and 1820.

Week 5: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. In the picture, who is the man on the white horse in the foreground?
   
   General Benjamin Lincoln, who was designated to receive Cornwallis’ sword at Yorktown. This 1817 painting by John Trumbull, “Surrender of Cornwallis”, hangs in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington. D.C.
   
   
   
2. In the picture, who is the man on the brown horse in the right background?
   
   General George Washington
   
   
   
3. Who was the king of England when Hingham was founded?
   
   Charles I
   
   
4. Who was the king of England when the Revolutionary War started?
   
   George III
   
   
5. Who were the Hingham delegates to the Massachusetts Convention of 1788 that ratified the Constitution of the United States?
   
   General Benjamin Lincoln and the Rev. Daniel Shute
   

Week 4: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. Where were the three forts erected against Indian attacks located?
   
   The original earthen works of the fort built to protect the town water supply surround the Settlers Monument in what is now the Hingham Cemetery. A second fort was located on the Common at Hingham Center and a third was at Fort Hill.
   
   
2. A garrison house was erected by John Tower in 1664 and still stands today. Where is it?
   
   The Tower Homestead, a Cape Cod style house, stands at 528 Main Street.
   
   
3. How did Queen Ann’s Corner get its name?
   
   Anne Whiton ran the family homestead as a public inn for almost fifty years in the mid-1700’s. She had three “disreputable” daughters and kept an “open house”. She was called “Quean” Ann”, which meant a lewd woman. The exact location of her inn is unknown.
   
   
4. Who was the Hingham tutor of John Hancock’s son, John George Washington Hancock?
   
   Rev. Daniel Shute, the minister of Second Parish Church, tutored John Hancock’s son at his home in South Hingham. The boy’s grandmother was Mary Hawke Thaxter of Hingham who married The Rev. John Hancock of Braintree.
   
   
5. Where would you find a settlers monument NOT depicted on the town seal?
   
   In the northeast corner of Fort Hill Cemetery. It was erected in 1860 by the Ladies of the Fort Hill Sewing Circle.

Week 3: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. What is the area called that extends along Main Street from Hingham Square to Pear Tree Hill?
   
   Bachelors Row
   
   
2. Mordecai Lincoln of Hingham built three water mills at Bound Brook by 1699 in the Cohasset-North Scituate area. One mill still exists, near what is now the Cohasset-Scituate line on Country Way. Who was his famous descendant?
   
   President Abraham Lincoln
   
   
3. Name the bridge on Main Street that spanned the Town Brook between North and South Streets.
   
   Broad Bridge
   
   
4. Which ponds in Hingham are man-made?
   
   All except Accord Pond are man-made. The early settlers dammed the streams to provide water power for grist mills and saw mills, and later for iron mills, shingle mills, fulling mills and bucket mills.
   
   
5. Why is the First Parish Church often referred to as “Old Ship Church?”
   
   

   The huge curved oak timbers that support the roof resemble the hull of a ship if inverted.

Week 2: Discover Hingham – The Early Period

1. A tide mill to grind corn was established on the Mill Pond in 1643 and operated until 1942. What is the present street address that marks its location?
   2-4-6 North Street, the buildings in back of the Liberty Grill.
   
   
2. Why is the phrase “Train-Band” on the town seal?
   The Train(ed) Band was the local militia formed to protect the town from Indians. In 1645 a dispute arose between Rev. Peter Hobart and Governor Winthrop over who had the authority to appoint the captain of the militia. Winthrop won, but the idea of local autonomy for towns over their own affairs remains today.
   
   
3. Name the three members of the Massachusett tribe who granted part of their ancestral land to the Town of Hingham by the deed of 1665.
   Chief Sachem Wompatuck, Squmuck and Ahaden. The original deed they signed with their marks hangs in the Selectmen’s office.
   
   
4. What is the oldest building still standing in Hingham?
   The Albert Fearing House, built in 1640. Part of the original house is now incorporated into the rectory of St. Paul’s Church at 147 North Street.
   
   
5. Where could travelers to and from Boston stop for food and drink?
   Towns were required to have “ordinaries”, private houses where travelers could be served an “ordinary” meal of the day and drink. The Old Ordinary at 21 Lincoln Street was licensed in 1702.

Week 1: Discover Hingham - The Early Period

1. A few families had settled in present day Hingham by 1633. They called the place “Bare Cove”. Why?
   When the tide was out at the harbor, the area became a mud flat, or “bare” of water.
   
   
2. Rev. Peter Hobart and his followers arrived as settlers on September 2, 1635. Where is the exact spot of their landing?
   They landed at the corner of Ship Street and North Street, where the Town Brook emptied into the harbor. A bronze plaque marks the site.
   
   
3. Why did they rename the settlement “Hingham”?
   Many of Hobart’s followers came from the market town of Hingham in East Anglia, England and its environs.
   
   
4. When the first settlers arrived, much of the land had been cleared and there was a good supply of fresh water. Why weren’t there any Indians in the area?
   Answer: In 1617 a “great plague” had emptied their coastal villages.
   
   
5. Name the ship that brought 133 more settlers to Hingham from Ipswich in 1638.
   Answer: The “Diligent” brought Rev. Robert Peck, the Puritan minister in old Hingham, and over twenty families from East Anglia, England and nearby Cambridge for a total of 133 persons. Peck returned to England in 1641 when the Puritans in Parliament gained prominence.