South Hingham was set off March 25,
1745. Its first minister was Rev. Daniel Shute, D.D., a man of great
ability and practical sense, who was an earnest advocate of his
country's cause during the revolutionary war. He was a member of the
convention which formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and of that
which adopted the constitution of the United States.
The Third Congregational Society (Unitarian) was organized in 1807.
There is also within the town a religious society of each of the
following denominations, viz.: Evangelical Congregational, Baptist,
Methodist Episcopal, Universalist, Protestant Episcopal, Second Advent,
and Roman Catholic. It would seem as if there need be no hungering for
the "bread of life."
The military record of Hingham is worthy of notice.
In Philip's war, in 1675, it appears that "souldiers were impressed into
the country service," and provision was made by the selectmen for their
expenses.
In 1690 "Capt. Thomas Andrews and soldiers met on board ship to go to
Canada" in the expedition under command of Sir William Phips. Capt.
Andrews and most of the soldiers belonging to Hingham died in the
expedition.
In the French and Indian wars many Hingham citizens enlisted, and Capt.
Joshua Barker was in the expedition to the West Indies in 1740, and in
the wars of later years.
In the war of the Revolution there was no lack of patriotism in Hingham,
"The records indicate that nowhere did patriotism put forth in a greater
degree the fulness of its efforts and the energy of its whole soul and
spirit."
The limits of this article will not permit an extended notice of all the
acts which make up the creditable and patriotic record of the town.
Descended from those, who, through hardship and toil, labored for the
common good, and bore each other's burdens, it is naturally to be
expected that the people of Hingham aided the cause of freedom and the
liberties of their country by resolutions and votes, and by liberal
supplies of money. Nor did they hesitate to take up arms and sacrifice
their lives for their country's good. From the beginning to the end of
the Revolution, in many a hard-fought battle, in the sufferings and
hardships of camp and march, from the struggle on Breed's Hill to the
brilliant affair of Yorktown, we find the names of Hingham men mentioned
with honor. And how could it be otherwise? If heredity tells for
anything the whole history of the early struggles of the infant colo
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