unty of Plymouth, of which it has since formed a part.

[Illustration: THE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.]

The original name of the settlement was Bare (or Bear) Cove. The name
was changed to Hingham, and the town incorporated Sept. 3, 1635, on the
same day with Weymouth and Concord. There are but eleven towns in the
State older than these three. Settlements having dates earlier than the
incorporation were made in many towns, and there is proof that there
were inhabitants here in 1633. There was a recognition of the place as a
sort of municipality in 1634, for Bare Cove was assessed in that year.
Rev. Peter Hobart, of Hingham, England, the first minister, arrived at
Charlestown in June, 1635, and soon after settled in this town where
many of his friends from Hingham, England, had already settled, from
which fact the name of their old home was given to the new. Mr. Hobart
and twenty-nine others drew for house-lots on the 18th of September,
1635. Grants of land were made at various times during the year 1635,
and for several succeeding years. Hence it will be seen that, in this
present year, two hundred and fifty years of the town's history will
have been completed, and the anniversary will be celebrated during the
present month of September.

The close proximity of Hingham to Hull, of which the original name was
Nantasket or Nantascot, well known during recent years as a famous
summer resort, lends an added interest to one of the earliest of
Hingham's controversies. We find a record in July, 1643:--

There is chosen by the town, Joseph Peck, Bozoan Allen, Anthony Eames,
and Joshua Hubbard, to go to the next Court to make the best improvement
of the evidence the town have for the property of Nantascot, and to
answer the suit that now depends, &c.

But this attempt of the inhabitants of Hingham to claim a title was
summarily disposed of by the General Court, in September, 1643, as
follows:--

The former grant to Nantascot was again voted and confirmed, and Hingham
was willed to forbear troubling the Court any more about Nantascot.

Under the lead of such a man as Rev. Peter Hobart, who appears to have
been fearless and courageous, the inhabitants could not long remain
at rest. In 1645, and through several succeeding years, there were
difficulties of a very pronounced character between the inhabitants and
the colonial magistrates, especially between Peter Hobart and Gov.
Winthrop. The story has