Mather's Magnalia.
"It is ordered, that the selectmen of every town, in the several precincts and quarters where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to see, first that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families, as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices, so much learning, as may enable them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capital laws: upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein."
In 1647 towns were required by law to maintain a school. The Massachusetts system dates from this act, which was as follows--
"It is therefore ordered by this Court and authority thereof ; that every township within this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their towns to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided that those who send their children be not oppressed by paying more than they can have them taught for in other towns.
"And it is further ordered that where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university; and if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, then every such town shall pay five pounds per annum to the next such school, till they shall perform this order."
"It was then," says Mr. Horace Mann, "amid all their privations and dangers, that the Pilgrim Fathers conceived the magnificent idea of a Free and Universal Education of the People; and amid all their poverty, they stinted themselves to a still scantier pittance; amid all their toils, they imposed upon themselves still more burdensome labors; amid all their perils they braved still greater dangers, that they might find the time and the means to reduce their grand conception to practice.
"Two divine ideas filled their great hearts,--their duty to God and to posterity. For the one, they built the church; for the other, they opened the school."
From 1668 to the present time we have definite records which show clearly and distinctly the steady progress and growth of the public schools in this town. Numerous items in the Selectmen's Records show the amounts paid for building a schoolhouse and for wages of teachers; and in many cases the contracts with the teachers are entered in full upon the records. It is interesting to recall the method of making these contracts. We find the following in 1670:--
Education. 85
HENRY SMITH. Selectmen: JOSHUA HOBART, JOHN SMITH, JOHN THAXTER, MATHEW CUSHING, THOMAS ANDREWS. This is a true Copy of the above written agreement, as attest, JOHN SMITH, Clerk.From the beginning until 1752 only one school was kept in the town, and until 1709 there appears to have been no attempt to change the place of keeping it from the north part of the town. The first mention of a free school is found in a vote of the town in 1709, when it was voted, "that it should be a free school this present year." Before that time the schoolmaster's salary was often paid by those who sent their children to school. We find the rate stated explicitly in a vote passed in 1687; "And it [the salary] is to be paid by those persons in the town, that send their children or servants to the said school, to be taught, who are to pay for every boy that learns Latin, four pence per week, and such as learn English two pence per week, and such as learn to write and cypher, to pay three pence per week." If the scholars did not pay enough to make up the required amount, what was lacking was to be made up by a town rate upon the whole number of inhabitants.
With the increase and spreading out of the inhabitants it is not strange that many became dissatisfied with a never-changing location, and the necessity of sending their children a long distance to attend school. We find in 1708 a vote "that the grammar school should be removed from that place where it have been of late kept," but as it was left with the Selectmen "to appoint the places in said Hingham where the said school shall be kept and how long the said school shall be kept at a place," it is not certain that they adopted any change of location, for in 1709 it was voted "that the said school shall be kept at the usiall place the presant year."
It was not until 1721 that a change appears to have been brought about. With the building of a new schoolhouse on the plain "near to Peter Ripley's," it was voted, "that the school should be kept by Peter Ripley six months in one year."
The inhabitants of the Second Precinct, [Cohasset], now began to assert themselves, and in this same year, 1721, they had their proportion of a tax of £40, the amount appropriated for the school, allowed them. Whether they set up a school of their own at this time is not certain, as may appear from later votes, but they were beginning to show a feeling of restlessness which, from this and other causes, culminated in the setting off of Cohasset, some fifty years later, as a separate town. The following vote in the precinct records is of interest in this connection:--
"March 31, 1721, John Farrow, Obediah Lincoln, and Joseph Bate are chosen to take care concerning the school, and to take the money from the town of Hingham and to dispose of it as followeth: one third part of it to be paid to a school dame for teaching the children to read, and two thirds of the money to be disposed of to teach the children to write and to cipher."
For several years after 1721 the school seems to have been kept, one half the time at the schoolhouse in "the town," as the north part was called in distinction from other parts, and one half the time in the schoolhouse near Peter Ripley's on "the plain." March 31, 1724, the Second Precinct voted that "the money that came from the town which is in the hands of John Farrow, Obediah Lincoln and Joseph Bate, should be disposed of to learn the children to read and write in this precinct."
In 1726 the town refused to have the school kept any part of the year in Cohasset; and again, in 1727, the petition of Cohasset to have the school one third of the year, or the proportion of money its inhabitants paid for the school, was refused. In 1728, however, the just demands of the outlying districts seem to have been recognized, and another step in the growth of the system was taken. Cohasset and Great Plain were allowed to draw out of the town treasury their proportion of what they paid towards the £80 raised for the support of schools, provided they "imploy the same for and towards the support of a school among themselves and for no other use;" and Great Plain was permitted to remove the schoolhouse near Peter Ripley's where it should best accommodate them, provided they did it at their own expense.
The further demands of Cohasset received recognition in 1730, for although the town refused to build a schoolhouse there, it allowed Cohasset to draw out of the town treasury the whole of what it paid towards the building a schoolhouse in 1721-22 (the one near Peter Ripley's, now removed to Great Plain), provided the same should be applied to building a schoolhouse in Cohasset; and in 1734 £10 additional for this purpose was granted to Cohasset.
For a few years following 1730 Cohasset and Great Plain were allowed to draw out their proportion of the school money, but the town did not settle upon a definite arrangement for the keeping of "the school in different portions of the town" until 1734, at the time of the grant of the additional £10 just mentioned to Cohasset. In 1734 it was voted, "to have a school the year ensuing, and but one," and "that the school should be kept in three places in said town the year ensuing, viz.: -- at the school-house in the town part so called; at the school-house in the Great Plain; and in the precinct of Cohasset; and the time the school shall be kept in each of those places shall be proportioned according to what the inhabitants and estates in each of those parts pay towards the support of the same." This arrangement continued without essential variation until 1752, the town having refused, in 1738, to have two schools.
In 1752 a still further growth must be noted. Now for the first time two schools were established. It was voted, "to have one grammar and one writing and reading school within the town the year ensuing. The grammar school to be kept in the North school-house the whole of the year, and the writing and reading school to be kept seven months within the said year in the school-house in the east precinct [Cohasset] and four months in the school-house in the south parish."
Continuing upon this plan through this and the three succeeding
years, in 1756 Cohasset was permitted "to draw their full proportion of
the money raised for the support of schools in lieu of the seven months'
time" above-mentioned; and in 1757 the arrangement was further modified
by a vote that the schools should be regulated the same as in 1752, "only
that there be one kept 5 months in the year on the plain in the north parish,
and that each precinct draw their just proportion of money raised for the
support of the schools."
No further change from this modified plan was made until
1763, when the following vote was passed:--
"Voted, that the inhabitants of each parish should draw their just proportion of money raised the year ensuing for the use of the schools and improve the same as they shall determine by a major vote of their inhabitants aforesaid, and that the Grammar school should be kept in the north parish."
No further change seems to have been made in this arrangement until 1781, although the records make it somewhat doubtful whether any money was raised for the support of schools for the single year of 1779. It should also be borne in mind at this point that Cohasset was set off and incorporated as a separate town in 1770, at which time of course she dropped out of our school system.
It may also be noted that in 1767 appears the first mention on the records of a school for girls. In that year the town voted to build a schoolhouse "on their land near the North Schoolhouse, to be used for keeping a female school." There is no authentic evidence that such a schoolhouse was built at that time, although the school itself may have been established in some room hired for the purpose. Female teachers are mentioned in the Second Precinct records in 1768 and 1769.
1781 marks another point in the history of our public schools. Apparently there was not entire satisfaction with the existing arrangement. At the March meeting a committee was appointed to "strike out a plan for the regulation of the town schools the year ensuing, to report next May meeting." The committee's report, which was accepted, was as follows:--
"That the town raise a sufficient sum of money to keep three schools the year through, to teach Reading, Writing, and Arithmetick.--One school to be kept in the center of the North Parish the year through; the west end of the North Parish to have six months schooling, and the Plain to have six months schooling; the South Parish to have a school the year through, and to [be] shifted so as to accommodate the Parish, with liberty for the Inhabitants to send their children to either of the schools as shall best accommodate them."
The grammar school, for which an appropriation was refused in 1779 appears not to have been maintained as such from that time until 1782, when it was again provided for.
In 1786 it was voted to keep four schools the year through,-- one grammar, and three for reading, writing, and arithmetic.
In 1787 Samuel Norton, Caleb Thaxter, Col. Charles Cushing, and Jacob Leavitt were chosen a committee to assist the Selectmen in taking care of and providing for the schools. This was the first move towards the election of a School Committee, but it does not appear to have been followed up annually thereafter until 1794. From and after that date, however, the town continued annually to elect a School Committee to assist the Selectmen, until the passage of the law in March 1827 (Acts of 1826, chap. 143), by which towns were first required to elect a School Committee with new powers. The records of the School Committee of Hingham begin in 1794, and are unbroken down to the present time.
No further change occurred in the general arrangement until 1794 except that in 1791, 1792, and 1793 the grammar school was transferred to the Plain and the school formerly on the Plain was transferred to "the center of the North Parish," and wood was provided for a general tax. Up to this time each scholar had been required to furnish his share of firewood.
With the election of a School Committee in 1794 new life
was instilled into the school system.
The whole history of our public schools may easily be
divided into periods.
The first period, which has now been covered, extends from
the beginning to 1794.
The second period begins in 1794 with an elaborate report
of a committee appointed to consult about the regulation of the schools,
which was accepted in May, 1794, the principal items of which follow:--
Reading, Spelling, Writing, and Needle-work were the branches to be taught in the female schools.
The masters were to keep three hours in the forenoon and three in the afternoon each day in the week except Saturdays in the afternoon; and were allowed one day at annual March meeting, one half-day at the Derby Lecture, one half-day at annual April meeting, election day, two days for trainings, and four days more at their election.
The second period extends to 1828, when the number of schools had increased to five male and eight female. It is not necessary to follow all the details through these thirty-four years, but it is interesting to notice that the principal feature was the constantly increasing attention paid to the education of girls. With the beginning of this period we have the names of "male" and "female" schools. This designation continued in use until 1849. These names were first adopted to indicate the sex of the scholars, and not of the teachers. As early as 1800, however, girls of twelve years of age and upwards were permitted to attend certain of the "male" schools in the winter months, and boys under nine were permitted to attend certain "female" schools in the summer months. These ages were changed somewhat in subsequent years, the age for the winter privileges for girls being reduced to ten years. It was during this period also that mistresses as well as masters were first employed. In many respects these were years of growth,-- but the system was faulty and inconsistent with the full development of universal education. In these later days, when girls and boys are entitled to equal privileges and are held up to equal requirements in education, it seems humiliating to think that the girls were held in such low esteem by our ancestors, although Hingham was not peculiar in this respect. It is a pleasure to know that they began, in this second period of our school history, to receive some measure of justice, however inadequate and tardy it seems to have been.
When it is stated that "female schools" were first established by the new regulations of 1794, it must not be understood that girls were first educated at public expense at that time. It was then that distinct and special education of girls was first provided for. There is satisfactory evidence that girls received instruction at the public expense in the masters' schools with the boys, but not at so early an age as the boys.
To understand our school system, its growth and development, we must know exactly what was aimed at. It should be kept in mind always that, from the earliest settlement, the object of the school was to fit boys for college, and to give those who could not go to college instruction in the rudiments only; and all that it was proposed to teach the girls was to enable them to read and write. Early instruction in the art of reading was generally begun by the girls at home or in the numerous private schools taught by elderly women and known as the "dame schools." When they were sufficiently advanced, they were sent to the master, by whom they were taught to write, something of grammar, but rarely anything in geography or arithmetic. The girls' schools were first established, not so much to give additional advantages in these branches as to give instruction in needlework and knitting, which useful branches of learning were outside of the qualifications of the master to teach. The order of instruction and discipline in one of these schools has been described by one of its scholars: "The children were seated on benches around three sides of the room, the teacher occupying a position near the other side. The order of exercises was reading, then sewing with an allotted task to complete before the close of the school: which was ended with an exercise in spelling."
The close of this period, in 1828, found our schools badly arranged, uncomfortably crowded in many cases, and not satisfying the demands of an intelligent and generous community. We can hardly realize how even the first elements of knowledge could have been forced into the minds of the children,-- for they certainly did learn much,--when we consider that large numbers were crowded into small rooms, and a large proportion of the girls were deprived of the advantages of the schools for many months in the year. It is not strange that public-spirited men were found in this town who had the courage to grapple with the problem and insist upon a radical change in a system so full of evils.
Education. 91In 1808 there occurred an event which is thus recorded by the School Committee:--
"Oct 23. Met for the purpose of making some arrangements for a procession of the scholars of the town to the Meeting-house of the First Parish on Wednesday the 26th inst. at 2 o'clock P.M., to attend a Lecture to be delivered to the Youth of the town by the Rev. Joseph Richardson.
"Six marshals were chosen and the singers of the town were requested to attend the Lecture 'and that those who play on instruments be requested to attend the procession as well as Lecture.'"
On the appointed day upwards of two hundred and eighty scholars of both sexes formed in procession and marched to the meeting-house, where "a well-adapted and highly pertinent discourse was pronounced to them and a crowded auditory by the Rev. Mr. Richardson, from the 4th chapter of Proverbs, and 13th verse: 'Take fast hold of Instruction; let her not go; keep her; for she is thy life.'"
Similar "Lectures" were delivered in the same place by
Rev. Mr. Richardson in 1809 and 1810.
Before leaving this second period, some of the votes passed
by the School Committee will be found interesting:--
1796. "The masters are to observe a uniform system of government in their schools and inculcate in their scholars a decent and respectful deportment towards their superiors out of school and in particular to instruct them not to enter the Gardens, Orchards, or other enclosures of the Inhabitants or in any measure to injure or rob the same."
1797. "Voted, that the Masters and Mistresses of the several schools be directed to read a chapter in the Bible every morning to their scholars and that those of them, who are far enough advanced in reading, use the Bible as their school book on Saturdays."
1800. "Voted that the Instructors of the several schools be directed to see that the scholars be each furnished with suitable books, that they be kept clean, that the scholars have clean face and hands and their hair combed when attending school."
1809. List of Books adopted:-- Printer - Columbian Orthographer. Morse's Geography. Child's Assistant. Bible. American Reader.¹ Judson's Grammar. Juvenile Instructor. Perry's Dictionary. Beauties of the Bible. Adam's Arithmetic. Constitutions of Massachusetts, United States, &c.The following votes of the town relating to the heating of the schoolhouses indicate the course of popular opinion upon the subject:--
¹This was the first school reader published which consisted wholly of selections from American authors; and was compiled by Rev. Joseph Richardson, the minister of the First Parish in Hingham.
92 History of Hingham.1799. "Voted to have one stove in one of the school-houses and the selectmen procure it."
The report was as follows:--
From the fact that a change in the school system was insisted upon, it must not be assumed that public opinion in Hingham differed from that of other towns in Massachusetts. Undoubtedly evils which attracted attention here existed as well elsewhere; and fortunately for the cause of education, the law of 1826, before alluded to, made some changes a necessity. That law was the first to require towns to elect a School Committee who should have "the general charge and superintendence of the public schools." The members of the committee were to be satisfied with the character and qualifications of the teachers, to visit the schools at stated times for the purposes of examination, of seeing to the proper supply of schoolbooks, and of acquainting themselves with the regulation and discipline. They were to direct and determine the books to be used, which were paid for by the parents unless the town assessors were of opinion that any parents were not able to pay for them, in which case a part or the whole of the cost of the same might be abated. A penalty was imposed upon towns neglecting to elect a School Committee. The committee were required to report annually to the Secretary of the Commonwealth the cost of the schools, the number of scholars, and other facts, according to blanks furnished for the purpose.
This law also allowed towns to form within their limits school districts; and the "district system " was in existence in many towns. The district system was never adopted by Hingham, be it said to her credit, so that there is no necessity of entering upon any discussion of this iniquitous feature of the Massachusetts plan. Fortunately, the laws of the Commonwealth have now abolished it. Horace Mann said of it in 1847: "I consider the law of 1789, the germ of which may be found in the Province Law of 8 Geo. I., ch. I (Anc. Ch., p. 666), authorizing towns to divide themselves into districts, the most unfortunate law on the subject of common schools ever enacted in the State."
Education. 93And so those who felt the necessity of a change in this town were stimulated by the law of 1826 (passed March 10, 1827), into action. At the town-meeting on March 10, 1828, the Report of the, School Committee was read and accepted, which contained a recommendation of the committee "that the town should choose a committee to take into consideration the subject of an alteration in our present system of schools, agreeable to the present law." That committee presented the following report to the town, which was accepted, and which is given in full because it clearly states the necessities of the case as recognized by those who were thoroughly interested in the schools.
The most obvious defects of our present system are too large a number of pupils in our male schools, and their admission to those schools at too early an age, and at a period when female instruction would be more valuable to them and expedient for the town, both on considerations of economy and practical utility. A large number of females are also deprived of the privileges of our free schools for a considerable portion of the year.
The Act before referred to will require this town to be provided with a teacher competent to instruct, in addition to the branches usually taught in our town schools, the History of the United States, book-keeping by single entry, geometry, surveying, and algebra.
To remedy existing evils and to comply with the provisions of the law, the committee are unanimously of opinion that an increase of expenditure for the support of schools is unavoidable.
After much deliberation the committee have voted to recommend to the town the adoption of the following system for the regulation of their schools for the ensuing year, viz.:-- There shall be in the West District, one male school of twelve months', and one female school of twelve months' duration.
In the North District, one male school of twelve months, and one female school of twelve months.
In the Middle District, one male school of twelve months, and one female school of twelve months on the Lower Plain, and one female school of six months at Rocky Neck.
In the North District of the South Ward, one male school of ten months (exclusive of vacations), and one female school of twelve months, -- and in the South District of said Ward, one male school of six months one female school of six months, and in addition to the foregoing, if the School Committee shall determine them to be necessary, another
94 History of Hingham.female school in the North Ward and another in the Middle Ward, at such seasons and for such term of time (not to exceed six months to each) as they may deem expedient and proper.
And in order to comply with the law before referred to, the Committee recommend to the town to authorize and direct the School Committee to provide teachers for the male schools in the West, North, and Middle School Districts, and in the North District of the South Ward, who are competent to instruct in addition to the branches usually taught in our town schools, the History of the United States, book-keeping by single entry, geometry, surveying, and algebra, - the school in the North District of the South Ward to be for the benefit of all such children of said Ward, as the School Committee shall direct.
The ages and qualifications for admission to the male schools to be fixed and determined by the School Committee.
The Committee estimate the sum necessary to be raised by
the town to pay the teachers' salaries under the proposed system, provided
all the additional female schools are established, and also to provide
for any probable increase of the salaries of the male teachers, to be $2193.
The amount paid for salaries of teachers in the past year
was $1686. and in the year previous $1856.
All of which is respectfully submitted by order of the Committee. SOLOMON LINCOLN, JR., HINGHAM, April 7th, 1828. Chairman.The following rules and regulations were adopted by the School Committee:--
"In the West, North, and Lower Plain Districts no males shall be admitted to the male schools until they are seven years of age; and females may be admitted to those schools at the age of ten years. In the female schools in said districts, no males or females shall be admitted until they are four years of age, and the males shall not be permitted to attend them after they are seven years of age.
"In Rocky Neck District, males and females shall be admitted to the school when four years of age; and males when seven, and females when ten years of age, belonging to said district, may be admitted to the male school on the Lower Plain, on making application for the privilege.
"In the North District of the South Ward, males shall be admitted to the male school of ten months' duration in said ward, at the age of seven years, and females may be admitted at the age of ten years. The regulations for the admission of scholars to the female school in this district shall be the same as in the West, North, and Lower Plain Districts.
"In the South District of the South Ward, males and females shall be admitted to the female school in the district, when four years of age; but males when seven and females when ten years of age, shall enjoy the privilege of attending the male school for the ward, whenever they wish to exercise it.
"The schools shall he kept three hours in the forenoon and three in the afternoon of each day in the week (Sundays and Saturdays, in the afternoon, excepted) allowing five minutes, and no more, each half-day, for an intermission.
"There shall be vacations in all the schools, as follows, viz.:--The first week in July; one week at the annual Thanksgiving; one day at the annual Town Meeting in March; one day at the annual April Meeting, and one day at the General Election; also four days at the election of the instructors of the Annual schools, and two days at the election of the Instructors of the Semi-annual schools.
"The studies pursued in the male schools shall he Orthography, Reading, Writing, English Grammar, Geography, Arithmetic, History of the United States, Book-keeping by single entry, Geometry, Surveying, and Algebra.
"The Instructors of the female schools shall teach Orthography, Reading, Writing, English Grammar, Geography, Arithmetic, and Needle-work."
There were numerous other regulations concerning morality and discipline.
School districts to regulate the attendance of scholars at the several schools were adopted, and these have been practically unchanged to the present time.
The education of the girls was the principal feature of the second period. The same is true of the third period, beginning in 1828, though in a greater degree. Now for the first time many of the female schools were kept all the year, and the time was fast approaching when girls should have privileges of education on an equality with boys. The only difference at this time was that girls could not go to the masters' schools until they were ten years of age, while boys could attend them at seven. The times were not yet ripe for perfect equality, but it is gratifying to know that public opinion was preparing to recognize women as the intellectual peers of men.
A better equalization of the schools, so far as the number of pupils was concerned, must also be mentioned as a distinguishing characteristic of this period.
The system thus established continued in favor with the School Committee and the town until 1841 without change. The schools kept pace with the demands of the time. The need of a better organization of the educational interests of the Commonwealth brought about, in 1837 (Acts of 1837, chap. 241), the establishment of the Board of Education, "to the end that all children in this Commonwealth, who depend upon common schools for instruction, may have the best education which these schools can be made to impart."
Interest in the cause of education was active throughout the State; and, as in all times of her history, Hingham was mindful of the needs of her children.
In 1841 a modification of the system was adopted, by which the "female schools" in various parts of the town were more carefully graded, and in that year we find for the first time "Primary Schools" established in the West, North, and Middle Districts, and the North District of the South Ward, for the benefit of the youngest children,--the female schools still existing, however, and designated as the "elder" schools in the School Committee's records.
96 History of Hingham.The third period may be considered as ending in 1849, the schools having been conducted upon the system adopted, in its most important parts, in 1828, and with the close of this third period the designation of "male " and "female" schools disappears from our records.
To say that the times had grown to the necessity of another change detracts nothing from the praise justly due to those who inaugurated the system which went into operation in 1828. It was a great advance on that which had preceded it, as that, in its day and generation, was an improvement on the former one "Tempora mutantur et nos in illis mutamur."
The following extract from a letter signed "A." (supposed to be from Mr. A. B. Alcott) to the "Hingham Patriot," July 16, 1847, gives an impression made by our schools at that time:--
"With the schools in Hingham, both public and private, as a whole, I am much pleased. In the first place, I find, with hardly a solitary exception, good schoolhouses. They have been recently built and are spacious, airy, and convenient.
"In teaching, superintending, and visiting schools for about thirty years, I have always taken great pleasure in finding the laws of cleanliness duly regarded. I love to see cleanliness of person, dress, books, furniture, walls, and floors. These I love because they are exceedingly rare--almost as rare as diamonds. They are valuable, moreover, just as diamonds are, in proportion to their scarcity.
"But these precious jewels to which I have alluded abound in Hingham, and I take great pleasure in saying so. I do not indeed, by this affirmation, mean to set the inhabitants of this place over all their neighbors. Many, taking the whole of New England together, are beginning to act nobly in this particular. At present, however, I must say, for truth compels me, I do not recollect to have seen anywhere else such clean schoolhouse walls and floors as in this region."
The fourth period began in 1849. The systematic grading of the schools, which in all its essential details is the plan of to-day, was adopted, and we find in the annual report of the School Committee made in March, 1850, that there were twelve schools supported by the town, viz.: two Primary, four Intermediate, four Grammar, and two Mixed schools. To-day there are three additional Primary schools, which were introduced in those districts where the lntermediate schools had grown uncomfortably large; but no new districts have been formed. The High school has also been added to the number of schools,--making sixteen in all.
As in the former periods, so in this, the town, through its School Committee, has been alive to the best ideas of the best educators; and while a proper spirit of conservatism has always tended to the maintenance of what has been found valuable, by long experience, in methods of teaching, yet with a progressive spirit, the new methods have received their just and adequate consideration. Never a town to be led away by the gloss of "the new" solely because of its newness, it has always been ready to adopt whatever reason dictated as valuable in modern thought. Uniformly liberal in its appropriations, it has always shown a true appreciation of universal education as the strong foundation of our institutions. It has elected upon its School Committee the men in whom it had confidence, and that confidence has been shown by the annual vote for years past "that the regulation of the schools be referred to the School Committee." Nor has that confidence been abused. With a zealous desire to work for the general good, the members of the School Committee have uniformly endeavored to make the schools an honor to the town.
The past twenty years have been years of great activity in educational matters. Their history is too recent for extended comment, and what has been accomplished for the Hingham schools can be readily ascertained from the printed reports of the School Committee. Posterity must judge of the effects.
Two causes may be mentioned as having a stimulating effect upon the work in our schools during these later years: The establishment of the High School caused increased activity in the lower grades; the appointment of a School Superintendent enabled the committee to carry on the work in all the schools on a more systematic and efficient plan.
For comparison with previous regulations, the hours of school sessions and vacations at the present time are here given.
The school year begins on the first Monday of September and embraces forty weeks of school-keeping.
There are two sessions daily in all the schools except the High School, viz.: from 9 to 12, with a recess of fifteen minutes, and from 1.30 to 3.30, without a recess. There is one session in the High School, from 9 to 2 o'clock.
The vacations are Thanksgiving Day and the day following;
a week at Christmas; Fast Day week; a summer vacation of ten weeks. The
holidays are: Saturday of each week; the twenty-second of February; Annual
March-Meeting Day; Decoration Day; Labor Day; two days of the Agricultural
Fair.
"Your committee have come to the deliberate conclusion, after giving much thought and discussion to the subject, that the school system of Hingham can never reach its highest efficiency and success without a faithful Superintendent. No one member of the committee can afford to give the time and attention to school matters which they constantly demand; and it is a work which can be more advantageously attended to by a single person than when divided among several."
98 History of Hingham.They therefore recommended the appointment of a Public School Superintendent, who should be the executive officer of the School Committee, acting under their direction, and directly responsible to them in all school matters. The School Committee would then, under the statutes, be simply a prudential committee, having the charge of the school property, and an advisory board, serving without pecuniary compensation.
The town adopted the recommendation and chose a School Committee of twelve with authority to employ a superintendent.
The following have been elected to that office:--
Rev. JOHN SNYDER . . . . . . 1872-1872 Rev. ALLEN G. JENNINGS . . . 1872-1881 JOHN F. TURGEON . . . . . . 1881-1882 WILLIAM C. BATES . . . . . . 1882-1884 ALLEN P. SOULE . . . . . . . 1884-1887 LOUIS P. NASH . . . . . . . 1887-
The act of 1647 required every township of one hundred
families to maintain a grammar school, whose master should be qualified
to fit boys for the University.
In 1692 the master of this school was to be "well instructed
in the tongues."
In 1789 such a school was to be maintained by towns having
two hundred families, the master of which was to be "well instructed in
the Latin, Greek, and English languages."
The grammar school of those days must not be confounded with those of the same name at the present time. They were understood to be the schools in which Latin and Greek were taught. The grammar school was the head of the system of gradation in the town-schools, and therefore the type of the High School of to-day.
The act of 1826 established our present system of High Schools. Towns of five hundred families were required to maintain one school of the higher grade, but Latin and Greek were not required to be taught until towns had a population of 4000. The increased number of Academies throughout the Commonwealth afforded facilities for classical instruction, and undoubtedly had the effect of eliminating Latin and Greek from the list of required studies in the advanced schools of the smaller towns.
In 1857 (Acts of 1857, chap. 206) the list of studies required to be taught in all the public schools was revised. Latin and several of the sciences were included in those required in the school "for the benefit of the whole town," in towns of 4000 inhabitants. Hingham had grown to this required population, and from this time until the establishment of our High School in 1872, the legal requirements were not carried out. That no such school, in accordance with the requirements of the later statute, was kept in Hingham until 1872 must not be attributed to any desire of the town to avoid the law. The principal reason for this neglect arose probably from the fact that the branches usually taught in High Schools were taught in the Derby Academy, and in great measure the children of the town were furnished with such instruction as to comply with the spirit of the law. Two unsuccessful efforts were made by the town to make the Academy serve the purpose contemplated by the Statute, a more particular account of which will be found in the history of the Academy. But the Academy was not recognized by the Commonwealth as a High School, and the town's portion of the Massachusetts School Fund was consequently withheld. There was no choice for the town. Any inhabitant could demand a free education for his child, such as the law made provision for.
All hope of utilizing the Academy as a High School having disappeared, the town took the necessary action, and in 1872 the Hingham High School became a reality. The school has maintained a high rank from the beginning. Mr. Jacob 0. Sanborn has been its (-unreadable-) teacher from the (-unreadable-) of the school to the present time. To say that this has been fortunate for the town is small measure of praise for one "who has impressed himself upon the youth of the town," in its higher education,with an unfailing attachment of pupils and parents alike.
The school has constantly increased in its annual membership.
Beginning with two regular teachers, their number has been increased to
four.
The whole course is four years, and the studies are arranged so that a Classical or English course may be pursued at the election of the pupil. There is also a special course arranged for those who desire to fit themselves for college or the higher educational institutions.
For twelve years or more, under the energetic superintendence of Mr. Sanborn, there was an organization of the scholars called the "High School Industrial Society." The sweeping of the schoolrooms was done by the members of this society, for which they were paid by the town. With the money thus earned many articles for the permanent benefit of the school were purchased, and it is largely due to the voluntary exertions of this society that our High School has an excellent and valuable collection of chemical and philosophical apparatus.
Rev. John Lewis Russell, who died in Salem, Mass., June 7, 1873, and who was once the minister of the Second Parish in this town, by his will gave "to the Town of Hingham one thousand dollars as a fund to aid in the support of a public High School in that town." This legacy was to be paid after the decease of his wife and his sister, and became available in the latter part of 1889. At the annual meeting, March 3, 1890, the town passed the following vote:--
Education. 101are selected to show the tendency of a steadily increasing cost. Spasms of economy occasionally reduced the amount for a year or two:--
1670 . . . . £24. 1855 . . . $5,212.50. 1695 . . . . 35. 1870 . . . 8,845.33 1715 . . . . 40. 1871 . . . 11,944.10, including music teacher, 1728 . . . . 80. $1,000. 1760 . . . . 90. 1872 . . . 13,961.23, including High School 1765 . . . . 100. one half-year. 1781 . . . . 130. 1873 . . . 15,373.25, including High School 1783 . . . . 144. whole year. 1786 . . . . 200. 1874-1878 12,710.78, lowest, $15,028.22, 1793 . . . . 300. highest. 1884 . . . 15,115.69, including schoolbooks 1828 $2,076.00. one half-year. 1832 . 2,524.78. 1891 . . . 15,820.72, including schoolbooks 1848 . 3,531.84 whole year.
For some ten years previously, the School Committee's records give the numbers on the lists at the several visitations of the Committee during the year. The October visitations show the largest numbers; and in that month, from 1817 to 1827 inclusive, the numbers vary from 457 to 537.
To show how unequally the schools were arranged previously to the new system adopted in 1828, and how impossible it was for a single teacher to accomplish good results, I give the numbers on the lists of a few of the male schools; and it must be remembered that the schoolrooms were much smaller than the smallest in use at the present time.
In 1828 one school had 109 pupils on its list; in 1825 two schools had 87 pupils each; in 1826 five schools had 77, 77, 90, 93, and 99 pupils respectively; in 1827, five schools had 60, 38, 94, 103, and 105 pupils respectively.
The annual returns to the Commonwealth give the following as the numbers belonging to the Public Schools:--
1829 . . . 610. 1870 . . . 670. 1830 . . . 642. 1880 . . . 775. 1849 . . . 664. 1890 . . . 741. 1860 . . . 686.In 1890 the average membership of all the schools was 648.7. The per cent of attendance, based on the average number belonging, was 90.6.
Census of children in town May 1, between five and fifteen years:--
1828 . . . 879. 1860 . . . 837. 1838 . . . 995. 1870 . . . 784. 1848 . . . 864. 1880 . . . 696. 1850 . . . 747. 1890 . . . 559.
102 History of Hingham.
"The foundation of the Poor and School Fund was laid in the action of the proprietors of the undivided lands in Hingham, who, at a meeting held April 9, 1788,
"'That the town accept the aforesaid roads and all the Proprietors' ways, and repair them as other Public roads, if necessary.'
"These lands were held by the town, no part being sold until 1818, when, by a special act of the Legislature, entitled 'an act to authorize the town of Hingham to sell real estate,' the inhabitants were empowered at any legal meeting to appoint 'a committee of three discreet freeholders.' who should have power to sell and pass deeds of any and all parcels of land held by said inhabitants. The second section of this act is as follows, viz.:--
"'Be it further enacted that the money which shall be received for the sale of said lands, after deducting all expenses which shall be incurred in the transaction of the business, shall constitute a fund, the interest of which shall be applied exclusively to the support of the Public Schools and the maintenance of the poor of said town. And the Selectmen and Treasurer of said town for the time being shall be trustees of said fund and place the same at interest and apply said interest, as received, to the purposes aforesaid.'
"By an act passed in January, 1819, the provisions of the above-named act were extended 'to all lands within the said town of Hingham held by the original proprietors in common and undivided,' and given to the town by the vote above quoted. The last sale was made in 1864, and the amount received for lands sold to that date, after deducting expense, appears to be $9,738.70. This sum has been loaned to the town, the trustees holding the Treasurer's note for the amount, the same bearing interest it 5 per cent."
There never was a strict compliance with the provisions of the act in devoting the interest directly to the support of the schools and the poor, except in the last year of the existence of the fund, although the town apparently had the benefit of an annual amount of interest credited to the fund. The fact that this interest was annually credited as money received for the purposes named in the act probably did not affect the amount of appropriations for the schools or poor one way or the other. The fund and its interest were merged into the other money of the town, and the whole affair resolved itself into a matter of book-keeping.
By chapter 11 of the Acts of 1880 the previous acts were
abolished, the fund ordered to be paid into the town treasury, and all
money received for land sold after the passage of this act was to be paid
into the treasury of the town for town purposes. The town accepted this
last act March 1, 1880.
The chronological order in which the various schoolhouses in all parts of the town collectively were built, is not followed, as the subject can be presented more clearly if the districts are treated separately.
Let it be remembered that in the earliest days there was
the town; later we have the First, Second (Cohasset), and Third (South
Hingham) Parishes; and later still, the North, Middle, and South Wards.
These divisions were subdivided from time to time.
For the sake of clearness the town is divided into the
districts, which are most familiar at the present time, viz.: (1) North,
(2) West, (3) Middle, (4) Rocky Nook, (5) North district of the South Ward,
and (6) South district of the South Ward.
That a schoolhouse was standing at an early date is evident from an item in the Selectmen's Records for money paid "for worke done about the schoole house" in 1661-2. The date of its erection, and whether it was built at public expense, cannot be ascertained.
In 1668 the town "agreed that there should be a schoolhouse built." Many items in the Selectmen's Records show payments in 1668, 1669, and 1670, for work and materials for the schoolhouse. That the house was actually built in 1668 there can be no doubt if we consider the custom of the day; for one item in the records of that year is for a sum of money paid "for drinks to them that helped to rayse the school house." What became of that building is not known. It served its purpose for seventy-five years,--a worthy record of honest work. In 1743 a new house was built. This continued in use until 1806. In 1769 a committee reported to the town that it was very much out of repair, and that the expense of putting it in proper condition would be fourteen or fifteen pounds; that it was "too streight for the comfortable reception of the children usually attending this school;" that it "has always been supposed to contain the Grammar scholars, and consequently the inhabitants of the other parts of the town have a right to improve it as such;" and that there was a necessity for its being enlarged. The committee recommended its sale to the "highest bidder," and "that £20 be granted by the town, which, together with the money arising from the sale of the old house" should be used for building a new one, 20 X 22 feet.
This report was not accepted, but £10 were granted for the repair of the old house, and in 1770 £6 additional "towards the schoolhouse in the North Parish" were granted; but in 1771 this last grant of £6 was reconsidered and the town "refused to grant anything additional to what was formerly granted towards the expense of the North School House."
After the building of a new one in 1806, this house, built in 1743, was removed, and now forms the rear part of the store of George Hersey & Co., at West Hingham.
In 1806 another house was built "where the old one now stands" similar to the one lately built in the South Parish near Wilder's Bridge (1801).
In 1819 a house for the "female school" was built. This building (-unreadable line-)
Education. 105shop on South Street, and it stands upon its original lot. It continued to be used for the "female school" until the house on Elm Street was enlarged in 1849. In 1840 it was enlarged by an addition of eleven feet to its length. After it was abandoned for the use of a schoolhouse it was let by the town for business purposes, and was finally sold in 1863. It was originally a one-story building.
In 1829 the town voted to build four new schoolhouses, for the "male schools." They were similar in style, the one in North District being larger than the others. The dimensions of the one in this district were 31 X 40 feet, and 13 feet in height, with accommodations for 125 scholars. This building was opened for a school, July 12, 1830, with appropriate exercises, including an address by Rev. Joseph Richardson.
In 1830 the hill in front of the Academy was removed. The house standing thereon, which was the one built in 1806, was removed to the West District, and fitted up for the "female school." Its subsequent history will be found in that district.
In 1848 the town voted to make an addition to the length of the house in Elm Street (built in 1829-30) and to add another story to its height. This house was rededicated in 1849, Rev. Henry Hersey making an appropriate address on the occasion. It is the large schoolhouse which is now in use there.
In 1878 a new one-story house was built for the Intermediate
School upon a lot adjoining the other schoolhouse lot on Elm Street, and
is now in use for that purpose.
106 History of Hingham.In 1829 one of the four schoolhouses voted to be built was located in the West District. Its dimensions were 31 X 34½ feet, and 12 feet high, with accommodations for 100 scholars. It was built upon the lot on South Street, where the West Intermediate School now stands, and was for the "male school." It was opened with appropriate exercises Nov. 23, 1829, which included an address by Caleb Gill, Jr.
The present West Intermediate School is the same building,
enlarged at a later date.
In 1830 the "male-school" house on the hill in front of
the Academy was removed to this same lot in the West District, and fitted
up for the "female school." In 1841 it was enlarged by an addition of 10
feet to its length. It was sold in 1857, removed to Thaxter Street, and
converted into a dwelling-house, where it now stands, owned by Edward Shea.
In 1857 the present two-story schoolhouse on Thaxter Street was built for the accommodation of the Grammar and Primary Schools. It was dedicated Nov. 5, 1857, an address being delivered by Rev. Calvin Lincoln. In the same year the house on South Street (built in 1829) was entirely remodelled inside for the use of the Intermediate School, though not enlarged at this time, but 15 feet were added to its length in 1882.
At Fort Hill the schoolhouse was built in 1850, and dedicated
on the 4th of October in that year. Nathaniel P. Banks delivered an address
on that occasion. This is the only schoolhouse which has been built by
the town in that part of the West District.
In 1721 a schoolhouse was erected "near to Peter Ripley's."
This was in the vicinity of the junction of Main and Pond Streets. This
house was removed in 1728 to "Great Plain," and its subsequent history
will be found in the South District.
There appears to have been no other schoolhouse "on the
plain" until 1758. The distance not great to the school in "the town" and
it was no great hardship for those who thirsted for knowledge to "resort
to" that school. In 1758 the committee appointed for the purpose fixed
upon a site for a new schoolhouse in the southeast part of the First Precinct
as follows: "A spot of ground in the west part of Daniel Waters' Home lot,
near to Jonathan Burr's house in the highway leading to Isaac Lane's."
The town accepted the site, but whether the schoolhouse was actually built
there is not certain. The site would be very near the entrance to the Cemetery,
where Short Street intersects School Street, within the present Cemetery
grounds. This building stood on the south side of the Common, near to or
upon the site of Mr. John Leavitt's house before 1799. Possibly it was
moved there in 1797, for the town voted to build a new schoolhouse "on
the Plain in the North Parish" and the School Committee were directed to
re- (-unreadable line-) advantage after the new one was built. It was not
sold at this time. This building seems never to have rested in one place
very long. It had found its way, before 1818, to another spot; for the
town voted in that year that "the old schoolhouse that stands near the
old Alms House, be removed to some suitable place and put in sufficient
repair to keep the female school in." It found its way to a point near
the present Grammar-school house, though somewhat north of it, within the
present limits of the Cemetery. In 1829 it was sold, removed first to Middle
Street, then near the steamboat landing, and finally to Cobb's Bank (Green
Street), where it was converted into a dwelling-house, and is still standing.
The house built in 1797 for the "male school" stood on
the site above described as the "west part of Daniel Waters' Home lot."
Its dimensions were 19 x 27 feet. In 1829 it was removed to the site of
the old "female-school" house, sold in the year above-mentioned, and occupied
by the "female school." In this same year, 1829, another of the four new
schoolhouses in the town was built in the Middle District, upon the spot
where the previous house had stood. Its dimensions were 31 x 34½
feet and 12 feet high, with accommodations for 100 scholars. It was opened
with appropriate exercises, including an address by Solomon Lincoln, Jr.,
Nov. 24, 1829, and was for the "male school."
In 1848 both schoolhouses, being within the burial-ground, were removed to the lot upon which the houses now stand, the "male-school" house (1829) being put upon the site of the present Grammar-school house and the "female-school" house (1797) in the rear.
In 1857 the house built in 1797, which had been enlarged in 1840 by an addition of 10 feet in length, was sold at public auction and removed in two parts to Hobart Street, nearly opposite the Pound, and converted into two small dwelling-houses, which are now standing. The house built in 1829 was moved further back upon the lot, and subsequently occupied as an armory by the Lincoln Light Infantry.
In this same year, 1857, the present two-story schoolhouse
was built for the accommodation of two schools. It was dedicated Nov. 9,
1857, an address being delivered by Henry Edson Hersey.
In 1875 the "Armory" was fitted up for the Intermediate
School, and in 1883 it was again altered and enlarged.
108 History of Hingham.In 1821 the School Committee, under instruction from the town to consider the subject of "a schoolhouse at Rocky Nook," reported the following:--
"The building which has been for some time past used as a schoolhouse is now very much out of repair. It can be purchased for twenty dollars. The probable expense of purchasing, repairing, and moving it to some more central situation for the district would amount to sixty dollars. It would be for the interest of the town to purchase, repair, and move to some more convenient situation the building alluded to than to build a new one."
The report was accepted and the Selectmen directed to carry the same into effect.
The location of this house was in a bend of the road on Weir Street, not far from East Street. It was a small building about twelve or fourteen feet square. After it ceased to be used for a school in 1841, it was sold, removed to the other end of Weir Street, and made into a dwelling-house. A few years after 1850 it disappeared altogether.
In 1841 a new house was built on Hull Street, near the present North Cohasset railroad station. The house and lot were sold in 1859 to James Beal, who with additions converted it into the dwelling-house in which he now resides. It stands on its original location.
In 1857 the town voted to build a now schoolhouse similar
to the one at Fort Hill. Its location was the subject of much discussion
in town-meeting for nearly a year. It was dedicated May 2, 1859, and was
situated on Canterbury Street, named in honor of Cornelius Canterbury,
the earliest settler in that part of the town, and an extensive landholder
there. The lot contains an acre, which, together with that portion of the
street which is between the schoolhouse lot and Hull Street, was presented
to the town by David A. Simmons of Roxbury. Rev. Henry Hersey delivered
the address at the dedication. It is the same house which is now occupied
by the mixed school of that district.
In 1728 the town voted "that Great Plain should have liberty to remove the schoolhouse (near Peter Ripley's) where it shall best accommodate them, provided they do the same at their own cost and charge."
This house was moved from the Middle District to "near Theophilus Cushing's," as it is described in 1730. In 1752 allusion is made to it as standing "in the front of Mr. Shute's land," when liberty was granted to remove it "to some more convenient place." The location above mentioned was in the highway near the junction of Main and South Pleasant streets. In 1830 this house was sold and moved to a lot on Main Street a few rods north of High Street, where it became an addition to lately owned by the High Street Cemetery Association, but now demolished.
In 1801 a new schoolhouse was built on land of Captain Edward Wilder on Friend Street, near to Main Street. In 1830 this house was removed to the lot on Main Street on which "the new schoolhouse now stands," just south of the present schoolhouse lot.
One of the four new schoolhouses ordered to be built in 1829 was in this district. It was 31 X 34½ feet and 12 feet in height, with accommodations for 100 scholars. Its location was, as just stated, on Main Street. It was opened with appropriate exercises, including an address by Rev. Charles Brooks, Aug. 2, 1830.
These two houses, built in 1801 and 1830 respectively, were sold, after the building of a new one in 1848, to Joseph Jacobs, and converted into dwelling-houses. The earlier one (1801) was subsequently sold and removed to Whiting Street, Hanover, near the line of Rockland, where it now stands, belonging to John Damon. The later one (1830) still stands just south of the present schoolhouse, on its original site, the property of Mrs. Joshua Leavitt.
In 1848 the present house was built. It was the first two-story
schoolhouse built in the town, and was originally for the accommodation
of two schools. In 1874 it was enlarged for the accommodation of three
schools.
In 1781 a schoolhouse was built on the east side of Main
Street, where the Widow Solomon Gardner's house now stands. At some time
later than 1796 it was sold and moved farther south to the opposite side
of Main Street, where it was attached to the dwelling-house now known as
the Howard Gardner house, and used as some kind of a workshop.
In 1796 a house was built on the corner of Scotland and
Main streets. This house was 19 X 25 feet. It was sold in 1843 and is now
standing and occupied as a dwelling-house on the Isaac Burrill estate at
South Hingham.
In 1822 there is mention of "the female school in the
South Parish near the Turnpike," and in 1823 the Selectmen agreed with
Jeremiah Gardner for the purchase of the "west schoolhouse near the Turnpike
for $85." This was on Gardner Street.
In 1826 the Scotland-Street house was thoroughly repaired.
At this time the Gardner-Street house was abandoned for school purposes,
and in 1830 it was sold and removed to West Scituate to be made into a
dwelling-house.
In 1843 the present schoolhouse on the east side of Main
Street at Liberty Plain was built and is occupied by the South Mixed School.
It was dedicated Oct. 31, 1843, an address being delivered by Rev. John.
L. Russell.
110 History of Hingham.
It is probable that a schoolhouse was first erected in
Cohasset soon after 1730. In that year the town refused to build a schoolhouse
there, but it
In 1734 £10 were granted to Cohasset, over and above what had already been granted it towards the erecting a schoolhouse in "sd Precinct."
Money was paid from the town treasury in 1743 and in 1753 for repairs on the schoolhouse in this district.
Cohasset was incorporated as a separate town in 1770.
The following Second Precinct records confirm the above
records of the town:--
"Dec. 30, 1731: It was voted to build a schoolhouse in the second precinct."
That a schoolhouse was begun but not finished would seem probable, as we find--
"Oct. 7, 1734: Voted, To proceed in building a schoolhouse, and that the frame now raised should be continued and finished."
It is probable, therefore, that 1734 is the year which
must be accepted as that in which the first schoolhouse in this precinct
was built. It stood on the Plain, according to the Report of the School
Committee of Cohasset for 1876-77, "between where the houses of Captain
Samuel Hall and Mr. Zenas Lincoln are now located." There was only one
schoolhouse there until 1792.
1670 Henry Smith . . . 1672 1685 Thomas Palmer . . . 1687 1673 James Bate, Sr. . 1678 1688 Samuel Shepard . . 1690 1674 Joseph Andrews . 1675 1690 Richard Henchman . 1692 1676 Benjamin Bate . . 1676 1693 Joseph Estabrook . 1705 1679 Matthew Hawke . . 1679 1697 Jedidiah Andrews . 1697 Education. 111 1697 John Norton . . . 1713 1787 Molly Loring . . . 1787 1705 John Odlin . . . 1706 1787 Mary Gardner . . . 1787 1706 Joseph Marsh . . 1707 1788 Thomas Loring, 3d . 1788 1708 Daniel Lewis . . 1712 1788 Levi Lincoln . . . 1788 1712 Jonathan Cushing 1713 1788 Abner Lincoln . . . 1788 1714 Job Cushing . . . 1718 1788 James Smith . . . . 1788 1717 Samuel Thaxter . 1717 1788 Peter Jacob . . . . 1788 1717 Adam Cushing . . 1720 1794 Polly Cushing . . . 1796 1717 Mr. Allen . . . . 1718 1794 Hannah Cushing . . 1794 1718 Cornelius Nye . . 1745 1794 Mrs. Joseph Loring 1794 1734 Richard Rand . . 1734 1794 Rebeckah Hearsey . 1796 1735 Samuel Holbrook . 1735 1794 Jenny Cushing . . . 1794 1737 Benjamin Pratt . 1737 1794 James Warren . . . 1794 1737 Mr. Jommings . . 1737 1794 Mr. Goold . . . . . 1794 1742 Isaac Lincoln . . 1757 1794 Crocker Wilder . . 1819 1745 James Humphrey . 1747 1794 Joseph Jacob . . . 1798 1747 Ambrose Low . . . 1758 1794 John Morse . . . . 1798 1747 Jonathan Darby . 1749 1794 Mr. Collier . . . . 1794 1748 Dea Lazarus Beal's sone . . . 1748 1796 Polly Simmons . . . 1796 1749 Matthew Cushing . 1749 1796 Patty Whiton . . . 1819 1749 Cotton Tufts . . 1751 1796 Lydia Cushing . . . 1796 1750 Samuel French . . 1751 1796 William Cushing . . 1798 1752 Thomas Brown . . 1752 1796 Jerusha Lincoln . . 1796 1752 Jonathan Vinal . 1754 1796 Elijah Whiton . . . 1796 1753 Samuel Cushing . 1754 1796 Joseph Stockbridge 1796 1753 Theophilus Cushing1753 1796 Gael Tower . . . . 1796 1754 Samuel Foxcroft . 1754 1796 William Norton . . 1796 1755 Joseph Stockbridge1755 1798 Doct. Marsh . . . . 1798 1756 Jonathan Gay . . 1756 1798 Mr. Lincoln . . . . 1798 1758 Mr. Bowman . . . 1759 1801 Samuel Heath . . . 1801 1759 Jotham Gay . . . 1759 1805 Abel Cushing . . . 1812 1759 Jotham Lincoln . 1759 1805 Jotham Lincoln . . 1806 1759 David Lincoln . . 1782 1805 Martin Thaxter . . 1806 1760 Simeon Howard . . 1762 1805 Mr. Studley . . . . 1806 1761 Joseph Lewis . . 1778 1809 Artemus Hale . . . 1814 1762 Paul Lewis . . . 1776 1811 Mary Lincoln . . . 1813 1763 Thomas Phipps . . 1768 1811 Martha Marshall . . 1811 1766 Thomas Loring, Jr.1778 1811 Emma Jacob . . . . 1811 1768 Asa Dunbar . . . 1768 1811 Polly Barnes . . . 1815 1768 Jacob Cushing . . 1772 1811 Ann Hersey . . . . 1811 1768 Joseph Thaxter . 1778 1811 Christiana Cushing 1820 1770 Mr. Fisher . . . 1771 1811 Cynthia Gardner . . 1811 1771 Hawke Fearing, Jr.1772 1811 William Brown . . . 1811 1772 Joshua Barker, Jr.1772 1811 Josiah Bowers . . . 1811 1773 Nathan Rice . . . 1773 1811 Artemus Brown . . . 1811 1781 Bezaliel Howard . 1782 1811 William Gragg . . . 1811 1781 Caleb Marsh . . . 1788 1811 Silers Armsby . . . 1811 1781 James Lincoln . . 1782 1811 Jerom Loring . . . 1821 1782 Thomas Loring,4th 1787 1812 Abel Wilder . . . . 1812 1782 Heman Lincoln . . 1783 1813 John Milton Reed . 1813 1782 Thomas Hutchison 1782 1813 Duncan McB. Thaxter 1817 1782 John Andrews . . 1782 1813 Lydia Gill . . . . 1814 1783 Thomas Loring . . 1783 1813 Sally Tower . . . . 1814 1783 Samuel Gardner . 1784 1813 Roxanna Wilder . . 1815 1784 Ebenezer Bowman . 1784 1813 Ruth Marsh . . . . 1813 1785 William Cushing . 1785 1813 Hannah R. Jacobs . 1815 1785 Samuel Marsh . . 1785 1813 John Chase . . . . 1813 1786 George Lane . . . 1788 1814 Benjamin Chamberlain1815 1786 Henry Lincoln . . 1787 1814 Lydia Souther . . . 1815 1786 Jairus Beal . . . 1786 1814 Joana Whiton(Whiting)1815 112 History of Hingham. 1815 Mr. Loring . . . 1815 1828 Charles Gordon . . 1829 1815 Melzar Flagg . . 1818 1829 Sarah Wilder . . . 1833 1815 Joseph Wilder, Jr.1828 1829 Rachel Hersey . . . 1829 1815 Martha Whiton (Whiting) . . . . 1822 1829 Joseph Tilson . . . 1832 1815 Lucy Lane . . . . 1815 1829 I. Pierce . . . . . 1830 1815 Harriet Wilder . 1815 1830 J. Sprague . . . . 1830 1817 Henry Hersey . . 1817 1830 James S. Russell . 1831 1817 John Sargent . . 1817 1830 Susan B. Hersey . . 1840 1817 Thomas Hobart . . 1818 1830 T. N. Keith . . . . 1831 1817 Deborah Todd . . 1819 1831 Emeline Cushing . . 1832 1817 Ophelia Davis . . 1817 1831 Abigail Gardner . . 1831 1817 Mary Hapgood . . 1827 1831 Thomas P. Ryder . . 1832 1817 Joanna Wilder . . 1819 1831 Mary F. Hobart . . 1832 1817 Abigail B. Whiting1817 1831 Olive Stephenson . 1840 1818 Ivory H. Lucas . 1821 (see Olive Corbett) 1818 Nathaniel Clark . 1827 1831 J. P. Washburn . . 1832 1818 Joshua Studley . 1818 1832 Emily N. Gray . . . 1832 1818 Abigail T. Bowers 1821 1832 Jason Reed . . . . 1832 1818 Martha C. Wilder 1818 1832 Esther F. Sturgis . 1832 1818 Deborah Wilder . 1819 1832 Thomas S. Harlow . 1833 1818 Elizabeth Hersey 1818 1832 Oliver March . . . 1832 1819 Seth Gardner, Jr. 1819 1832 Mary Miles . . . . 1833 1819 Lucy Jones . . . 1822 1832 George W. Brown . . 1833 1819 Mary Whiting . . 1824 1832 Charles Harris, Jr. 1833 1819 Sabby Woodworth . 1819 1832 Ira Warren . . . . 1835 1820 Susan Harris . . 1820 1833 Jairus Lincoln . . 1835 1820 Hannah H. Wilder 1831 1833 Catherine Gates . . 1834 1820 Caroline Whiting 1821 1833 Almira S. Seymour . 1834 1821 Winslow Turner . 1827 1833 Frederick Kingman . 1835 1821 P. Southworth . . 1821 1833 Daniel S. Smalley . 1836 1821 Susan Waterman . 1821 1833 Mary Hersey . . . . 1833 1821 Susan Lincoln . . 1826 1833 Abigail G. Wilder . 1840 1821 Ann C. A. Whitney 1821 1833 Hiram Perkins . . . 1834 1821 Bethia Whiting . 1821 1834 Mary L. Hobart . . 1834 1822 Joseph S. Clark . 1822 1834 Susan L. Thaxter . 1836 1822 Joshua Flagg . . 1822 1834 Bertha L. Hobart . 1842 1822 Mary Waterman . . 1822 1834 Benjamin F. Spaulding1836 1822 Harriet T. Bowers 1824 1835 Daniel French . . . 1836 1822 Matilda Wilder . 1822 1835 Adeline Whiton . . 1839 1822 Harriet Lincoln . 1822 1835 Mary F. Wilder . . 1849 1822 Lavinia Whiton . 1822 1835 Quincy Bicknell, Jr.1840 1823 Seth Gardner . . 1826 1835 Clark H. Obear . . 1836 1823 James S. Lewis . 1846 1836 I. F. Moore . . . . 1837 1824 Wealthy B. Jones 1832 1836 Susan M. Lincoln . 1836 1824 Clorina Adams . . 1824 1836 Angelina H. Tower . 1838 1824 Lydia B. Whitney 1830 1836 Benjamin S. Whiting 1844 1824 Sarah Bailey . . 1825 1836 John E. Dix . . . . 1837 1824 Israel Clark . . 1825 1837 Timothy D. Lincoln 1838 1825 Capt. Malbon . . 1827 1837 Frederick D. Lincoln1838 (see Micajah Malbon) 1837 Ephraim Capen . . . 1838 1825 Miss Shute . . . 1825 1838 Edwin W. Peirce . . 1839 1827 Theophilus Cushing1832 1838 Joseph D. Peirce . 1839 1827 Lydia M. Hobart . 1831 1839 Mary L. Gardner . . 1843 1827 Catherine Beal . 1833 1839 Joel Pierce . . . . 1839 1827 Mary Wilder . . . 1828 1839 William F. Dow . . 1840 1827 Miss L. Whiton . 1827 1839 Hosea H. Lincoln . 1843 1827 Miss L. Bates . . 1827 1839 Davis J. Whiting . 1840 1828 William C. Grout 1828 1840 Darius A. Dow . . . 1842 1828 John Maynard . . 1829 1840 Jotham Lincoln, Jr. 1841 1828 Abijah W. Draper 1830 1840 Jane S. Hobart . . 1843 Education. 113 1840 Helen E. Cushing 1847 1852 Elizabeth Hill . . 1852 1840 Sidney Sprague . 1843 1852 George Pratt . . . 1853 1841 Mary F. Hobart . 1841 1852 Miss M. L. Prentiss 1854 1841 Susan F. Wilder . 1847 1852 Augusta C. Litchfield1853 1841 Mary B. Ripley . 1843 1852 Samuel A.W. Parker,Jr.1852 1841 Mary R. Tower . . 1843 1852 William A. Webster 1853 1841 Betsey L. Seymour 1850 1852 Andrew E. Thayer . 1853 (see Elizabeth L. Rogers.) 1852 DeWitt C. Bates . . 1869 1841 Nathaniel Wales . 1843 1852 F. A. French . . . 1853 1842 Mary J. Tower . . 1842 1853 Francis W. Goodale 1853 1842 Hannah M. Lincoln 1846 1853 Frederick W. Wing . 1855 1842 John Kneeland . . 1847 1853 Thomas F. Leonard . 1853 1842 Nathan Lincoln . 1843 1853 Hannah E. Emerson . 1854 1843 Elizabeth S. Cushing . . . 1844 1853 George Chapin . . . 1854 1843 Betsey Shute . . 1844 1853 Maria A. Clapp . . 1854 1843 Sarah A. Howard . 1843 1854 Lemuel C. Grosvenor 1855 1843 William B. Tower 1844 1854 Mary S. Litchfield 1854 1843 Micajah Malbon . 1845 1854 Joanna K. Howard . 1857 (see Capt. Malbon) 1854 Sarah L. Cushing . 1854 1843 Mary R. Whiton . 1844 1854 Franklin Jacobs . . 1855 (and 1864-1865) 1844 George W. Beal . 1849 1854 Elizabeth T. Bailey 1856 1844 Richard Edwards,Jr.1846 1855 Francis M. Hodges . 1856 1844 Olive Corbett . . 1849 1855 Daniel E. Damon . . 1858 (see Olive Stephenson.) 1855 Henry J. Boyd . . . 1856 1845 Hannah B. Guild . 1846 1855 Mrs. A. S. Wakefield1856 1845 Thomas B. Norton 1845 1855 George Bowers . . . 1856 1845 Alson A. Gilmore 1845 1855 James B. Everett . 1856 1845 John A. Goodwin . 1846 1856 Ann S. Snow . . . . 1857 1845 G. S. Chapin . . 1846 1856 John W. Willis . . 1857 1846 H. Chapin . . . . 1849 1856 Lois M. Newcomb . . 1856 1846 William P. Hayward1850 1856 William H. Mayhew . 1858 1847 Mr. Gilmore . . . 1847 1856 Joseph B. Read . . 1857 1847 Sylvander Hutchinson . . . 1852 1856 Mary H. Tower . . . 1863 1847 Mary E. Nash . . 1860 1857 Olive M. Hobart . . 1870 1848 Anna H. Tower . . 1850 1857 Annie L. White . . 1858 1848 Mr. Kingman . . . 1848 1857 Susan P. Adams . . 1858 1848 Rebecca D. Corbett1851 1857 Adeline V. Wood . . 1857 1848 Julia A. Muzzey . 1852 1857 Ellen M. Davis . . 1864 1848 George R. Dwelley 1849 1857 George Farwell . . 1858 1849 Susan H. Cushing 1860 1857 David G. Grosvenor 1857 1849 Paul B. Merritt . 1855 1857 Mr. G. S. Webster . 1857 and 1871 to 1879 1857 Emma C. Webster . . 1859 1849 Perez Turner, 2d 1850 1858 Emily J. Tucker . . 1862 1849 Mary E. Riddle . 1886 1858 Edmund Cottle . . . 1860 1849 Miss A. Waters . 1851 1858 Wales B. Thayer . . 1860 1849 Mr. A. G Boyden . 1850 1858 Benjamin C. Vose . 1859 1850 G. C. Smith . . . 1851 1859 Harriet J. Gardner 1868 1850 Miss I. W. Clark 1851 1859 Laura D. Loring . . 1859 1850 Mr. H. A. Pratt . 1850 1859 Susan P. Adams . . 1859 1850 Ann C. Sprague . 1853 1859 George B. Hanna . . 1860 1850 Samuel Paul . . . 1855 1859 Soreno E.D. Currier 1860 1850 Ira Moore . . . . 1850 1860 Mary E. Hobart . . 1860 1851 Catherine H. Hobart1881 1860 Ellen Williams . . 1861 1851 Grace L. Sprague 1853 1860 Mr. J.W. Josselyn . 1860 1851 Bradford Tucker . 1854 1860 William E. Endicott 1860 1851 Almira G. Paul . 1851 1860 Pliny S. Boyd . . . 1862 1851 Thomas H. Barnes 1852 1860 Martha B. Corthell 1868 1851 Ellen McKendry . 1852 1860 Elizabeth L. Rogers 1871 1852 Susan G. Hedge . 1855 (see Betsey Seymour.) 1852 L. L. Paine . . . 1852 1860 Sarah J. Hersey, 1860,1864,1865 VOL (-unreadable-) 114 History of Hingham. 1860 Susan L. Hersey . 1879 1879 Emma I. Brown . . . 1889 1860 Alfred Bunker . . 1863 1879 Lucy W. Cain . . . 1882 1861 Eben H. Davis . . 1862 1879 Alice M. Merrill . 1880 1862 Margaret E. Lefler1862 1879 Edith E. Taggart . 1883 1862 Mary A. Bates . . 1862 1879 Edgar R. Downs . . 1879 1862 Ellen Lincoln . . 1875 1879 Viola M. White . . 1879 1862 Byron Groce . . . 1865 1880 Nelson Freeman . . 1883 1862 William H. Gurney 1863 1880 Alice Shepard . . . 1880 1863 Hosah G. Goodrich 1879 1880 John F. Turgeon . . 1881 1863 F. Josephine Randall (Appointed Superintendent.) . . . . 1863 1863 Arthur S. Lake . 1864 1881 Gustavus F. Guild . 1883 1864 Mary A. Bates . . 1864 1881 Lizzie H. Powers . 1881 1864 James E. Parker . 1864 1881 Mary A. Gage . . . 1882 1864 Jacob 0. Sanborn, 1865; 1881 Mrs. Wallace Corthell1886 and after 1872,High School. 1882 John S. Emerson . . 1885 1865 Mary S. Stoddard 1866 1882 Charles H. Morse . 1883 1865 Mehitable W. Seymour . . . . 1874 1882 Susan E. Barker . . 1883 1865 Alonzo Meserve . 1865 1882 Irene I. Lincoln . 1885 1866 Charles M. Tucker 1866 1882 Harriet N. Sands . 1883 1866 Nathan T. Soule . 1874 1883 Willard S. Jones . 1885 1866 John G. Knight . 1869 1883 James H. Burdett . 1885 1867 Abby G. Hersey . 1871 1883 Arthur Stanley . . 1884 1868 Mary E. Hobart . 1876 1883 Adair F. Bonney . . 1890 1868 L. Webster Bates 1869 1883 Mary I. Longfellow 1883 1868 Elizabeth L. Stodder . . . . . 1886 1883 Charlotte B. Harden 1885 1868 George T. Chandler1882 1883 Emma L. Thayer . . 1890 1869 Joseph 0. Burdett 1869 1883 Martha B. Beale . . 1888 1869 Simeon J. Dunbar 1870 1884 Agnes Peirce . . . 1886 1870 Thomas H. Treadway1871 1884 William H. Farber . 1886 1870 M. Anna Hobart . 1876 1885 Lucy M. Adams . . . 1885 1870 Lydia A. LeBaron 1874 1885 E. Harriot Curtis . 1889 1871 Elisha C. Sprague 1879 1885 Edwin H. Holmes . . 1888 1871 Esther J. Cushing 1872 1885 Hugh J. Molloy . . 1887 1871 J. M. W. Pratt . 1871 1885 Louis P. Nash . . . 1887 1871 Cassia M. Barrows 1871 (Appointed Superintendent.) 1871 Anna P. Lane . . 1873 1885 Lilian M. Hobart . 1889 1871 Leonard B. Marshall1874 1885 Mary W. Bates . . . 1889 (music) 1872 Ella J. Corthell 1873 1886 Gracia E. Read . . 1888 1873 Martha F. Bailey 1875 1886 Henry H. Williams . 1887 1873 Lydia A. Whiton . 1876 1886 Maud E. Roberts . . 1891 1874 Sara A. Hammett . 1875 1886 Ida F. Spears . . . 1889 1874 Joanna W. Penniman1876 1887 George W. Winslow . 1889 1874 Mary A. Shea . . 1876 1887 James S. Perkins . 1888 1874 Orra B. Hersey . 1882 1887 David B. Chamberlain1888 1874 Alfred H. Bissell 1886 1887 S. Elizabeth Bates. (music) 1875 Harriet L. Gardner1876 1887 A. E. Bradford (music). 1875 Fannie O. Cushing. 1887 Helen Howard. 1875 Katharine W. Cushing . . . . . 1879 1888 Harry N. Andrews . 1890 1876 Hannah K. Harden 1879 1888 E. Marion Williams 1889 1876 Tilson A. Mead . 1878 1888 David Bentley . . . 1888 1876 Mary A. Crowe. 1888 Henry B. Winslow . 1889 1877 Mary F. Andrews. 1889 Alvan R. Lewis . . 1890 1877 Helen Whiton . . 1883 1889 Alice M. Ryan . . . 1890 1877 Lena C. Partridge 1877 1889 Ernest H. Leavitt. 1878 William C. Bates 1882 1889 Charles G. Wetherbee1890 (Appointed Superintendent) 1889 Annie Sawyer . . . 1890 1878 Abbie G. Gould . 1878 1889 Annie C. Lawrence . 1890 1879 Evelyn Smalley . 1884 1889 Murray H. Ballou . 1892 1879 Philander A. Gay 1882 1889 Priscilla Whiton . 1891 Education. 115 1890 J. Quinsy Litchfield. 1891 Alice S. Hatch. 1890 Julian L. Noyes. 1891 Lucy W. Harden. 1890 Katherine D. Jones1891 1891 Edith L. Easterbrook189? 1890 Edward H. Delano 1891 1891 Ellen B. Marsh. 1890 Mabel S. Robbins. 1892 Edith H. Wilder. 1890 Lillian M. Kennedy1891 1892 Edgar W. Farwell . 189? 1891 Hannah E. Coughlan. 1892 Charles A. Jenney. 1891 Margaret Hickey. 1893 Gertrude W. Groce. 1891 Helen Peirce.
Sarah Langlee (the name being the same as Langle, Langley Longly, and Longle, on our records), the daughter of John Langlee and Hannah, his wife, was born April 18, 1714.
She is described as being possessed of great beauty, and without the advantages of early education. She was doubtless illiterate, but her lack of education has been exaggerated. It has been said that she could not write her own name. This is not true for she wrote many letters and signed her own name to them. Her signature may be seen on her will and other papers in the Suffolk County Registry of Probate. Many amusing anecdotes are told to illustrate her peculiarities, but they are founded upon no stronger evidence than tradition and ought not to he related as facts in history. It, seems sufficiently evident, however, that it was her beauty which attracted the attention of Dr. Ezekiel Hersey, -- a graduate of Harvard College in 1728, and an eminent physician in his native town of Hingham, where he practised his profession for many years, -- for she was married to him July 30, 1738. Dr. Hersey died Dec. 9, 1770, and his wife survived him. We can well believe that she was comely, for, although she had reached the age of fifty-seven, another admirer presented himself and she was married to Richard Derby, of Salem, Oct. 16, 1771. Mr. Derby died Nov. 9, 1783, his wife surviving him. Mrs. Derby died in Hingham June 17, 1790, aged seventy-six, and was buried in Dr. Gay's tomb in the cemetery back of the meeting-house of the First Parish.
Dr. Ezekiel Hersey was a man of means and charitable. It has been said that the Derby Academy was first established by him and placed on a firm foundation by Madam Derby at her death. There is no evidence of such a fact. It is undoubtedly true that the property which enabled Madam Derby to establish the institution was derived from Dr. Hersey, and it would have been a delicate acknowledgment of the fact had she given it the name of "Hersey School;" but there is not substantial evidence to show that the idea originated in any mind but her own. It is fair to presume that the charitable character and education of Dr. Hersey would have led him to suggest to his wife such a disposition of his property after she was done with it. It is quite as probable that Madam Derby, sensible of her own lack of early education with a (-unreadable-)
116 History of Hingham.ence like her own in this respect, might herself have conceived of this charity.
The first formal act of Madam Derby for the establishment of a school was the execution by her of a Deed of Bargain and Sale, dated Oct. 20, 1784, and a Deed of Lease and Release, dated Oct. (-unreadable line-)
Education. 117
Signed, Sealed and Delivered in presence of us. SARAH DERBY. (Seal.) BENJa CUSHING. WILLIAM CUSHING.
118 History of Hingham.
To have and to hold the said land and buildings with all the privileges, easements and appurtenances thereto belonging, to them the said EBENEZER, DANIEL, JOHN, BENJAMIN, COTTON, RICHARD, WILLIAM, NATHAN, JOHN and BENJAMIN, their heirs and assigns forever to the use of the said SARAH during her life, and from after her decease, then to the use of the said EBENEZER, DANIEL, JOHN, BENJAMIN, COTTON, RICHARD, WILLIAM, NATHAN, JOHN and BENJAMIN, their heirs and assigns forever, upon such trust, nevertheless, and to and for such intents and purposes as are hereinafter mentioned, expressed and declared of and concerning the said premises, that is to say:
Upon trust and to the intent and purpose that the said EBENEZER, DANIEL, JOHN, BENJAMIN, COTTON, RICHARD, WILLIAM, NATHAN, JOHN and BENJAMIN, as soon as may be after said SARAH'S decease, lease out and improve to the best advantage, the said land and buildings, except such parts thereof as are hereafter otherwise appropriated, and appropriate the rents and profits arising therefrom, for and towards the maintenance and support of a School for the teaching of the Youth of the aforesaid north parish of Hingham and others, and all of the age and description hereinafter mentioned, in such arts and branches of literature as are also hereinafter set forth: said School to be subject to such rules, orders and regulations, as the said Trustees, their survivors, or successors may think fit from time to time to prescribe, that is to say:
The said School is to be maintained and supported as aforesaid, for the instruction of all such males as shall be admitted therein, in the Latin, Greek, English and French languages, and in the sciences of the Mathematics and Geography; and all such females as shall be admitted therein, in writing and in the English and French languages, arithmetic, and the art of needlework in general.
And this grant, release and confirmation, is on this further trust, that the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, immediately after said SARAH's decease, elect and appoint a Preceptor for the said School, skilled in the art of writing, in the sciences aforesaid, and in the Latin, Greek and English languages, and the sciences of mathematics and geography, whose business it shall be to teach the females aforesaid, the art of writing; also, the English language and the science of Mathematics; and the males aforesaid, in the Latin, Greek and English languages. And shall also, as soon as may be after said SARAH'S decease, elect and appoint a sensible, discreet woman skilled in the art of needle work, whose business, it shall be to instruct therein the females that shall be admitted as aforesaid.
And the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is on this further trust, that the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, admit into the said School all such males of the said north parish from twelve years old and upwards, and all such females from nine years old and upwards, whose parents, guardians or patrons, may desire the same. And at an age under twelve years, when any male is intended for an admission to Harvard College, at the discretion of the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, subject however to the following condition; that is to say, no scholar of either sex or of any description, shall be admitted to any of the advantages of the said School, unless he or she supply for the use thereof, such a proportion of fire-wood, and at such seasons as the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, shall direct. And further, each individual of the said Trustees or their successors, shall forever have a right of sending two scholars to the said School, one of each sex. And this grant, release and confirmation, is also on this trust, that they, their survivors or successors, admit to the said School, such scholars so nominated and sent, provided they be of the age or description mentioned and made of those to be admitted from the parish aforesaid. And also all such males from the south parish of said Hingham, intended for an admission to the College aforesaid, under the age of twelve years, at the discretion of the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, whose parents, guardians or patrons, may desire the same. And also all such males from the said south parish, above twelve years old, as desire to be instructed in the art of surveying, navigation and their attendant branches of the mathematics, at the request of their parents, guardians or patrons.
Provided, however, that such last mentioned scholars and all others that shall ever be admitted to the said School, be subject to the condition above mentioned, with respect to their proportionable supply of firewood.
120 History of Hingham.And no persons except such as are above mentioned and described, shall on any pretence be ever admitted to the said School, unless the number of female scholars in the said School be less than thirty, or the number of males less than forty, in either of which cases, the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, may admit such a number as shall increase the number of female scholars to thirty, and the number of male to forty; preference forever to be given to such poor Orphans whose guardians or patrons shall request their admittance.
And the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is on this further trust, that the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, appropriate to the use of the scholars aforesaid, the two largest rooms in the dwelling-house standing on the land aforesaid, fronting westerly on the road; the lower room for the use of the males, the upper for the use of the females. But if the said rooms or either, at the time of the said SARAH'S decease, shall be unfit or shall afterwards become so through age or any accidents, or shall be totally destroyed, they shall out of the rents and profits aforesaid, rebuild or repair the same, as the case may be, upon the same place if possible, and if not, then they shall provide some other convenient place, provided the same be always central to the said north parish, as near as may be.
And the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is on this further trust, that the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, annually, after said SARAH's decease, appoint some able minister of the Gospel to deliver in the said north parish, a sermon to the said scholars, for the purpose of inculcating such principles as are suited to form the mind to virtue; for which, from the rents and profits aforesaid, he shall receive the sum of six pounds lawful money.
And the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is on this further trust, that out of the rents and profits aforesaid, the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, always keep the buildings aforesaid and the fences on the land in good repair, and discharge all taxes that may be assessed thereon; and after such repairs are made, taxes discharged, and all charges that may accrue in the execution of the several trusts aforesaid are paid, the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, shall pay the residue, if the whole should be found necessary, to the Preceptor and Mistress aforesaid, at such times, and in such proportion to each, as said Trustees, their survivors or successors, shall find necessary and convenient; and if any money shall then be found remaining from the rents and profits aforesaid, the same are to be loaned on interest upon good security, at the discretion of the said Trustees, their survivors or successors, and the interest thereof appropriated to such uses and purposes, as in, the opinion of said Trustees, their survivors or successors, will most contribute to the interest and most promote the end and design of instituting and founding the School aforesaid.
And further, it shall forever be the duty of said Trustees, their survivors or successors, in case either the said Preceptor or the said Mistress misbehave in the aforesaid employments, or become unequal to their discharge through age, sickness or any infirmity of body or mind, to remove them or either of them, and appoint others in their stead, and so do from time to time, as often as any Preceptor or Mistress shall decease, misbehave, or become unfit as aforesaid; and also dismiss any scholar of either sex from said School who shall conduct him or herself with impropriety so as to infringe the rules of the School.
Education. 121And the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is on this further trust, that whenever one of the said Trustees shall decease, that then the survivors of them shall convey the premises to a new Trustee, such as they shall elect, to hold to him and his heirs, to the use of such new Trustee and the surviving Trustees, their heirs and assigns upon the trusts before mentioned; and so from time to time as often as any one Trustee shall decease.
Provided, however, that never more than four of said Trustees belong to or be inhabitants of said Hingham. And provided also, that in case either of the aforenamed Trustees should decease before the said SARAH, that then the said uses to the new Trustee and surviving Trustees be limited to take place not until, but immediately after the decease of the said SARAH.
It is however further agreed by all the parties to these
presents, that in case the said SARAH should, in her life time, release
to the said Trustees her estate for life in the premises, that then the
said Trustees shall be immediately seized thereof to the uses, trusts,
intents and purposes aforesaid, in as full and as ample a manner as if
the said SARAH had in fact deceased.
And to the intent that the trusts aforesaid may the more
effectually be carried into execution, and that the said School and its
funds, of which it may now or hereafter be possessed, may be placed upon
a firmer basis, it is further agreed by and between all the parties to
these presents, and the aforesaid grant, release and confirmation is also
on this further trust and confidence, that the said Trustees, their survivors
or successors, shall, within one year from the day of the date of these
presents, apply to and obtain from the Legislature of this said Commonwealth,
an act, incorporating them, or their survivors or successors, to be appointed
as aforesaid, into a body politic by the name of the Trustees of Derby
School, whereby all the lands and buildings aforesaid, with all their privileges,
easements and appurtenances, shall be confirmed to the said Trustees in
their corporate capacity, and to their successors in trust forever, for
the use and purposes, and upon the trusts, which in this said Deed of Lease
and Release are mentioned, expressed and declared; and also enabling them,
the said Trustees, to receive by gift, grant, bequest or otherwise, any
other lands, tenements or other estate, real or personal, to be appropriated
according to trusts, intent and design herein before expressed, and further,
to do everything whatsoever necessary to carry the trusts aforesaid into
execution, according to the true meaning of the same.
Provided always, nevertheless, and it is hereby, declared and agreed, by and between all the parties to these presents, and it is their true intent and meaning that it shall and may be lawful for the said SARAH on this condition, but on this only; that if the aforesaid Trustees, their survivors or successors, do not, within the term aforesaid, obtain an Act of Incorporation as aforesaid, at any time during her natural life, at her free will and pleasure, by any writing or writings under her hand and seal, attested by two or more credible witnesses, or by her last will and testament in writing, to be by her signed sealed and published in the presence of three or more credible witnesses, to revoke, alter, or make void, all and every, and any of the use or uses, estate or estates, trust or trusts hereinbefore limited or declared of or concerning the land and buildings aforesaid, and by the same or any other writing or writings to limit, declare or appoint any new use or uses, trust or trusts of and concerning the same or any parts thereof, whereof such revocations shall be made; and so from time to time as often as she shall think fit, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
In Witness whereof, the parties to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals, the day and year first above written.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us. SARAH DERBY. (Seal.) BENJAMIN CUSHING. WILLIAM CUSHING.
In accordance with the condition in the foregoing deed, the Trustees obtained from the General Court the following Act, which was passed Nov. 11, 1784:--
An Act for establishing a School in the North Parish of Hingham, by the name of the Derby School, and for appointing and incorporating Trustees of the said School.
WHEREAS the education of youth has ever been considered by the wise and good as an object of the highest consequence to the safety and happiness of a free people:--And whereas SARAH DERBY of Hingham, in the county of Suffolk, Widow, on the 21st of October last past, by a Deed of Lease and Release of that date, legally executed, gave, granted and conveyed to the Rev. EBENEZER GAY, and others therein named, and to their heirs, a certain piece of land with the buildings thereon, situate in the north parish of the said Hingham, and in the said Deed described, to the use and upon the trust, that the rents and profits thereon be appropriated forever to the support of a School in the said north parish of Hingham, for the instruction of such youth in such arts, languages and branches of science as are particularly mentioned, enumerated and described in the said Deed:--And whereas the execution of the generous and important design of instituting the said School will be attended with great embarrassments, unless, by an act of incorporation, the Trustees mentioned in the said Deed, and their successors, shall be authorized to commence and prosecute actions at law, and transact such other matters in their corporate capacity as the interest of the said School shall require:
SEC. 1. Be it therefore enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that there be, and there hereby is established, in the north parish of Hingham, in the county of Suffolk, a School by the name of Derby School, for the promotion of virtue and instruction of such youth of each sex in such arts, languages and branches of science, as the respectively and severally mentioned, enumerated and described by a Deed of Lease and Release, made and executed on the twenty-first day of October last past, by and between SARAH DERBY, of Hingham aforesaid, Widow, on the one part, and the Rev. EBENEZER GAY, the Rev. DANIEL SHUTE, JOHN THAXTER, Esq., the Hon. BENJAMIN LINCOLN, Esq., all of the said Hingham; the Hon. COTTON TUFTS, of Weymouth and the Hon. RICHARD CRANCH, of Braintree, both in the said county of Suffolk, Esqrs.; the Hon. WILLIAM CUSHING and the Hon. NATHAN CUSHING, both of Scituate, in the county of Plymouth, Esqrs.; JOHN THAXTER, of Haverhill, in the County of Essex, Esq.; and BENJAMIN LINCOLN, of Boston, in the said county of Suffolk, Gentleman, on the other part.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the aforementioned EBENEZER GAY, DANIEL SHUTE, JOHN THAXTER, BENJAMIN LINCOLN, COTTON TUFTS, RICHARD CRANCH, WILLIAM CUSHING, NATHAN CUSHING, JOHN THAXTER, and BENJAMIN LINCOLN, be, and they hereby are nominated and appointed Trustees of the said School, and they are hereby incorporated into a body politic, by the name of The Trustees of Derby School, and they and their successors shall be and continue a body politic and corporate, by the same name forever.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all the lands and and buildings which by the afore-mentioned Deed of Lease and Release, were given, granted and conveyed by the afore-mentioned SARAH DERBY, unto the said EBENEZER GAY, DANIEL SHUTE, JOHN THAXTER, BENJAMIN LINCOLN, COTTON TUFTS, RICHARD CRANCH, WILLIAM CUSHING, NATHAN CUSHING, JOHN THAXTER and BENJAMIN LINCOLN, and to their heirs, be, and they hereby are confirmed to the said EBENEZER GAY and others last named and to their successors, as Trustees of Derby School forever, for the uses, intents and purposes, and upon the trusts which in the said Deed of Lease and Release, are expressed; and the Trustees aforesaid, their successors, and the officers of the said School, are hereby required, in conducting the concerns thereof, and in all matters relating thereto, to regulate themselves conformably to the true design and intention of the said SARAH DERBY, as expressed in the Deed abovementioned.
SEC. 4. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Trustees and their successors shall have one common Seal, which they may make use of in any cause or business that relates to the said office of Trustees of the said School; and they shall have power and authority to break, change and renew the said Seal from time to time, as they shall see fit, and they may sue, and be sued in all actions real, personal and mixed, and prosecute and defend the same to final judgment and execution, by the name of the Trustees of Derby School.
SEC. 5. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
That the said EBENEZER GAY and others, the Trustees aforesaid, and their
successors, the longest livers and survivors of them, be the true and sole
visitors, Trustees, and governors of the said Derby School, in perpetual
succession forever to be continued in the way and manner hereafter specified,
with full power and authority to elect a President, Secretary and Treasurer,
and such officers of the said School as they shall judge necessary and
convenient; and to make and ordain such laws, rules and orders, for the
good government of the said School, as to them, the Trustees, governors,
and visitors aforesaid, and their successors, shall from time to time,
according to the various occasions and circumstances, seem most fit and
requisite; all of which shall be observed by the officers, scholars and
servants of the said School, upon the penalties therein contained.
Provided, notwithstanding, that the said rules,
laws and orders, be no ways contrary to the laws of this Commonwealth.
SEC. 6. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
That the number of the said Trustees and their successors, shall not at
any one time, be more than eleven nor less than nine, five of whom shall
constitute a quorum for transacting business; and a major part of
the members present shall decide all questions that shall come before them;
that the principal Preceptor for the time being shall be ever one of them;
that a major part shall be laymen and respectable freeholders of this Commonwealth,
and never more than four of the Trustees or their successors shall belong
to, or be inhabitants of, the town of Hingham aforementioned.
And to perpetuate the succession of the said Trustees:
SEC. 7. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That as often as one or more of the Trustees of Derby School shall die or resign, or, in the judgment of the major part of the said Trustees, be rendered, by age or otherwise, incapable of discharging the duties of his office, then and so often, the Trustees then surviving and remaining, or the major part of them, shall elect one or more persons to supply the vacancy or vacancies.
SEC. 8. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Trustees aforesaid, and their successors be, and they hereby are, rendered capable in law to take and receive by gift, grant, devise, bequest, or otherwise, any lands, tenements, or other estate real and personal, provided that the annual income of the said real estate shall not exceed the sum of three hundred pounds, and the annual income of the said personal estate shall not exceed the sum of seven hundred pounds; both sums to be valued in silver at the rate of six shillings and eight pence by the ounce; to have and to hold the same to them, the said Trustees and their successors, on such terms, and under such provisions and limitations, as may be expressed in any deed or instrument of conveyance to them made. Provided always, that neither the said Trustees nor their successors, shall ever hereafter receive any grant or donation, the condition whereof shall require them or any others concerned, to act in any respect counter to the design of the afore-mentioned SARAH DERBY, as expressed in the aforementioned Deed, or any prior donation; and all Deeds and instruments which the said Trustees may lawfully make, shall, when made in the name of the said Trustees, and signed and delivered by the Treasurer and sealed with the common seal, bind the said Trustees and their successors, and be valid in law.
SEC. 9. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the aforesaid Trustees shall have full power and authority to determine at what times and places their meetings shall be holden; and upon the manner of notifying the Trustees to convene at such meetings; and also upon the method of electing or removing Trustees; and the said Trustees shall have full power and authority to ascertain and prescribe, from time to time, the powers and duties of their several officers, and to fix and ascertain the tenures of their respective offices.
SEC. 10. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That SAMUEL NILES, Esq., be, and he hereby is authorized and empowered to fix the time and place for holding the first meeting of the said Trustees, and to certify them thereof.
Madam Derby's will was dated June 30, 1789, and a codicil to the same was dated June 4, 1790. She died, as is previously stated, June 17, 1790. The portions of the will and codicil relating to the Derby School are here given:--
Education. 125
Thirdly.--I bequeath to the Trustees of Derby School
twenty-five hundred pounds, in Massachusetts State Notes, in trust however,
that they forever appropriate the interest thereof to the use of the Preceptor
of the said School for the time being.
And I bequeath to the said Trustees the sum of seven hundred
pounds in silver money, in trust, that they rest the same in such good
securities on interest, as they shall determine best, and forever appropriate
the interest thereof to the use of the Mistress of said School for the
time being. . . .
Seventeenthly.--It is my will that my, picture and my new clock be placed in the Derby School. . . .
Nineteenthly.--I bequeath to the Trustees of Derby School one hundred pounds in trust, that they rest the same in such good securities on interest as they shall determine best, and forever appropriate the interest thereof to the use and benefit of the Minister of the First Parish in Hingham, in consideration of his preaching a Lecture every year in the month of April, suitable for the youth.
Twentiethly.--The residue of my estate real and personal, I give to the Trustees of Derby School, in trust, that they rest the same in such good securities, on interest, as they shall determine best; the income of which is to be appropriated to the following purposes. In the first place, to the support of Phebe, a negro woman now living with me, during her natural life. The care of said Phebe I recommend to the Rev. DANIEL SHUTE, and it is my will that the said DANIEL shall receive, from time to time, such sum or sums of the aforesaid income, as he and two others of the Trustees shall judge necessary for her comfortable support. And the remainder of said income to be appropriated forever to the repairs of the buildings and fences thereon, to clothing and supplying with school books, such poor scholars in this town, as shall be admitted into said School, as the Trustees in their wisdom shall think fit objects of this charity; and also for the promotion of the good of said School in the manner they shall determine.
Twenty-first.--It is my desire that ABNER LINCOLN be appointed Preceptor to the Derby School as soon as it shall be opened.
Twenty-second.--I hereby constitute JOSEPH ANDREWS and CALEB THAXTER, both of Hingham aforesaid, Executors of this my last will and testament, to which I have set my hand and seal the day and year first above mentioned.
Signed, sealed and declared by the said Sarah to be her last will and testament in presence of SARAH DERBY us, who signed our names in presence of the and Seal. Testatrix and of each other. JOSEPH THAXTER. BENJAMIN CUSHING. JOSHUA THAXTER. 126 History of Hingham.
First.--That whereas, in the Deed of Lease and Release given to the Trustees of Derby School, I have made provision for a sermon to be preached annually to the youth of said School, it is my will that the nineteenth article of the above will and testament, inasmuch as it is superseded by said provision, be null and void.
Secondly.--That all the estate, real and personal, which in the above will I have given to the Trustees of Derby School, to be by them appropriated to various purposes therein mentioned, be on this condition, viz: That said Trustees shall within one year after my decease, in their corporate capacities, make application to the Legislature of this Commonwealth, that they may have the liberty, in future, of filling up such vacancies as shall from time to time take place in their body, from any part of this State without limitation or restriction. But if they should neglect to comply with this condition; or if the rents and incomes of said funds or estate shall ever for the space of two years together, cease to be appropriated to the purposes for which they were intended, then it is my will that said funds or estate go to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, in trust however, that they forever appropriate the interest thereof to the support of the Professor of Anatomy and Physic.
Thirdly.--It is my will that, from the income of the aforesaid funds, proper entertainment be made for the Trustees at their several meetings.
It is my will that said Trustees do forever relinquish the privilege which by virtue of the Deed of Lease and Release, they possess as Trustees, of sending each of them two scholars, one of each sex to Derby School; and my will is that this Codicil be considered as part of my last will and testament, and that all things therein contained be faithfully performed, and as fully in every respect as if the same were so declared in my said last will and testament. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and ninety.
Signed, sealed and declared by the SARAH DERBY. said Sarah to be a Codicil to her last and Seal. Will and Testament in presence of us, who signed our names in presence of the Testatrix and of each other; the interlineation of the word "School" being first made, and the word "together." JOSEPH THAXTER. BENJAMIN CUSHING. JOSHUA THAXTER,
Scanned & OCRed by David Blackwell, OCR Editing by Lisa Whiting 1998.