Many interesting events in the early history of the town must be passed over. The complete history is being prepared under the authority of the town, and he who has curiosity concerning it will, ere long, have an opportunity to gratify it. Suffice it to say that the town suffered, in common with all the early settlements, from the Indians, though not extraordinarily; the usual precautions were taken to prevent assaults, and considerable attention was paid to the maintenance of the military. The whole civil history of the town has been one of steady prosperity, of rather slow growth in population.
The first church in Hingham was formed in 1635, on the settlement of the town, with Rev. Peter Hobart as its first minister.
The first house for public worship was erected by the first settlers of the town, probably within a short time after its settlement in 1635. It was surrounded by a palisado, and surmounted by a belfry with a bell, and was undoubtedly a plain structure, so far as the scanty records give any light upon it. It stood upon a hill, in front of the present site of the Derby Academy, in the centre of what is now Main street. But the chief curiosity of Hingham to-day is the second meeting-house, known as the "Old Meeting-house." It is believed that no house for public worship exists within the limits of the United States, which continues to be used for the purpose for which it was erected, and remaining on the same site where it was built, which is so old as this. It is said that timbers from the first were used in the construction of the present house. The brass tablet on its wall states:—
"This Church was gathered in 1635. The frame of this Meeting-house was raised on the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth days of July, 1681, and the house was completed and opened for public worship on the eighth of January, 1681-2. It cost the town £430 and the old house."
In 1881 there were elaborate commemorative services on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the building of the meeting-house.
The history of this parish has been remarkable for the long terms of service of its ministers. During the two hundred and fifty years of its existence it has had but eight ministers, of whom the eighth and the present one is the Rev. H. Price Collier. The denomination is Unitarian. Originally a Puritan church, it was liberalized under the sixty-nine years' ministry of Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D.D., extending from 1718 to 1787. Of this able divine many interesting anecdotes are told. He was a powerful leader of religious thought, who "sounded almost the first evangel of that more liberal faith which found its highest expression in Channing, and its fruit in the absolute religious freedom of to-day. Well may the Commonwealth cherish this church in high and in sacred esteem, which, through two such men as Peter Hobart and Ebenezer Gay, has put, in the spirit of the highest independence, its mark upon the tablets of civil liberty and of religious thought."
The second parish (Unitarian) at South Hingham was set off March 25, 1745. Its first minister was Rev. Daniel Shute, D.D., a man of great ability and practical sense, who was an earnest advocate of his country's cause during the revolutionary war. He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and of that which adopted the constitution of the United States.
The Third Congregational Society (Unitarian) was organized in 1807. There is also within the town a religious society of each of the following denominations, viz.: Evangelical Congregational, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Universalist, Protestant Episcopal, Second Advent, and Roman Catholic. It would seem as if there need be no hungering for the "bread of life."
The military record of Hingham is worthy of notice.
In Philip's war, in 1675, it appears that "souldiers were impressed into the country service," and provision was made by the selectmen for their expenses.