24 History of Hingham. 



the necessary amount being raised by a rate which had been made 

 in October, 1680. 



There is a tradition that the site for the house was fixed on 

 the Lower Plain, and that on the night preceding the day ap- 

 pointed for the raising of the frame it was carried to the spot 

 where the house now stands ; but there is no record of a vote of 

 the town fixing the site on the Plain, and the story does not have 

 a very plausible foundation. 



After the death of Mr. Norton the parish was without a settled 

 minister for a period of twenty months. During this interval 

 Mr. Samuel Fisk and Mr. Thomas Prince were invited to take 

 the office, but neither accepted the invitation. Towards the latter 

 part of the year 1717 Mr. Ebenezer Gay preached as a candidate, 

 and on Dec. 30, 1717, the church and congregation by their unani- 

 mous votes invited him to become their minister. Mr. Gay ac- 

 cepted the invitation, and was ordained June 11, 1718. 



Mr. Gay was born in Dedham, Aug. 26, 1696. l He was gradu- 

 ated from Harvard College in 1714, being one of a class of eleven 

 members, of whom four were from Hingham. 



At less than twenty -two years of age this remarkable man be- 

 gan his ministry here. " He was a burning and a shining light," 

 and this people did " rejoice in his light for a season ; " his min- 

 istry falling short, by a few months only, of seventy years. He 

 died on Sunday morning, March 8, 1787, when he was preparing 

 for the services of the day, in the 91st year of his age. He re- 

 ceived the degree of S. T. D. from Harvard College in 1785. 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. DR. GAY. 

 BY SOLOMON LINCOLN. 



The Rev. Dr. Gay was the third minister of this my native town, and 

 of the parish in which I was born and nurtured. Though he had passed 

 away before I came upon the stage, I have had a good opportunity of 

 exploring the best sources of information concerning him, and of gather- 

 ing many traditionary reminiscences illustrative of his character. 



Dr. Gay outlived two generations of his parishioners ; and not one 

 of those who was a member of the parish at the time of his birth, was 

 living at his decease. Nor can I ascertain that a single individual who 

 was an acting member at the time of his ordination survived him. More 

 than three fourths of a century has elapsed since his decease, yet his mem- 

 ory is preserved fresh in the traditions of the generations who knew him 

 long and well. I have known many persons who recollected him in his 

 old a"e. 



He was of about the middle size, of dignified and patriarchal appear- 

 ance, and, if we can judge of his features as delineated by the pencil of 

 Hazlitt, they were not particularly handsome. He had, however, in the 

 recollection of those who knew him, a grave, yet benignant expression of 



1 August 15, 1606. — Dedham Records. 



