Ecclesiastical History. 



57 



THE FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. 



BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE. 



here for several 



joined them in the same 



succeeding 



years, 

 religious 



A 



meeting was 



There is nothing to 

 indicate that any per- 

 sons professing Baptist 

 sentiments lived in 

 Hingham previously to 

 the year 1814. In that 

 year Mr. Nathaniel T. 

 Davis made this town 

 his place of residence, 

 and he, with his wife 

 and Miss Hannah Beal, 

 were the only Baptists 

 few others subsequently 

 belief, and the first prayer- 

 held at the house of Mr. Davis in 1818. Mr. Asa 

 Wilbur, of Boston, was visiting in town, and was invited to be 

 present at the meeting. He became much interested in the efforts 

 of this small band of worshippers, and was afterwards often 

 present at their meetings. For his earnest labors and finan- 

 cial aid to the Baptists of this town, through many succeeding 

 years, he is held by them in grateful remembrance. 



In this same year, 1818, the first sermon by a Baptist was 

 preached in Hingham by Mr. Ensign Lincoln, and a Sunday- 

 school was organized. This was the first Sunday-school in 

 Hingham. Its meetings were held in the schoolhouse which 

 stood on the hill in front of- the Derby Academy. It was col- 

 lected and organized by Nancy Studley, Polly Barnes, Betsey 

 Lincoln (afterwards Mrs. Rufus Lane), and Hannah Kingman, 

 and there was an attendance of ninety scholars on the £rst Sun- 

 day. This school was not under the patronage of any religious 

 society, but was an independent school. The first three named 

 ladies were connected with a few Baptists who held meetings, as 

 before stated, at the house of Mr. Davis. Not long afterwards, 

 Rev. Mr. Richardson of the First Parish, and Rev. Mr. Colman of 

 the Third Congregational Society (both Unitarian), thinking the 

 instruction in the school too evangelical, withdrew the children 

 connected with their parishes and formed schools of their own. 

 The original school continued, however, though with a diminished 

 number of scholars ; and when the Baptists, in 1828, became a 

 branch of the Second Baptist Church, of Boston, the school be- 

 came a Baptist school, and has so continued to the present time. 



In 1820 the first baptism took place, making a strong impres- 

 sion upon many of those who witnessed it. 



The early struggles of this little band to establish and main- 



