MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 



BY GEORGE LINCOLN. 



The first notice of the establishment of a corn-mill in Hingham 

 is in 1643, when on June 12 of that year Anthony Eames, Samuel 

 Ward, and Bozoan Allen had leave from the town to set up a corn- 

 mill near the cove. In November, 1645, Gowan Wilson was re- 

 moved from the office of miller. There are on record numerous 

 •conveyances of mill sites and privileges near the cove, the dates of 

 which extend from the early days of the settlement of the town to 

 recent years. The present mill at the Cove, operated by Ben- 

 jamin Andrews, represents the location of one of these mills ; the 

 other stood nearly in the rear of the blacksmith's shop now occu- 

 pied by Daniel Hickey, on North Street, near the Mill Pond. 



Mills were undoubtedly erected at Strait's Pond soon after 1679, 

 when on the 17th of May of that year permission was " granted to 

 certain petitioners, inhabitants of Hull, and others of Hingham, as 

 may see fit to join them, to erect a Dam and Mill at the Straits 

 Pond." From 1700 to 1725 there were many transfers of owner- 

 ship among the dishing families in Hingham of " the Grist Mill 

 and Saw Mill, with the upland, meadow, and housing thereunto 

 belonging, lying partly in Hingham and partly in Hull." These 

 mills passed through various ownerships, and tradition says that 

 the grist-mill at Strait's Pond was in operation until it was de- 

 stroyed by fire about 1800, and that the mill house, which stood 

 at the corner of Jerusalem Road and Hull Street, was removed 

 soon after the fire, and became the westerly end of the old Lincoln 

 House on Jerusalem Road. 



There was formerly a small mill for grinding corn on the stream 

 above Cushing's Bridge, which had a history dating back before the 

 Revolution, and covering a period of some sixty years or more. It 

 was erected by Captains Stephen and Peter Cushing, and at the 

 close of its career was owned by the late Deacon Ned Cushing, 

 the youngest son of Captain Peter. It was for many years in 

 charge of Daniel Burrell, a well-known "miller" and resident of 

 this locality. The last person employed at this mill was the late 

 Cornelius Lincoln, Sr., who died in 1883 at the age of ninety- 

 three years. It was demolished prior to 1820. 



