Manufactures and Commerce. 157 



Capt. John Jacob was the owner of a saw-mill and a fulling-mill 

 on Crooked Meadow River, South Hingham, at a very early period 

 of our history. At his decease, in 1693, his sons Peter and Sam- 

 uel came into possession ; but another change of ownership took 

 place shortly after, owing to the decease of Samuel in 1695. Capt. 

 Theophilus dishing followed the Jacobs as proprietor of the saw- 

 mill, and afterwards added to his purchase by erecting a grist-mill 

 on his ten-acre lot at what is now Cushing's Pond. His tax on 

 the saw-mill in 1737 was £10 ; in 1752 it was for a saw-mill £2, 

 for a grist-mill £10. These mills at Cushing's Pond continued in 

 the ownership of the last-named family until about 1850, and 

 were owned successively by Captain Theophilus, Brigadier-General 

 Theophilus, and Colonel Washington Cushing. Robert D. Gardner 

 was the last person permanently employed here as " miller." 



Early in the last century Capt. Abel Cushing was the owner 

 of a fulling-mill and other buildings connected therewith for the 

 fulling and dyeing of cloth at " Fulling-mill Pond," on South 

 Pleasant Street. He was an older brother of Capt. Theophilus 

 Cushing, previously mentioned as the proprietor of a saw-mill 

 and grist-mill. Abel served an apprenticeship with Peter Jacob, 

 the clothier and fuller, and subsequently married his daugh- 

 ter Mary, so that the mill business at the south part of the 

 town was, for a while, virtually controlled by the members of 

 one family. Abel died in 1750, and was succeeded by his son 

 Abel, who, however, survived his father but a few years. In 1764 

 Benjamin Lincoln, Jr., as guardian of Hannah, daughter of the 

 late Abel Cushing, made a transfer of her portion of this property. 

 May 23, 1778, Hannah Cushing, widow, conveyed to Colonel David 

 Cushing her interest in the fulling-mill and pond, with half an 

 acre of land. Among the later transfers are the following : 

 Oct. 7, 1785, David Cushing, of Hingham, "gentleman," conveys 

 to " my son David Cushing, Jr., clothier, my clothiers shop and 

 all the tools thereunto belonging, with the Fulling Mill and pond 

 and Dam, with all the land it flows round or over when it is full 

 of water, and the brook below running from the said mill. Also 

 the fulling mill standing at Beechwood River so called, with the 

 whole stream through my land, and a privilege to pass to and 

 from said mill over my land with teams." In 1792, David Cush- 

 ing, Jr., makes a conveyance of his mills to his brother Hosea 

 Cushing. 



Laban Cushing, a son of Hosea, was the last owner and occu- 

 pant of the one prominent building left of this mill property to 

 carry on the business for which it was originally intended. It 

 finally became a factory for the manufacture of shoe-pegs, and 

 was destroyed by fire March 7, 1845. 



Iron works were established in Hingham at an early date, as 

 the following abstracts of agreements show : — 



