LODGES AND SOCIETIES. 



BY FRANCIS H. LINCOLN. 



It would be impossible to give a complete list of all the social 

 organizations which have existed in Hingham. Many have been 

 short lived and confined to limited circles, and it is difficult 

 to estimate their influence in the community. The present age 

 seems especially productive of a spirit for organization, and al- 

 most every department of social and industrial life has its central 

 body for the promotion of its peculiar interests. The most that 

 can be undertaken is to call attention to some which have been 

 specially prominent in the town's history, with an incidental 

 mention of others which have come to the writer's notice. If any 

 are omitted which should have been mentioned it is not because 

 their importance has been underestimated, but because oi the 

 great difficulty in obtaining knowledge of records which are either 

 lost or carefully hidden from view in the security of private pos- 

 session. 



OLD COLONY LODGE OP ANCIENT FREE AND 

 ACCEPTED MASONS. 



Upon the petition of John Young, Adams Bailey, George Little, 

 James Lewis, Charles Turner, Jr., David Jacobs, Jr., and William 

 Curtis, Jr., all Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Grand 

 Lodge of Massachusetts granted a charter to them to hold meet- 

 ings and work in the town of Hanover, Mass. This charter was 

 issued Dec. 10, 1792, and was signed by the following named 

 Grand Officers : John Cutler, Grrand Master, Josiah Bartlett, S. 

 G-. Warden, Mungo Mackey, J. G. Warden, Thomas Farrington, 

 Grrand Secretary. 



The first regular communication of the lodge was held Dec. 24, 

 1792, at the house of Atherton Wales, innholder, in the town of 

 Hanover. The weather being unfavorable, there were only three 

 brethren present, and the meeting was adjourned to Thursday, 



VOL. I. — 19* 



