330 History of Hingham. 



whose researches lead them to examine transactions here in the 

 earlier years of this century. Many young men studied law in his 

 office, — among them Abner Loring, Abel Cushing, Jerome Lor- 

 ing, John Thaxter, Jacob H. Loud, Solomon Lincoln, Benjamin B. 

 Fessenden, James H. Wilder, James L. Baker, and Ebcnezer Gay, 

 Jr. Mr. Gay was a man of decided opinions, fearless in express- 

 ing them, and commanded the respect of his clients for his pro- 

 fessional abilities. 



" He was of that valuable class of the profession who, without 

 possessing the rare gift of eloquence, or the more common talent 

 for the conflicts of the bar, are yet able, by their learning and in- 

 tegrity, to pay the debt which every lawyer justly owes to his 

 profession. His clients, and among them many widows and or- 

 phans who resorted to him for advice, always found in him a 

 friend as well as a counsellor. Through life Mr. Gay exhibited a 

 unity of character, which was always marked with usefulness, 

 without ostentation or display. In politics he belonged to the old 

 Federal school, claiming Washington for their model and leader." 



Ebenezer Gay [II. 266], the son of Ebcnezer and Mary Allyne 

 (Otis) Gay, was born in Hingham March 27, 1818. He was a 

 pupil at Derby Academy in early life, and studied law in the office 

 of his father in Hingham, and at the Harvard Law School, where 

 he received the degree of LL.B. in 1841. He began practice in 

 Hingham, and later opened an office also in Boston. He was a 

 member of the school committee of Hingham, a trustee of Derby 

 Academy, a director in the Hingham Bank, and State senator 

 in 1862. For several years he has held a position in the Suffolk 

 Registry of Probate. 



John Gilman [II. 275] was horn in Hingham, England, and 

 was the son of Edward Gilman, who came here from Hingham, in 

 England, in 1638. This family afterwards settled in Exeter. 

 John Gilman probably went to Exeter before 1650, as the earliest 

 mention of his name noticed upon the town records there is an 

 order " by the freemen and some others chosen for ordering the 

 affairs of the town," dated June 19, 1650, signed by him and five 

 others. Nov. 9, 1652, he was again chosen one of the selectmen, 

 and in October, 1653, one of a committee " to carry on the meeting- 

 house." He was elected " townsman " for many years between 

 1654 and 1678, and probably afterwards. He was commissioner for 

 small causes in 1665, 1666, and 1668. He held many other offices, 

 and was evidently one of the prominent citizens of the place, often 

 chosen or appointed to positions of trust. In 1678 and 1679 he 

 was elected one of the associate judges of the County Court of 

 the old County of Norfolk. He was named, in President Cutt's 

 Commission in 1679, one of the Council of the Province, and also 

 in Gov. Cranfield's Commission in 1682, and was appointed one of 

 the justices of the Court of Pleas. In 1683, being obnoxious to 

 Gov. Cranfield, he was removed from the Council. 



Upon the establishment of the new Provincial government in 

 New Hampshire in 1692, Capt. Gilman was elected a delegate to 



