SEPARA TION FROM H INGHAM. 2 6 I 



They were just entering into a period of very hard 

 times when the struggle for existence was too severe for 

 them to undertake the greater responsibilities of town 

 government, A year after their last vote the crops were 

 nearly a failure, so that in the following spring, May 14, 

 1762, the town had to borrow money to buy grain lest the 

 people should starve. The vote was as follows : "That 

 ;^200 be appropriated to buy Grain for the use of the 

 Inhabitants of s^ Town and that five hundred bushels 

 thereof (the due proportion in Each Parrish) be storred 

 for the use of the poor and those who shall be hereafter 

 in want. And as there is not a surplusage of money now 

 in the hand of the Treasurer he is hereby ordered and 

 directed to Borrow Said Sum of Two Hundred Pounds 

 untill it can be collected by a Tax." 



This grain was to be sold for barely enough to pay for 

 ^'carting" it, for " waste," for the " trouble of getting it," 

 and for "interest on money." No person was allowed 

 more than two bushels to each member of his family. 



But these periods of discouragement had to be ended. 

 The time came six years later when this precinct gathered 

 itself for a final determined wrench from Hingham. The 

 accompanymg petition* for a precinct meeting was dili- 

 gently circulated, and the sixty-four autograph signatures 

 were secured. 



Several other towns in the province of Massachusetts 



I had already been divided to accommodate the growth of 



I enterprising precincts. Accordingly, on January 25, 1768, 

 at our precinct meeting it was voted to petition Hingham 

 and the General Court for a district charter, " to be in- 

 vested with all the Libertys and Privileges of a Town, that 

 of sending a Representative to the General Court only 

 excepted, and that they have the liberty of joining with 



\ y^ Town of Hingham in the choice of a Representative 



; from time to time." 



* This interesting document was preserved by the care of Elisha Doane. 



