History of Hingham, (Plymouth County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Andrews Norton, theologian, was born in Hingham, Mass., Dec. 31, 1786; son of Samuel and Jane (Andrews) Norton; grandson of John and Anne (Belknap) Norton, and of Joseph Andrews, and a descendant of the Rev. William Norton, a native of Stafford, Hertfordshire, England, who with his brother, the Rev. John Norton, emigrated to America in 1634. William settled in Ipswich, Mass., and married Lucy Downing. Andrews Norton was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1804, A.M., 1807; pursued a post graduate course, and studied theology. He was a tutor at Bowdoin college, 1809-10, at Harvard, 1811-13, and editor of the General Repository, a theological publication, in 1812. He was Dexter lecturer of Biblical criticism at Harvard, 1813-19; librarian at Harvard, 1813-21, and Dexter professor of Biblical criticism, 1819-30. He was married in 1821 to Catherine, daughter of Samuel Eliot of Boston. In 1828 he visited England. He resigned his professorship in 1830 and thenceforth led the life of a retired scholar, residing at Cambridge, Mass., and making Newport, R.I., his summer home, 1849-52. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Bowdoin college in 1815, and declined that of D.D. offered him by Harvard college. He edited the Miscellaneous Writings of Charles Eliot (1814); the Poems of Mrs. Hemans (1826); and in conjunction with Charles Folsom The Select Journal of Foreign Periodical Literature (4 vols., 1833-34). He is the author of: A Statement of the Reasons for not Believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians concerning the Nature of God and the Person of Christ (1833, new edition with a memoir of the author, 1856); Historical Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels (3 vols., 1837-44; The Latent Form of Infidelity (1839); Tracts concerning Christianity (1852); A Translation of the Gospels with Notes (2 vols., (1855); The Internal Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels (1855) and several poems. He died in Newport, R.I., Sept. 18, 1852.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frank Henry Norton, author and journalist, was born in Hingham, Mass., Mass., 20, 1836; son of Maj. Benjamin Hammatt and Augusta (Ware) Norton; grandson of Thomas Norton, ship-owner, of Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, and a descendant of Nicholas Norton, who emigrated from near Bristol, Somersetshire, England, and settled on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in 1632. Maj. B. H. Norton was U.S. consul at Pictou, Nova Scotia, for twenty-one years. Frank was educated in the Dwight school, Boston, at a private school in Waltham, and at the academy in Pictou, N.S., and was engaged in the book business with his brother Charles B. Norton, in New York city, 1850-55. He was assistant librarian and assistant superintendent in the Astor library, 1855-65, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Mercantile library, 1866-67, and then engaged in newspaper work. He was connected with the editorial staff of Noah's Sunday Times, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and Frank Leslie's publications; was proprietor and editor of the New York Era, 1879-81; and on the editorial staff of the New York Herald in New York, London and Paris, 1883-91, when he retired from active journalism and devoted himself to general writing, and to the study of mathematics and astronomy in their relation to astrology. He traveled in Mexico, California and Central America in 1870, and in Holland and Belgium for the Boston foreign exhibition in 1883. He was one of the founders and first president of the American Numismatic and Arch?ological society. He contributed to current literature and to cyclopedias; wrote plays which were produced in New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia and St. Louis, including: Leonie, or Love Wins (1873); Alhambra, a burlesque (1874); Azrael, a fairy spectacle (1874); Cupid and Psyche, a burlesque (1874); and Maude's Faith (1874), melodrama. He is the author of: Illustrated Historical Register of the Centennial Exhibition (1876), and The Paris Exposition (1878); The Bights and Wrongs of Labor (1879); Life of Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock, with Rev. David K. Junkin, D.D. (1880); Life of Alexander H. Stephens (1883); Romance of the Life of Daniel Boone (1883); The Malachite Cross (1894). He edited, and published (privately), in 1867, from the original MS. which fell into his hands by a curious chance?Journal Kept by Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America, 1773-1774, of which only one hundred and twenty-five copies were printed.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Hall, paleontologist, was born at Hingham, Mass., Sept. 12, 1811; son of James and Susanna (Dourdain) Hall. His parents were natives of Lancashire, England. His father, a woolen manufacturer, removed his family to the United States in 1809 and settled in Hingham. The son was graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, Troy, N.Y., in 1832; was assistant professor of chemistry and natural sciences there, 1832-54; professor of geology, 1854-76, and professor emeritus, 1876-98. In 1836 the geological survey of the state of New York was organized and Professor Hall was appointed assistant to Ebenezer Emmons, geologist of the second district. In 1837 he was appointed by Governor Marcy state geologist for the fourth geological district, and in 1843 was given charge of the paleontological work, retaining the title of state geologist. He was married in 1838 to Sarah Amelia Maris, daughter of John Aikin of Duchess county, N.Y. In 1855 he accepted from Sir William E. Logan, government geologist of Canada, the charge of the paleontological survey of that dominion, but he was induced by Agassiz, Dewey, Dana and other eminent scientists to remain in Albany. He was appointed state geologist of Iowa by Governor Grimes, serving, 1855-57; was elected state geologist of Wisconsin in 1857, was a commissioner on the geological survey of the state, 1857-60; and principal of the geological commission in 1860. On the re-organization of the New York state museum in 1866 he was appointed director. He was elected one of the fifty foreign members of the Geological society of London in 1848, and correspondent of the academy of sciences of Paris in 1884; a charter member of the National academy of sciences, organized in 1863; formder and president of the International congress of geologists held in Philadelphia in 1876; vice-president representing the United States at its session in Paris in 1878, in Bologna in 1881, and in Berlin in 1885, and president in Washington in 1891, and in St. Petersburg in 1897. He was a founder of the American association of geologists organized in Philadelphia in 1840, out of which grew the American association for the advancement of science of which he was president in 1856. He was president of the Albany institute in 1878; the first president of the Geological society of America, 1888, and a member of the American society of naturalists. He received from the king of Italy the title and decoration of Commander of the Ordes des Santi Maurizio i Lazzaro in 1882; received the quinquennial Walker grand prize of $1000 from the Boston natural history society in 1884; the Hayden Memorial medal from the Academy of natural sciences in 1888, and the Wellaston medal from the Geological society of London in 1858. He received the degrees of A.M. from Union in 1842, M.D. from the University of Maryland in 1846, and LL.D. from Hamilton in 1863, from McGill in 1884 and from Harvard in 1886. His published writings include: Geology of New York, Part IV. (1843); Natural History of New York: Paleontology, Vols. I. to XIII. (1847-94), prepared by the state at a cost of over $100,000; Expedition to the Great Salt Lake (1852); United States and Mexico Boundary Survey (1857); Geological Survey of Iowa (1858-59); Graptolites of the Quebec Group (1865); and Volume IV. of the U.S. Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel (1877). He died at Bethlehem, N.H., Aug. 7, 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Sidney Howard Gay, author, was born in Hingham, Mass., May 22, 1814; son of Ebenezer and Mary Allyne (Otis) Gay; grandson of Martin and Ruth (Atkins) Gay; and great-grandson of the Rev. Ebenezer and Jerusha (Bradford) Gay. He entered Harvard in the class of 1833, but ill health forced him to leave college before receiving his degree. This was conferred upon him in 1877 and he was placed on the record of Harvard alumni, class of 1833. He studied law in the office of his father for a time, but discontinued it because of his reluctance to swear allegiance to a constitution which upheld the institution of slavery. He became a prominent speaker and writer on anti-slavery, and in 1842 was appointed lecturing agent for the American anti-slavery society. He edited the Anti-Slavery Standard, New York city, 1844-57; was a writer on the staff of the New York Tribune, 1857-62, its managing editor, 1862-66; and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, 1867-71. In 1871, at the time of the Chicago fire, he rendered valuable assistance to the sufferers as a member of the relief committee, and in 1872-74, was an editorial writer on the New York Evening Post. In collaboration with William Cullen Bryant he prepared History of the United States (4 vols., 1876-80); and is the author of Life of James Madison (1884), besides many magazine articles. He died at New Brighton, Staten Island, N.Y., June 25, 1888.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor