Hingham, Massachusetts
town in Massachusetts, United States
Hingham ( HING-əm) is a town in northern Plymouth County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Part of the Greater Boston region, it is located on the South Shore of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. It contains the census-designated place of the same name. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on Boston Harbor. The town was named after Hingham, Norfolk, England, and was first settled by English colonists in 1633.
History
The town of Hingham was dubbed "Bare Cove" by the first colonizing English in 1633, but two years later was incorporated as a town under the name "Hingham." The land on which Hingham was settled was deeded to the English by the Wampanoag sachem Wompatuck in 1655. The town was within Suffolk County from its founding in 1643 until 1803, and Plymouth County from 1803 to the present. The eastern part of the town split off to become Cohasset in 1770. The town was named for Hingham, a market town in the English county of Norfolk, whence most of the first colonists came, including Abraham Lincoln's ancestor Samuel Lincoln (1622–1690), his first American ancestor, who came to Massachusetts in 1637.
The public source identifies “Hingham, Massachusetts” as town in Massachusetts, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hingham, Massachusetts and town.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Hingham, Massachusetts”, the useful work is to connect “town in Massachusetts, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2305817. VIAF identifies the subject as 134859848. The Library of Congress control number is n79148020. Authority coordinates are 42.242, -70.890. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1633, 1655 and 1643.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Hingham, Massachusetts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.