The Hingham Colony

The Hingham Colony in 1786, was the first organized effort to bring standards of living from Massachusetts.

Major General Benjamin Lincoln of Hingham, Massachusetts, Thomas Russell of Boston, Massachusetts and John Lowell of Boston, Massachusetts purchased Township No 1 (now Perry) and Township No 2 (now Dennysville and Pembroke) from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

General Lincoln became interested in the area when he was sent in 1784 to determine which one of the rivers was the one St Croix river named in the Treaty of 1783 as a boundary between the District of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada. The Lincoln family later acquired the shares from Russell and Lowell.

There were three stipulations to the purchase:

  1. · Satisfactory settlements must be made with persons already living on the land.
  2. · 1760 acres must be reserved in the two townships for public purposes.
  3. · Ten families must be settled on the land annually for the next 6 years.

This was accomplished by Lincoln offering 100 acres to his former officers and soldiers who would come and settle the land with their families. Sixty settlers took him up on the offer. Many of those family names are still present in Pembroke and the surrounding area today.

Theodore Lincoln, Benjamin’s 22 year old son arrived on May 17, 1786 with the first group of settlers. They were all farmers and artisans. Most settled at the chosen site near the mount of the Denny's River

Captain Theophilus Wilder

Samuel Sprague

John Palmer

William Holland, a millwright,

Soloman Cushing, a blacksmith

Theophilus Wilder Jr settled at the head of Hersey Cove, where the shore road turns southward down the point. He built a cape in 1814 and it remained until the 1940’s (at that time it was the oldest house in Pembroke).

Isaiah Hersey returned to the area with this party and cleared land and built a cabin on what is now called the Hersey Side. He was a Revolutionary War soldier and is buried in the Hersey Burying Ground.

Zadoc Hersey came 2 years later with his large family and settled further up the Pennamaquan Bay from his brother, Isaiah. He lived there until the age of 98. He was a Revolutionary War soldier and is buried in the Hersey Burying Ground.

In addition, he offered 100 acres to the first male child to be born in Dennysville. In 1786 John was born to James Blackwood and his wife Nancy of Young’s Cove.