There were four (4) Thomas Lincolns in Hingham at the same time. They were known as Cooper, Miller, Weaver, and Husbandman. There were three other Lincolns related to these. The majority settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. The name Lincoln, with its variants— Linkhorn, Linkoln, Lincon, was common in Hingham. England, for more than a century before the emigrants from that town founded Hingham. Massachusetts. There were eight of the name of Lincoln among the early settlers of Hingham, Massachusetts. The family came from Wymondham, county Norfolk, Lincoln. There were three brothers, Daniel, Thomas and Samuel, who came in the party, accompanied by their mother Joan. There were in the remarkable Lincoln Colony, of Hingham, no less then four of the name of Thomas Lincoln, and they were distinguished from one another by their trades. Thomas Lincoln, miller, removed to Taunton; Thomas Lincoln, cooper, and Thomas Lincoln, husbandman, resided in Hingham. Wymondham, or Windham, was probably the birthplace of Stephen and Thomas Lincoln, but they were closely connected with others of the name who came from Hingham, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts.

Thomas, the Cooper

Thomas, the "cooper", and also known as the "maltster," came from the west of England, says tradition, and settled in Hing. ab. 1635-6. His name, however, does not appear upon our records until 1636, when there was "granted unto Thomas Lincoln, cooper five acres of land at the west end of town for a house-lot, butting on the town street eastward, and upon the common westward, and with the land of Francis Smith northward, and with the land of Thomas Nichols southward." This lot he afts. sold or exchanged for one on North, near Beal St., which was his homestead. He also had a small trangular lot of land granted him subsequent to the first distribution of lots in 1635, at what is now the corner of North and Lincoln Sts. This (the triangular lot) he afts. gave with malt-house, etc., to his youngest son, Benjamin.

His w., whom he m. in Eng. ab. 1630, was Anis, or Avith lane, a dau. of William Lane. She d. in Hing. Feb. 13 or 14, 1682-83. Hing. town rec's say, "Annis Lincoln dyed 14 February, 1682-83;" while David Hobart, son of Rev. Peter Hobart, recorded the event in his diary as foll.: "February 13, 1683. The wife of Thomas Lincoln the cooper dyed." At the time the present meeting-house of the First Parish was erected (1680-81), Thomas Lincoln, cooper, was one of the five elderly gentlemen to whom was assigned a sitting "in the second seate under ye pulpit;" while for Mrs. Lincoln a place was allotted "in the second seate next ye pew." He d. at his residence on North St., West Hing., 28 Sept. 1691.

In his will, dated 13 July, 1688, proved 17 Oct. 1692, he mentions three sons and one dau.; s. Joseph to have the home place. Joseph's son Nehemiah came next into possession, and having no issue he left it to his nephew Israel Lincoln. A large part of the original homestead is still in possession of this branch of the family. The

Children with his ONLY wife Annis Lane:

1. Thomas, born May 6, 1633
2. Joseph, born Nov 20, 1640
3. Benjamin, born May 7, 1643
4. Deborah, born Aug 3, 1645. Married Samuel Thaxter on June 13, 1678.
5. Sarah, born Oct 5, 1650.

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Thomas "the miller" Lincoln came to New England in 1635, and Jul. 3, 1636, had a house lot of five acres granted to him in Hingham on what is now South Street, near Main Street. Other lots were also granted him for planting purposes. He probably brought with him from England, two or three children, and in 1649 removed from Hingham, with his family, to Taunton, Bristol, MA, where Dec. 10, 1665, he married, as his second wife, Elizabeth Street (or Streeter), probably the widow of Francis Street(er).

According to "The History of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1893", he erected at Taunton, the old grist-mill, upon a stream called Little River, now nearly in the heart of the city near the street leading from the railway station to City Square. Tradition says, that in 1675, King Philip and his chiefs met, at the mill, with the pioneers of the place, for a peaceful interview. The mill was passed to sons John and Samuel, and they later conveyed the old mill property to Robert Crosman, for a sum of sixty pounds. Whether there is any record to verify these statements about the old grist-mill or not, it is undoubtedly true that THOMAS continued in the same vocation which he had previously followed.

The first military company of Taunton was raised in 1649. A roster found among the "city hall papers", dated Apr. 8, 1682, shows the company was divided into four squadrons, and there appears “Thomas Linkon” in the "2d squadron."

In his will dated Aug. 28, 1683, he calls himself, "eighty years of age thereabouts." The will was proved the following March 5.