Notes for: Samuel STOWELL

Although there were a few scattered families there prior to that date, the real settlement of Hingham, Massachusetts, occurred in 1635 when a large colony from Hingham, England, came over with the Rev. Peter Hobart among them as their pastor and organized the town naming it Hingham after their old English home. This would make Samuel about ten years old at that time. He may have been brought over by some relative on his mother's side, or by some friend of the family or as an orphan apprenticed to one of the immigrants. This was probably the case for his name does not appear on any of the ship's registers or in any of the Hingham records until his marriage in 1649 to Mary Farrow is recorded in Hobart's Diary.

Samuel Stowell was a blacksmith. In a small community like Hingham, the village blacksmith was a very useful member. He not only shod the horses, but repaired all the wagons, farming tools and implements and, what was of great importance, the fire arms with which those pioneers defended their homes and property. His work was essential and apparently was well done for he was a respected member in that community, and his descendants all married into the best families of Hingham and Newton. Samuel does not appear to have taken any part in the political, official or church life of Hingham for his name does not apperar as an office holder.