Captain James Hall
1750–1819
Military
Hall was the highest-ranked officer in Cohasset and a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the oldest hereditary organization in the United States, first established by George Washington’s Army officers. Hall was born in Hingham's Second Precinct on February 22, 1750, to parents James and Mary (Lincoln) Hall. During the Revolutionary War, he bravely served under General Henry Knox and fought at the Battles of Monmouth, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. He eventually became an "aide to General George Washington" in the Continental Army and the Chief of Artillery. After the war, he served as the First Secretary of War under the U.S. Constitution.
At the age of 36, he married Persis (Tower) Lincoln, a 27-year-old Cohasset Revolutionary War heroine, in 1786. They lived in a house Hall's father, James, built around 1750 on the east side of the Common. The timbers from the First Parish Church were used to build the house. Unfortunately, Hall died in Boston from a fall from a second-story window on April 3, 1819. His wife died nine years later, on September 29, 1828. Their son, James Hall, Jr., inherited his brotherhood membership in the Society of the Cincinnati.
Persis Tower Hall
1759–1828
Government/Civic Leader
Hall is best known as a daring Revolutionary War heroine. She was born in Hingham on August 1, 1759, the child of Bethiah and Daniel. At age 16, on November 23, 1775, she married Seaman Allen Lincoln, and they lived on Cohasset's Elm Street, where the current police and fire stations stand. Her husband was captured by the British and imprisoned in England's Dartmoor Prison, a place known to be miserable, cruel, unhealthy, and deadly. He never returned. That experience may have motivated Persis to rebel against the British Crown's authority.
In March 1774, the British Parliament closed Boston Harbor to commerce, preventing goods from entering the colonies or allowing export to make money. British vessels blocked the harbor, and troops entered the city. Conditions were harsh, and provisions dwindled. As Persis knew how to sail, she did the work of men and sailed a vessel across the Gloucester Harbor to get supplies when Boston was filled with British vessels. Her brother Abraham Tower also rebelled and participated in the Boston Tea Party. After the war, Persis married Captain James Hall in 1785. She died at age 69 on September 29, 1828.
