Editing Cohasset, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==

Cohasset was inhabited by the [[Pokanoket]] until 1649, when it was conquered by the Wampanoag,<ref>https://www.dartmouthhas.org/uploads/1/0/0/2/100287044/territorial_boundaries_-wampanoags-1928.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213144752/https://www.dartmouthhas.org/uploads/1/0/0/2/100287044/territorial_boundaries_-wampanoags-1928.pdf |date=December 13, 2023 }} {{bare URL PDF|date=February 2024}}</ref> and then the Massachusett in 1668.<ref>https://www.dartmouthhas.org/uploads/1/0/0/2/100287044/territorial_boundaries_-wampanoags-1928.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213144752/https://www.dartmouthhas.org/uploads/1/0/0/2/100287044/territorial_boundaries_-wampanoags-1928.pdf |date=December 13, 2023 }} {{bare URL PDF|date=February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome |url=https://native-land.ca/ |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Native-Land.ca |language=en |archive-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709122106/https://native-land.ca/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The area entered the written record in 1614, when [[John Smith of Jamestown|Captain John Smith]] explored the coast of [[New England]] and described an encounter of his ship with four Native Americans in a canoe at ''Quonahasit'', two of whom were shot by the Europeans.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=John|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100693021|title=A description of New England; or, The observations, and discoveries of Captain Iohn Smith (admirall of that country) in the north of America, in the year of our Lord 1614; with the successe of sixe ships, that went the next yeare 1615; and the accidents befell him among the French men of warre: with the proofe of the present benefit this countrey affoords; whither this present yeare, 1616, eight voluntary ships are gone to make further tryall.|date=1837|publisher=P. Force|location=Washington|access-date=October 26, 2021|archive-date=February 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215200851/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100693021|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1634, "Conihosset" is listed as a "noted habitation" in New England in a list of both indigenous and colonial settlements,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wood|first=William|title=Wood's Vocabulary of Massachusett|publisher=Evolution Publishing|year=2002|isbn=978-1-889758-97-8|location=Merchantsville, NJ|pages=14}}</ref> though the area was first settled by English settlers in 1670 suggesting this was a settlement of [[Massachusett|Massachusett people]]. The town's name came from the [[Massachusett language|Massachusett]] word "Conahasset," possibly meaning "long rocky place"<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Cohasset|url=https://www.cohassetchamber.org/history|access-date=October 25, 2021|website=Cohasset Chamber of Commerce|language=en-US|archive-date=October 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025215319/https://www.cohassetchamber.org/history|url-status=live}}</ref> or "fishing promontory."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Douglas-Lithgow|first=R.A.|date=January 3, 1910|title=Dictionary of American Indian Place and Proper Names in New England; with many Interpretations, etc.|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=12|issue=1|pages=107|doi=10.1525/aa.1910.12.1.02a00100|issn=0002-7294|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Much of the land was originally granted without consultation of its indigenous inhabitants to the "Conahasset Partners." At a special town meeting of January 1670, the shares in the new town were apportioned and divided among the new proprietors, many of whom were large [[Hingham, Massachusetts|Hingham]] landowners. The largest number of shares (35) went to Hingham Town Clerk Daniel Cushing, with the second largest (25) to Reverend Peter Hobart, Hingham's minister. Others receiving large grants were: Capt. Joshua Hobart, Peter Hobart's brother (18&nbsp;shares); Lieut. John Smith (15&nbsp;shares); Ensign John Thaxter (16½&nbsp;shares); and deacon [[John Leavitt]] (with 14½&nbsp;shares).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJsYAAAAYAAJ&q=%22nehemiah+leavitt%22&pg=RA1-PA378 |title=A Narrative History of the Town of Cohasset, Massachusetts, Edwin Victor Bigelow, Published Under the Auspices of the Committee on Town History, Press of Samuel Usher, Boston, Mass., 1898 |access-date=February 25, 2014|last1=Bigelow |first1=Edwin Victor |year=1898 }}</ref> The layout of the town was distinctive. Many lots were laid out in long narrow strips, facilitating more lots with road frontage, and avoiding back lots.

Cohasset became a town separate from [[Hingham, Massachusetts|Hingham]] in 1770, 100 years later.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xuigq23ybG0C&q=leavitt+cohasset&pg=PA167|title=History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts|volume=I|first=Thomas Tracy|last=Bouve|publisher=Hingham, Mass.|year=1893|access-date=February 25, 2014|archive-date=June 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620232756/https://books.google.com/books?id=xuigq23ybG0C&q=leavitt+cohasset&pg=PA167#v=snippet&q=leavitt%20cohasset&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>  Previously, what is today the town of Cohasset was known as Hingham's Second Parish.<ref name="1st parish history">{{cite web|date=December 28, 2009|title=Congregational History|url=http://firstparishcohasset.org/about/congregational-history/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726055130/http://firstparishcohasset.org/about/congregational-history/|archive-date=July 26, 2011|access-date=June 6, 2010|publisher=First Parish of Cohasset}}</ref>

Cohasset was originally part of [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]], and when the southern part of the county was set off as [[Norfolk County, Massachusetts|Norfolk County]] in 1793, it included the towns of Cohasset, Hingham and [[Hull, Massachusetts|Hull]]. In 1803, Hull and Hingham opted out of Norfolk County and became part of [[Plymouth County, Massachusetts|Plymouth County]], leaving Cohasset as an [[exclave]] of Norfolk County.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cisctlist/ctlistidx.htm |title=Information and Historical Data on Cities, Towns and Counties in Massachusetts |publisher=Sec.state.ma.us |access-date=February 25, 2014 |archive-date=July 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704193818/http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cisctlist/ctlistidx.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Discovery of cohasset.jpg|A historic marker on the European discovery of Cohasset
File:Cushing-Nichols House Cohasset Massachusetts.jpg|Cushing–Nichols House, Cohasset
Image:First Parish, Cohasset MA.jpg|First Parish Meeting House, a [[Unitarian Universalist]] congregation originally built {{circa|1750}}.<ref name="1st parish history"/>
</gallery>