History

I did some searching on the net and found out some interesting info about an ancestor, John Beal, that came to the American colony. He and his family were of 133 passengers on a ship called Diligent that sailed from England in 1638, only 18 years after the Mayflower voyage, arriving in Hingham, Massachusetts. My father worked and lived there until he retired a few years ago.

This was one document I found on the net:

JOHN BEAL, the progenitor of the large family bearing his name and 
dwelling In HIngham, Cohasset, Weymouth and Ablngton, came from the 
parish of HIngham In Forehoe hundred in the county of Norfolk, England, 
which is situated about fourteen miles west-southwest of Norwich, the shire 
town, and about ninety-eight north-east of London. He came in the vessel 
called the Diligent, of which John Martin was master, arriving at Boston 
on the tenth of August, 1638. Daniel Gushing, one of the early town 
clerks of Hingham, who also came to New England In the abovenamed 
vessel, In a manuscript list of the early settlers of Hingham, which has 
fortunately been presei'ved, says of him, "John Beale, shoemaker, with 
his wife and 5 sons and 3 daughtei's and 2 servants, came from Old Hing- 
ham and settled In New Hingham." 

Perhaps the Inducement that led Mr. Beal to select Hingham as a place 
of abode was, that his wife, Nazareth, was daughter of Edmund Hobart, 
and consequently sister of Rev. Peter Hobart, the first minister of that 
town, who had chosen that place for his labors a few years previous. The 
five sons and three daughters of Mr. Beal who were brought over from 
England were, Martha, Mary, Sarah, John, Nathaniel, Jeremiah^ Joshua 
and Caleb. Two other children, Rebecca and Jacob, were born In America. 

Not long after his settlement at Hingham he became a landholder, as 
may be Inferred from the following entry taken from the town's book of 
grants of land : — " Given unto John Beal for a house lot 6 acres of land 
butting upon the town street northward, and upon the common southward, 
bounded with the land of Jonas Austin eastward, and with the land of 
Thomas Hobart westward." The site of this homelot can be easily pointed 
out on the south side of the present South Street (which was the ancient 
Town Street), and west of Hersey Street, which was laid out through Mr. 
Austin's oriojinal lot. - 

I then searched google maps for the lot location described in the document and found the property. It has been subdivided now into smaller lots so I don't know which if any are the original house but the one right on the corner looks to be a colonial house and it could be the one. Google street view has a picture of the front of it:

My grandfather Beal did a lot of genealogical research and probably knew much about this property and other family history..