Continue along Hersey St., cross South St. to North St., you will find Thaxter St.

Check-in

Overview

This is another chance to walk along and admire a neighborhood with many late 19th/early 20th century homes. As documented in the 1880 census, Irish immigrant residents on Thaxter Street had names including Casey, Corbett, Cronin, Daley, Dawes, Harmon, Hogan, Keating, Osborne, Pine, Quinn, Roach and Shea. They worked at the rope walk and the woolen factory, or the nearby Burr, Brown and Company Tassel Factory (located where St. Paul’s School is today, just behind St. Paul’s church, your next stop.)

Young women from West Hingham Irish immigrant families who worked at the Burr, Brown Tassel Factory according to the 1860 census included the sisters Mary Keefe, age 22, and Lizzie Keefe 18 who lived at 14 Emerald Street with their parents Patrick (a laborer) and Ellen Keefe and 5 younger siblings. The factory supplied decorative items desirable during Victorian times such as trim for carriages as well as shades and curtains with tassels or frings.