Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

128 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
Plymouth, . - - - £2.10
Naumkeak, (Salem,) - - - - - - 1.10.
Piscataquack, (Portsmouth,) - - - 2.10
Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Burslem, Wessaguscus, (Wey-
mouth,)
2.00
Nantascot, (Hull,) - 1.10
Mrs. Thompson, (Squantum Neck,) - - - 15
Mr. Blackstone, (Boston,) - - 12
Edward Hilton, (Dover,) - - - - - 1.00
£12.7
Mr. Savage says that Mr. Bursley was an early settler
at Weymouth ; reckoned some three or four years among
"old planters." That he was early of Weymouth, is evident
from the record of the proceedings May 14, 1634, in relation
to his servant Thomas Lane. Lane "having fallen lame and
impotent, became chargeable to the town of Dorchester, his
then place of residence. The General Court investigated
the questions at issue, and ordered that the inhabitants of
Wessaguscus should pay all the charges of his support."
From this it appears that Lane had previously to 1634, resided
a sufGcient length of time at Wessaguscus, as the servant
of Mr. John Bursley, to make the inhabitants of that
place legally chargeable for his support.
Mr. Palfrey, in his history of New England, says the
cottages of Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Burslem probably stood at
Winnisimmet, now Chelsea. The foregoing abstracts from
the records show that he was mistaken in his supposition.
It also appears that John Bursley was one of the assessors
of Dorchester, June 2, 1634.
From 1630 to 1635, Wessaguscus appears to have been
included within the corporate limits of Dorchester. Oct.
19, 1630, Mr. Bursley and Mr. Jeffrey requested to be admitted
freemen of Massachusetts, and were sworn in the
18th of May following. They were then called Dorchester
men, though residents at Wessaguscus, which was incorporated
in 1635, and named Weymouth.
Mr. Bursley was deputy from Weymouth to the JMassachusetts
Greueral Court, May, 1636, and was appointed a
member of the Committee to take the valuation of the estates
in the Colony. He and two others were elected to the
September term of the Court; but it was decided that