Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 187
was employed fifteen winters in trading voyages to the
Carolinas'.
VI. Edward, Sept. 13, 1749, married Mary, daughter of Seth
Lothrop. He was employed many years by the eccentric
Dr. Abner Hersey, and as a reward for his faithful services,
the Dr. in one of his early wills, gave him £100.
The Dr. inquired of Edward what disposition he intended
to make of the bequest. "Fit out my daughters and
marry them off," was the inconsiderate reply. The Dr.
could not tolerate even neatness in dress, was indignant at
the reply, altered his will, and Edward lost the money.
Josiah and Edward bought the small estate of John Logge,
(a part of Elder Cobb's great lot) , which they divided, and each
had a house thereon. Both were coopers and small farmers, and
displayed more taste for horticultural and florticultural pursuits
than was common in those days. Both, in early life, went on
feather voyages, a term which few, at the present time, will understand.
About a century ago, vessels were fitted out for the coast
of Labrador to collect feathers and eider down. At a certain
season of the year some species of wild fowl shed a part of their
wing feathers, and either cannot fly, or only for a short distance.
On some of the barren islands on that coast, thousands of those
birds congregated. The crews of the vessels would drive them
together, kill them with a short club or a broom made of spruce
branches, and strip off their feathers. Millions of wild fowl were
thus destroyed, and in a few years, their haunts were broken up
by this wholesale slaughter, and their numbers so greatly diminished
that feather voyages became unpi'ofitable and were discontinued.
For fourteen years subsequent to 1800 these brothers were
oftener seen together than seperate. Every week day at 11 and
4 o'clock they visited the groceries with a degree of punctuality which
all noticed. Housewives that had no time-pieces, when they saw
them, would say. Uncle Ned and Siah (as they were familiarly
called) have passed, and it is time to set the table. At the close
of his life, Edward became estranged from his brother and would
liave no intercourse whatever with him. This was a great affliction
to Josiah, and no efforts or concessions he could make
effected a reconciliation. Edward had some eccentricities. Perhaps
his long and familiar intercourse with Dr. Hersey had infused
that trait into his character. His feelings were strong, and
when he took a dislike he was not easily reconciled. Josiah was
a different man in this respect. He harbored no prejudices
against any one. He was a kind hearted man, and a good neighbor.
When young he took an interest in the history of the early
settlements, and remembered many things that his grandfather had
said to him. He stated that all the families of the name of