Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

t62 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIKS.
came to Sandwich. He married Jane, widow of the lamented
Anthony Besse. She had then a sou Nehemiah, ancestor of the
Besses of Sandwich, Wareham, and other towns, and three
daughters. By her second husband she had a son John, ancestor
of some of the Barlows in Sandwich, &c.
Details of his brutality as the master of
already been given. Froni Mr. Besse's once
peace, comfort, and happiness, were banished.
a family, have
"sweet home,"
Morning and
evening prayer and praise had ascended from the family altar,
now desecrated by impiety and drunken revelries.
The little ones
who had been brought up to be liiud and affectionate, one towards
the other, were now rude and disobedient, and taught that it was
no sin to steal from those who were not members of their
church.
Barlow made high pretension to piety, and became a member
of the Sandwich church. He also claimed to have studied the
law, and essayed to be a lawyer. By his pretended piety, and«by
his plausible address, he at first deceived the unsuspecting Puritans,
and *hey appointed him to a responsible office. This they
did ignorantly, and no blame can attach to the court ; but he was
continued in office, and his authority enlarged, after his true
character was known. For this, it is difficult to frame a sufficient
excuse.
The worst of men usually have some redeeming traits of
Character. Contemporaneous authorities say nothing in his favor.
He was hated by every member of his family, wife, sons, daughter,
and daughters-in-law ; despised and avoided by his neighbors
—a blot on the annals of the Old Colony which time will never
wipe out.
Barlow, in the latter part of his life, was never sober of his
own free choice—as an officer he was unfeeling and tyrannical,
and seemed to take pleasure in wringing the last penny from the
hard hand of industry—in dragging men and women to the prison
and the whipping post. His career was short. An outraged
people hurled him from otHee, and in his old age he craved charity
from those for whom he had shown no piety in the day of his
power.
The early writers furnish many details of his cruel acts. 1
shall relate one, and prefer giving it as it has been preserved by
tradition. J
t Among the fli-st settlers in Sandwich was George Allen, a man of good standing
a.mong the Puritans, notivithstanding he was an Ana baptist. The lioase which he built at
Spring Hill in 1646, is now owned by Mrs. Eliza C. Wing, is in good repair, and will probably
last another century. He died in 16i3, leaving nine children mentioned in his will, four
of whom are named, Matthew, Henry, Samuel and William, the other five least children
not named. Brown says that six brothers and sisters of this family were among the earUest
who embraced the principles of the Fi-iends. He says that Halph Allen was his son, and
George, Jr., was probably another. The two last named must have been men grown when
they came to this country, for George had taken the oath of fidelity in England. The
Aliens settled at Spring Hill, and two or more of their houses yet remain, and are probably
as old as any in Massachusetts. The one in which the early quakers met for many successive
years, is still standing, and remained in the family till 1862, when it was sold to Frank
Korns, the present owner.