Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 329
May 6, 1639. "It is ordered by the Court, that if Mr. Collicut
do come in his own person to inhabit at Mattakeeset before the
General Court in June next ensuing ; that then the grant shall remain
firm unto them ; but, if he fail to come within the time pre-
fixed, that then their grant be made void, and the lands be otherwise
disposed of."
The language of this order cannot be misunderstood. The
Court had granted the lands at Mattakeeset to Mr. Collicut and
his associates on the usual conditions, namely, that they should
"see to the receiving in of such persons as may be fit to live together
there in the fear of G-od, and obedience to our sovereigne
lord the King, in peace and love, as becometh Christian people ;"
that they should "faithfully dispose of such equal and fit portions
of lands unto them and every of them, as the several estates,
ranks and qualities of such persons as the Almighty in his providence
shall send in amongst them, shall require ; to reserve, for
the disposal of the Court, at least acres of good land, with
meadow competent, in place convenient, and to make returns to
the Court of their doings." These conditions had not been complied
with—a month's notice was given—Mr. Collicut did not
come in person—and the Court on the 4th of June, 1639, made
void the grant to him ;
tled in Barnstable.*
but not to his associates who had then set-
As Mr. Dimmock was of Dorchester he was probably one of
the original associates of Mr. Collicut. Mr. Hull and Mr. Bursley
of Weymouth, and the other inhabitants of Barnstable, prior
to Oct. 21, 1639, with a few exceptions hereinafter named, belonged
to the same company.
Mattakeeset was incorporated and became a town called Barnstable,
on the 4th of June 1639, old stile, or June 14th new stile,
lam aware that the Eev. JohnMellen, Jr., in his Topographical description
of Barnstable, published in 1794 in the third volume of
the Massachusetts Historical Society's collections, says : "There
is no account to be found of the first settlement made in this
town. Probably there was none made much before its incorporation
which was Sept. 3, 1639, O. S. As Mr. Mellen says, there
was no record of the act of incorporation made. As early as 1685
when many of the first settlers were living, Gov. Hinckley was
appointed a committee of the town, to examine the records and
*Mr. Collicut was admitted a freeman of the Massachusetts Colony March 4, 1632-3.
He was a deputy to the General Court from Dorchester in 1636, '37 and '55. Selectman in
1636. His business arrangements probably prevented him from coming to Barnstable, as he
had intended. May 17, 1637, about the time he and his associates intended to remove, he
was appointed Commissaiy, to make provisions for the troops employed in the expedition
against the Pequot Indians. In 1638 he was appointed by the Court to rectify the bounds
between Dedham and Dorchester, and in 1641 to run the south line of the State adjoining
Connecticut. He was one of the company authorized to trade with the Indians, and was
much employed in public business. He removed to Boston before 1656. In 1669 he was of
Falmouth, now Portland, and in 1672 of Saco, from both of which places he was a representative
to the General Court in the years named, He finally returned to Boston, where he
died July 7, 1685, aged 83, and was Iniried on Copp's Hill.