Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

24 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BAEKSTABLE FAMILIES.
front room was eight feet wide, four feet deep, and the n^antle
laid high, so that a tall person could walk under it by
stooping a little. The oven was often built on the outside
of the house with the mouth opening in one corner on the
back side of the lire place. The fire was built in the centre,
and on a cold winter evening a seat in the chimney corner was
a luxury unknown in modern times. The fire place in the
kitchen was necessarily smaller, in a house of this construction,
especially when the oven opened into it. There was
usually a fire place in the front chamber. The windows
were small and oiled paper was used instead of glass in many
houses. The successive occupants of this house, altered
and enlarged it so many times, that in 1825 it was entirely
unlike the original. The height of the rooms had been increased,
by lengthening the posts three feet,— a large addi-
tion had been put on the west, and several on the rear.
So that it covered more than four times as much ground a^
at first.
Mr. Bacon was proposed as a freeman in June 1645 and
admitted June 1646. In 1650 he was constable of the town
of Barnstable, and a deputy to the Colony Court thirteen
years from 1652 to 1665. In 1657 he was chosen an assistant
and was re-elected annually till his death in 1673. In
1658 and 1667 he was a member of the council of war. He
frequently served on committees appointed hy the Court,
and was a prominent and influential man in the Colony.
It would be instructive and interesting to trace step by
step the progress of Mr. Bacon through life. He came to
Barnstable a young man, comparatively poor, without
friends to assist him, and without the advantages of a o-ood
education ; but a good moral character, good business habits,
energy and industry more than compensated for the want of
these advantages. He died Oct. 1673, probably not 60
years of age. His widow survived him many years. She
was living in 1691.
I do not find his will on record ; he probably made none.
The inventory of his estate, appraised at £632, 10. 2, is
dated Oct 29, 1673, sworn to by his widow Mistress Hannah
Bacon, and letters of administration granted to her.
On the 4th of March following "Mr. Thomas Hinckley, Mr.
Thomas Walley, William Crocker, John Thompson, and