Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

FREEMAN,
This is not a Barnstable name. It is a common name in the
County, and several families of the name were early of Barnstable.
Two of the name came to thif County. Edmund of
Lynn, who was one of the first settlers in Sandwich, and Samuel
of Watertown, who settled in Eastham.
Edmund was a prominent man of good business habits,
liberal in polities, and tolerant in his religious opinions. He was
a member of the Sandwich church—the most bigoted and intolerant
in the Colony— yet he did not imbibe the persecuting spirit
which has condemned to everlasting infamy many of his brethen.
In his intercourse with his neighbors and associates, he was
affable and obliging, and to his kindred and
was ever kind and affectionate. He rested
intimate friends, he
from his labors at
Sandwich in 1682, at the i"ipe old age of 92 years. His wife died
Feb. 14, 1676, aged 76. She was buried
his own farm. He was then 86, and had
on a rising ground on
lived 59 years in the
married state. Some little time after her decease he summoned
together his sons and his grandsons, they placed a large flat rock
resembling a pillion, over the grave of the wife. He then placed
another, resembling in shape a saddle, beside it ; and addressing
his sons, he said : "when I die, place my body under that stone,
your mother and I have travelled many long years together in this
world, and I desire that our bodies rest here till the resurrection,
and I charge you to keep this spot sacred, and that you enjoin it
upon your children and your children's children, that they never
desecrate this spot."
A substantial wall was built around these simple but suggestive
monuments, and his descendants to this day with pious hands
protect them from desecration. Many of them regard this spot as
their Mecca, which it is their duty to visit at least once in their
lives.
Children of Edmund and Elizabeth Freeman.
For the reason stated in a note, I have not carefully examined