Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

464 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
imposed on him, and Jonathan escaped without punishment.
March 1, 1641-2, he "was taken as a vagabond, and for his misdemeanors
was censured to be whipt and sent from constable to
constable to Lieut. Davenport at Salem." At the Court held
April 5, 1642, this sentence was re-considered. The court had no
authority to order the arrest of a party as a vagabond, because he
had escaped from the service of a master residing in another jurisdiction.
He was "appointed to dwell with Mr. Stephen Hopkins,"
who was enjoyend to have a special care of him.
Mr. Hopkins died in 1644. Jonathan did not probably reside
long with him, for soon afterwards he appears to have been a
resident in Barnstable. Aug. 23, 1645, he was one of the four
men forming the quota of the town of Barnstable in the expedition
against the Narragansets and their confederates.
The foregoing records of the early life of Jonathan do not
present his character in an amiable point of view. His parents
appear to have taken no interest in his welfare, and this can be accounted
for only on the supposition that Grace was a second wife.
I am not a writer of eulogy. I must present such facts as I find
on record ; and my inferences must be logical or they are worthless.
The boy was exposed to temptation on every hand—he had
no friends on whom he could rely—he was a bond servant— "a
slave"—and that servitude his proud spirit could not brook—he
resisted—he escaped from servitude ; that, in the eye of the law,
was criminal—and for that he was imprisoned, and for that endured
cruel stripes. Though his conduct is not legally justifiable,
we cannot but admire his bold and manly resistance of the intolerant
spirit of the age, and of the law which banished him from
the home of his father, and which deprived him of the liberty
which he claimed as a free born citizen of the British realm.
Jonathan Hatch married April 11, 1646, Sarah Rowley,
daughter of Henry Rowley, by his first wife—a daughter of William
Palmer, Sen. From the latter's will dated in 1637, I infer
that Sarah's mother-in-law, though a church member, was not a
kind-hearted woman. She was a step-mother to Sarah as I have
presumed Grace had been to Jonathan. Their experience in
early life coincided—they lived long in married life, and were
blessed with a family of eleven children, nine of whom had families
of their own.
After his marriage he probably resided several years at "West
Barnstable before removing to South Sea. Oct. 7, 1651, he and
Samuel Hinckley were prosecuted by the grand jury for hiring
land of the Indians, and March 2, 1651-2, he was again prosecuted
for furnishing an Indian with a gun, powder and shot. Feb.
1652-3, he was on the jury that laid out the road from Sandwich
to Plymouth, and in 1657 took the oath of fidelity.
The grant of his lands was recorded Feb. 14, 1655, but it is