Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OP BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 475
The widow Mary Hallett of Barnstable, was probably his
wife. Her daughter Hannah Hallett married John Hadaway July
1656. Josias Hallett was her son, and probably Joseph Hallett,
of Barnstable.
This account is unsatisfactory ; but it is the best I have been
able to obtain after much research. Mr. Hallett's children were
probably all born in England, and the parish registers in that
country would probably furnish the desired information.
He was styled ''gentleman," a title bestowed upon few in the
Colony. It shows that he was a man possessed of a good estate,
and a man of some note in his native land. He was among the
very first who came to Mattakeset, but did not make it his place
of residence till 1641. His son Samuel was of Yarmouth in 1639,
and is spoken of as a young man, for whom his father was responsible.
(Court Order, vol. 2, page 20.)
March 5, 1638-9, the Colony Court ordered the Committee of
the town of Yarmouth, consisting of Mr. Anthony Thacher, Mr.
Thomas Howes, Mr. John Crowe, Mr. Nicholas Sympkins, William
Palmer, Philip Tabor and Joshua Barnes, to make the first
division of the planting lands, to be divided equally "to each man
according to his estate and quality, and according to their instructions."
Thacher, Howes and Crowe, had surveyed the lands
during the previous winter, and it appears that Mr. Hallett was
also in Yarmouth, and had "assumed to himself" more land than
was thought equitable, and the Colony Court appointed March 5,
1638-9, Joshua Pratt, of Plymouth, and Mr. John Vincent of
matter, I think, makes it probable, if not certain, that the elder Mr. Hallett had a family.
That the widow Mary Hallett, of Barnstable, was the widow of Andrew'HaUett, Sen'r.,
in 1654 she was a resident in Barnstable, and probably had been for
rests on this evidence :
scTeral years. She and some of her children were the owners of one of, the original allotments
of lands, purchased of one of the first settlers, for in the list of the persons who in
Jannary, 1644, were proprietors of the common lands, there was no one of that name, Mr.
Hallett being then a resident in Yarmouth. He was living July 1646, but his residence at
that time is not named; but it was probably Barnstable. He died soon after this date, before
the year 1648. His estate was probably legally settled, and a division thereof made
among his heirs; but unfortunately no record was made.
Up to July 7; 1646, the records of judicial acts are in the handwriting of Mr. Nathaniel
Souther, after which there is a chasm of two years and three months, to Oct. 3, 1648. In
the Probate record, there is a similar chasm. During that period there does not appear to
have been a permanent Secretary. The court orders during that time are in the handwriting
of Gov. Bradford, Antony Thacher and others. The first record made in the court orders
by Nathaniel Morton, so many years Secretary of the Colony, is dated "Dec. 7, 1647,
Srobably written up from the minutes of others, for he did not perform all the duties till
let. 1648. The Judicial acts and the Probate records were not written up by him, and the
papers are now lost. Notwithstanding, the records of Barnstable and some incidental entries
on the Colony records, wiU enable us to arrive at a conclusion which, if not entirely
satisfactory, is probable.
In 1647, at the time ot Mr. Hallett's death, Andrew and Samuel were of legal age.
Josias and Joseph were minors, if they were able bodied and came over with their parents,
because in Aug. 1643, all males able to bear arms were enrolled, and their names not being
on the list it is safe to infer that they were not 16 in 1643, or 21 in 1647.
Mr. Hallett left a good estate. Mr. Freeman says : "Winsor gives his estate at £1180,"
a misquotation, for if ao, he was a very wealthy man, a farm of of fifty acres and its appertenances
could, then be bought for £10. In the division of his estate it appears that Andrew,
Samuel, and Joseph, had the "Hallett Farm" or great lot of 200 acres, and the widow
Mary, Hannah and Josiah, the estate at G-oodspeed's Hill and appertenances. Mr. Andrew
Hallett, Sen., was the only man of the name in the Colony, old enough to have been the
father of this family, and I think it a le^timate inference, that the Wid. Mary was his wife,
and Andrew, Jr.> Satomel, Hannah, Josias atid Joseph, his children.