Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

478 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BAENSTABLE FAMILIES.
June 7, 1648, Robert Dennis claimed seven acres of land in the
West Field bought of Mr. Hallett. In a deed dated Feb. 20,
1654, the great lot of Mr. Andrew Hallett, deceased, is named.
In Lechford's Plain Dealing, he is called a schoolmaster. If
so, it is surprising that his son Andrew did not learn to write till
some time after he was a married man. However, there were many
in those times who could read fluently ; but were unable to write.
That was not considered a necessary accomplishment, and it did
not necessarily follow that the man who could not write was ignorant
; yet we may safely presume that a teacher of youth would
have instructed his own children in the elementary branches of
education. His other children were better educated; but, notwithstanding,
Andrew was the most respectable and succeeded
best in life.
Mr. Hallett, as above stated, was called a gentleman, a word
that at that time had a very different meaning attached to it, than
it has at the present time. When applied to a man, it meant that
he was connected with the gentry or wealthy class—that he was
not a mechanic or common laborer, and that he had received a
good education. Rank and title were more regarded in those days
than at the present time. Of the first settlers in Barnstable,
about thirty were entitled to be called "goodman," four to be
called "mister," and one "gentleman." What his employment
was the records do not inform us. He was engaged in too many
lawsuits for a teacher, yet Leehford was probably right. He had
not been officially employed in the public service, yet the Colony
Court decided that he had rendered i some
public service and was
entitled to a liberal grant, and though objection was made to the
amount, yet the Court confirmed it, and the towns of Barnstable
and Yarmouth acquiesced.
Too few incidents of his life are known to enable us to form
a just estimate of his character. That he was a man of some
note in the Colony, has already been shown. He speculated in
wild lands ; but in doing so he only followed the fashions of the
times. Every one traded in land-; from the minister in his pulpit
to the cobbler on his bench; He was frequently a party in law
suits. They are not always to be avoided ; tor "the over-reaching
and the dishonest ought not to be allowed to possess in peace the
wealth of others. However, the man of peace, the good citizen
and obliging neighbor, very rarely appeals to the law to obtain redress
for every offence against his property or his good name.
His experience and observation has taught him that it is not the
better way. The self-willed, the wayward and the stubborn, as a
class, are most frequently engaged in lawsuits. Mr. Hallett did
not recover damage in any of his lawsuits, and it may thence be
inferred that he was a little stiff-necked, and believed his own to