Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENKALOGICAL NOTES OF B4KNSTABLE FAMILIES. 489
tbat it should be built, "with a chamber floored with boards, with a
chimney and an oven therein." This contract, and the contract by
Dr. Starr with William Chase in 1639, establish the fact that boards
were used by our ancestors in the construction of their houses. In
1640 there was a saw mill in Scituate, but Mr. Deane says "we are
without date when it was erected,"
Some writers on our early history speak of the "log cabins of
ancestors." I find no evidence that they built a single log-house.
The timber in the vicinity of the settlements was unfit for such
buildings. Before the erection of saw mills^ there were sawyers in
all the towns ; and within the last fifty years, old houses have been
taken down which were originally covered with hand-sawed planks
or boards. lu 1640 boards were cheap in Scituate, and for many
years after tha settlement, much of the lumber used in the Plymouth
Colony was brought from that town.
The fortification houses of our fathers were built, the lower
story of stone, where it could be conveniently procured, and the second
of wood. In apart of Yarmouth (now South Dennis) where
no stone could be conveniently found, a block house was built for defence.
This in its construction resembled a log-house, but no one
calls such a structure by that name. Many common houses like
that of John Crocker were surrounded by a palisade, and were intended
as places of resort, should the Indians prove unfriendly.
Major Grookin in speaking of the wigwams, of the Indians,
says some of them were large and convenient, and more comfortable
than many houses built by the English. Mr. Lothrop calls some of
the houses of our ancestors, booths, indicating that they were most
uncomfortable residences in the winter. Some he calls pailsado,
meaning I presume that the walls were built of two parallel rows of
poles, and the space between filled with clay or other material
Others were frame houses not large or elegantly finished, but warm
and comfortable. Dwellings of the latter description, only a few
men who were comparatively wealthy, had the means to build.
In such rude shelters from the piercing storms of the winter of
1639-40, the great mass of our ancestors resided more happily and
more contentedly than do their descendants at this day, in their well
built and well furnished mansions. Mornings and evenings they
thanked their Heavenly Father for the many blessings He had
vouchsafed to them ; that their lines had fallen in such pleasant
places ; that He had held them as in the hollow of His hand, protecting
them from the savages among whom they dwelt, and the
wiles of the more savage men, who had driven them from their native
land. Such were the feelings of our ancestors, they were ever
conscious of being under Divine protection, and were ever happy,
contented, and thankful. It is a sufficient honor to descend from
such a race of men. We need not trace our ancestry fi^rther. The
more closely we study their character, the greater will be our rever-