Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

12 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BAKNSTABLE FAMILIES.
During the twenty-nine years that the deacons managed the
fertility of the soil had diminished, and the expense, repairs and
taxes, nearly absorbed all that was obtained from rents, and the
sale of w^ood.
In 1815 the deacons became convinced that in a few years
more the expenses would equal the income. A compromise was
made with the heirs at law, legal authority from the Legislature
was obtained, and in 1816 the whole property was sold. Dea.
Nathaniel Lewis, of Barnstable, and Dr. Calvin Tilden, of Yarmouth,
were the active and efficient men in effecting the sale.
In summing up thp character of Dr. Abner Hersey, 1 am decidedly
of the opinion that a higher rank should be awarded to
him, than that given by his pupil Dr. James Thacher. I know
he had better individual opportunities to judge than I have had,
and if the decision depended on us, my opinion should be rejected
and his received. But the question is not between us. I
could name twenty individuals who had as good opportunities for
forming a correct judgment as Dr. Thacher, and they unanimously
said in reply to my inquiries that, forgetting his eccentricities,
he was a most skilful physician, a man whose moral
character was unimpeached, of good sense, of sound judgment;
a good neighbor and citizen and an exemplary and pious member
of the church.
He had one fault, call it so if you please, he was a
hypochrondiac, an affection which, the doctors say, "is attended
by uneasiness about the region of the stomach and liver, or the
hypochrondiac region." It is a disease which causes melancholy
feelings, low spirits, spleen, and a disordered imagination. The
person who is thus afflicted is no more to blame than the
blind man because he cannot see, or the deaf for not hearing.
Uniformly persons having that disease have power to restrain
their feelings when in the presence of strangers, but at home, in
the presence of their own families, they cannot. This is universally
true of the hypochrondiac.
We may smile when the stories of his eccentricities are repeated,
but can we condemn Dr. Hersey ; ought we to forget his
many good qualities because he had an incurable disease. With
equal propriety we might censure the rheumatic or the consumpt-
ive.
Dr. Hersey has been called rude and illiterate. It is true he
was not a gay or a fashionable man, neither did he have a public
education. He could not have been rude in the common acceptation
of that term. If he was rude he was not a hypochrondiac, for all
thus affected are remarkable for the suavity of their manners when
abroad. Tradition represents him as gentlemanly in his address,
and as one who studiously avoided giving cause for offence. The
Doctor, his family and relatives, had much reason to lament his