Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

16 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
Personal Estate, 332,17,4
Notes due him, 1035,17,6
equal to $12,611.64,
£3798,09,10
The deacons held an annual meeting at Lydia Sturgis' tavern,
and in those days neither ministers nor deacons refused to partake of
good liquors, could smoke their pipes and be as merry as the merriest.
Lydia Sturgis' tavern at thattime was the head-quarters of a
company of men who met to play cards, drink and gamble in a small
way, often stopping till the small hours of the morning. Common
rumor at the time, said that some of the deacons preferred the jovial
company of card players in "Hagar's Bed Room," to the staid and
religious conversation of the ministers and the gray haired deacons.
Dr. Hersey placed no restriction in his will on the sale ol his
wood, and as long as that lasted a small sum was annually distributed
among the thirteen churches, and the books ordered were
purchased. When the wood was gone the rents barely paid taxes
and repairs. The expenses of the annual meetings of the deacons
were large. The testator presumed that the ministers and deacons
would manage his estate gratuitously ; but it was not so. Some of
them had to travel forty miles to attend the annual meetings, and
were absent from home nearly a week, and they had to be compensated,
at least for the amount of their traveling expenses.
In their petition to the Legislature they state that the management
of said real estate in common is attended with great inconvenience
and' expense and that the same has heretofore been managed
in an unproductive manner. On the 12th of February, 1816, the
General Court authorized the churches to make a compromise with
the heirs-at-law, namely, of the children of Dr. Hersey's sister
Molly, who married David Lincoln, and of his sister Rachell, who
married Ephraim Otis, and to sell the estate, and after paying to the
heirs such proportion as should be agreed upon, to divide the" remainder
to and among the thirteen churches, in the proportions ordered
by the testator. Dr. Calvin Tilden of Yarmouth, was appointed
the agent of the churches, and Barney Smith, Esq., of Milton,
the attorney of the heirs-at-law. They sold the estate at auction
in October, 1816.
A goodly sum was realized from the sale. Like prodigal children,
the churches have wasted their heritage. Not content with the
golden egg, (the income) they have killed the goose that laid it.
They have devoted the money to other purposes than those for which
it was given. Little, very little now remains of the Hersey fund.
The churches have forgotten their benefactor, and the deacons no
longer remember him in their prayers.