Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGIGAI. NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 27
turies, and furnish the means of vindicating the character of Mr.
Hull.
Dr. Cotton Mather, however bigoted he may have been, however
credulous, however fond of the mavellous, and however strong
may have been his faith in the super-natural, on all occasions speaks
kindly and well of Mr. Hull.
Misfortunes followed in his footsteps in all his wanderings.
Every recorded act of his life exhibits him as a man of peace, of a
quiet and yielding disposition, as a good man and a sincere christian.
In his controversy with Samuel Hinckley, he yielded all that he was
asked to yield. His dealings with the church in Barnstable is a continual
series of concessions on his part—he conceeded till he had
nothing left to concede. At Yarmouth, when he found that the
gathering of a second church ga,ve offence to his former friends and
to the Court, he withdrew and in a spirit of meekness, bordering on
pusilanimity, "acknowledged that he had sinned," in preaching the
gospel to that people.
At Dover, when the quakeress preachers invaded, on the Sabbath,
his house of worship, and disturbed the order of exercises, by
assuming a high place therein, and attempting to address the congregation.
Bishop says that John Hill was belligerent, and thrust them
down, and "that old Mr. Hull in leading Mary out pinched her arm."
Bishop is usually truthful, and I presume the pinching must be admitted
; that is, as aged as he was, he did not mean that she should
escape from his grasp. In the afternoon Mr. Hull allowed the
quakeresses to do as their spirits moved—he did not disturb their
meeting, and to avoid all contest with their adherents he removed to
the Isles of Shoals. In these desolate isles, where the rocks and
sterility contend for the mastery, and where a single spring furnishes
the water, and where the people breakfast, dine and sup on fish,
there being nothing to tempt intrusion, poor Mr. Hull spent the remainder
of his days, and there died in peace.
I have extended this review to a greater length than I intended.
Circumstances seemed to require it. Mr. Hull was the founder of
the town of Barnstable ; his character as a man and a minister was
shrouded in doubt, and uncertainty. I felt it to be a duty to attempt
to remove that shroud, and present his character in its true light.
To succeed in this, it was necessary that the examination should not
only be full, but exhaustive. How well I have succeeded in performing
that duty, the reader will judge. If he decides that Mr.
Hull was "a contentious man" and a heterodox teacher of religion,
I fear that he will have to travel many a weary mile to find a peace-
ful man and a sincere christian.
Of Mr. Hull's family little is certainly known. His wife and
several children came over with him. Judging by the disparity between
the ages of his children he probably married twice. It is also