Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

HINCKLEY.
To write a full genealogy and history of the Hinckley family, a
volume would afford insufficient space. I shall condense the materials
I have collected into the smallest compass that I can, without
rendering the narrative obscure. Omitting Gov. Thomas Hinckley,
the same traits of character, with very few exceptions, have been
transmitted from the first to the ninth generation.
SAMUEL HESCKLEY.
Samuel Hinckley, the common ancestor of all of the name in
this country, is the type of the race. He was a dissenter, though on
the 14th of March, 1734-5, in order to escape out of his native
country, he was obliged to swear that he "conformed to the order
and discipline of the church" of England.* He was honest, industrious
and prudent, qualities which have been transmitted from
father to son down to the present time. The Hinckley's are zealous
in the advocacy of whatever opinions they adopt, and I never knew
one who was dishonest, lazy or imprudent. He was not a distinguished
man or prominent in political life. To be a juryman or surveyor
of highways, filled the measure of his political aspirations.
He appears to have been a man of good estate for the times, and all
his children were as well educated as his means would permit. Very
few of his descendants have amassed wealth, and a smaller number
have been pinched by poverty.
In 1628 it appears by the colony records that Elder Nathaniel
Tilden, of Teuterden, purchased lands in Scituate. He is spoken of
This oath, whether taken with or without mental reservation, was perjury, according
to the laws of England. Many of our ancestors were compelled to take it, or remain in
England. They did outwardly "conform," in order to save themselves from imprisonment
or persecution. Many of the first settlers of Barnstable would not outwardly conform, and
in consequence suffered two years imprisonment in the vile dungeons of the city of London.
Mr. Hinckley thought it politic to outwardly conform, and most persons, under the same
circumstances, would have done the same. The sin consisted in compelling such men to
take the oath, rather than in the taking thereof. The Union men of the South are in precisely
the same circumstances at the present time, and no man condemns them for outwardly
conforming to the requirements of the rehels.