Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

152 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BAENSTABLE FAMILIEIS.
tridow Jemimab was probably a second wife. This is the opinioB
of Mr. Savage. There i» no recorded evideoce that Mr. Linnel
married twice j bat a variety of little circHmstaBces make it qaite
certaio. He had six childFea that lived to matare age^ and a
daughter Bethiai baptized in Barnstable Feb. 7, 1640-1. His
daughter was probably by his last wife. There was also a Shubael
Linnel that I name as his sod, a»d probably bora in this
eonntry, though there is no record of hia birth either in Scitoate
or Barastable.
Mr. Linnel died a poor man. His sons bad been nursed in
the lap of ease, and wanted that energy of character which is indispensable
for soccess in life. Wealth ha» its laws which operate
as invariably and as inexorably as the laws which govern the
natural world. The idle, the lazy, aad the improvident never can
be rich. The parent may bestow wealth, it is soon dissipated
little will be inherited by the grandchildren. The tax lists exhibit
the folly of bequeathing wealth to thriftless children, to
those who have not been educated to be temperate, honest, industrious
and frugal. Of the 24 families who ranked as wealthy and
paid the highest rate of tax in Barnstable in 1703, only 16, or
less than one-half of the families had maintained their relative po-
sition in society in 1737, and only three in 1787. Of the fifteen
solid men of Barnstable in 1787, the grandchildren of only one
possesses the property of the grandfather unimpaired. The gen-
eral rule for the descent of property is this ; one-third of the children
maintain the position of the father, one-sixth of the grandchildren,
and one-ninth of the great-grandchildren. Examine any
tax-list, you will find that only a small minority of those who pay
the highest taxes, inherited their estates—it is the industrious,
the frugal and the energetic, that keep the wheels of business
prosperity in motion, and the parent who so educates his child
confers a greater blessing on him than he will to devise him great
wealth. However, life has higher aims, higher aspirations, than
money making. That is an art that, like making shoes, may be
learned. The wealthiest man is not the happiest, nor the best
member of society. He is often racked by care, and forgets the
duties he owes to his God, his neighbor and his family.
Mr. Eobert Linnel in his will dated 23d Jannary, 1662-3,
gives to his wife Jemimah Linnel the use and improvement of his
house and homelot so long as she remains a widow, and his furniture,
a ploflf, a cart, and two cows and a calf forever. Thomas
Lothrop deposed to the will before Mr. Thomas Hinckley, Justice
of the Peace, March 12, 1662-3, and in his testimony he
swears that the words "and a ca^^" were put into the will after
the decease of Mr. Linnel on the 27th of Feb. 1662-3. To his
son David he gives his lot on the south side of the road containing
four acres adjoining John Caseley's land, three acres of