Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 177
tleraent in Scituate, he wa8 in "Boston upon a sacrament day, after
the sermon, &c., desired leave of the congregation to be present at
the administration, &c. ; but said he durst not desire to partake in
itjbecause he was not then in order, (being dismissed from his former
congregation,) and he thought it not fit to be suddenly admitted
into any other, for example sake, and because of the deceiptfulness
of man's heart."
In order to take the required oaths, Mr. Lothrop had to renounce
his orders as a minister of Christ, and came to New England
as a private individual. Mr. Anthony Thacher, who had
been rector at Old Sarum, entered his name on the lists April 6,
1635, as a tailor, and many distinguished men who came over
about that time had to resort to similar subterfuges or take passage
in the ships without having their names entered on the list of
passengers. Mr. Lothrop probably did not enter his name because
he could not take the oath of conformity. The Rev. Hiram
Carleton labored to show that the West Barnstable church was a
continuation of the first church in London,—that it removed first
to Scituate, then to Barnstable. In proof of that position he
quoted from Neal, Crossley, and other early writers, passages
which seemed to favor that supposition ; but the above quotation
from Winthrop sets that theory at rest. Mr. Lothrop himself
states that he was dismissed from the church in London, consequently
his church did not remove, though thirty of his followers
came over with him, and some had come previously, and many
came subsequently and were afterwards members of his church in
Scituate and in Barnstable, The church in London was not
broken up when Mr. Lothrop left, for he states in his records that
in 1638 his brother Robert Linnel and wife brought over to him a
letter of dismission from the church in London.
I should be pleased to endorse the beautiful theory of Mr.
Carleton, but the above facts prove conclusively that the Barnsta-
ble church is an offshoot of the London, not the church itself.
No list of the passengers that came in the Griffin or the other
ship has been preserved. The names of the thirty followers who
came with Mr. Lothrop, and settled with him at Scituate, some of
whom followed him to Barnstable, it would be pleasant to record.
Many of the thirty were women and children. Of Mr. Lothrop's
six children three probably came with him :
Jane, his oldest child,
Thomas and Barbara. Jane must have been a woman grown at
the time, for she was married to Samuel Fuller April 8, 1635,
about six months after her arrival. Barbara was perhaps the
next older child, and Thomas was then thirteen years of age.
The three other children, Joseph, Samuel and Benjamin, probably
remained in England. The younger children were often left
behind till a home was provided in New England.
Mr. Lothrop was a learned man ; but he could not have had