Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 187
The towns in New Plymouth were settled by churches. The
pastor was the master-spirit to whom all looked for direction in tem-
poral, as well as in spiritual affairs. Our fathers were hopeful in
regard to the future. They hoped to build up a State in which religion
would be the hand-maid of science, of virtue and free government.
Their theory of church discipline, that all power originates
in the consent of the individual, they designed to engrafi) into their
political institutions. They hoped that all would be church members,
all freeman, and all have equal political rights. To reduce
this theory to practice, the leading minds in the Colony labored in-
cessantly. They seemed to forget that men have to deal with the
actual, with what is, not with what they would have. Men cannot
control the circumstances by which they are surrounded. If relia-
ious liberty had been the only motive that induced men to come to
New England, and if only such men as Lothrop, Brewster, and
Hatherly, had come over, there would have been less difficulty in
realizing the fondly cherished hopes of our ancestors. The fisheries
annually attracted thousands of men to the coast, and many deserted
from the vessels and sought refuge in the Colonies. Trading ves-
sels annually visited the Colonies, bringing passengers who had led
scandalous lives at home. Though not wanted, an asylum could not
be denied to deserters or passengers, and they found employment at
first as servants and afterwards became townsmen and freeholders,
and to these the freeman were soon obliged to yield a share of political
power.
Mr. Lothrop found nine families at Scituate, friends that he had
known in England. They had, Sept. 30, 1634, built nine ^'palUzado
houses," as temporary residences, to be replaced by more substantial
ones when they had the time and means. From the time Mr. Lothrop
came to October, a period of two years, there were thirty-one
houses built, and in 1637 nine, making the whole number of dwelling
houses fifty-six. The Meeting House was finished and dedicated
Nov. 10 and 11, 1636.
To Mr. Lothrop's list of the houses I add the dates, if known,
when the builders came over, and the dates of their joining his
church. The serial numbers indicate the^order in which the houses
were built, the date next following each name, the time when the
party came over, and the last, the time when he joined Mr. Lothrop's
church. In order to compress as much information as I can
into each line, the following abbreviations are used : K, signifies
Kent, or County of Kent ; L, London ; S, Scituate ; B, Barnsta-
ble ; Grd. Goodman ; an interrogation point means doubtful.
"The Houses in ye plantation of Scituate att my Comeing
hither, onely these wch was aboute the end of Sept. 1634,—all wch
small plaine pallizadoe Houses."
1, Mr. Hatherlyes, 1623 & 1632, L., Jan. 11, 1634-5, S.