Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

206 GENEALO&IOAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
stituted for woollen cloths in making their outside gafments. Many
of the first settlers were tanners and shoemakers, and none suffered
for want of covering for the feet.
In the course of three years all had comfortable, though not
elegant houses. The poorer kinds were one story, and the walls and
floors were of hand-sawed boards. The favorite locality was fhe
Southeastern declivity of a hill, near to wood and water. They dug
into the hill-side, and the bank was a support to the stone chimney
and oven. The seams between the boards were "daubed" with mor-
tar or clay, and the walls were banked up as high as the windows in
winter, with drift from the sea-shore which kept out the cold winds.
Many of the better class of houses, were built on side-hills. The
Nathaniel Bacon house was so built, the timber of which was as
sound after two centuries as on the day it was hewn. Not being
covered, it became thoroughly seasoned, and impervious to rot.
The first settlers of Barnstable had little whereof to complain.
None but the idle and improvident lacked the conveniences of life.
They were happy aad contented—a law unto themselves—vice did
not obtain a foothold in their little community.
Mr. Lothrop was as distinguished for his worldly wisdom as for
his piety. He was a good .business man and so were all his sons.
Whenever one of the family pitched his tent, that spot soon became a
center of business, and land in its vicinity appreciated in value. It
is the men that make a place, and to Mr. Lothrop's in early time^
Barnstable was more indebted than to any other family.
The division of the common lands was the subject that mainly
engrossed attention in the winter of 1639-40. April 26 was set
apart as a day of fasting to invoke the divine blessing on their efforts
to divide the lands quietly and justly. In many settlements the division
of the lands had been the cause of much angry discussion and
ill feeling. Mr. Lothrop and the other leading men were prudent
and discreet, and the following rule adopted 26th of March, 1640,
O. S., April 5, 1640, N. S., "by the general consent of the inhabitants,"
was satisfactory to all interested.
"One third part to every houselot equally ; one third to the
names that are immovable ; and the other third according to men's
estates." *
This rale was adhered to in all the subsequent divisions of the
common lands. Its meaning at the present time may not be apparent
; but it was well understood .at the time. The division was not
*The houselots were afterwards called "tenement rights"—that is a lot of land of six or
more acres set off to an individual, with an agreement that a house should be built thereon.
If a man owned a houselot and neglected to build thereon, he had no right to the common
lands by virtue of his owner&hip ; out the right being worth more than it would cost to put
up a tenement, few forfeited their rights. Ifa man put up a house on the common land,
such house did not give him a tenement right. By names immovable is to be understood
accepted townsmen, those who intended to reside permanently in the town. Bj mens estate
was intended personal estate.