Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

222 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
trace the descent of any branch of this family can easily do so
from the names given above.
Mr. Mayo's daughters married, Hannah in 1642, Nathaniel
Bacon of Barnstable, and Elizabeth, Joseph Howes of Yarmouth.
It was in the family of the latter that Mr. Mayo died.
OTIS.
The Otis family was not one of the "first families" of the
town in point of residence, but certainly one of the very first in
the country in respect to conspicuous talent and exalted public
service ; and its location in town dates as early as 167.5, if not
earlier. The precise year when John Otis came to this place cannot
be determined with certainty from any data now available.
But on that year he was fined "40s. for selling cider." This was
not a very flagrant offense, for the descendants of the men of that
era have decided that cider is one of the beverages containing
more or less of alcohol the sale of which, under certain restrictions,
has no inherent element of depravity, and therefore its sale is not
a penal offence. There were then no political considerations which
operated in favor of vending the juice of the apple, and consequently
its sale did not then take moral precedence over the traffic
in the extract of rye, corn or malt.
The Otis family of this county is derived from Gen. John,
who was born in Barnstaple, Devonshire County, England, in
1581, and who came to Hingham in 1635. His son, John, who
was born in England in 1620, also came with his father to Hingham
and Scituate, and thence to Barnstable, from whence he returned
to Scituate, leaving here his son John, whose offence in