USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Scituate > History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831 > Part 20
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His death was deeply lamented. But perhaps, as it regarded himself, we ought not to pronounce his lot an unfortunate one. So far as his memory on earth is concerned, it can hardly be esteemed unfortunate-and no man of elevated mind can disregard wholly what shall be said of him after his death :
" Servi igitur, iis etiam judicibus, qui multis post sæculis, de te judicabunt," was Cicero's advice to Cæsar, and may well be regarded even by the Christian. Every idea or image of Dorby, which memory has called up since his decease, has been one of a fair model of the human species in its vigor and and not in its decline, or of increasing, not of waning honors, nor the remnants of manhood and of mind, which age is con- stantly rendering less valuable and lovely. Certainly, in the light of Christian faith, we cannot imagine that Dorby should shine the less "as a star," for having been transferred in his brightness from earth to heaven.
REV. DAVID BARNES, D. D.
was the son of Daniel Barnes of Marlboro, a substantial farmer. Daniel was the son of John Barnes, and probably the grandson of Richard Barnes, who settled in that town as early as 1660; having taken the freeman's oath that year. Dr. Barnes, whose mother was Zeruiah Eager, was the fifth in order of twelve children, and born March 24, 1731. He received his first degree at Harvard College 1752. He began to preach at an early season after leaving College, for we find that he received an invitation to become the pastor of Quincy in 1753. This invitation was declined : it was afterwards renewed with more favorable proposals, and again declined. He preached first at Scituate in June 1754, and on the 15th of August the same year, received an unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the second Church and Society. The salary proposed was "80£ and the use of the Parsonage so long as he shall continue in the ministry in this place." He was ordained November 27, 1754. He continued to reside at the parsonage until 1770, when he purchased a farm of John Turner's heirs, near the
suffer from you. Let not your minds be so blinded by the god of this world, or the mist of prejudice, or the dust of perverse disputings, that their dark- ness should be impenetrable to the rays of Gospel light. The brightest star is not ordained in the firmament of the Church, merely for people to gaze upon, to observe its motions and admire its glitterings, but to travel by, as did the wise men, in the way to Christ and Heaven."
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north-west side of the parish common, and erected a house. The parish Meeting-house was built the same summer, and meetings were held in Dr. Barnes's unfinished house, during the erection of the Meeting-house. This house and farm was purchased by Mr John Nash, after Dr. Barnes's decease; and the house and ten acres of land were soon sold again to Capt. Isaac Whittemore.
Dr. Barnes entered upon the ministry with fair prospects, his people being united and prosperous. We have heard something of his privations and difficulties during the Revolutionary war. His salary, paid in the depreciated currency of the time, was of very little value. Fortunately his wife had property, which afforded his family a subsistence. It was a time of universal privation and suffering, and this was duly considered by Dr. Barnes : for he was not known to complain, unless indeed, it may be said, that after days of prosperity returned to his people, he felt wounded that no consideration was made to him, on account of the almost total deficiency of his salary in previous
years. His ministry continued in a good degree of quiet from the troubles of religious dissensions almost to the last. A short time before his death, the spirit of faultfinding began to move, and a stricter mode of Calvinism began to call for a separation, but had produced no great effect during his life. We believe he was remarkable for his meekness in "instructing those that opposed," and by parables, rather than by direct argument, he was accustomed to converse with such. A neighbor who was a Calvinist of the straitest sect, having frequently spent long sittings in arguing with Dr. Barnes, was finally answered by the following parable.
"You, Sir, are a gentleman, to whom the publick feels and acknowledges much obligation for your mechanical skill and inventions. Now we will suppose that your powers should be so far increased that you could make intelligent beings, and that you should produce thousands each day, formed with all the endowments of the human race. Then suppose that your neighbours should enquire, what destination you proposed for these beings; and you should reply, that you had also prepared a place of torment to which you proposed to condemn the greater part-not for any personal offence against you, but because you had made them for that end : and that the remain- ing few you had destined, in the same arbitrary manner, to another place of perfect happiness, which you had also prepared. Now, Sir, suppose that your neighbors were furnished with the common sense of mankind, concerning justice and goodness in
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the administration of one being, who has a controlling power over other beings, would they not knock your shop down, and say that such a wicked trade should not go on?"
He was an acceptable preacher to his people from the com- mencement of his ministry, but near the middle of life, he is said to have come forward with new powers, and to have become a popular preacher throughout a considerable circle of the churches. He preached the Dudleian lecture at Harvard College in 1780, (John xx. 31), and he was honored with the degree of D. D. in 1788.
His ministry may be said to have been long, for very few have exceeded fifty-seven years. His health had never been robust, but he preserved it with great care and skill. He laboured in his fields with a view to health : and at one period of his life was a great walker, and in short took a fancy to run, and would continue it, at a moderate pace, for miles. When about forty years of age, he was affected with an asthma, and (as he has told the writer) during one entire year, he did not sleep a single night in his bed : he used to sit and sleep, and wake and read alternately. He often observed that he had a tendency to fever in his constitution, and he had been thereby " condemned to an abstemious diet." For the last three years of his life, his voice had failed, and a general weakness of muscles rendered his walk tottering and unsafe : in short, he was in a degree paralytic, as his features occasionally indicated. He was extremely deaf for ten years, which led him to talk the more without listening to others, and it was often both amusing and instructive to hear the dialogues which he would carry on by himself in the midst of company ; for, not like the generality of aged people, would he ever sit silent, or speak only in monosyllables.
He was a Christian philosopher of so elevated a kind, that it was not every one that could fully appreciate his feelings and conversation. It was a matter of surprise to some, that he would speak so familiarly of his own death, and therefore they unjustly attributed it to an obtuse sensibility. It was far other- wise-even the resignation of Christian faith. He never sighed "Oh! mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos :" but with onward views, he would often say, "that were it not the fixed design of Providence that nothing should go back, it would be his voluntary choice to go forward, and to see for himself, what is to come in other modes of existence." He had, in a remarkable degree, overcome the fear of death, by making it a subject of constant meditation, in the light of Chris-
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tian faith. His only painful prospect, in his late years, was that he might survive his usefulness ; but in this respect his prayers were nearly answered. Fifteen months before his decease, a colleague was ordained, from which time he at- tempted but few public performances : but those were not only interesting, as being the last efforts of an uncommon mind, but excellent in themselves ; for when he would allude to his own waning light, and to the increasing light of those who were rising behind him, his audience were melted in tears, not so much of tenderness perhaps, as of admiration at his magnanim- ity. He deceased, with all the Christian philosophy with which he had lived, April 26, 1811, having completed eighty years, of which fifty-seven had been the term of his ministry. He gave directions to his son, that his remains should be laid in a grave, by the side of those of his consort, (who had deceased October 22, 1805, aged 78), and that both graves should be covered with one plain monument of granite.
In person, Dr. Barnes was of rather slight form, of middling stature, and erect: his complexion had approached to the florid in his youth : his eyes were grey, his forehead and brows prominent, and his nose aquiline. His form is the more dis- tinctly remembered, and not with the less veneration, for his having retained the ancient fashions of dress, and worn the last of the grey wigs.
As a preacher, it would be difficult to describe him, for he was like none other. His voice, we believe, was never remark- able for sweet tones, and his skill in varying its tones was but ordinary. He would sometimes startle his audience with a high note, and then fall rather abruptly to a low one. His manner might be called familiar, and the whole, though unique, was never displeasing, but always calculated to keep up atten- tion. It was, however, the matter of his discourses which constituted their chief excellence. Perhaps no preacher has lived, who treated his audience with a greater variety, which circumstance gave fault finders an occasion to accuse him of not being evangelical. He was too much a man of genius to be confined to a narrow round of subjects, and too much a man of piety to touch any subject, without leading the mind to import- ant lessons in religion. For instance, his sermons on "the east wind-on the lightning-on making salt-on bees-on the basket of summer fruit, (Amos viii. 1.)" seem not to have been evangelical, at the first thought, but they were beautiful defences and illustrations of divine Providence. But, though he preached in a great variety, during his long ministry, evangelical subjects,
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in a more strict sense, were his favourites. Dr. Barnes did not practise frequent exchanges, though he was always ready to accommodate his brethren. It was his familiar maxim, that " a minister's stock is of that nature, that the more he uses, the more he has left."
His style was remarkable for a sententious brevity, which gave rise to a common remark, that his discourses were clusters of maxims. The writer of this can never forget the charge, given by the venerable Doctor to him, when ordained his colleague. It was never published, for it could never be found -perhaps it was not written but in part. It was full of pointed sayings like the following: "In attempting to instruct your people, be careful not to preach what they will not understand, and especially careful not to preach what you don't understand yourself."
He was a great admirer of Dr. Gay of Hingham, for those pithy sayings, in which he himself excelled. He once remarked to the writer, that at the funeral of Dr. Gay's wife, there was much touching eloquence displayed ; but that one sentence of the Doctor at the grave, was of more value than all the rest, viz. " I thank you, my friends, for burying the poor remains of my wife out of my sight." Ignorance might mistake the purport of this quotation from the words of Abraham, but Dr. Barnes could see in it the reach of an elevated mind. It was like himself, whose maxims and apt quotations were and are in the mouths of every one who knew him.
People of straiter sects used to remark that Dr. Barnes had formed too good an opinion of human nature, and always avoided the accusing strain, even towards the most worthless of mankind. It may have been a trait in his character. But while his heart was full of tenderness, and his words full of prudence, those words were often of the deepest import, and like parables, of the keenest application.
" Tam unice vituperat, ut laudare videtur." PLINY.
As Dr. Barnes was a Christian philosopher, so he was a philosopher in the affairs of life, and looked at every thing with a view to practical uses. He was a farmer, not more in theory than in practice, not more in experiment, than in following the best examples already struck out, and seeing at once, how to turn his fields and his labour to the best account. He studied the qualities of domestick animals-the adaptation of crops to soils -and the curious economy of bees, and was successful in their management.
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But in no qualification was he more amiable, than in his spirit of hospitality. His house was a favorite resort of his clerical brethren, and of an extensive acquaintance, beside the people of his own charge. Had the ancient literary trick been in fashion, of transposing the letters of one's name to make out a sense expressive of character, we believe that many an anagram would have been made upon his name, with reference to his hospitality ; and nothing could have been more suitable than that witty saying, recorded by Mather of Mr Ward, the first minister of Ipswich, (the simple cobler of Agawam, as he styles himself in the title page of a curious book), who, when anagrams were called for on the name of the venerable John Wilson of Boston, said with great humour, "the anagram of John Wilson is, I pray you come in, you are heartily welcome."
Dr. Barnes left in print several ordination sermons, a dis- course at the Derby Academy, a sermon on the death of his daughter, Mrs. Cotton, a sermon on the love of life and fear of death-a sermon on the death of Washington. There is also extant a posthumous volume, published by the Society for pro- moting Christian knowledge, piety and charity.
The following notice appeared in the publick papers at the time of his decease, which, I shall be pardoned for saying, was from Dr. Allyne of Duxbury.
"Dr. Barnes was distinguished amongst his brethren for much thinking, though not for much speaking. His mind was seldom inert. In small circles he was communicative, and never wanted topicks of useful reflection and conversation. His company was highly instructive and entertaining. Altogether free from pedantry and envy, a friend to all men, and a hearty lover of good men ; he would have been delighted in the society of such men as Mr Locke, Bishop Watson and Dr. Paley. One biographical remark on the last mentioned writer may be justly appropriated to Dr. Barnes : 'At no time of his life was he a hard student, according to the common acceptation of that word, which is used rather to describe one who reads, than one who thinks much. His writings do not display any very pro- found or extensive acquaintance with books : they are valued, not for discussing or deciding upon the opinions of learned men, but for original and enlightened reflections on the transactions of human life, such as may be supposed to have passed before him, or to have come to his knowledge, without any laborious enquiry.'
"The subject of this obituary notice was a firm enemy to all hierarchical principles, as well among protestants as papists-a
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warm advocate for the liberty of private judgment-averse to common theological controversies, and above all to the usual temper of disputants : and if prevailed on to enter the lists, his way was to begin with acute discriminations and precise defini- tions. He was tolerant without religious indifference-candid, without forgetting to be severe against folly and vice-and devout, without any 'mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind.' His prayers seemed to be dictated by the emotions of his heart on the occasion, and were extem- poraneous in an unusual sense. The want of solemnity in his manner of speaking, a similarity of vocal inflection, and the abruptness of his cadences, might suggest to a stranger, the idea of levity and indevotion; but the starting tear and faltering tongue would soon remove the false impression. The wisdom and goodness of God in the permission of evil-the evidences of Christianity -the philosophy of social life-the doctrine of habits and association of ideas-the excellency of nature's laws, were among his favorite topicks of preaching and conver- sation ; and what appeared strange to some, he would often connect maxims of frugality, temperance and industry with his ideas of religion. He was popular with those capable of appre- ciating " words so fitly spoken as to resemble apples of gold in pictures of silver." The most rational and judicious delighted to hear him. His sermons were transcripts of his mind, and his mind was always exhibited without any disguise. He inculcated no lessons which he did not practise, and dwelt much on the virtues for which he was distinguished, viz. candor, humility, patience, meekness. In this last particular, he may be compared to Moses. Had he lived in the Apostolic age, with Thomas, he would probably have doubted - in kind affec- tions, he would have emulated the character of John : but he would have stood aloof from those disciples who were desirous to call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritans. To extir- pate heresy by consuming hereticks, was a thing equally abhor- rent to his judgment and feelings.
When such men die, the living are to be compassionated. Dr. Barnes, in his latter years, was solicitous lest he might survive his ability to do good, and his usefulness not be pro- longed with his days. He suffered much from the apprehension of being cast by as a "broken vessel." But it was only for the space of one or two years that his friends had cause to lament the wreck of a wise and a good mind.
In the circle of his acquaintance, a rich and unfailing fountain of intellectual improvement and social enjoyment is closed up.
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The flock of his charge may recollect and parodize the words of the sentimental journalist, and with an application to their deceased pastor, say, "we thought we duly respected him when he was alive, but now he is dead, we fear it was otherwise."
Dr. Barnes married Rachel, the daughter of Hon. George Leonard of Norton, 1756. His children were Rachel, born July 11, 1757. She was married to Josiah Cotton, Esq. clerk of the Courts of Plymouth, 1789. She deceased in middle life, leaving a son and a daughter.
Hon. David L. Barnes, born January 28, 1760. He was a lawyer of distinction in Taunton and Providence, and Judge of the United States Court for the district of Rhode Island. He married Mrs. Russell of Providence. He deceased in 1814, leaving a son and several daughters. .
Anna, born September 26, 1765. She married William Jackson, Esq. of Plymouth, 1788, and deceased in middle life, leaving two sons and one daughter.
One brother of Dr. Barnes, viz. Solomon, deceased Decem- ber 1830, in Marlboro. He was ninety years of age on the 20th of June, 1830.
When Dr. Barnes retired from the labours of the ministry in 1809, he compounded with his parish for £100. Assistance was procured for him in June of that year. The only candi- dates employed were Mr William Torrey, Mr Ezekiel Rich, and the present pastor, who was ordained February 14, 1810.
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FAMILY SKETCHES.
FAMILY SKETCHES
IN ALPHABETICAL SERIES.
JAMES ADAMS
was the son of John Adams, who came to Plymouth in the Fortune in 1621, and whose widow Eleanor married Kenelm Winslow. James married Frances, the daughter of Mr William Vassall of Scituate, 1646. He was a member of the second religious Society in Scituate, though his farm was on the Marshfield side of the river, probably near the place of the late Capt. George Little. His children were William born 1647, Anna 1649, Richard 1651, Mary 1653, Margaret 1654, all baptized in the second Church in Scituate. It is stated in the Historical Society's papers, that he died on board the ship James of London, 1651. This mistake (at least in date) is adopted by Mr Farmer also. John Adams, jr. of Marshfield, married Jane James 1654, and left a family.
HENRY ADVERD, (or ADFORD)
was a householder in Scituate 1640. His farm was south of John Bryant's, and west of "the block-house," on the second Herring brook. He married Tamsen Manson 1643. His children were Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah, baptized in the second Church 1651, and Experience 1652. He died 1653. That year "the Town allowed for the buryall of Henry Adverd 8s."
NICOLAS ALBESON, "the Sweede."
This name is not to be found written in full in our records : . " Nicolas the Sweede," is the uniform manner of writing it. The committee which made report to Gov. Winslow of the losses of Scituate in Philip's war, write it as we have done at the head of this article. He was early here; had lands in
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1636-was a householder before 1647, (see division of lands), and was entitled to a share in the division of common lands. His house stood forty rods north of Parker lane, and west of the farm of Rawlins, (now Col. James Curtis's), on a small hill. It was burnt by the Indians May 20, 1676. The next year, the Town "voted to raise 3£ toward rebuilding the Sweede's house." Several anecdotes concerning him are handed down, such as his baptizing his own children, &c .: but they preserve his memory only as a wild and singular man. His children are not on record, and the name has not been continued in this Town.
ISAIAH ALDEN, JR.
of Scituate Harbour, often employed in the publick business of the Town, is the son of Isaiah Alden, Esq. of Duxbury, and a descendant of Mr John Alden, who first landed upon the Ply- mouth rock. He married Mercy, the daughter of Lemuel Vinall, and has a family.
JOHN ALLEN
was one of the Conihassett partners in 1646. Probably the same person had lands in Plymouth in 1633.
His house in Scituate stood twenty rods south of the bridge at the Harbour .* He died 1661, and his widow Ann ad- ministered.
There is no record of the births of his children here. He had a family connexion with Lawrence Litchfield, and probably came from Barnstable with him 1645, to Scituate.
His son John succeeded to' his father's lands. He was an Ensign in 1670, and Captain 1686. He kept a garrison in Scituate in Philip's war. He was living in Scituate 1698, but left no posterity here. His daughter Jeane was born in Scit- uate 1669. She married John Marshall of Boston, 1697, who was the son of John and Ruth, married in Boston 1664, which latter was the son of John and Sarah Marshall, married 1643. This family disappears from our records about 1700.
There is no trace of this family in Scituate in 1633, as Farmer's Register states. We conjecture that the Allens of Barnstable, and Dr. Allyn of Duxbury, are of this family.
* He occupied the house of Edward Foster, and John Allen, Jun. pur- chased it of Timothy Foster 1679.
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GEORGE ALLEN,
of Scituate Harbour, is the son of Rev. Morrell Allen of Pembroke, and Hannah his wife, daughter of Hon. Josiah Dean of Raynham. George married Hannah Ensign, the daughter of Ensign Otis, jr. in 1828, and succeeded to the mercantile business of his father in-law. This family descended, as we are informed, from Rev. John Allen or Allin, the first minister of Dedham, who came to New England 1638, was ordained 1639, and deceased 1675, aged seventy-five. 1
ANTHONY ANNABLE
Sem pages 92-17 99-100
arrived at Plymouth in the ship And, 1623. He sold his house in Plymouth to Daniel Ray, 1630, and came to Scituate that year. His house here was on Kent street, the sixth lot from Satuit brook, between Elder Henry Cobb's on the north, and the Meeting-house common on the south. He had also eighty acres of land on Stony cove at the North river, between that Cove and Edward Foster's land on the south. He was a useful and exemplary man. He was deputy (with Edward Foster) to the first Colony Court 1639. In 1640, he sold his lands to Thomas Rawlins, and removed to Barnstable. His daughter Sarah married Henry Ewell 1638, of Scituate.
Hannah married Thomas Bowman of Barnstable, 1644. Susanna married William Hatch of Scituate, 1652.
Anthony, jr. had married Jane Alcock, who died early, (in 1643), and 1644, he married Ann Clark of Plymouth. He had children, Samuel born 1646, Esek 1648, Desire 1652. Of these, Samuel married the daughter of Thomas Allen, and deceased 1678, leaving sons. Anthony Annable, sen. deceased at Barnstable 1673. We believe there are a few descendants of this family in Boston.
JOHN BAILEY
appears first in Scituate, as tenant to Capt. John Williams before 1670, at Farm neck. He married Sarah White (perhaps of Weymouth) 1672, also Ruth Clothier 1699. He deceased 1718, and names in his will, " To sons John, Joseph, Benjamin,
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