USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 2
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A DECLARATION OF TOLERANCE AND EQUALITY
At the close of Commodore Clark's address, Selectman Chester A. Crocker again addressed the audience, as fol- lows :
Fellow citizens, guests and strangers within our gates :
I am sure you have all been as interested and thrilled as much as I have by Commodore Clark's address. The inhab- itants of the Town are grateful to him for his able assist- ance.
Before we disperse and go our several ways I respect- fully request your attention for a few brief moments.
This glorious nation of ours was founded on the prin- ciple of liberty and freedom of action for all races and re-
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ligions and it is fundamental that no individual or com- munity can enjoy the privileges conferred by freedom with- out a corresponding duty to perform-the duty to cheerfully concede to others the same rights we wish to enjoy our- selves.
I subscribe most heartily to these principles which are laid down in the Constitution of the United States in which is embodied the ancient bill of rights our forefathers wrested. from the kings of old. But there is one thing which we must never tolerate. That is men and organizations of men who seek by insidious political machination and propaganda to undermine our form of government as set forth in our Con- stitution, which a certain wise British statesman once said was the most remarkable document ever penned by the hu- man hand.
There is in this country today a great organization of wise and patriotic leaders. It is called the "Council Against Intolerence In America." It is sponsored by such men as United States Senator Carter Glass, Thomas E. Dewey, Al- fred E. Smith, and our own Governor Leverett Saltonstall.
They have requested me to read to you this resolution which I hold in my hand. During this hour it will be read at such assemblies in every city, town and hamlet in this great land, and will also be broadcast from one end of the land to the other by the leading radio companies.
When I have finished reading this resolution I shall, at the request of the Council, call on you for a voice vote ap- proving the resolution in order that I may sign it for you all, and return it to the Council.
Selectman Crocker then read the resolution:
"This has ever been a free country. It was founded by men and women who fled from persecution and oppression ; it was founded upon religious liberty and human equality. The signers of the Declaration of Independence built their hopes for America on these principles. Succeeding genera - tions have cherished them. They are the most precious heri- tage of the American people.
"In 1776, these principles were embodied in the Declara- tion of Independence. In 1789 they were written into the Constitution and into the Bill of Rights; George Washing- ton, as the first president of the United States, swore to de- fend them; Abraham Lincoln upheld them in the Emancipa- tion Proclamation.
"Today these principles of freedom for all are threatened.
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Our American institutions are attacked by those who would destroy liberty through bigotry. They assail the equal jus- tice guaranteed by our Constitution and seek to set race against race, creed against creed.
"Now, therefore, on this Fourth day of July, 1939, we Americans, assembled throughout the United States, again take the oath of our forefathers. Descended from those who came from all lands to live here in peace and brotherhood, we who together have made America great, repudiate all doctrines of inequality, and condemn intolerance in every form. We reaffirm our devoted loyalty to the basic principle of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are cre- ated equal, and in defense of this we, as did the founders of these United States of America, mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
SELECTMAN CROCKER-Now I am going to ask every person here who is in favor of that which I have just read to say "Ave" when I raise my hand. and please let it be loud enough to be heard by "Old Mad Jack" who is sleep- ing here.
(The assembly approved with a loud "Aye.")
SELECTMAN CROCKER-That was America for you. I believe the live oak timbers of Old Ironsides in her berth in Boston shivered then; and who can say that the spirit of Mad Jack is not hovering there, and that he did not hear it?
Thank you.
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The Rev. Joseph Hull
THE MEMORIAL in memory of the Rev. Joseph Hull is a bronze tablet on a natural boulder placed in the yard of Marcus Harris on the main highway through Barnstable village. It was dedicated in ceremonies commencing at 12:15 noon on Sunday, July 9th. The inscription on the tablet reads:
Site of The House Built By Rev. Joseph Hull 1595 1665 Who With Elder Thomas Dimmock Was Given the Charter For The Land Now Occupied By The Town of Barnstable Barnstable Tercentenary 1939
Chairman James F. Mclaughlin opened the dedicatory exercises and introduced Selectman James F. Kenney. Mr. Kenney spoke briefly and introduced Miss Anne Howland Maraspin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Davis G. Maraspin, a descendant in the 13th generation of Mr. Hull. Mr. Mar- aspin delivered the dedicatory address. The remarks of Selectman Kenney were:
It is indeed most appropriate on the part of the Tercer- tenary Committee to mark the several historic places within our town with various kinds of stone markers and bronze tablets. It has imposed a great deal of thought and labor on your committee and the townspeople, I feel, appreciate the accomplishment. This boulder which we are to dedicate to- day marks the site where the house once stood that was the home of the Rev. Joseph Hull, who, with Elder Thomas Dim- mock and their associates, obtained the Charter from the General Court at Plymouth in 1639 to establish a Plantation and invite such of those who would associate themselves in the operation of this Plantation which is now known as the Town of Barnstable.
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That their efforts have proven successful is the principal reason why we of this generation three hundred years re- moved revere their honored memory, and cherish the valu- able assets they have delivered in our keeping. We deem it fitting and proper that the memory of this notable pioneer should go down to posterity for the coming generations to honor and revere. It is with deepest sense of pleasure that I present to you Miss Anne Howland Maraspin, the daughter of a direct descendant, who will unveil this boulder and tablet. [Miss Maraspin then unveiled the tablet.] It now becomes my extreme pleasure to present to you our guest speaker. Mr. Davis G. Maraspin.
DEDICATORY ADDRESS DELIVERED AT UNVEILING OF THE HULL TABLET BY DAVIS GOODWIN MARASPIN
At Krewkerne in Somersetshire, England, in the year 1595. there was born unto Thomas and Joan (Peson) Hull a son to whom they gave the somewhat prophetic name of Joseph ; for its bearer came to have a career as many-colored and varied as the garment of the Biblical character whose name he bore.
Unfortunately history seldom records the events of child- hood, as they are considered in most cases to be too com- monplace to be worthy of note. The early life of Joseph Hull was no exception to this rule, so it can only be sur- mised that his childhood days were spent in a manner then common in the households of large families living in the quiet English countrysides.
On the 12th of May, 1612, he was matriculated at St. Mary Magdalene Hall, Oxford, and on the 14th of November, 1614, was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On the presentation of Thomas Hull of Krewkerne, Joseph was or- dained in the Church of England on April 14, 1621, and installed Rector of Northleigh in the diocese of Exeter. During the period from his graduation to installation, his elder brother, Reverend William Hull, was Vicar at Colyton, Devonshire, and it is believed that during this period Joseph studied and served under him as teacher and curate.
In 1632 Reverend Joseph Hull resigned his rectorship at Northleigh and is thought to have returned to the vicinity of Krewkerne. During this rectorship he was married and three children were born of this union. Strange as it may seem. no record has been discovered of the marriage, the
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FLUER THOMAS MMM
DEDICATION OF THE HULL TABLET-Alfred Crocker, James F. McLaughlin, Miss Anne Howland Maraspin, and Davis G. Maraspin (the speaker ).
maiden name of his wife, or the date of her death, but it is not impossible to consider that the latter occurred at about the time of his resignation, and may have been the reason for it.
Just how the next three years were spent by Reverend Joseph Hull is only a matter of conjecture, but during this period he married for a second time. Again we find no record of the marriage, but we do find that this wife bore the given name of Agnes.
On the 20th of March, 1635, he, with his wife Agnes, two sons, five daughters, and three servants, sailed from Wey- mouth, Dorsetshire, England, with a company of sixteen families, numbering in all one hundred and four persons. This company arrived in Boston on the 6th of May of that year and immediately received permission to set up a planta- tion at Wessaguscus (now Weymouth), where a church was gathered from the members of this company and others from Boston and Dorchester. On the 8th of July at the age of
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forty, Reverend Joseph Hull was installed as its first pastor and on the 2nd of the following September he took the oath as a Freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Some of the Puritans living in the neighborhood looked with disfavor on this church and it was not long before dis- sension arose within it. Unquestionably this was fostered from without and in less than a year, Mr. Hull relinquished his charge and withdrew when the Separatist section of the church called the Reverend Thomas Jenner of Roxbury to be their pastor. He now turned his attention to civil affairs, but apparently the spirit of the pioneer was strong within him as he received on the 12th of June, 1636. a grant of land in Hingham. Here he remained for several years and repre- sented that town as a Deputy in the General Court of Massachusetts in September of 1638 and March of 1639. On the 5th of May, 1639, it is recorded in Hobart's Journal that Mr. Hull preached his farewell sermon. Whether this took place at Weymouth or Hingham is not stated, but his remov- al to Barnstable took place shortly after this sermon was preached, as his name appears as one of the committee or deputies for the town of Barnstable in the records of the General Court of Plymouth at the June 3rd session. Whether Mr. Hull actually attended or did not attend the court at that time cannot be ascertained from the court records. While he and Thomas Dimmock constituted the Barnstable committee, it is very likely that neither attended, as both made their oaths at the session on the 3rd of December, 1639, when Joseph Hull was admitted a Freeman.
Tradition credits Reverend Joseph Hull with having preached the first sermon within the town of Barnstable, in spite of the fact that Reverend Stephen Batchelder was in the vicinity as early as 1636.
On the 11th of October, 1639, Reverend John Lothrop ar- rived in Barnstable with his church from Scituate and on the 31st of that month a "Day of Humiliation" was observ- ed, followed on the 11th of December, 1639, by the celebra- tion of the first Day of Thanksgiving within the town. After extended religious services the company broke into three sections. one of which dined at the house of Reverend Joseph Hull.
Apparently Hull made no effort to perform any ministerial functions after the arrival of Mr. Lothrop. Undoubtedly these two men were of very different natures and tempera- ments ; Hull being aggressive and of a roaming nature, while
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Lothrop appears to have been extremely strongminded. Whether any dissensions arose between them or not is not a matter of record, but about a year later Joseph Hull moved into the adjoining town of Yarmouth, where, at the request of some of the residents, he served them in a ministerial capacity. In so doing he neglected to secure the approval of. the Barnstable church, and for this act was excommunicated on the 1st of May, 1641. Only nine days after the edict of excommunication his daughter, Ruth Hull, was baptized in the Barnstable church.
While Mr. Hull was in the Plymouth Colony he engaged in the business of cattle raising, and not unlike some clerics who turn to business affairs, did not have his ventures crowned with financial success. He was the defendant in a number of actions for trespass, and it is interesting to note that in all but one of these actions, the constable attached two of Mr. Hull's steers. This might lead to the conclusion that his cattle were highly desired by those who initiated the suits.
After serving the Yarmouth church for a little over a year he began to journey afield, preaching the Word from place to place in the Colonies. In 1642 on the 7th of March, the Court at Plymouth issued a warrant directing his arrest should he attempt to exercise his ministerial duties within the Plymouth Colony, and described him in the warrant as an excommunicated minister. There is no evidence that this warrant was ever served, for no return appears to have been made of it, and only four days later his wife was re-admitted to the church in Barnstable. To cap the climax, he himself was re-admitted to the Barnstable church on the 10th of August, 1643, "having acknowledged his sin." A few months prior to this, however, he had journeyed as far afield as York, Maine, near which he later settled. History fails to tell us just when he removed from Yarmouth or how he spent the next few years. In 1652 he returned to England where he was settled at St. Buryan, Cornwell, and remained there for ten years, at which time he was ejected from the parish. In the same year he returned to the Colonies and settled at Oyster River, now Durham, New Hampshire, from which he shortly thereafter removed to the Isle of Shoals where he continued his ministry until his death on the 19th of Novem- ber, 1665.
Here within a short distance of the site of his home in Barnstable we have gathered to pay our tribute of respect
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and affection to the memory of Reverend Joseph Hull; one of the true founders of the Town of Barnstable.
If he was of a contentious nature, as some claim he was, it is undoubtedly true that he only contended for what he believed to be right; for his was a moving spirit-the spirit . of the pioneer, seeking new fields to conquer, and going forth and preaching the word of God according to his in- terpretations and the dictates of his own conscience.
Site of First Fulling Mill in Barnstable at Marstons Mills
A GRANITE TABLET marking the site of the first fulling mill in the Town of Barnstable was dedicated at Marstons Mills at 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 15th. It is situated on Mill Pond near the town highway. The tablet's inscription is:
The First Fulling Mill Erected In Barnstable Was On The Banks Of This Stream 1689 Barnstable Tercentenary 1939
Introduced by Chairman James F. McLaughlin, Chester A. Crocker, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, delivered the dedicatory address. The tablet was unveiled by Miss Lena Frances Jones, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Loring Jones, who is a descendant of Roger Goodspeed, one of the first settlers of the Marstons Mills region.
DEDICATORY ADDRESS DELIVERED AT UNVEILING OF THE TABLET MARKING THE SITE OF THE FIRST FULLING MILL BY CHESTER A. CROCKER
By some queer twist of fate it has fallen to my lot to be- come chief executive officer of this ancient town on the
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Tercentenary year of glorious and eventful history. As such I have been appointed to speak a few words.
The very able and public spirited committee on the cele- bration this summer very appropriately chose this young girl, Lena Jones, to unveil this monument commemorating the establishment of the first mill on this river, because she is a direct descendant of that sturdy pioneer Roger Good- speed, who built the mill in 1653 and operated it for many years. By coincidence Lena lives in her father's house with many brothers and sisters on the bank of this river a few yards from the site of Roger Goodspeed's mill.
Roger Goodspeed whom Otis calls the ancestor of all the Goodspeeds, had four sons and three daughters and perhaps it will not be out of place to relate a little tale concerning one of his grandsons, John Goodspeed, who resided here in Marstons Mills and courted Miss Mercy Bursley of West Barnstable. They published their bans in 1754 according to custom. But they couldn't agree over whether they should live at the Mills or at Great Marshes, and passed nearly four affianced years in bickering. It ended with John yielding; they wed and lived at Great Marshes. During the French War he shipped as privateer which captured a Spanish ves- sel heavily laden with silver bullion. His share was reported as large-at least $5,000-and ever afterward he was known at Great Marshes as "Silver John" Goodspeed.
As we have assembled here to dedicate this monument it seems to me that we must be actuated by a feeling of rever- ence for those who have gone before and a deep-seated de- sire to pay tribute to their sterling characters, their sturdy independence, their love of liberty and freedom and fierce determination to preserve it for themselves and their de- scendants. They fled from the harsh rules of kings and dicta- tors of tyrannical governments in Europe to this land which was a raw and untamed wilderness. The hardships which they endured, and what they accomplished in carving out homes and farms in their early days by hard labor seems almost unbelievable in these days of comparative ease and luxury.
In contemplating on these things we are sometimes led to have grave doubts as to our worthiness as descendants of the pioneer men and women, but I have deep feeling of abiding faith that the human character which they forged as they toiled can never be obliterated and that we and our children will carry on and preserve for posterity the sterling
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THE FIRST
ALLING MILL
ERECTED IN
BARNSTABLE
SON THE BANKS THIS STREAM
1687
DEDICATION OF THE MARSTONS MILLS TABLET-Alfred Crocker, Selectman Chester A. Crocker (the speaker), Miss Lena F. Jones, and James F. McLoughlin.
traits which they handed down to us and as long as we do our land will be safe for freedom and liberty.
I believe there were here in the old days in Marstons Mills publie whipping posts for law breakers, and ducking stools here in the mill pond for scolding women. There are some now who advocate the revival of these ancient institutions of punishment but I have my doubts as to their effectiveness.
There is now being published in The Patriot Office a his- tory of the Town of Barnstable which will soon be printed. There are many pages devoted to the history of Marstons Mills section of the town to which I have contributed a very modest article, and with your kind indulgence I am going to read it because the anecdotes are interesting on account of the fact that fully 25 per cent of the present inhabitants of Marstons Mills and South Sandwich are direct descend- ants of the principal character, Nye Jones.
Goodspeed's river, now known as Marstons Mill river, meanders down through cranberry bogs for more than three miles from its source in the Newtown section within half a mile from the Sandwich line, which line incidentally was established by Miles Standish about 1640.
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The land bordering these bogs and around the Indian ponds of Mystic Lake region is composed of a top soil vary- ing from six inches to several feet in depth of friable loam nearly free from stones and much of it resembles the allu- vial silt of the Connecticut valley.
The great glacier of the ice age millions of years ago play- ed many strange pranks. Four miles away in West Barnsta- ble it deposited heavy clay and huge boulders and in most places on Cape Cod little but sand, but here were a few thousand acres extending from Marstons Mills to Falmouth where it left a fine soil deposit.
Attracted by this fine land and the pure cold water springs and lakes the early settlers came. and by a prodigious amount of hard labor cleared the forests and carved home- steads for themselves. hundreds of acres upon which for many generations they reared large families and thousands of sheep and cattle grazed over fields which are now nearly all overgrown with a forest of pine. The miles and miles of earth fence ridges about two feet high thrown up by them are the visible reminders of the industry and hard labor practised by the forefathers as they wrung a subsistance from the land. The scores of "'cellar holes" as the depres- sions in the ground are called, mark the sites of their hum- ble dwellings and invariably the lilac bushes, tansy plants and tiger lilies they planted by their doors are still plainly seen.
CAPE COD LILACS
Long years ago on old Cape Cod Strong men and women toiled with might, From early dawn to candle light To build plain homes and "lean-to" sheds- On this wild, untried shore. And when at last the task was done They planted, 'ere the set of sun A lilac bush beside each door.
They ploughed the fields and sowed the seed To drive away the monster, "Need," And watched as Spring broke o'er the land, Old Mother Nature's magic wand. Bright purple bloom and fragrance sweet Their winter-weary eyes to greet Beside each kitchen door.
The pioneers are long since gone Who labored in the dew-drenched dawn, Their homes are now but cellar-walls Grown o'er by shrubs and weeds so tall,
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Rough brier and brake and lichens grey Seem all that's left of that far day Until we glimpse through tangled mass A brave reminder of the past. For here, where once was kitchen door, The lilacs bloom again.
-Geneva Eldredge, Sagamore.
In the Marstons Mills precinct there were until about thirty years ago three schoolhouses when the Plains and Newtown section were discontinued by reason of modern transportation and consolidation of schools. At one time about 100 years ago there were 80 children attending the one-room school in the Newtown section.
In the late nineties, about the last of the maintenance of the Newtown school, there were less than 20 pupils but at this time there appeared on the scene a teacher in the person of Miss Anne Hinckley, a maiden lady who was nearly sixty years of age and who was probably one of the most remark- able women who ever taught in the Town of Barnstable. She was a direct descendant of Governor Hinckley of Colonial times, had always lived in Barnstable village where she taught in the Pond Village section for many years; after the closing of that school she came to the Newtown section where the writer went to school to her for a number of years. When that school was closed she taught in the Mar- stons Mills section until her retirement.
There are scores of men and women now living who will testify as to the extraordinary ability of this woman. She was possessed of a high order of intelligence and was a natural born instructor of the young. Those who were her pupils never forgot her and whatever success they later en- joyed in life was in no small measure due to her influence in their school days.
This section in the vicinity of Mystic Lake, Indian Ponds, and Long Pond was settled mostly by Jones, Crocker and Hamblin families and their descendants can be found today in every state in the Union. A great many still live there where their ancestors lived and cleared the forest. Many men of outstanding character lived here in the past, some of whom were possessed of such rugged individualism that tradition concerning them is vivid. One such man was Nye Jones who was born about 1740 and lived to be nearly one hundred years old; he possessed a remarkable physique, was very tall and erect and when he was ninety years of age he
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could, and often did, place one hand on the top of a four- rail fence and easily vault over it.
Most of the Hamblins, Jones, Crockers and many oth- ers now living in the vicinity are descended from him and tradition concerning him is very much alive. The writer, who is one of them, has often heard from the old people many tales of Nye Jones.
The wild deer of which there are still many in this section were much hunted in the old days and were greatly prized for their meat. One bitter cold day in December with six inches of snow on the ground, Nye Jones, then ninety-five years old, was deer hunting with four grandsons, Seth, Steph- en. Hiram and Ralph, all strong. powerful young men in their twenties. Their old hound dog Sukey had followed a deer all afternoon but not once did it come within range of the hunter's flintlock guns and as the sun was disappearing on the western horizon the men met at the junction of the old Sandwich road and Cotuit road. On the south end of Long Pond they could hear the dog's baying faintly nearly a mile away in the Chopcheag woods, north of Santuit pond.
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