USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 5
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The numerous ceremonies which have taken place during the past week in various parts of Barnstable undoubtedly have indulged in and quoted from many historical events which transpired through those strenuous days in establish- ing our great country's independence. There is little ques- tion but that most of the three hundred years' history of our town since the days of the arrival of our sturdy ances- tors has been gone into thoroughly and distinctly at the various official dedications of markers at important spots.
Therefore I feel in the few words which I am privileged to deliver, great appreciation of the honor offered me. I must not rove about far into the happenings of those other important families who came to West Barnstable under and with the Rev. John Lothrop in 1639 from Scituate. There were twenty-five families accompanying him, following loy- ally this fairly celebrated pastor who crossed the Atlantic after eight years of service in the pastorate of the first Con- gregational Church in London. This is a well known and treasured period in our "Pilgrim first days."
The Crockers, the Cobbs, the Hinckleys, the Scudders, the Hamlins, were among this now famous band of new-comers. I am sure all these have received just and deserved praises for the starting of this section of our wide country. I could remain for an hour or more on this, to me fascinating sub- ject, of their struggles, the loyalty, the firmness in belief and the courage of never-ending strength towards the con- stant continuation of their religious faith.
But this is not a subject for so long an extension. Those families who were wise enough to live on here for three hundred years have shown great wisdom. These were lives of steady work, of hard labor with so sound a belief in their religion then spreading. Those were days, let us hope, when those far broader minded men of our section indulged in cer-
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133 YARDS XXX
OF THIS MALKER
IS ITE FOUNDATION
E IDORSTORE CF
THE BIRTHPLACE OF MAJOR MICAH HAMUR
1141-3797
WHO LED MANY MEN
OF MARKSTABLE
DEDICATION OF THE HAMLIN TABLET-James F. McLaugh- lin, B. Nason Hamlin (the speaker), Miss Jane Hamlin, and Alfred Crocker.
tain lines of sport-fishing, shootings now and then of wild duck and turkeys-and, let us pray, an occasional match was held testing the comparing speed of horse or pony. There still is, I feel certain, a "Race Lane" on Hamlin Plains-and of course this must mean a contest between an- imals in sport. Not referring to human beings, we'll wager.
It was a life of steady work, of pleasing results, and the establishment of a true religious faith, so strong, so engross- ing and honorable. There were ups and downs, of course, as always occur in the progress of man, and I like to think of the many fierce struggles in which our ancestors con- quered-and also the stimulating successes which followed, year after year.
Shadow and sun; so too Our lives are made- Yet think! How great the sun, How small the shade !
I thank this Committee for having asked me to participate in this dedication and I am appreciative of the audience present.
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(This is a brief summary of data concerning Micah Hamlin gath- ered by B. Nason Hamlin. A detailed list of references and sources has been deposited with The Historical Society of the Town of Barnstable.)
Micah Hamlin, captain and major during the Revolution- ary War, was born in Barnstable 11 Nov. 1741, son of Jos- eph and Hannah (Lovell) Hamlin. He died 6 June, 1814, in his 73rd year, and was buried in the West Barnstable cemetery. Major Hamlin married 29 Oct. 1767, Abigail Park- er, daughter of Samuel Parker. Their children were: Han- nah, born 27 Aug. 1768; Joseph, born 18 Dec. 1771; Micah, born 12 July 1776; George Washington, born 10 Nov. 1778; Thomas, born 1 Oct. 1781; Abigail, born 20 Aug. 1785; and Temperance, born-died 17 Sept. 1775, aged 1 year and 10 months.
Major Hamlin's Revolutionary War record is long and honorable. His name is spelled Hamblin, Hamblen, Hamlen and Hamlin; it was James Hamlin who came to Barnstable in 1639, and that is the spelling he commonly used. Taken from records of "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War," following is his war service :
HAMBLEN, MICAH. Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; general return dated June 17, 1776; reported recruit- ing ; also, Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; list of offi- cers endorsed "May 8" [year not given] ; regiment raised for defence of Boston ; engaged July 1, 1775 ; service to Dec. 31, 1775, in defence of seacoast; also, Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; return of effectives dated Hull, July 1, 1776 ; also, Captain, Col. Marshall's regt. raised for defence of Boston ; list of officers; commissioned July 5, 1776; also, Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; return of effectives dated Castle Island, Aug. 17, Aug. 23, and Aug. 29, 1776 ; also, Captain ; list of officers appointed to command 3 com- panies detached and formed by Brig. Joseph Otis from his brigade and placed under Maj. Winslow of Col. Doane's regt., as returned to Maj. Gen. Warren, dated Barnstable, Jan. 7, 1777 ; also, Captain of a company of matrosses, Brig. Otis' brigade ; list of officers of Barnstable Co. militia ; com- missioned June 5, 1778.
Also : Captain, Col. Simeon Cary's regt .; service from date of engagement, Feb. 2, 1776, to time of marching, 6 days; also, Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; entered service May 14, 1776 ; service to Aug. 1, 1776, 2 mos. 19 days ; dated Castle Island ; also, returns for rations between July 10 and July 23, 1776, allowed the detachment stationed at
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Noddle's Island commanded by Capt. Henry Prentiss, Capt. James Gray, and said Hamlen; also, Col. Marshall's regt .; service from Aug. 1, 1776, to Oct. 31, 1776, 3 mos .; also, same regt .; pay roll for Nov. 1776; also, Captain, Col. Jonathan Reed's (1st) regt. of guards stationed at Cambridge ; muster rolls dated May 9, and June 1, 1778; engaged April 2, 1778; engagement, 3 months from April 2, 1778; also, same regt .; pay roll of said Hamlen's co. made up for service from April 2, 1778, to July 6, 1778, allowing 4 days (80 miles) travel home; also, Captain of a company of matrosses, Col. Free- man's regt .; service, 11 days, on an alarm at Dartmouth, Bedford, and Falmouth, in Sept., 1778; also, Captain; pay roll of a detachment from said Hamlen's (Barnstable) co., Col. Nathaniel Freeman's regt .; service, 2 days, guarding prisoners belonging to the [British] ship "Somerset" from Barnstable to Sandwich and Plymouth in Nov., 1778; also, Captain of a company of matrosses, Col. Nathaniel Free- man's regt :; service, 4 days, on an alarm at Falmouth in March, 1779; also, same regt .; service, 2 days, on an alarm at Falmouth in April, 1779; also, Captain, Lieut. Col. Hal- let's regt .; appointed July 15, 1780; discharged Oct. 31, 1780 ; service, 3 mos. 17 days, at Rhode Island ; company de- tached to reinforce Continental Army for 3 months; also, Major same regt .; rations allowed from Aug. 24, 1780, to Oct. 31, 1780; credited with 69 days allowance; services at Rhode Island ; roll dated Portsmouth.
Also : Captain ; list of officers belonging to Col. Cary's regt. raised to reinforce the army until April-, 1776; also, Captain, Col. Thomas Marshall's regt .; return of effectives dated Castle Island, July 24, 1776; also, Captain of a com- pany of matrosses, 1st Barnstable Co. regt. of Mass. militia ; list of officers [year not given, probably 1778] ; also, Captain of a company of matrosses, Col. Nathaniel Freeman's regt .; service, 15 (also given 13) days ; company served subsequent to April 5, 1779, on four alarms at Falmouth, two in April, one in May, and one in Sept., 1779; roll sworn to in Barn- stable Co.
In Barnstable town affairs during, before and after the Revolutionary War, Major Hamlin was also active in many capacities. Commencing in 1770 and continuing through 1780 he was at various times, warden, surveyor of high- ways, on recruiting committees, petit juror, school agent, fence viewer, hog reeve, and on numerous town committees. He was frequently head of committees to hire soldiers, to supply soldiers' families, and to settle soldiers' accounts,
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during these years. So far as Barnstable town records show, Micah Hamlin was the most active military man of the town during the Revolutionary War.
Elder Thomas Dimmock
A BRONZE TABLET on a natural boulder was dedicated in memory of Elder Thomas Dimmock at 3 p.m., Thursday, August 17. It is situated on land owned by Quincy Pond, about one mile east of the Barnstable County Courthouse. Its inscription reads :
This Boulder Is Erected As A Memorial To Elder Thomas Dimmock Who With Rev. Joseph Hull Received The Charter For The Land Now Occupied By The Town of Barnstable On This Knoll He Built A Fortification House in 1643 Barnstable Tercentenary 1939
James F. Mclaughlin introduced the speakers. Miss Jane Harris, daughter of Edward L. Harris, unveiled the tablet. Among those present were the Mayor, Mr. Charles F. Dart, and Mayoress, Mrs. Dart, of Barnstaple, England. The dedicatory address was delivered by Henry B. L. Dim- mick of Cataumet, a lineal descendant of the pioneer hon- ored by the tablet.
DEDICATORY ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE UNVEILING OF THE TABLET TO ELDER THOMAS DIMMOCK, BY HENRY B. L. DIMMICK
We are gathered here this afternoon to do honor and pay homage to Elder Thomas Dimmick by dedicating to his memory this boulder and tablet. He, with Rev. Jos. Hull. received the Charter from the Plymouth Colony for the Town of Barnstable three hundred years ago. Thomas Dimmick's
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earlier days were spent in England, where the name of Dim- mick is derived from the residence of its first bearers in the parish of Dymock, spelled D-y-m-o-c-k, in Gloucestershire, England. The family name has had many different spellings. The generally accepted spellings in this country have been D-i-m-m-i-c-k, D-i-m-m-o-c-k, D-i-m-i-c-k, or D-i-m-o-c-k, while in ancient English records, including those I have just men- tioned, we find various spellings using "Y" in place of "I."
We are unable to say definitely whether Thomas Dim- mick came to this country from Gloucestershire or from some other neighboring county as the family name was also found at early dates in the British counties of Devon, Flint, Lancaster, Stafford, Warwick, Salop and Lincoln, as well as in the city and vicinity of London. Probably the earliest definite record of the name in England is that of Johannes of John Dymok, D-y-m-o-k, who was living in Gloucester- shire in the year of 1254. The earliest connected pedigree, however, is that of the Lincolnshire branch of the family. This line traced its descent from Henry Dymoke, D-y- m-o-k-e, who was living at the beginning of the fourteenth century who was the father of a son named John who was father of Sir John Dymoke, Knight of Scrivelsby and mem- ber of parliament around 1375. He, through right of his wife, succeeded the Ludlows who had succeeded the Mar- mions of Scrivelsby in the office of hereditary "King's Champion." He was "Champion" at the coronation of Rich- ard the Second. From an ancient manuscript the duties of the King's Champion are described as follows: "As soon as the King and Queen were crowned they sat down to the royal banquet spread in Westminster, and during the course of this, the great doors of the Abbey were thrown open and the Champion appeared mounted on a magnificent charger, both clad from head to foot in armor, and at two or three stations in the great hall, he loudly challenged all comers to deny the right and title of the sovereign, and, throwing his gauntlet upon the floor, offered to defend their claims against any one with lance, sword or mace."
Without going further into the history of the antecedents of Thomas Dimmick, it is known that he was the first of the name in America, coming from England to Dorchester, Mass- achusetts, in 1635. Legendary English history tells of one Thomas Dimmick, son of Sir John Dymoke, the King's Cham- pion at that time, being a younger son and dissatisfied with his lot, his older brother, as was the custom in those days, being entitled to the honors and estates, who left the coun-
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MEMORIAL TABLETS
DEDICATION OF THE DIMMOCK TABLET-James F. Mc- Laughlin, Selectman James F. Kenney, Miss Jane Harris, Mayor Dart, Mrs. Dart, Henry B. L. Dimmick (the speaker), and Alfred Crocker.
try for parts unknown and was never heard from. This may have been the Thomas Dimmick who landed in Dorchester in 1635. In 1638 he removed to Hingham and from there journeyed to Scituate, Plymouth and Barnstable in 1639, where he, with Rev. Jos. Hull and others, began the settle- ment of this town which was earlier known by the Indian name of "Mattakeset." In March, 1639, Thomas Dimmick was appointed by the Plymouth Colony Court to "exercise the Barnstable men in their arms." On April 1, 1639, the Colony Court ordered that "Only such persons as were then at Mattakeset should remain and make use of some land, but shall not divide any, either to themselves or others, nor receive into the plantation any other persons excepting those to whom the original grant was made without the special license and approval of the government."
In 1642 Plymouth Colony instructed all districts to build fortification houses "for protection from 'suddain' assault from Indians." Elders Dimmick, Crocker, and Cobb got the people together and built the first fortification house on this
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knoll. The lower story was built of stone, the second story overhanging the walls of the first story for additional pro- tection. The land hereabouts as described in the town rec- ords was "the grant of a great lot to Thomas Dimmick with meadow adjoining at a Little Running Brook at ye East End of the plantation towards Yarmouth." This grant was tri- angular in form and contained, including upland and mead- ows, about seventy-five acres. The lease or grant given Hull and Dimmick was dated June 4, 1639 (Old Style), and in the following December Barnstable was incorporated as a town.
It is an interesting fact to note in the life of Thomas Dim- mick that he with Edmund Freeman of Sandwich and John Crow of Yarmouth in 1640 were authorized by the Colony Court to constitute themselves as a court to hear and decide all causes and controversies not exceeding twenty shillings within the three townships then existing on the Cape, be- cause the Plymouth courts, owing to the growth of the Colonies, were unable to handle the business. This was the beginning of local courts on the Cape and they developed in prestige and power until the establishment of Circuit Courts nearly two hundred years later, in 1811. This very early court developed twenty years later into the custom of choos- ing selectmen to guide the destinies of each town, similar to our present form of town government. Thomas Dimmick and Jos. Hull occupied nearly all of the town offices when the town was first incorporated. They were the Land Committee, and as our historian has said, "It was an office involving arduous and responsible duties and the exercise of a sound judgment and discretion. That they performed their duties well, the fact that no appeal from their decisions was ever made to the Colony Court affords sufficient evidence." They were Deputies of the Colony Court and seemed to possess the entire confidence of the people. Thomas Dimmick was Deputy of the Colony Court six times from 1640 to 1650. He was appointed a magistrate or judge in 1640. In 1642 he was appointed by the Colony Court to be one of the Coun- cil of War. In 1642 he was elected Lieutenant, then the highest rank in the militia, of the company of militia in Barnstable. In 1650 he was Commissioner of the Plymouth Colony and also ordained Elder of the Church of Barnstable.
Thomas Dimmick had nine children, six boys and three girls, and their descendants are scattered all over this coun- try. After a few years we find them in Falmouth, and later in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, New York and Penn-
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sylvania. They are now to be found from Cape Cod to Cali- fornia and from Maine to Florida.
The history of Thomas Dimmick was identified very close- ly with the early history of the town and cannot be separat- ed. Some historians pronounce him the leading man and he was in some ways connected with every important act of the first settlers. As the historian says, "These extracts re- quire no comment. They prove that Elder Thomas Dimmick was held by the Colony, the Town and the Church to be a man of integrity and ability. He lived at a time when the faults of every man holding a prominent position in society were recorded. One complaint only was ever made against him and that was discharged as unfounded and frivolous." Let us note again what the historian says, "Few of the first settlers lived a purer life than Elder Thomas Dimmick. He came over from England not to amass wealth or acquire honor but that he might worship God according to the dic- tates of his own conscience and that he and his posterity might here enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty. His duties to his God, to his country and to his neighbor he never forgot, never knowingly violated."
He was in poor health during the latter part of his life and died in 1659, and we who are living today, of the ninth, tenth and eleventh generations, should feel a great joy and satisfaction to know that such heritage of right living has been passed down to us by this worthy man who was the original one of this name in this country. Let us all pledge ourselves at this time to carry on that heritage of right living that our descendants may look back with pride not only to Thomas Dimmick of 1639 but to those of us that are living in this age.
The Rev. John Lothrop
A BRONZE TABLET set on a large granite marker was erect- ed to the memory of the Rev. John Lothrop in ceremonies commencing at 4 p.m., on Saturday, August 19th. The tab- let is set in the north wall of the Lothrop Hill Cemetery in Barnstable village. Its inscription reads:
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LOTHROP
DEDICATION OF THE LOTHROP TABLET-Representative Wil- liam A. Jones, Alfred Crocker, the Rev. Donald Lothrop (the speaker), and James F. McLaughlin.
Erected To The Memory Of Rev. John Lothrop And Such First Settlers Who Fill Unmarked Graves In This Cemetery And At The "Calves Pasture" Mr. Lothrop Was Pastor Of The Church Of England At Egerton, 1611-1623 The Congregational Society At Southwark, London, 1623-1632 Confined Newgate Prison 1632-1634 Scituate 1634-1639 Barnstable 1639-1653 He Was A Gentle Kindly Man And Beloved By All Who Knew Him Barnstable Tercentary 1939
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Introductions were made by Mr. Mclaughlin, and Alice Mae Ryder, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ansel Ryder of Barnstable, a descendant in the eighth generation of John Lothrop, unveiled the memorial. The dedicatory address was delivered by the Rev. Donald Lothrop, pastor of the Community Church, Boston, a descendant of John Loth- rop. (The dedicatory address is not available).
Site of Fortification House Built By Elder Henry Cobb
A TABLET OF Acton granite marking the site of the fortifi- cation house built by Elder Henry Cobb was dedicated at 4:30 p.m., Monday, August 21st. It is situated on a knoll northeast of the Unitarian-Congregational Church in Barn- stable village. Its inscription reads:
On This Land Stood The Stone Fortification House Built By Deacon Henry Cobb About 1643 Barnstable Tercentenary 1939
Alfred Crocker, chairman of the sub-committee on mem- orials, introduced the little girl who did the unveiling, Miss Dorothy Ann Woodall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Swift Wooodall, and also Richard Cobb, a lineal descendant of Deacon Cobb, who delivered the principal address.
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ON THIS LAND STOOD THE STORY
FORTIFICATION
HOUSE
BUILT BY
DEACON HENRY
COBB
ABOUT 16 40
DEDICATION OF THE ELDER COBB TABLET-Professor George Lyman Kittredge, Richard Cobb (the speaker), Miss Dorothy Ann Woodall, and James F. Mclaughlin.
DEDICATORY ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE UNVEILING OF THE TABLET ON THE SITE OF DEACON HENRY COBB'S FORTIFICATION HOUSE BY RICHARD COBB
Mr. Crocker has given freely of time, labor and thought to memorial stones. He has asked me to speak at the unveil- ing of this one because I am descended from Elder Henry Cobb. That is a distinction I share with a multitude, for Henry Cobb had fifteen children. His second wife's brother, Governor Thomas Hinckley, had seventeen. The settlers were a prolific race, and though they lost many children in infancy their seed has multiplied greatly. Through intermarriage of their descendants we who have roots deep in Cape Cod are multiple cousins.
The inscription unveiled here reads, "On this land stood the stone fortification house built by Deacon Henry Cobb about 1643"-"On this land" because there is no certainty the house stood on this hill. When it was built Sandy Neck
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and the harbor, changing always and always unchanged, must have looked about the same. Everything else was dif- ferent. There was, of course, no modern highway, nothing of all the man-made things you now see. Instead cart roads wound over rolling hills and through primeval woods to cleared patches of ground variously fenced with stone, wood, and brush. The houses were small and unshingled, their roofs covered with thatch. Between here and where the Inn stands were some half dozen with their barns and out-buildings. Cobb's land, a narrow strip of about seven acres, lay on this side of the low ground to our south and east. The low ground was then a cedar swamp, practically inpenetrable. The fort- ification house was something like twenty-five feet square with a steep roof, and had two stories. Only the lower story was stone; the upper one, overhanging that three or four feet, was wood, and had in it loop holes through which to shoot. Barnstable built three such places of defense against Indians, probably at the same time that Yarmouth under al- most identical conditions put up earthworks, remains of which are vet evident.
Indians were a life-long menace to the first settlers. As a young man at Scituate, Cobb built with "men of Kent" in a compact group for mutual protection against them ; in his old age his son Gershom was killed by them in King Philip's War. The Cape Indians, however, were never dangerous. Cobb worked his fields alongside theirs for many years, and his relations with them seem always to have been friendly. On various occasions he represented the Town in its business dealings with them. From our twentieth century standpoint the purchase of their land seems heartless exploitation ; but at the time they were getting for something they did not value at all something of real worth to them, and of em- barrassing cost of the settlers, who had next to no money and very little capital of any sort. In the purchase of the Cotuit, Osterville, and Centerville country, for instance, the Town fell behind in payment a fence and a bushel of corn. It empowered Cobb and Isaac Robinson to bargain about the fence. They substituted for that and the bushel of corn a great brass kettle seven spans in width round about and a broad hoe, but stipulated that the Town should have a year in which to provide the kettle and hoe. Both had to be im- ported from England at an expense which was unquestion- ably burdensome. Whites and Indians alike were living in the present. The Indians were being inexorably crowded out of existence by white civilization; but from moment to
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moment they were treated justly. Listen to this affidavit filed by Cobb at the recording of land in 1662:
This testifyeth that when Capitaine Standish was there to sett out the Indians land that then Napoietan, the sagamore, told Mr. Winslow and the rest of the companie that hee gave the one halfe of that land to Tacomacus; soe hee and his wife and children have enjoyed it ever since.
Our ancestors were much more concerned over fences than Indians, for to live they had to eat, and their ear-marked cattle roaming the woods could make short work of un- fenced crops. The boulders some of you have seen dedicated to Hull and Dimmock came from walls in Cobb's Great Lot. Laboriously put in place long ago with only oxen it seemed almost sacrilege to sweep them out and off with modern machinery. Not long after this fortification house was built the settlers put up a general fence to protect crops along the shore. That fence ran from Coggens Pond to Stony Cove at the Yarmouth line, making use of natural obstructions. Here it probably ran from the inlet of water on our west to this end of the swamp which was below, taking off again at the farther end. It had gates which could be left open only through the winter after the harvests had been gathered. In 1651 the gate here to the shore was put under the charge of Nathaniel Bacon, and at the same time Henry Cobb was given charge of the gate leading to the Indian lands in what is now called Cummaquid. By 1651, therefore, he was pre- sumably living on his more fertile land there though he owned land here till about 1670.
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