Blacksheep Sunday - Frequent & Abominable Drunkenness!

John Barnes is my 10th great-grandfather. He came to Plymouth in 1632 and was a yeoman and merchant. John Barnes shows up frequently in the court records; often engaged in some practices which the General Court deemed illegal or at least unfair. He was also in court a few times for slandering his neighbors and also for his drunkenness. It got so bad that he was disenfranchised (his right to vote was revoked) for "frequent and abominable drunkenness." Finally in 1661 the court ordered that "ordinary keepers of the town of Plymouth are hereby prohibited to let John Barnes have any liquors, wine, or strong drink at any time" under penalty of 50s. fine. An ordinary is a tavern. 

Plymouth court records show that on 5 March 1671/2 a coroner's jury viewed "the corpes of Mr. John Barnes" and stated that "being before his barn door, in the street, standing stroking or feeling of his bull, the said bull suddenly turned upon him and give him a great wound with his horn on his right thigh, near eight inches long, in which his flesh was torn both broad and deep, as we judge, of which would together with his wrench of his neck or pain thereof (of which he complained) he immediately languished, after about 32 hours he died."

I have to wonder if he was drunk when he was gored by the bull.

DO NOT PET THE BULL!

In 2007, cousin Bill West put his spin on the story and adds some details.

John Barnes & Mary Plummer
Jonathan Barnes & Elizabeth Hedge
Mary Barnes & John Carver
Mary Carver & Moses Barrows
Moses Barrows & Deborah Totman
Asa Alden Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood, Jr.
Asa Freeman Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Nina King Ellingwood & George Gibbs
Annie Florilla Gibbs & Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton

Sources:
http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/BARNES2.htm
http://www.plimoth.org/media/pdf/barnes_john.pdf

A Truelove Connection

Two of my immigrant ancestors on my father's side came on the ship, Truelove, in 1635. I didn't realize this until today. The ship, captained by John Gibbs, left London in September 1635. Ralph Ellwood, whose last name morphed over time to Ellingwood, was 28 years old. William Barstow, who is listed as "Beeresto", was 23 and he was traveling with his brother, George, who was 21. William started out in Watertown and moved to Dedham in 1637, Hingham in 1645 and Scituate by 1650. George was in Scituate around the same time and then moved on to Cambridge by 1652. The Barstows came from Halifax, Yorkshire, England. The Barstow and the Ellingwood families intermarried a few generations down the line. William lived an interesting life and I hope to write a bit more about him in the future but for now I will start with the story of his brother's death and the ensuing slander case against William.

William accused Rev. Chauncy of Scituate of blocking the admission of his brother, George, to the church in Cambridge. He alleged that this act, which denied communion to his brother, hastened his death by causing excessive grief. 

George died in 1653. On 9 June 1653, "William Barstow of Scituate" acknowledged that whereas "a suit hath been commenced against me the said Will[i]am Barstow, by Mr. Charles Chauncy, pastor of the church of Christ at Scittuate, for slandering him, the said Mr. Chauncy, in saying that he was the  cause of the death of my brother, G[e]orge Barstow, late deceased; also in saying that he, the said Mr. Chauncy, sent his bulls abroad to the church at Cambridge, whereby my said brother was hindered from communion with the said church, which was the cause of my brother's death, through excessive grief; in all which expressions and sayings I do humbly and freely acknowledge that I have done the said Mr. Chauncy manifest wrong." Within a year, George's wife, Susanna, was also dead; leaving their children orphaned.

Ralph Ellwood & Eleanor Lynn - William Barstow & Anna Hubbard
Ralph Ellingwood & Martha Rowlandson - Patience Barstow & Moses Simmons
Ebenezer Ellingwood & Sarah Tuck - Patience Simmons & Moses Barrows
Joseph Ellingwood & Sarah Herrick - Moses Barrows & Mary Carver
John Ellingwood & Zerviah Abbott - Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Asa Freeman Ellingwood & Rachel Barrows
Nina Ellingwood & George Gibbs
Annie F. Gibbs & Ray E. Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton