Barnstable County History
Why create a county?
"Government administration had grown considerably since the days when Governor Bradford had Isaac Allerton as his only
Assistant. In 1685 the administrative officers for the colony as a whole consisted of one governor, one deputy governor,
six Assistants, twenty-eight deputies from seventeen towns(most towns had two), twenty-three constables from seventeen
towns, twenty-seven grand jury members from eighteen jurisdictions (the eighteenth being Manamoit, later called Chatham),
thirty-eight highway surveyors in seventeen towns, fifty-seven selectmen in seventeen towns, six associate magistrates,
three each for Plymouth county and Bristol county (Barnstable county is not shown to have any at this time), six additional
members of the Council of War, two from each county, and three majors, one for the military forces of each county."
Plymouth Colony - Its History and People 1620-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton, p 127, Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City,
UT, 1986
Barnstable - The County, Town or Village?
Town of Barnstable - founded by Rev Lothrop and his group after they left Scituate(pronoune Skit'-u-et).
("First mentioned 5 Mar 1638/9",p. 63, ibid;)( "September 3, 1639 is the precise birthdate given to Barnstable, which
really represents just the best guess of when a band of hardy colonists officially took advantage of Plymouth Colony laws
passed in March, 1638 authorizing towns to send deputies to the General Court." The [Yarmouth] Register, p. 22, 7 Sep
1989 ).
The History of Barnstable County, ed. Simeon L. Deyo, NY, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Introduction, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter I, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter II, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter III, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter IV, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter V, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter VI, 1890
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Chapter VIII, 1890
Barnstable County, Massachusetts Historical Sketch