Samuel Allyn, of Barnstable

Samuel Allyn, son of Thomas Allyn, of Braunton & Barnstable and Winifred. Husband of Hannah Walley (daughter of Thomas).

Resided West Barnstable south side of highway 1/2 mile east of Hinckley's Bridge. Freeman 1670, Constable 1671. For Many Years Town Clerk. Lieutenant 1678

Family

From Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, by Amos Otis, published by Patriot Press, 1888 (Page 8-9). < Archive.Org >

Mr. Samuel Allyn, son of Thomas, was a freeman in 1670, constable 1671, called Lieutenant in 1678. He was many years Town Clerk, and held other responsible offices. He resided at West Barnstable. In 1686, his house is described as on the south side of the highway about half of a mile east of Hinckley's Bridge.

He married May 10, 1664, Hannah, daughter of Rev. Thomas Walley. She died, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 1711, at 10 o'clock, A. M. Her age is not stated. She was born in England and came over with her father in the ship Society, Capt. John Pierce, and arrived here May 24, 1662.

Mr. Samuel Allyn died Friday, 25th November, 1726, aged 82 years.

Mr. Samuel Allyn's will is dated Nov. 12, 1726, and proved on the 30th of Nov. following. He gives to his daughter-in-law Sarah, then wife of Deacon Samuel Bacon, 40 shillings ; to his grandsons Thomas Allyn and John Jacobs, and his daughter Hannah Lincoln, 20 shil- lings each ; to his grandson Samuel Allyn, son of his son Joseph "only one shilling" ; and to his great-grandson Thomas, son to his grandson James, 40 shillings. All his other estate, both real and personal, he devised to his son Joseph Allyn, to grandson James of Barnstable, to daugh- .te£ Hannah Jacob, and his grandson Samuel Allyn of Barn- stable, to be divided equally. His son Joseph and grand- son James executors. The inventory of the estate is dated January 4, 1726-7, but the oath of Allyn was refused by the Judge of Probate "because 1 thought he could not do it with a safe conscience." Joseph swore to it Feb. 18, 1726-7.

Children of Mr. Samuel Allyn and his wife Hannah Walley, born in Barnstable:

• I. Thomas, born 22 March, 1654-5, married Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. John Otis, 9 Oct., 1688, and had three children, James, Thomas and Hanna,h. He died 25th Nov., 1696, aged 31. His widow married 20 January, 1699, David Loring of Hingham. She died in Barnstable, June 17, 1748, aged 79.
• ll. Samuel, born 19 January, 1666, married Sarah, daugh- ter of Edward Taylor, 20 Dec, 1705, and had Samuel, 26 Nov., 1706. The father died Dec, 1706, in the 39th year of his age. His widow married 26 January, 1708, Dea. Samuel Bacon. She died Sept. 24, 1753, aged 73.
• lll. Joseph, born 7 April, 1671. He removed from Barn- stable about the year 1700. He was one of the execu- tors of the will of his father 1726. He then had a son Samuel, showing he was married and had a family.
• IV. Hannah, born 4 Maroh, 1672-3, married 7 Dec, 1693, Peter Jacob of Hingham, and had twelve children.
• V. Elizabeth, born 26 Nov., 1681, died 23 Dec, 1698, aged 17.

Biography

As a resident of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Allyn became one of its foremost citizens, appointed to numerous offices and committees. He was made a freeman by the Colony in 1670, and the next year, he was appointed to the post of town constable. He was called a lieutenant in 1678. In 1680 he became selectman and held the post for four years. As selectman, he served on a committee in 1681 to acquire land for the building of a second meeting house. The land was purchased from Goodman Phinney, a parcel of one quarter acre just to the west of Coggin's Pond in Barnstable Village. The transaction was an odd one for Phinney insisted in the agreement that the town pay 20 shillings in addition to paying for a 10 shilling cutlass for which Mr. Phinney owed a neighbor. The meeting house was then built costing 100 pounds. The monies came from the sale of lands which the colony had taken from King Phillip after his defeat in the Indian wars of the 1670s.

Like other early meeting houses, it was probably a plain, rectangular building devoid of ornamentation or spire. This meeting house was used until the parish was divided into east and west in 1717.

In 1685, the town called upon Allyn along with Barnabas Lothrop to contract out the construction of a windmill for the purpose of grinding the town's corn. The mill was to be located between Governor Hinckley's house and Cobb's Hill. Allyn and Lothrop signed a contract with Thomas Paine of Eastham to build the mill for thirty-two pounds in money and nine acres of land. Allyn's own house was in the neighborhood, standing on the south side of the highway about half a mile from Hinckley's Bridge.

In 1689 he, along with ten other enterprising businessmen, got a grant of land from the town to set up a fulling mill at Goodspeed's River in Martson's Mills. In the contract, this consortium of entrepreneurs agreed to "maintain the same for twenty years and full and dress the town's cloth upon responsible terms."

Allyn's wife, Hannah, died in 1711. Several years later in 1714, Allyn as elected as the third clerk of the Town of Barnstable, and he held that post for ten years.

Samuel Allyn died in 1726 at the age of eighty-two years. He had seen the town grow from a collection of rude dwellings to a graceful settlement of framed houses, spired houses of worship and productive enterprises.

References

1. “The First Settlers of Barnstable, MS.,” The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1848) Vol. 2, Page 65 < GoogleBooks > “ Mr. Thomas ALLYN had a son Samuel, b. 1 Feb., 1643.”
2. Otis, Amos. Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families (F.B. & F.P. Goss, Publishers and Printers, Barnstable, Mass., 1888) Vol. 1, Page 8- 9 < Archive.Org >; < Ancestry >
3. The following text has been taken from the pamphlet The History of West Parish, published by the West Parish Memorial Foundation, Inc., and has been used by permission. < link > “The Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, was founded in 1639 by the Rev. John Lothrop and 22 families from Southwark, London. Being Congregationalists, they were forbidden from worshiping in England, and were severely persecuted before they left for America. By 1715, the town had grown such that the parishes split into East and West. In 1717, construction of the West Parish Meetinghouse began with the felling of nearby great oaks and pines. The Meetinghouse was consecrated in 1719, and thus became the first permanent home of the Congregationalists who had first gathered 103 years earlier in England. For the next 130 years, the Meetinghouse would also host Barnstable town meetings, and, for a time, the village public school. …”