Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

tain David Bent, marching to Bennington.
After 1777 nothing is known of him.
He married (first), October 23 or 26, 1744,
Lydia Eagar, daughter of Captain James
and Tabitha (Howe) Eagar; (second),
June 12, or 13, 1765, Mercy Bartlett,
daughter of Ensign Daniel and Martha
(Howe) Bartlett. There were six children
of his first marriage, two of his
second.
(III) Sylvanus Oak, son of George
Oak, was born in Westboro, Massachu-
setts, March 30, 1749, died about 1800.
In 1 77 1 he bought of Nathaniel Waite for
one hundred and sixty pounds a fulling
mill and clothier's shop in Princeton,
Massachusetts, and lived also in Holden,
where some of his children were born. He
served twelve days, from April 20, 1775,
at the Lexington alarm, in the company of
Captain Sargent, marching from Rutland
to Cambridge. After the war he sold out
his Princeton property, took his pay in
Continental money, and lost it all. He
lived subsequently in Coleraine, dying, it
is said, across the line in Vermont. He
married, in Rutland, November 25 (or
December 3), 1771, Abigail Ball.
(IV) Lydia Oak, daughter of Sylvanus
Oak, was born in Holden, Massachusetts,
September 17, 1774, died February 25,
1852. She married, in 1793, Abel Shat-
tuck (see Shattuck line).
(The Barber Line).
The origin of the name of Barber is a
question upon which there is some diflfer-
ence of opinion. All agree, however, that
Normandy was its original European
home, and that it came into England at the
time of the Norman Conquest in the elev-
enth century. The greater number of those
who have made a study of family names
ascribe its derivation to the trade of hair-
cutting and hair-dressing. The fashion of
elaborate hair-dressing and of fastidious
care of the beard was brought into Eng-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
376
land by the Normans, and so popular did
it become at court that skillful hair-
dressers were much sought. Among the
royalty, nobility, and wealthy gentry, the
barber's position was an important one
in the household. No less an authority
than Dr. Henry Barber (deceased) of
London, claimed that the theory of its
derivation from the hair-dressing trade
was extremely doubtful. He stated that
the more probable origin "is from St.
Barbe sur Gaillon, a local name in Normandy,
where was the celebrated Abbey
of St. Barbara, whence comes the name
Barber or Barbour, a hamlet in Dunbar-
tonshire," and he cites in support of this
theory the personal names "Bernard Barb
de Barbes, tenant in the Domesday Book,
St. Barbe on the Roll of Battle Abbey,
William de St. Barbara, Bishop of Durham,
A. D. 1 143, Le Barbier Court of
Husting, London, 1258." Dr. Barber also
gives the various French forms of the
name as Barbe, Barbier, Barbare, Bar-
berie, and Barbry; the German form as
Barber.
(I) Thomas Barber, whose name ap-
pears in the early Colonial records of
Windsor, Connecticut, was born probably
in the County of Bedford, England, about
1614. He came to Windsor in 1635 with
the party fitted out by Sir Richard Salton-
stall, under Francis Stiles, a master carpenter
of London. He was then twentyone
years of age, and was the first of the
Barber name in New England. Thomas
Barber was a soldier with the rank of sergeant
in the Pequot War, and distin-
guished himself by his bravery in a
number of fights with the Pequots and
particularly in the taking of a fort which
the Indians considered impregnable. He
died September 11, 1662. He married,
October 7, 1640, and he and his wife, Jane
(or Joan), were the parents of six chil-
dren.