Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

108 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
country, and the constable had a right, I presume, to surrender
those also. Now if these are the facts, the refusal or neglect of
Deacon Crocker in returning the cows is a blot on his fair fame.
The daughter died that year, and the father two years after.
That their deaths were, as it is pretended, a judgment of God, to
punish them for their guilt in being nccessory to the taking of the
cows is nonsense—as stupid as any of the marvels of the unseen
world related by Cotton Mather—and in reply to which this and
other equally absurd stories are printed by Bishop in his appendix
to New England Judged.
There is another side to the story, I will not say the right
side ; but it was this that had the support of the best legal talent
of the times. The lands in the Old Colony were granted to the
churches, on the express Condition that a learned and orthodox
minister should be maintained in each town. The ministerial tax
was a lien upon the land, and the civil authorities, until that condition
was changed, were bound to enforce it. The rental of the
Cape Cod fisheries was devoted to the maintenance of a free
school, and he that hired a right to seine on the shore, might with
the same show of equity refuse to pay the tax, because the school
was established at Plymouth, and he yras thus deprived of his
share of the benefit. The original owners of the lands and of the
fishing privileges in the sale or lease imposed certain taxes on
them, and the right of a Quaker or an Orthodox to complain is
not apparent. The policy of such taxation is another question.
Ralph Jones was as stiff-necked as Dea. Crocker. When
Mr. Walley informed him that he would not insist on his legal
rights, and that he could take the two cows to which he was enti-
tled, Jones said, "No, your son-in-law drove them away, now let
him drive them back, I wont go after them." Perhaps he was
right, but a more conciliatory course would have exhibited a bet-
ter spirit.
If four cows and their calves were taken to pay the tax, it
was an exorbitant sum. The market value at that time was about
£4 sterling, or $20 for each or $80 for the whole. Deducting
one-half, the fine for not paying voluntarily, left the sum taxed
$40 in silver money, equal to $120 at the present time. Ralph
Jones was not a man of wealth, and a part of his estate was taxable
in Sandwich. There were about one hundred tax payers in
town at that time, and Jones' proportion of the gross sum raised
to support the ministry would not be over the one hundredth
part. If his tax was £8 sterling the gross would be £800, a sum
equal to the gross amount of Mr. Walley's salary during the sixteen
years he was minister of Barnstable. It is preposterous to
believe that Jones was so taxed, yet this is a part of the story,
and as much entitled to credence as the rest of it.