Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL KOTES OP BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 191
of events. He arrived m Boston Sept. 18, 1634, and stopped nine
days in that town to confer witii friends and decide respecting tiis
future movements. He met with many who bad known liim in tiis
native land ; all had heard of his labors, and liis sacrifices for the
cause of Independency, and all most cordially welcomed him to the
shores of New England. Gov. Winthrop notes his arrival, and
commends the modesty and the reserve of one who had so prominently,
so ably, and so fearlessly, upheld the Puritan faith.
Many who had heard him proclaim the truth of eternal life in
Kent, and m London, had previously come to New England, and
were like sheep without a shepherd, scattered in divers places in the
Massachusetts and in the Plymouth Colonies, tseveral had set down
in Scituate, and they invited Mr. Lothrop to visit them. On the
27th of September he went down to that place, and was most enthusiastically
welcomed by former brethren and urged to again become
their pastor. The kindly reception which was extended to him, and
the cordial welcomes with which he was greeted, were most gratifying
to his feelings, and he resolved that Scituate should be his future
home—the fold into which he would gather together the estrays of
his scattered flock. His grateful heart believed that the hand of God
had opened this door for him,—had at last given him a resting
place from his toils. Here, protected by law, he could build up
church institutions, and here he and his family could dwell together
in peace, surrounded by the loving friends of his youth. Willing
hands quickly built a house for his family, of "meane" proportions,
and of "meaner" architecture, yet it was a shelter from the storm
a place that he could call his own—a blessing from "Him who had
not where to lay His head." Mr. Lothrop had probably passed
four years of his life a student at Christ's College, Cambridge. To
this day the magnificent proportions, the gorgeous splendors, and the
architectural beauties of its ancient edifices command the admiration
of every beholder. Until his imprisonment he had been accustomed
to reside in well built and well furnished dwellings. He could most
truly say his house in Scituate was "mearae."' Tue w^alls were made
of poles filled between with stones and clay, the roof thatched, the
chimney to the mantle of rough stone, and above of cob-work, the
windows of oiled paper, and the floors of hand sawed planks. Mr.
Lothrop elsewhere calls such structures booths, and says they were
open and cold, and in winter a high piled fire had constantly to he
kept burning. All the houses in the village were alike—there was
no opening for pride to claim supremacy. Mr. Lothrop believed
that every event of life is ordained of God for good,—he was therefore
content, and the two years that he dwelt under a thatched roof
was perhaps the happiest period of a well spent life. With better
built and better furnished houses came strifes and contentions, rendering
his abode in Scituate unpleasant, and from which, in his let-
ter to Gov. Prence, he states, "I desire greatly to be released."