Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

MARSTON.
JOHN MARSTON.
There was a John Marston In this town as early as 1657,
when be married Martha, daughter of Bernard Lombard, having
two sons. He removed to Swansey about 1660. There was probably
no connection between John and
BENJAMIN MAKSTON.
Benjamin, the progenitor of those of the name in this town
and county, came from Salem. He was an energetic and enterprising
citizen. He received from the town, in 1738, extensive
mill privileges, in the village which since that time has been known
as "Marston's Mills," and devoted himself to dressing the fabrics
of those who brought to his establishment the products of their
wheels and looms. By his marriage with Elizabeth Goodspeed,
April 26, 1716, he had John, Feb. 25, 1717 ; Patience, Jan. 1,
1720 ; Benjamin, Jan. 2, 1725 ; Nymphas, Feb. 12, 1728 ; Lydia,
March, 1731 ; Prince, March 24, 1736 ; and John, Dec. 3, 1740.
Nymphas, the third son of Benjamin, was a man of talent, public
spirit and distinction. He graduated at Yale, and represented
Barnstable in the Legislature in 1765. He sat with the Court of
Common Pleas and General Sessions, in 1774, at the time of the
suspension of the courts by "the Body of the People," and fully
sympathized with the patriots who resorted to that extreme measure,
and in the measures of resistance to Great Britain
which followed he contributed his full share, both by precept and
by monetary accommodations, making large advances from his
private means. It is related that on one occasion, the soldiers
called out from below for the defence of Falmouth, on fheir return
home called upon him, and after accepting his bountiful hospitalities,
gave vent to their patriotism by firing a salute in the house,
thereby shattering the plastering in the dining room. He remarked
that his guests were quite pardonable, if they would only
carry out their zeal in shattering the ranks of the common enemy ;
and suffered the marks of the explosion to remain during the re-