Forebears and Bears

Have you ever stopped to wonder, say, what was going on this day in 1749?  What were the young citizens of Yarmouth doing on a raw gray fall day like today way back when?  Were they gathering the last herbs remaining in their kitchen gardens?  Were they cutting and stacking more and more wood to last the approaching winter?  In a Barnstable Court record, we find out what at least one group of youngsters of Yarmouth were doing.  In late November 1749 a group of teens and young adults were still talking about a gathering that had occurred on a Yarmouth beach several months earlier.   Barnstable Court Records On 20 June 1750, the Barnstable County Court issued a summons to William Howes, minor son of Judah Howes, Yeoman, of Yarmouth, to appear before the Inferior Court of Common Pleas on 8 October 1750 to answer a plea of trespass by Sarah Howes. Under Sheriff James Otis attests that he served William Howes by leaving the summons at William's usual place ...

If you asked me who my favorite ancestor was, no question it would be Thomas Greenough of Yarmouth, Massachusetts.  Indeed, I wrote a book on him.  While I continue to research in an effort to find everything I can about his life, this ongoing exhaustive search discovers no new information.  Well, a few little items here and there, i.e, notations of payments to Thomas Greenough by the Town of Yarmouth in it's early account books, and the name "Thomas Crno" (I suspect this to be an early phonetic version of Thomas Greenough) on a petition dated 1762 by a group of indigenous people of Yarmouth requesting payment to Thomas Ralph as their minister.  I do have theories and thoughts on who he may have been related to, possibly who his mother might be, but nothing documented.  Thomas Greenough, and his Native American ancestry, is well documented in primary sources - town records, vital records, and leases written and signed in his own hand.  His existence, and hi...