GEORGE BARLOW, MY "BLACK SHEEP"
George Barlow was probably born around 1620 and probably in England. He arrived at Sandwich, Massachusetts, around 1657 with no wife, and according to some accounts, as many as seven children. Nothing is definitely known of his origins although a number of possibilities have been proposed. Many writers, notably Hawkins and DeVries, have stated that this George Barlow and the George Barlow of Exeter, New Hampshire, are the same. However, Noyes, Libby, and Davis state that the George Barlow of Exeter died at Scarborough, Maine, and left a widow Cicely who married Henry Watts. Another genealogist, Claude W. Barlow, has stated that the George Barlow of Sandwich came from England to the Plymouth Colony sometime before 1657 and that he "had two young sons whose mother may have died in England."

George Barlow took the Oath of Fidelity at Sandwich in 1657. On June 1, 1658, the previous constable of Sandwich, William Bassett, had completed his year's service. He was replaced by George Barlow as constable of Sandwich and special marshall for Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth. His duties were those of jailer, the administration of punishments, and the collection of fines and fees.

The authorities of Massachusetts were determined to keep their territory free of contrary religious beliefs and the Society of Friends, the Quakers, was especially prohibited. At first the Quakers were merely banished, but when this didn't work the oppressions became harsher and harsher. In Sandwich, where the majority of the residents were disposed to accept the Quakers, George Barlow pursued his duties with uncommon zeal. Those duties included the right to appraise property, choose the goods to be taken in forfeiture, and to receive all fees and fines, with ten percent for himself.

The Plymouth Colony Court records are full of the accounts of George Barlow's activites. In his book Cape Cod, Its People and Their History, Henry C. Kittredge wrote of George Barlow: "It was his habit to take not what would be most valuable to the authorities, but what would be most poignantly missed by the Quaker families." He tells the story of Priscilla Allen, whose husband was driven out of town, leaving her and the children with only a cow. The marshall took the cow, all the corn in the house, a bag of meal that had been given by neighbors, and her only copper cooking kettle. Kittredge further wrote that George Barlow had, "so far as can be discovered from contemporary authorities, not a single good trait."

Or, as the history of Sandwich puts it, "Sandwich thereby went abruptly from a democratic town run by its own citizens, to a little police state run by a stranger with wide powers, who turned out to be a nasty and drunken man as well." Interestingly, no ill-feelings were held against his descendants, some of whom married into Quaker families. The actions taken against the Quakers were brought to an end late in 1661 by a decree issued by King Charles.

Nothing is known of George Barlow's first wife. He married (2) Mrs. Jane Besse sometime before March 4, 1661/2. Upon his marriage to Jane Besse, it is believed that George initially moved into te Besse house in the Spring Hill section of Sandwich. In 1664, when Jane's oldest son Nehemiah Besse became twenty-one and was able to take possession of the lands left to him by his father, George and Jane moved to Pocasset, Massachusetts, where the region called Barlow's Landing is still associated with the family. The Barlows were apparently a turbulent household. According to a Plymouth Colony Court record of March 4, 1661/2, Dorcas, Ann, and Mary Besse were before the Court for "crewell and unnatural practice toward their father-in-law George Barlow." Records of 1662 show that a cow named Daisy, which had been taken by George Barlow, was ordered to be returned to daughter Jane Besse under the guidance of the overseers of Anthony Besse's estate.

In his will which was dated August 4, 1684, and proved on October 31, 1684, George gave only five shillings each to his sons Aaron and Moses, adding "that is all I give them." Apparently there were bad feelings between George and these sons from his first marriage. To his wife Jane and their sons John and Nathan he gave his land which amounted to about eight acres, his house, his farm stock and equipment, and his "household stuffe."

There are stories of a town party in Sandwich at the news of the death of George Barlow.

References:
Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, originally 1928-39, reprinted 1988, Genealogical Publishing co.
Laura Campbell Hawkins and Emma Campbell DeVries, Barlow and Allied Families
Claude W Barlow, Descendants of Reuben Micah Barlow of Ashford, Connecticut
Henry C Kittredge, Cape Cod, Its People and Their History, 1968, Houghton Mifflin Company
RA Lovell Jr, Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town
William Charles Stillson, Notes on the Genealogy of the Stillson Family
Rochester, Massachusetts, Vital Records
Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Probate Records
Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, 1907, The Grafton Press
Plympton, Massachusetts, Vital Records
Sandwich, Massachusetts, Vital Records