MiembroJohnBarnesLibrary

Barnes' small library is documented in the inventory of his estate, taken 30 August 1671. It is remarkable for one of the books it contains: a copy of John Eliot's "Indian Bible."

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please contact Libraries of Early America coordinator Jeremy Dibbell.

John Barnes (~1608-~1671), early settler of Plymouth, MA. He emigrated to Plymouth by 1633, and appears frequently in Plymouth County records as a buyer and purchaser of land and indentured servants.

Barnes sat on a number of town committees, and held several local offices (surveyor of highways, surveyor of arms, constable, and selectman in 1650). He was brought up on charges of slander and unfair trading practices on occasion (and frequently brought suits against others). In 1636 he was fined 30 shillings for Sabbath-breaking and had to sit in the stocks for an hour; through the 1640s and 1650s he was often fined for drunkenness. In 1659 he was disenfranchised for his "frequent and abominable" excessive drinking.

He died after being brutally gored by a bull, which "suddenly turned about upon him and gave him a great wound with his horn in his right thigh, about eight inches long, in which his flesh was torn both broad and deep."