An American Family History

The Honorable Barnabas (Barnabus) Lothrop was baptized at Scituate on June 6, 1636. His parents were John Lothrop and Ann Hammond.

He married Susanna Clark on December 1, 1658. Susanna was born about 1671 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her parents were Thomas Clark and Susannah Ring. Her brother James Clark married Abigail Lothrop, Barnabas' sister.

Their children were John Lothrop (1659), Abigail Lothrop Sturgis (1660), Barnabas Lothrop (1663), Susanna Lothrop Shurtleff (1665), John Lothrop (1667), Nathaniel Lothrop (1669), Bathshua Lothrop Freeman (1671), Anna Lothrop Lewes (1673), Thomas Lothrop (1675), Mercy Lothrop (1676), Sarah Lothrop Skeff, Thankful Lothrop Hedge (1679), James Lothrop (1684), and Samuel Lothrop (1685).

In 1677 he received a license

"to be provided with wine and liquors to sell for the supply of such as may be in want, either by sickness or otherwise, to dispose thereof to sober persons, as there may be occasion for their refreshment according to his discretion."

Barnabas had a distinguished career. He was an assistant in the Government of Plymouth Colony and a member of the first Council in 1692, after the union of the Colonies under the Charter of William and Mary.

His second wife was the widow Abigail Button Dodson (Dudson). 

Susanna died on September 28, 1697.

He died on October 26, 1715. Abigail died on 21, 1715. They are buried in the old burying lot near the county jail in Barnstable.

We and Our Kinsfolk edited by Mary Balch Briggs

Hon. Barnabus5 Lothrop, son of Rev. John and his second wife, was b. at Scituate, June 6, 1636, and d. at Barnstable in 1715.

In 1677 license was granted unto Mr. Barnabas Laythorpe

"to be provided with wine and liquors to sell for the supply of such as may be in want, either by sickness or otherwise, to dispose thereof to sober persons, as there may be occasion for their refreshment according to his discretion."

Thenceforward, through a long term of years his name is seldom missing from the records as bondsman, administrator, selectman, Deputy to the General Court, Assessor for the Colony, the first Judge of Probate, Assistant Governor for eleven years, and after the Union of 1691, a Councillor for Plymouth County. He also formed the habit of serving on committees, be they for settling with the soldiers, or for "viewing the laws of the Colonies, and reducing them to better order," or for distributing the Irish contribution to the sufferers in the Indian War.

In 1685 the Honored Governor and the worshipful Mr. Laythrop were instructed to dispose of, or make sale of, an Indian found guilty of burglary, with authority to "give a bill of sale for those that buy him, and to proportion ye wrong made of him to them that received damages by him." Palfrey says that he and others thought that by accepting seats in the Council under Andros they might have more influence in staying his injustice.

Barnabas Lothrop, m. November 3, 1658, Susanna Clark, b. 1641, d. September 28, 1697. She was the mother of his thirteen children. His second wife, 1698, was Widow Abigail (Button) Dodson.