The Litigious Life of John Barnes

John Barnes, an English emigrant to Plymouth colony, was no stranger to controversy. Court records reveal a man prone to conflict, crudeness, and inebriation. On February 2, 1657, tensions flared when Barnes accused Edward Holman of luring his young servant away from work duties to go on leisure boat trips to Duxbury. The court fined Holman and promised to double the fine if it happened again. 

The two had a history of conflict. Years earlier both Holman and Barnes were fined for drunkenness on a Sunday, and Barnes, a wealthy businessman, was even sentenced to sit in the stocks. Another time Barnes was ordered to pay Holman compensation for a wrongful land deal. 

Mr. Barnes’ drinking problem continued to be an issue, leading to multiple court appearances, warnings, and even threats to punish both the establishments that served him and the people who drank with him. His "frequent and abominable drunkenness" led to a revocation of his Plymouth citizenship.

Plymouth records show that Barnes was later in court for land disputes, trespassing, harassing his neighbor's children, striking both a neighbor's son and his horse, and was yet again fined for drunkenness.  

The last mention of John Barnes in the Plymouth court records was in 1672 when a jury was called to determine his cause of death. Apparently, the sixty-year-old man was petting his bull when it turned and gored him in the leg with its horn. The wound was "both broad and deep," and he died thirty-two hours later. 

*****

“As the coal maketh burning coals, and wood a fire, so the contentious man is apt to kindle strife.”

(Proverbs 26:21; 1599 Geneva Bible)

No Beer on the Sabbath

Before sailing to America on the Mayflower, Stephen Hopkins (1581 - 1644) already had a colorful life. He was a minister's assistant at sea, narrowly escaped unjust execution, shipwrecked in Bermuda, stranded months on an island, was an early settler of Jamestown, and was portrayed in one of William Shakespeare’s plays. None of that earned him any legal immunity in the Plymouth courts.

Before his scrapes with the law, Hopkins was an important village leader. He was a colony representative to Native Americans, and served several years on the governor’s council, settling colony disputes and criminal cases. Additionally, he was also a land surveyor, tax assessor, and trade adviser.

But then Hopkins’ relationship with the community began a downward spiral around the time he opened his tavern. While in his mid-fifties, he was charged for assault after fighting a man less than half his age. He was later taken to court for price-gouging, withholding wages, and even serving alcohol on Sundays. 

Attendance at church services was expected for everyone in early New England, and laws were created to protect the reverence of the day. But on October 2, 1637 Hopkins was charged with selling alcohol on the Sabbath, and allowing his customers to play shuffleboard when they should’ve been at church. For this he was ordered to pay forty shillings. Months earlier, Hopkins was also fined for allowing people to drink to excess in his tavern. This infraction broke a law that he himself helped pass just a few years before. 

* * * * *

"Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee."

(Deuteronomy 5:12; 1599 Geneva Bible)

“Woe unto them, that rise up early to follow drunkenness, and to them that continue until night, till the wine do inflame them.”

(Proverbs 5:11; 1599 Geneva Bible)