When our Meetinghouse was nearing completion and the floor had been laid, areas for the closed pews were laid out, marked with chalk, and given a number. These areas, much like house lots, were then auctioned off to the highest bidders who were given deeds certifying their possession of each respective area. They then constructed their pews according to their own desires and tastes. Therefore, there was little consistency in the design of the pews as we see them today. Perhaps much "keeping up with the Otis's" went on until the Rev. Jonathan Russell laid down the law.

Recently, I discovered a folder of pew deeds in the archives that brings out some fascinating information about the early life of our congregation. One was of special interest. It conveyed pew number 29 to one Sylvanus Bodfish, which had been previously owned by Ellis Jenkins who had not paid his taxes on his pew for three months. Accordingly, after sufficient notice was given, his ownership was revoked. The deed conveying ownership to Bodfish consisted of convoluted legal boilerplate that runs on for three hand-written pages, a sample of which follows:

Now therefore know that I, Matthais Smith, Treasurer of said Parish and Society in consideration of eighteen dollars and twenty cents paid by Sylvanus Bodfish of Barnstable, the receipt thereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby convey to the said Sylvanus Bodfish and his heirs and assigns, the pew number twenty nine in the North West Congregational Meetinghouse in said Barnstable, to have and to hold the same with all privileges and appurtenances thereof to the said Sylvanus Bodfish and his heirs and assigns forever-But upon the following terms and conditions, to wit said pew will be subject to the taxes rated or assessed on its present appraised value (to wit seventy dollars.)

What a bargain! A pew valued at seventy dollars was won on a high bid of $18.20. Times must have been bad. These old deeds reveal much about how the early church was financed. When the "needs and Purposes" of the congregation were decided and the financial need determined, a board of assessors was appointed and the pew owners were taxed according to their proportional shares based on the value of their pews. Only the pew owners, who were probably the affluent members, carried the financial burden of the church. Failure to pay taxes on the pew for three months, and proper notice given, caused the ownership to be revoked and the pew again went up for auction and the former owner, I suppose, was relegated to the open pews or the gallery.

Bob Russell
Church Historian