BODFISH, JOSEPH/BODFISH, BENJAMIN

Wolf Hunter

"Jonathan Bodfish said his grandfather could set a trap as cunningly as the oldest Indians, and that the duck or the goose that ventured to come within gunshot of him rarely escaped being shot."

--Amos Otis

During Joseph's lifetime, wolves were such a threat that there was a bounty paid for every wolf's head produced.

An anecdote that is told about Joseph Bodfish and his hunting prowess: A wolf was being tracked by hunters all across one end of Cape Cod. Joseph Bodfish's reputation was known, and the hunters asked him to join them. He declined. He knew the habits of the wolves well, and he felt the wolf in question would follow its own tracks back from wherever it had been heading. Alone, he went into the woods and waited for the wolf to return, which it did, and he killed it. The hunters stopped by on their way back along the same track as well, to report that their dogs had lost the scent of the wolf and had given up. Joseph greeted the hunters with the body of the wolf.

Otis also says Joseph killed the last wolf in Barnstable.

Joseph had his unsuccessful moments, however. Another family legend says the following: On the north side of Scorton Hill, Joseph Bodfish had snared a wolf. He approached it, club in hand, and struck it. But the club he used was a rotten pine pole, and the wolf lunged at him. The trap was broken, but Joseph lunged to the side, the wolf passed, and thus was not injured. The club then became a family heirloom.

A tale of another Bodfish takes place 200 years later. Kittredge says it was a Joseph Bodfish who argued with his cousin Sylvanus so bitterly that he was briefly excommunicated from his church. Could it actually be Benjamin? Kittredge mentions the wife's name, Asenath, and there was an Asenath Jones who married Benjamin Bodfish in 1824. We have no further information for Sylvanus.

The story:

For years, according to the story, Joseph had collected his winter wood in a location that required his cutting through some property that belonged to a family member. When this landowner died, the son who inherited (Sylvanus) said Joseph couldn't cross there anymore, and proceeded to nail boards across the gap in the fence that Joseph had always passed through.

Joseph went to the judge (named as Marston), and the Judge sided with him, telling Joseph he had established right of way, and he should go ahead and pull the boards himself if Sylvanus wouldn't. Instead of taking action in this manner, Joseph decided to ask his church to intervene, since Sylvanus was a member of the same church. Joseph didn't choose his words carefully as he made his case, for he stated that if the church couldn't obtain satisfaction for him, he would pursue the matter at the court, with Judge Marston on his side. So the church said they would not confront Sylvanus, but would investigate the situation to try and determine if there was some other way for Joseph to reach the location he wanted to reach.

After the investigation, the church said the crossing Joseph had used was not a necessary path, and they could see no reason to pursue the matter further with Sylvanus, but they required Joseph leave the matter for the entire church to decide. He refused, and was suspended from church membership for one year, so he could contemplate the matter properly. Joseph's wife (identified as Asenath), and son (identified as Benjamin) were also suspended. All three appealed, to no avail. At the end of the year, Joseph's choice of words got him in trouble again-he wrote to the church committee that he was "willing to right the wrong, but not to wrong the right." The church promptly excommunicated all three family members.

The family appealed again, all the way to Boston. A council was called there, with Rev. Henry Dexter and eight other clergymen. The council decided the West Barnstable church had overstepped their authority, and recommended that all three members be reinstated.

The story doesn't say whether Joseph and Sylvanus ever reached an agreement about the firewood, though.

Sources (links may open in a new window):

(The Wolf)

Snow, Edward Rowe: A Pilgrim Returns To Cape Cod. Boston: Yankee Publishing Company, 1946 pg 258--identifies the Bodfish wolf-hunter as Benjamin. This book is occasionally available used at abebooks.com

Otis, Amos. Genealogical Notes Of Barnstable Families. Barnstable, MA: F. B. & F. P. Gross, 1888 - 1890, vol. 1, pg. 69. This book can be read online, as part of the Family & Local Histories Online Subscription at genealogy.com. Also available new from Genealogical.com publishing.

(The Excommunication)

Kittredge, Henry C.: Cape Cod, Its People And Their History. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1930 pg 274. This book is occasionally available used at abebooks.com