Otis’s Barnstable Families first appeared as a series of sketches in the newspaper The Barnstable Patriot. The sketches were subsequently collected and published in two volumes in 1888 and 1890 and to this day constitute the best genealogical history of the early families of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Based on public records, family archives, and a careful study of original documents, and further enhanced by the inclusion of revisions and additions by Mr. Charles F. Swift, Barnstable Families is widely regarded as authoritative.