General Notes

Virkus Vol 1, page 395
Says John Hulett from England to Scituate, RI about 1700


John lived in Newton; Rehoboth (moving there about 1709); Scituate, RI (at least from 1740-1763); and Belchertown, MA.  He or more likely his son was probably the John Hulett listed as a resident of Hadley, MA in 1770 with no estate [History of Hadley by Sylvester Judd].  His will [IGI] in 1776 mentions as children: Thomas, Joseph, John, Patience and Mary.


From: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/scituate3.html#JOHN taken from Bayle's Historyof Providence County (RI) page 592

One of these, whose chimney smokes were illuminated by the morning sun in the woods of Scituate, in its early settlement, was John Hulet and Berenice, his wife, who, about 1740, resided in the north-western part of the town.  His grave is pointed out in a pasture back of the house of John Harris, Esq., a short hillock, marked by two walnut trees, and lying on the westerly side of the most northern one.  Two rough moss-covered stones, one at each end of the grave, and without inscription, designate the last resting place of one who owned large tracts of land in the vicinity, but now sleeps unnoticed and unknown by the living generations about him.  His transactions in deeds were numerous, and run from 1743 to 1763.  In 1744 he bought one hundred and fifty acres from Stepehen Hopkins for three hundred pounds, land commonly called "Oystershell Plain."  We find him, among others, taking the oath against bribery, Aug. 15, 1747, an example which might be followed at the present day for the advantage of the country.

Benjamin Gorton, of Warwick, married John Hulet's daughter Avis, July 18, 1762.  His son Mason married, the year following, Oct. 23, 1763, Elizabeth Mathewson, of Johnston.  Elder Reuben Hopkins performed the marriage service on both these interesting occasions.  Mason Hulet removed to Vermont and settled at Wallingford, on the Otter Creek, and has left numerous descenants in that State.  John Hulet, March 1761, sold to Col. Wm. West the farm of two hundred acres which he bought of Stephen Hopkins.  He sold it for forty thousand pounds, a price not to be accounted for, except, we admit, the great depreciation of the currency.  Mr. Hulet was appointed, with Thomas Angell, pound keeper, in 1747.  He is called "Captain" in his appointment of fence viewed in 1750.  He was undoubtedly a man of considerable property for those days, and quite a dealer in lands.  He sold to Boylston Brayton, of Smithfield, May 28, 1763, two tracts of land, -- one lying in Glocester, according to the deed, "the half of a farm whereon Ralph Wellman did formerly live, and bounded as in deed of William West to Eliphalet Eddy, Feb. 16, 1760, and also more particularly by the said Eddy to me, the said John Hulet, containing three hundred acres, more or less.  The other tract is in Scituate, and is my homestead farm, and the same whereon I now dwell, and contains about two hundred and fifty acres, bounded northerly on land of James Wheeler, easterly on land of the same, and on land belonging to Capt. John Whipple, southerly on land of William West and westwardly on land of Charles Hopkins and Barnes Hall, and on land belonging to heirs of Joseph Wilkinson."  This homestead farm would seem to have been very near to the place of his burial.  We find him buying at the same time of Benj. Anthony, of Swanzea, for 1800 Spanish milled dollars, 229 1-2 acres of land, where Thomas Knowlton once dwelt in Scituate, in part bounded by territory of heirs of Joseph Wilkinson.  Mr. Hulet must have died soon after these last transactions, as we find no further mention of him in the town records.  He is said to have died of fever after a very short illness.

Lieut.-Gov. West, who purchased the old homestead with Gov. Hopkins sold to John Hulet, had for some time previous to 1761, been living in Scituate, and had resided a little west of said farm, where his son John afterwards lived.  He removed from North Kingston to Scituate, and was chosen Deputy.  He was also elected to represent the town in a General Convention held at East Greenwich, Sept. 26, 1786.  In the appointment by the Governor in 1775, of Eseck Hopkins to be General of troops to be raised for the defence of the shores of the Narragansett, Col. West was placed second in command.  We find him very active in two affairs during the Revolutionary war.  In May, 1777, he was made chairman of a committee to ascertain the number of effective soldiers still wanting to complete the Continental battalion, then raising by the State.  He was several times chosen as Moderator of the town, and was a man of intelligence and enterprise, infusing energy and courage in the people.