Family Folklore Readings - Part V
© Virginia Marin
The Isle of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire is rich with the folklore of early immigrants to its shores. This is the story, a ghost story, of one of my early immigrant ancestors, Phillip Babb, or rather his ghost. But Phillip, err his ghost that is, was not an every day run-of-the-mill ghost. This ghost continued with his chosen work, that of being a butcher. But now, Phillip is after whomever instead of his hogs. If you ever go to Appledore, you will not have to look Phillip up--he will find you!
* Fiddle, Fiddle, You Can't Have My Fiddle
This is somewhat of a tall tale, but a short tale would not do justice to Sampson Babb, son of Peter, and great-great-grandson of Phillip Babb, the Fishing Master of Appledore, and the island's resident ghost. Sampson was raised in a Quaker home in Pennsylvania, but as time passed most of the Babbs realized that being a Quaker was not their cloth.
In 1767, Sampson was disowned by the Society for keeping and playing a fiddle. Now Sampson was known in parts near and far for his fiddle-playing and he was not about to give it up, but he did give up being a Quaker. This is the story of Sampson, his fiddle, and a very unusual happening.
* The Fishing Master of Appledore
There is probably more truth to this story about Phillip than legend, because much of it is documented. If you enjoy history with a fishy tale, throw your hooks into this one.
The Babb family from which my immigrant ancestor comes, lived in the southern part of England. As the tale goes, he was the son of one Phillip Babb, who plied the oceans, accumulating great wealth--for you see, Phillip was a pirate! And this is the tale of Phillip, alias Pedro the Pirate and Ocean-Born Mary Fulton.
* Pancake Tales From the Texas Dust #1
Pancake, located between Turnersville and Jonesboro, in the northern part of Coryell County, Texas was once a thriving village with a large general store, a distillery, grist mill, post office, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, two churches and a building which bore only the "you tell me what it is" initials of W.O.W. The village of Pancake, once known as Babbsville, was named for one William Babb who, after a mysterious happening, sold the land and all of the stores to his sister Margaret Jane and her husband John Pancake. Just how and why this sale materialized is the subject of this Pancake Tale from the Texas Dust.
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