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Fiddle, Fiddle, You Can't Have MY Fiddle!

© Virginia Marin

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If you are following my family folktales - while there are other ghost stories to be told, and while there are tales of our cowboy cousins, today I want to tell the tale of one of my Quaker ancestors, Peter Babb, as he and his family made their way southward from the New England states...

Arriving in Delaware, the Babb family became Quakers in good standing, but they were apparently not suited for the life of a Quaker, at least not as a family. In the Quaker records, we find Babb after Babb being disowned for many infractions of the Quaker discipline.

A number were disowned for marrying out of unity or marrying contrary to discipline. Then there was one who was punished for having been seen sitting in a public place on a Sunday. Another attended too many weddings, while still another couple was disowned for being married by a "common hireling preacher."

Most of the ones disowned seem to have taken their punishment in stride. One, however, was not able to shoulder the punishment. This was Samson Babb, a great-great-grandson of Phillip, the presumed Ghost of Appledore, who was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This is his tale:

The Tale Of The Forbidden Fiddle

Samson, son of Peter Babb and Mary Lewis, was born in West Caln Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The son of Quaker parents, he was brought up in that faith. But like a number of other Babbs of his generation, he evidently found the life of a Quaker difficult.

In 1767, about the time he married Ann Way, daughter of John Way and Ann Hannum, the Society disowned Samson for keeping and playing a fiddle. Now, Sampson and his fiddle were well known throughout Pennsylvania. The fiddle was so much a part of Samson, that it would, at times, play without Sampson's lead. At night, the fiddle playing could be heard around the country side, and the wind carried the notes near and far.

One night, in the dead of winter, Samson received word of the impending death of a small child. The snow was just beginning to fly, but Samson made ready to go to the home of his dear, and possibly only, friends to give comfort to them in their time of sorrow. However, before he could leave his cabin, the snow came, and was falling so heavily that it prevented Samson from leaving home. He sat in front of the great fire place with his head in his hands and prayed.

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