Of the many colorful characters inhabiting Cape Cod in the nineteenth century, one stood out from the rest, Barney Gould.

Barnard Sears Gould was born in Chatham June 18, 1818, to Josiah and Sally Gould. He marched to a different drummer, and march he did. As a boy he was considered odd but with a quick wit. He attended middle school but was not a good student - he preferred to be out-of-doors roaming the dunes and woods. While young he worked as a hired farm hand and was said to give a good days’ work. One of his chores was delivering farm produce to the locals who often asked him to deliver letters, small packages, and recipes as he made his rounds. This activity turned out to be the genesis of his career.

As he matured his travels took him further and further along the Cape Cod roads. This roving instinct and the ability to earn money doing so, inspired him to start a delivery service, whose name, “Gouldʼs Express,” was proudly attached to his feather decorated hat. For a small sum he would go anywhere, anytime of the year, to pick up or deliver anything that could be hauled with his yellow two-wheeled cart or in a burlap bag slung over his shoulder. Although slight in stature, it was said he moved along at a fast shuffling gait, and would “Throw up as much dust as a coach and four!” His service soon extended beyond the boundaries of Cape, to Boston and all along the east coast, and soon further west to New York and Washington D.C.

He often dressed in a bright, hodge-podge military uniform that he acquired on a trip to Boston but his day-to-day dress appeared average for his position, a bit on the shabby side. He was known to wear up to five overcoats, justifying such attire with, “Iʼll be needing ‘em when winter comes.” Being odd in appearance, and known for long journeys, parents would admonish their children with, “If you donʼt behave Barney Gould will carry you off to some awful far away place!”

Barney charged very little for his services. The normal charge to deliver a letter was three cents. For ten cents he carried two chairs from Wareham to New Bedford, and for twenty-five cents delivered a dozen wooden rakes from Boston to Centerville.

During long trips he carried flour, sugar, and other “neccisities.” He slept in barns and sheds, got his water from town pumps, and knew which doors to go to where a free meal could be had. Barney was not considered a beggar, and was much respected by the people he did business with and encountered along the way.

Barney burned the candle at both ends when it came to trains. On one hand he considered them to be slow and unreliable; other accounts portray him as being friendly with the railroad crews who often gave him free rides in exchange for a story or a lively jig. He once bragged to a certain engineer that he could beat his train to Boston. Sure enough, when the train stopped at the station Barney walked up to the locomotive and greeted the engineer. He never did say how he was able to hold on to the cow-catcher all the way to Boston.

One anecdote tells of how he once made a bet with Captain Bunker, master of the vessel Orion, which was about to carry prospectors to California during the gold rush. Barney bet the captain that he could beat him to San Francisco, the wager being, “my best shirt laid agiʼn yourʼn.” The story goes that Barney was waiting at the dock when the Orion arrived, and thereafter Barney proudly showed off his new shirt. This is somewhat believable as the Orion had to sail around the Horn, while Barney had many opportunities to join the numerous wagons and railroad trains heading for the gold fields.

As Barney grew older he did most of his work in the villages of Hyannis, Centerville, and Osterville, but still managed occasional trips to Boston and other communities in the area. There are differing accounts of how it was that Gouldʼs Express ceased operation. When Barneyʼs legs could no longer carry him on his routes, he bought a wagon and a horse named Shanks so that he could continue his livelihood. When his failed health deteriorated to the point where he was unable to continue his business, and with no other means of support, the decision reached by the officials of Barnstable and Chatham was that he would fare better in the Chatham poor house. It is said that when the Justices showed up to take him and his wife to their new home the couple took to the woods and gave them a good fight. After finally relenting, Barney turned to the Constables and told them, “It would be better for you if we didn’t meet on a dark night!” A newspaper account establishes the date of their move as January 1894.

Barney died in the Chatham Almshouse at the age of seventy-six on January 21st, 1895, and was buried in the Methodist Burial Ground, now know as The Seaside Cemetery, in Chatham but there is no headstone for him. This was common for people considered to be paupers, and Barney had taken the pauperʼs oath. Part of his obituary read, “Barney is well-know in the principal cities all along the coast, particularly among the seafaring people and he will be missed full as much as some more valuable men.”

Excerpted from an article by Frank Tardo, who did the research.