View Message

I'm not sure that we have definite evidence that "Damned Barebones" really existed. This may have been a joke made up by the political opponents of Praise-God Barbon, who really was a member of the Puritans in Parliament in England during the Cromwell period. Royalists may simply have made up the idea that he named his son If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned in order to make him look more ridiculous. Certainly the man usually thought to be his son always went by Nicholas during his adult life. I would be skeptical of this story unless someone shows that the "Damned" name is actually found in records that the Barbon family themselves kept.