| Name | William VASSALL |
| Birth | 27 Aug 1592, Stepney, Essex County, ENGLAND |
| Death | 13 Jul 1655, BARBADOS Age: 62 |
| Occupation | Assistant, Massachusetts Bay Company |
| Religion | Baptised 27 Aug 1592, Stepney, London, ENGLAND |
| Father | John VASSALL (1544-1625) |
| Mother | Anna RUSSELL (1556-1593) |
| 1 | Anna KING |
| Birth | 1593 |
| Marriage | 1618 |
| Children | Judith (~1619-<1670) |
| Frances (~1623-) | |
| Jo (~1625-) | |
| Ann (~1629-) | |
| Margaret (~1633-) | |
| Mary (~1634-) |
[NOTE] They are the descendent of the owner of the Mayflower, John Vassall.
The history of my Vassall family in New England starts with William Vassall and his wife Anna King. He first came to New England on the Arabella, in 1628. He and his brother Samuel were assistants of the Mass. Bay company. They were the sons of John Vassall, builder and owner of the Mayflower and other ships.
William seems to have been one of my trouble makers in the colony. If one reads the snipits from various books that mention him, he is always referred to as fractious. The first impression of him may not always be a good one, unless you take a closer look at the events and circumstances of the day. Closer inspection reveals a man of great convictions in the rights and freedoms of his fellow Englishman. He seems to have worked very hard for religious tolerance. Its no wonder the governors and assistants found him to be fractious. William and his brother Samuel, along with Mr. Symon Whetcombe and William Pynchon were chosen by John and Samuel Browne to speak on their behalf, when hauled before the court for reading out of the Book of Prayer. William was not a Congregationalist as were most of the Puritan leads, he was most likely a Prebyterian or maybe still Episcopalian.
William Vassall returned to England in 1646 supporting the bill for Liberty of Conscience (referred to as the Remonstrance). Proposing with Dr. Robert Child, Samuel Maverick, Thomas Burton, Thomas Fowle, David Yale, John Dand and John Semith, that all members of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland be admitted to communion in the New England church, they forced an unwelcome examination of the legality of the colonial government. A book was written in response to the petition by Mr. Winslow, and the petition met with no sympathy. Frustrated by the lack of attention for the bill, William moved to Barbados. - [1]
The Vassalls were an ancient Catholic family of Normandy, which included two cardinals and a marshal of France; but Jean Vassall became a Huguenot and fled to England a few years before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. They were of the Episcopalian faith and supports of the revolution against the authority of King Charles. Most of the Vassals were loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution. In consequence the entire family was exiled and their estates confiscated. After their return to England in 1776 members of the family distinguished themselves in the British army and navy. The seven Mansions still standing (in 1917) in Brattle street, Cambridge, Mass. known as "Tory Row," which included the home of Longfellow and "Elmwood" the birthplace of James Russell Lowell, were in 1774 the homes of the Vassall family. - [1]
William Vassall, Esg., born 1593 in Stepney, England. Died 1655 in Barbadoes at the age of 62. He married in 1618 to Anne King, born 1593. They had 6 children who came over to America and are confirmed in Tepper (pg. 30). One child was Judith Vassall who married Resolved White of the Mayflower White family.
William Vassall first came in 1630 on the Arabella, as one of the assistants of the Mass. Bay Co. to Salem, Mass. He returned to England in the fall of 1630 on the Lyon.
He returned to America on the Blessing, around July 1635, at the age of 42 with his wife, age 42, and settled at Roxbury. His wife joined the church in 1638. They moved to Scituate and were admitted to the church around 11/28/1636. They took the oath of allegiance to the Plymouth colony on 2/1/1638. He moved to Marshfield, about 1643, where he was again a town officer.
4) Ship the Blessing 1635 (http://www.primenet.com/~langford/spls/635ne005.htm)
Listed together in this order: Vassall, Ann (42); Vassall, Ann (6); Vassall, Margaret (2); Vassall, Mary (1); Vassall, Francis (12)(Entered as "Fra."); Vassall, Judith (16); Vassall, William (42); Vassell, Jo. (10)
William did not aggree with the attitude of Mass. Bay and Plymouth governments towards persons who's opinions in politics and religion differed from the puritan line. He used his influences for greater charity toward the Quakers, etc. The elders expressed their disapproval towards his outspokenness. The church of Plymouth sent him a message by way of John Cook, which is recorded in the book of the second Church, Scituate, dated April 14, 1645; hoping he would desist from proceedings intended, and questioned if they would commune with him if he continued. He went to England in 1646 with a petition to Parliament for the liberty of English subjects."
He settled in Scituate, but in 1634, provoked by the persecution to which the Episcopalians were subjected, he returned to England. Later he went to Barbados and died there. His son Captain John Vassall, Sold the Situate estate in 1661, but the daughters married and remained in this country. - [1]
[PUZZLE] A second source claims that William died in Plymouth, Roxbury, Scituate, Marshfield. - [2]
William Vassall is best known for his role in the division of the church at Scituate 1644-5. It began, as so many schismatic movements in Christianity seem to begin, with a controversy over baptism. At the First Church of Christ in Scituate, disagreements arose as to whether baptism should be by sprinkling or by immersion. Rev John Lothrop eventually took about half the church with him in a split and moved to Barnstaple. William and daughter Judith were part of the congregation which remained at the Scituate church, and which now needed a new minister. Most of the congregation voted to call Rev Charles Chauncy of Plymouth; William, Judith, and a few others refused to call him [William Vassall, Thomas King, John Twisden, Thomas Lapham, Suza King, Judith White and Anna Stockbridge].
Chauncy had been embroiled in controversy over baptism before. He favored baptism by immersion, and while his Plymouth church congregation conceded it was probably the more theologically sound way, it was impractical for their climate. The Plymouth church consulted with ministers from other area churches, all of whom opined against Chauncy's position. Chauncy would not back down, and left the Plymouth church.
But even before this controversy, Chauncy had been involved with the persecution of non-conformists in England during the reign of Charles I, a fact William was probably well-acquainted with.
William wanted nothing to do with Chauncy and led the dissident Scituate faction. He was highly educated and could argue any point Chauncy (an Oxford graduate and no intellectual slouch) threw his way. William also supported allowing Anglican church members to partake of communion, a controversial position. He argued publicly it would allow for expansion of the church through evangelism, but his primary motivation was one of tolerance.
Chauncy then took the very curious step of trying to re-organize the church based on the people who had called him. He allowed that those who did not call him might be allowed into the covenant if he "saw cause." This is remarkable because, in the Colonies, a minister was not a minister unless he was called by a congregation. His power derived from the congregation, not from any external source. This was clearly a power play on Chauncy's part.
Chauncy accused William of being "inclined to the Bishops" (an allusion questioning William's Protestant credentials). Chauncy then asked the entire Vassall faction (which had grown to about half of the Scituate congregation) to refrain from communion, effectively kicking them out and depriving them of members' rights and privileges.
William's faction, including a Thomas and Suzanna King (related to Anna King Vassall?), renewed their covenant as a gathered church on 2 February 1642. They called themselves the First Church of Scituate, believing that Chauncy had effectively established a new church by re-writing the rules of the covenant. Chauncy and his followers insisted they were the First Church. The matter ended up in court, partly due to related issues of land ownership. The court eventually found in Chauncy's favor. Vassall's congregation became the Second Church of Scituate.
The Second Church wanted a peaceful separation and took a "live and let live" approach. They called William Witherell of Duxbury, a grammar school teacher, to be their minister, ordaining him 2 Sep 1645. He had been pastor of the Duxbury church, which refused to release him. John Cooke of Plymouth Church, and Josias Winslow of Marshfield Church (Edward and Susannah's son and Resolved White's half-brother) were sent to try to convince Witherell not to leave. Witherell left anyway.
Josias began attending the the Second Church of Scituate and brought his children to be baptized there, even though it was 10 miles away. Perhaps the fact that Witherell favored baptism by sprinkling or by the laying on of hands had something to do with it! Regardless, Witherell was a highly successful pastor, continuing in his position for the next 39 years until his death.
The church at South Scituate that William Vassall founded continued through the years in peace and tranquility. Samuel Deane called its doctrine "moderate Calvinism." He wrote: "The religious character of the people, it is remarked, has been sober, modest and rational in general, not corrupted by metaphysical subtleties, nor distracted by sectarian zeal. Hospitality, charity and sociability are characteristics of the state of society."
The feud between William and Chauncy, and the two churches, went on for thirty years, agitating both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies. Vassall left the colony in 1646, and Chauncy resigned his ministry in 1654 to become president of Harvard, which helped disperse some of the animosity. But the churches weren't able to formally reconcile until 1674-5. - [3]
1630, THE WINTHROP FLEET:
Eleven vessels brought 'the Great Emigration' of this year, viz: ARBELLA (the flagship), AMBROSE, WILLIAM AND FRANCIS, TALBOT, HOPEWELL, JEWEL, WHALE, CHARLES, SUCCESS, MAYFLOWER, and the TRIAL.
The first five ships sailed April 8 from Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, and arrived at Salem, June 13 and following days. The other half of the fleet sailed in May and arrived in July at various dates. Altogether they brought about seven hundred passengers.
http://members.aol.com/dcurtin1/gene/winthrop.htm - [1]
[1] - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nyterry/vasall/vassall.html
[2] - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~glenn/don/d0000/g0000084.html#I757
[3] - William Vassal: A Biographical Sketch: Dissension Begins: The Scituate Church Division; www.millsgen.com/gen/hist/vassall