William Vassall was born circa 1592 in Ratcliffe, Middlesex, England to Jean Vassall (1548-1625) and Anne Russell (1549-1593) and died before 1657 St Michael's Parish, Bridgetown, Barbados of unspecified causes. He married Anna King (c1595-1655) 9 June 1613 in Cold Norton, Essex, England.
Biography
He was an English settler in North America. He was from the educated gentry, and a supporter of freedom of religion. In March 1629 he was recorded in the Charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company as a patentee, along with his brother Samuel.
French Ancestry
William Vassall was a son of John Vassall and Anne Russell. William Vassall's paternal grandfather John Vassall had been sent to England by his father, who was also named John, to escape persecution in France, as the Vassall family were Huguenots from Normandy in the time of French religious purges in the 16th century.[4] William Vassall's father had been recognized by Queen Elizabeth I as achieving merit in the war with the Spanish Armada in 1588 by providing two ships which he commanded at his own expense, the Samuel and the Little Toby.[5][6] A 'Mayflower' (not the Pilgrim ship), of 250 tons out of London, owned by William Vassall's father John Vassall and others, was outfitted in 1588 for the Queen, possibly also for Armada service.[7] The Vassall arms can be noted on the National Armada Memorial in Plymouth England.[8] In 1609, John Vassall was recorded as a shareholder on the Second Charter of The Virginia Company.
1630 Trip to New England
In England in March 1629, William Vassall was recorded in the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company as an Assistant to the Governor. He was a signatory to both the Massachusetts Bay Charter and the Cambridge Agreement in 1629.[10][11] The Cambridge Agreement was to move the entire government of Massachusetts from England to the New World.[12]
At an October 1629 meeting of the Company, William Vassall, with others, was appointed to travel out to New England. Per page 256 of The Mayflower Quarterly of September 2010, William Vassall sailed on the Lyon to New England in 1630 and returned on the Lyon to England about one month later. There is some confusion in the article as it states that Vassall traveled in company with Governor John Winthrop, who was just assuming his post. Other sources state that Winthrop did not travel on the Lyon but was on the Arbella, flagship of what became known as The Winthrop Fleet - eleven ships bringing over 700 persons.[13] This was the beginning of what came to be known as the historic event called The Great Migration - thousands of English settlers coming to New England in the early-mid-1630s.
Regarding William Vassall's first trip to New England, research indicates that if he did travel on the Lyon to New England, he may have arrived in February 1630 as per the Letter from Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley to Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln, March 1631:[13] in this letter the Lyon is noted several times, once for its arrival date from Bristol of February 5, 1630 and another for being in-port in Salem on July 7, 1630. Additionally, some sources state that his family came with him on this first trip, but this cannot be confirmed.
1635 Return to New England
In mid-1635 William Vassall returned to New England on the ship “Blessing” out of London with his family - per the manifest: William, 42, wife Anna, 42 and children: Judith 16, Frances 12, John 10, Ann 6, Margaret 2, and Mary age 1. The family first settled in Roxbury and then Scituate, Massachusetts Colony.[14][15] He is recorded as owning 200 acres of upland and some acreage of meadow land and was licensed to operate a ferry on the North River.[2]
On November 28, 1636 William Vassall joined the church of Rev. John Lathrop. What followed were many years of rancorous events involving Vassall over his perception of Puritan religious intolerance in New England.[2]
1646 Remonstrance Controversy
William Vassall was known for the Remonstrance of 1646, in which Robert Child and others petitioned the Bay Colony General Court for greater religious and political freedom and closer adherence to the laws of England. Vassall, as a resident of Plymouth, did not sign the Bay Remonstrance of 1646, but Gov. Winthrop, and most other persons, believed it was actually his creation. In order to counter Vassall's charges, the very conservative Edward Winslow went to London in 1646 on behalf of Governor Winthrop and other Bay Colony leaders.
In 1646, after several years of religious controversy, he found that his religious beliefs were not compatible with those of others in his community. He returned to England to make his grievances known with a petition to parliament to expose his perception of the Massachusetts Puritan leaders’ political corruption, religious intolerance and abuse of power. He never returned to New England.
1648 Migration to Barbados
About 1648, after two years in England, Vassall sailed for Barbados in the West Indies where he settled at St. Michael’s Parish purchasing land and remained there for the rest of his life.[
Marriage & Family
Anne Russell was John Vassall’s second of three wives and with her had five children, William being the youngest.[9]
William Vassall married at Cold Norton, Essex, England in June 1613, Anna King (Kinge), born about 1593. She was a daughter of George Kinge and Joane Lorran of Woodham Mortimer, Essex.[26]
Children of William and Anna Vassall: Anna, born September 6, 1614 at Cold Norton, Essex - buried September 22, 1614. Judith, born about 1619. Buried April 3, 1670. Married November 5, 1640 to Mayflower passenger Resolved White, son of Pilgrim William White (Mayflower passenger). Eight children.
- Anna -
- Judith Vassall (1619-1670) - married Mayflower pilrim Resolved White (1615-1687).
- Frances, born about 1623. Married Jul 16, 1637 at Scituate, Mass. to James Adams, son of John Adams.
- Samuel, (twin), born June 22, 1624 - buried November 16, 1624.
- Mary (twin), born June 22, 1624 - died before 1634.
- John, born about 1625. Married Anna Lewis, daughter of John Lewis, and English resident of Genoa, Italy. He became quite wealthy acquiring large tracts of land in Jamaica after the 1655-57 British capture of Jamaica from the Spanish. He died between August 10, 1684 and July 6, 1688 at Jamaica, West Indies.
- William, baptized February 2, 1627 at Little Baddow, Essex. No further record.
- Anna, baptized April 20, 1628 at Little Baddow, Essex. Married before 1655 Nicholas Ware.
- Margaret, born about 1633. Married April 25, 1656 at St. Michael’s Parish, Barbados, Joshua Hubbard (Hobart). She died prob. in Barbados, West Indies.
- Mary, born 1634 - died unmarried in 1657, prob. in Barbados, West Indies.[3][26]
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Judith Vassall (1619-1670) | 1619 Cold Norton, Essex, England | 3 April 1670 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts | Resolved White (1615-1687) |
Siblings
References
- William Vassall - Wikipedia