Individual Details
William Vassall
(27 Aug 1592 - 31 Jul 1655)
William Vassall was well-educated and a man of some wealth in England. William was one of the original patentees of land in New England. He and his brother Samuel had "two-twentieths of all Massachusetts Bay in New England." He was one of Craddock's Assistants at the time he was made acting Governor of the Massachusetts Company of London and was asked to go to America to investigate the Company's holdings. In 1630 he sailed to New England with John Winthrop. William returned to London in 1631 in the ship Lyon, as the colonists had chosen him and his brother to present their petitions of complaints against Endicott's government to Craddock in England.
America must have appealed to him as he returned in June 1635 on the ship Blessing with his wife and six children. He left his family in Roxbury while he built his house at Scituate on a beautiful location overlooking river, marshes and ocean. His plantation was known as "West Newland" and his home 'Belle House'. The Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury referred to him as the half-brother of Rev. Stephen Vassall of Rayleigh.
When they moved to Scituate in 1636 he became a follower of the Rev. John Lathrop, a religious refugee from London. He seems to have run afoul of his neighbors and experienced some years of religious controversy due to this affiliation. He took the oath of fidelity in 1638 and was chosen as a member of the council of war in 1642. In 1646 he returned to England with a petition of the colonists for the redress of wrongs by the government, but did not have the sympathy of all the colonial leaders. The Rev. Cotton of preached in Boston just before he sailed that "if any person should carry any writings or complaints against the people of God to England, it would be as a Jonah in the ship." Stories claim the ship encountered many storms on the way with passengers blaming Vassall.
Resolved White's stepfather Edward Winslow wrote a pamphlet in 1647 entitled New England's Salamander Discovered, where the notorious and slanderous "salamander" was apparently William Vassall the father of his daughter-in-law.
William never returned to Scituate, and in 1648 he went to his estates in Barbados and Jamaica. Some evidence exists that he dealt heavily in slaves. He lived on his plantation in the Parish of St. Michael, Barbadoes, until his death in 1655.
America must have appealed to him as he returned in June 1635 on the ship Blessing with his wife and six children. He left his family in Roxbury while he built his house at Scituate on a beautiful location overlooking river, marshes and ocean. His plantation was known as "West Newland" and his home 'Belle House'. The Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury referred to him as the half-brother of Rev. Stephen Vassall of Rayleigh.
When they moved to Scituate in 1636 he became a follower of the Rev. John Lathrop, a religious refugee from London. He seems to have run afoul of his neighbors and experienced some years of religious controversy due to this affiliation. He took the oath of fidelity in 1638 and was chosen as a member of the council of war in 1642. In 1646 he returned to England with a petition of the colonists for the redress of wrongs by the government, but did not have the sympathy of all the colonial leaders. The Rev. Cotton of preached in Boston just before he sailed that "if any person should carry any writings or complaints against the people of God to England, it would be as a Jonah in the ship." Stories claim the ship encountered many storms on the way with passengers blaming Vassall.
Resolved White's stepfather Edward Winslow wrote a pamphlet in 1647 entitled New England's Salamander Discovered, where the notorious and slanderous "salamander" was apparently William Vassall the father of his daughter-in-law.
William never returned to Scituate, and in 1648 he went to his estates in Barbados and Jamaica. Some evidence exists that he dealt heavily in slaves. He lived on his plantation in the Parish of St. Michael, Barbadoes, until his death in 1655.
Events
| Birth | 27 Aug 1592 | Prittlewell, Essex, England, United Kingdom |  | ||
| Marriage | 9 Jun 1613 | Old Norton, Essex, England - Anna King |  | | |
| Death | 31 Jul 1655 | Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados | |
Families
| Spouse | Anna King (1593 - ) |
| Child | Judith Vassall (1619 - 1670) |
| Child | Frances Vassall (1623 - ) |
| Child | John Vassall (1625 - 1688) |
| Child | Anna Vassall (1629 - ) |
| Child | Margaret Vassall (1633 - ) |
| Child | Mary Vassall (1634 - ) |
| Father | John Vassall (1548 - 1625) |
| Mother | Anne Russell ( - 1593) |
| Sibling | Samuel Vassall (1586 - 1667) |
| Sibling | Joan Vassall ( - ) |
| Sibling | Judith Vassall (1582 - 1638) |
Notes
Marriage
This is the date of their marriage licenseEndnotes
1. Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Ancestry of Edward Wales Blake and Clarissa Matilda Glidden : with ninety allied families (Los Angeles, Calif: unknown, 1948|||(Ann Arbor, Mich. :, 326 pgs.), p. 250.
2. Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Ancestry of Edward Wales Blake and Clarissa Matilda Glidden : with ninety allied families (Los Angeles, Calif: unknown, 1948|||(Ann Arbor, Mich. :, 326 pgs.), p. 250.
3. Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Ancestry of Edward Wales Blake and Clarissa Matilda Glidden : with ninety allied families (Los Angeles, Calif: unknown, 1948|||(Ann Arbor, Mich. :, 326 pgs.), p. 250.