Stephen Bachiler Rev.

  General Notes:

The Rev. Stephen Bachiler (or Batchelder, Bachelor, Bacheller, etc.)
lived a very active life for nearly 100 years.
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1561 - Stephen Bachiler born in Hampshire, England. Although (or perhaps
because) there were several Bachiler families in the area, his parentage
has not been determined. V.C. Sanborn speculates that perhaps Stephen is
descended from a branch of the Bachiler family from the Channel Islands.
1581 17 Nov.- Matriculated College of St. John's, Oxford University.
1586/7 3 Feb. - Bachelor of Arts, Oxford.
1587 15 Jul. - became vicar of the Church of the Holy Cross and St.
Peter, Wherwell, Hampshire, England.
1590 - he has apparently married by this time, a son (Nathaniel) being
born.[VCS] His 1st wife's name may be Ann Bate or Bates. Other children
are Deborah, Nathaniel, Samuel, Ann, and Theodate.
1592 - Daughter Deborah born.[VCS]
1594 - Son Stephen born.[VCS]
1596 - Son Samuel born. [VCS]
1598 - Daughter Theodate born. [VCS]
1600 - Daughter Anne born. [VCS]
1605 - ejected from the vicarage as a result of King James's program
against nonconformist ministers, begun the year before. ("I will make
them conform or I will harry them out of the Kingdom.") Stephen is a
Presbterian by this time. [IEN]
1609 - daughter Deborah married John Wing
1610 - son Stephen matriculates Magdalen College, Oxford University.
1620 - son Samuel is a chaplain in Holland, at some time becoming
chaplain to Sir Charles Morgan's regiment located there. [VCS]
1621 - dined with Adam Winthrop.
1622 - purchased land in Newton Stacy (just east of Wherwell).
1623/4 3 Mar. - married the widow Christian Weare, at Abbots-Ann. [CAT,
LDN]
1625 - Son Samuel publishes "Miles Christianus". [VCS]
1627 26 Mar. - married the widow Helena Mason, at Abbots-Ann [CAT, LDN
dates disagree].
1629 - purchases more land in Newton Stacy.
1630 - Joins and invests in "the Plough Company of Husbandmen", a group
that had obtained a patent to settle in Maine on the Sagadahoc river.
Stephen is chosen as Pastor for the group, but the enterprise fails
before leaving England, perhaps through fraud.
circa 1630 - Stephen is granted a coat of arms, described in Sylvanus
Morgan's "Sphere of Gentry" as "Vert, a plow in fess; in base the sun
rising, or." Morgan says Stephen's motto is 'Sol Justitiae
Exoritur'.[VCS]
1631 - Granted license to visit children in Holland, but not clear if he
made the trip.
1632 - Sir Robert Payne, sheriff of Hants, complained that his tenants
"having been formerly misled by one Stephen Bachiler, a notorious
inconformist, did demolish a consecrated chapel in Newton Stacy".
1632 9 Mar - emigrates to Massachusetts aboard the "William and Francis",
with his widowed daughter Deborah and her children, and some other
followers.
1632 5 Jun. - Arrival of "Willaim and Francis" noted in John Winthrop's
journal, "after a voyage of 88 days with about 60 passengers, [with] old
Mr. Batchelder (being good 70),..." He settled at Saugus (later called
Lynn), where he organizes the first church.
1632 8 Jun - Baptises four infants at Saugus, including his grandson
Stephen Hussey.
1632 3 Oct - the Massachusetts General Court ordered Stephen not to
minister to any except "those he brought with him, for contempt of
authority". The order is withdrawn 5 months later. [VCS]
1635 - A general convention of elders is held at Lynn to discuss a
quarrel between Stephen and a faction of the church at Lynn.[VCS]
1636 Jan - Stephen decides to quit the church at Lynn and organize a
second one there. He is frobidden by the magistrates to form a second
church and agrees to leave town.[VCS]
1636 Feb. - moved to Ipswich and is given 50 acres of government land.
Temporarily stops preaching.
1638 Winter - Tried to a start a settlement at Mattacheese, near Yarmouth
on Cape Cod.
1638 Spring - Moved to Newbury, where son-in-law Christopher Hussey was
living.
1638 Sep. - Petitioned the General Court for permission to start a new
plantation at Winnicummet (now Hampton, NH).
1639 7 Jun. - Winnicummet founded, name changed that fall to Hampton at
Stephen's request. Almost immediately, is in dispute with another
minister at Hampton, one Timothy Dalton.
1640 Sends a treatise as a gift to Margaret Winthrop. [VCS]
1642 - wife Helen died, Stephen's house and library burned (valued at 200
pounds).
1643 - An excommunication of Stephen is annulled, the product of a false
charge of improper sexual advances brought by the Dalton faction. [VCS]
1644 - Called to Exeter by the town to be minister, but prohibited from
preaching by the General Court. The town of Casco had also requested
Stephen's ministry. [VCS]
[Uncertain] - Moves to Portsmouth, NH.
1647 - Transfers his Hampton properties to grandson John Sanborn, John to
pay his 2 brothers and cousin Nathaniel Bachiler each 20 pounds.
1648 - married his "good neighbor" and former housekeeper, Mary Beedle,
widow of Robert.
1650 - Stephen sued for divorce, but is ordered to remain married.
Stephen is also accused of marrying without bans. (Mary may have born a
son, John, in this year. [CAT])
1651 Oct 16 - wife Mary is convicted of adultery with George Rogers and
is whipped and "branded with the letter 'A'".
1654 - Stephen returned to England, possibly accompanied by grandson
Stephen Sanborn [LDN]. Christopher Hussey apparently also made this trip,
as testimony exists that Stephen transferred his property to him during
the voyage. [VCS]
1656 18 Oct - Wife Mary petitions for divorce, saying that Stephen had
abandoned her, returned to England and remarried. There is no other
record of a later marriage known and the circumstances make it doubtful.
Mary later marries Thomas Turner.
1657 or 1660 - Died at Hackney, near London.
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During the Rev. Bachiler's stay in the colonies, he was in regular
conflict with various officials and ministers in regard to religious
matters, in particular at Lynn and at Hampton. Many of his descendents
continued the conflict, becoming Quakers.
Among Stephen Bachiler's descendants are: Richard M. Nixon (President),
Daniel Webster (U.S. secretary of state), John Greenlief Whittier (author
and abolitionist), Caleb Cushing (U.S. attorney general), William P.
Fessendon (U.S. Secretary of State, abolitionist, helped found the
Republican party).

Further research:
Several "Batchelder" genealogies are listed among the holdings of the New
England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS), these need to be
reviewed.
The Torrey work cited below is actually an index to a compilation of
references held by the NEHGS. These references need to be looked up and
followed.
A history of Lynn refers to his stay there and the conflict he had with
religious authority, but I've mislaid the citation. Need to find this
again.

Excerpts from: Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy, by F. C. Pierce, 1898
Page 26-27
"Stephen Bachiler, for so he always wrote his name, was born somewhere in
England in the year 1561. At the age of twenty he entered St. Johns
College, Oxford. He was matriculated November 17, 1587, and admitted as
Bachelor of Arts, February 3, 1585-6. The leading profession for college
graduates in that day was that of a clergyman, and he determined to study
for the ministry, being then a member of the established church.
Apparently the time between his graduation in February, 1585-6 and July
17, 1587, was spent in preparation for his life work, for on the day last
named the death of Edward Parrett, vicar of Wherwell in Hants, making a
vacancy in that living he was presented with the place by William West,
Lord Lawarr (or de la Warr, as it was written later) and became vicar of
the church of Holy Cross and St. Peter...
"Of Stephen Bachiler's life at Wherewell we know nothing. The church
records were begun in 1643, or at all events no earlier records now
exist. We only know that he remained here until 1605, for, on the ninth
day of August, 1605, John Bate, A.M., clergyman, was appointed vicar of
Wherewell, a vacancy existing because of "the ejection of Stephen
Bachiler," the last vicar. Not much more is known of his life in England,
from the loss of his living at Wherewell to the spring of 1632, when he
sailed for New England. He was excommunicated from the church, and so no
church record exists showing his abiding places. Probably he preached to
different congregations, not in a settled way, but when he could avoid
the persecution of the church people. Occasionally we get a glimpse of
his location. In 1610 he appears to be still a clergyman of the County of
Southampton. On the 11th of June, 1621, Adam Winthrop's diary shows that
he "had Mr. Bachelour, the preacher," to dine with him, presumably at
Groton in Suffolk. This may have been the subject of this sketch.
"Some of the parishioners of Barton Stacey, in Hampshire, a few miles
east of Wherewell, listened to his sermons at some time before 1632, for
we find that Sir Robert Paine petitioned the Council, stating that he was
sheriff of Hants in that year, and was also chosen churchwarden of Barton
Stacey, and that 'some of the parishioners, petitioner's tenants, having
been formerly misled by Stephen Bachelor, a notorious inconformist, had
demolished a consecrated chapel at Newton Stacey, neglected the repair of
their parish church, maliciously opposed petitioner's intent (to repair
the church at his own charge), and executed many things in contempt of
the cannons and the bishop.'
"Once more we hear from him, on the 23d of June, 1631, when, at the age
of seventy years, he obtains leave to visit his sons and daughters in
Flushing. He was then resident at South Stoneham, in the county of
Southampton, and desires that his wife, Helen, aged 48 years, and his
daughter, Ann Sandburn, of age 30 years, widow, resident in the Strand,
might accompany him. He was to return within two months. It would be
interesting to know which of his sons and daughters then lived at
Flushing, as Deborah Wing was apparently residing in London in November,
1629, when her husband, John Wing, made his will, and presumably she was
appointed executrix of the will when it was proved, August 4, 1630, as
Mr. Waters makes no note that administration was granted to any other
person than the executrix named in the will.
"Stephen Bachiler was excommunicated among the earliest of the
nonconformists. On the death of Elizabeth, in 1603, James I, of the house
of Stuart, came to the throne. In January, 1604, the famous Hampton court
conference was held, when King James uttered his angry threat against the
Puritans, 'I will make them conform or I will harry them out of the
kingdom.' The next year the king's threat was carried out against Mr.
Bachiler, and no doubt he was thoroughly 'harried' after his
excommunication. Winthrop says that Bachiler had suffered much at the
hands of the bishops.
"As early as 1630 Bachiler had determined to leave England and settle in
America. At all events, he made preparation for such removal. Maverick,
in his 'Description of New England,' says there was a patent granted to
Christo: Batchelor and Company in the year 1632, or thereabouts, for the
mouth of the river (Sagadehoeke), and some tract of land adjacent, who
came over in the ship name the Plough, and termed themselves the Plough
Companie, but soon scattered, some for Virginia, some for England, some
to the Massachusetts, never settling on that land......"
Pages 28-29
"At the very beginning of 1632, Mr. Bachiler left England for Boston in
New England. He sailed on the 9th of March, 1631-2, in the vessel called
the 'William and Francis,' from London, with sixty passengers, and after
eighty-eight dreary days, landed at Boston. Among his fellow travellers
were Gov. Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, Rev. Thomas James, Rev. Thomas
Wedde and Thomas Oliver, the famous ruling elder of Boston. On
the'Whale,' which arrived May 26, 1632 came Mr. Wilson and Mr. Richard
Dummer. Most of the Dummers reside at South Stoneham or Swathing, where
the ancient church bears several Dummer memorials, and this was the last
residence of Stephen Bachiler in England. (A relationship existed between
the Bachilers and the Dummers which cannot yet be traced. MS. letter of
Richard Dummer to Nathaniel Bachiler, sen., 14th 4th mo., 1673:'my cossen
nathaniell bacheler of Hampton.')
"These two ships, the 'William and Francis,' and the 'Whale,' were sent
out by the 'Company of husbandmen,' sometimes called the 'Company of
London,' or the 'Company of the Plough,' of which company Stephen
Bachiler was an active and zealous member, and was chosen their pastor in
1629 or 1630.
"The energy and zeal with which he labored to increase the society and
assist as many emigrants as possible to come to New England, is well set
forth in a letter of John Dye and others to Mr. Crispe, and those members
of the Plough Company then in New England, dated London, 8 March, 1631-2,
and evidently brought in the 'William and Francis,' or the 'Whale.' Mr.
Bachiler adventured 100 pounds in the Company and loaned them 67 pounds,
of which amount 9 pounds was repaid by the freight money on his goods.'"
Page 30
"He was admitted a freeman May 6, 1635. It seems quite probable that he
was the minister who dissented from the order of banishment of Roger
Williams, in October, 1635, as his opinions are known to have agreed
closely with those of Williams, and no minister of the twelve churches
then established possessed his courage in maintaining unpopular opinions.
It is to be considered, also, that he had previously been disciplined for
departure from the established customs, and within three months was again
in trouble from the same cause......."
Page 36
"Shortly after his removal to Strawberry Bank, Mr. Bachiler's usual good
judgment seems to have deserted him. He was a widower, and obtained for a
housekeeper a widow, whom he calls 'an honest neighbour.' He soon married
her, and the match turned out in every way unfortunate. She was an
adultress, and her husband speedily discovered her character. The
marriage must have taken place in 1647 or 1648, when he was eighty-six or
eighty-seven years old. His wife, Mary, was evidently much younger than
he. In May, 1650, he was fined 10 pounds for not publishing his intention
of marriage according to law. In October of the same year, one-half of
this fine was remitted. Perhaps because of the following:
At a General court houlden at Gorgeana the 15th of Octor., 1650, George
Rogers and Mrs. Batcheller prsented upon vehement suspition of
incontinency for liveing in one house together and lieing in one rome.
They are to be separated before the next court or to pay 40s."
"Lewis copies from the York records, dated October 15, 1651, the
following:
We do present George Rogers and Mary Batcheller, the wife of Mr. Stephen
Batcheller, minister, for adultery. It is ordered that Mrs. Batcheller,
for her adultery, shall receive forty stripes save one, at the first town
meeting held at Kittery, 6 weeks after her delivery , and be branded with
the letter A.
These appear clearly to be two separate offences.
"In October of the same year, the Court passed the following order:
That Mr. Batchelor and his wife shall lyve togeather as man and wife, as
in tha this Court they have publiquely professed to doe; and if either
desert one another, then hereby the Court doth order that the marshal
shall apprehend both the said Mr. Batchelor and Mary his wife, and bring
them forthwith to Boston.....
it is evident that Mr. Bachiler charged his wife with adultery and prayed
for a divorce. This was deferred to the next court of assistants. She had
been indicted for adultery in Maine. ...now he is ordered to live as a
husband with an adultress during the pendency of divorce proceedings for
that cause, and a term in jail is threatened for disobedience of the
order with the usual privilege of giving bail.
"After her separation from her husband Mrs. Mary Bachiler lived on her
lot in Kittery, granted her in 1648, adjoining the Piscataqua river,
nearly opposite the boundary line between Portsmouth and Newington. What
became of her and her children after October, 1656, when they were living
in Kittery, is not known, but the name, 'Mary Bachellor's Highway,' is
given as the northwest boundary of a lot at Kittery, conveyed by William
Hilton, of Exeter, to his son, Richard, May 4, 1684.
Page 37-38
"At length, wearied with the unsuccessful conflict and the constant
disappointment of his expectations, heartsick with the failure of all his
plans for a quiet rest for his old age in that 'band of righteousness.'
which, he says, 'our New England is,' he decided to return to England.
Harried and persecuted by the vindictiveness of the bishops of England
for more than a quarter of a century, he came hither to escape their
persecution (and experienced more bitter and persistent than ever he had
experienced in England).....His matrimonial difficulties also led him to
return to England.
"...Of his life in England, after his return, we know nothing; very
likely he lived at Hackney where he died, as that was a comfortable
residence for retired ministers. The last entry concerning Mr. Bachiler
is as follows: the ancient Stephen Bachiler, of Hampton, N.H., died at
Hackney, a Village & Parish in Middlesex, 2 miles from London, in 1660,
in the 100th year of his age.
"Stephen Bachiler/Batchelder's life was stormy and contentious. He must
have had rare physical as well as intellectual vigor. From tradition and
the characteristics of his descendants, it is probable that he was tall
and sinewy, with prominent features, especially the nose; a very dark
complexion; black, coarse hair in early days, white in age, mouth large
and firm, eyes black as sloes; features long rather than broad; a strong
clear voice; rather slow of motion and speech; simple in dress, wearing
in Lynn a suit of liste which he brought from England; obstinate and
tenacious of his opinions to a marked degree; a powerful preacher,
drawing largely from the scripture and impressing his hearers with the
uncommon power and sanctity of his sermons; strong in his friendships and
his hates. Winthrop classed him among 'honest men' when he arrived in
1632, and Prince, in his Annals of New England, Appendix to 1632, says:
('From governor Winslow and Captain Johnson, we learn that) he (Stephen
Bachiler) was an ancient minister in England: had been a man of Fame in
his Day; was 71 years of Age when he came over: bro't a number of people
with him; and soon became the 1st Feeder of the Flock of Christ at Lynn
(and by several Letters I have seen of his own Writing to the R. Mr.
Cotton of Boston, I find he was a Gentleman of Learning and Ingenuity,
and wrote a fine and curious hand.')."

SUPPLIES
"Among the articles he brought over were four hogsheds of peas, twelve
yards of cloth, two hundred yards of list, a contribution box and oaken
furniture, which has lasted until this day." p. 29


DESCENDANTS

CHILDREN
The names of four children of Rev. Stephen Bachiler are known with
certainty. Deborah, born in 1592, child of his first wife; Stephen, born
in 1594, son of the first wife; Ann, born in 1601, probably of his first
wife; and Theodate, who died October, 20, 1649, at Hampton, N.H. Theodate
was the wife of Christopher Hussey. "On the first Sunday at Lynn, four
children were baptised. Thomas Newhall, the first white child born in
Lynn, was first presented. Mr. Bachiler put him aside saying, "I will
baptise my own child first.' meaning Stephen Hussey, his daughter's
child, born the same week as Thomas Newhall." p. 29
Deborah, b. 1592; m. Rev. John Wing.
Mother of Daniel Wing who married Hannah Swift of Sandwich,
Massachusetts, and fathered a daughter who he named Deborah for his
mother. This daughter married William Dungan, son of the Rev. Thomas
Dungan and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Clement Weaver and Rebecca
Holbrook.

Daniel Webster
The politician and famous orator, Daniel Webster, was one of the
illustrious descendants of Stephen Bachiler. His grandmother was Susanna
(Benjamin, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Stephen) born 28 May 1713 , married
Ebenezer Webster 20 July 1738.
Ebenezer Webster, the father of Daniel, was born in Kingston, N.H. in
1739, and died in Salisbury (now Franklin) in 1806. ...From him his sons
Ezekiel and Daniel inherite great physical force, their mother was
Abigail Eastman. Living on the frontier, Daniel was compelled to depend
for early education on his mother and on the schooling customary in
winter, and for much of this he was indebted to the fact that he was
physically the weakest of his family. It is a little odd, however, that
he failed utterly in that with which his final reputation was so closely
connected. In his own words, 'There was one thing I could not do; I cound
not make a declamation; I could not speak before the school.' When he was
fifteen years old a family council decided to send him to college. After
an imperfect preparation he graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801,
studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1805 from the
office of Christopher Gore. Regard for his father made Webster begin
practice in the town of Boscawen, near his early home, but his father
died within a year and he removed to Portsmouth, the largest town of the
state. Here he took a leading place at the bar, having but one rival. In
May 1813, he entered Congress as a representative from New Hampshire,
being placed at once on the committee of foreign affairs. Page 123-124 -
Pierce
"Daniel Webster wrote to his son Fletcher March 5, 1840: 'I believe we
are all indebted to my father's mother for a large portion of the little
sense which belongs to us. Her name was Susannah Bachelder; she was the
descendant of a clergyman and a woman of uncommon strength of
understanding. If I had had many boys I should have called one of them
Bachelder.'" (p.123)

  Research Notes:

A great many people descend from Rev. Stephen Bachiler, the founder of Hampton, New Hampshire, who came to the area then called Winnacunnet with a group of settlers in October 1638 from nearby Newbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His controversial career, both in Old and New England, before and after his arrival in Hampton, has become legendary, and much detail can be found in Frederick Clifton Pierce's, Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy (Chicago, Ill.: The Author, 1898), although this work contains many errors; in V. C. Sanborn's, Genealogy of the Family of Samborne or Sanborn in England and America. 1194-1898. (Concord, N.H.: The Author, 1899 [reprinted Boston, 1969]); and in Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis', Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Me.: The Anthoensen Press, 1928-1939 [reprinted Baltimore, 1972], hereafter Genealogical Dictionary). That he was married a total of four times is now well known. Further evidence that his first wife and mother of all his children was probably a sister of Rev. John Bate, Bachiler' successor at Wherwell, Hampshire, was discovered by Charles Edward Banks in an English court record (Court of Requests, Public Record Office, London. REQ2/678/64, dated 2 November 15 Charles I [1639]), and preserved by Charles Hull Batchelder in his extensive manuscript collection on the family at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord.

There is monument to Stephen Bachiller at the Center of Founders Park in Hampton, New Hampshire. What follows is the inscription on that monument.
A little band of pioneers under the leadership of Rev. Stephen Bachiler of Southhampton, England. Seeking a larger liberty, in October 1638 settled in the wilderness near this spot to plant a free church in a free town. They were joined in 1639 by others and in that year the town was incorporated. To do honor to the founder of Hampton, to exalt the ideals for which they strove and as an inspiration to posterity this memorial is dedicated, October 14, 1925.

Stephen married Ann Bates in 1586. (Ann Bates was born in 1565 in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.)