It is not proposed, in this part of the book, to give a sketch of the lives of any of the first Batchelder settlers, except that of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, and in his case about all that can be done is to rearrange the old material, add some new facts recently discovered, and correct the numerous and gross errors in regard to his immediate descendants. The treatment accorded to those early citizens of Massachusetts Bay, who fell under "suspicion" at the hands of their more orthodox brethren, has been so long frankly acknowledged and the causes so thoroughly explained, that it can no longer be considered derogatory to the Massachusetts commonwealth to speak plainly concerning the treatment of Williams, Wheelright and other disturbers of the Puritan state. To do otherwise would be affectation. There was intolerance on the part of the Bay Colony, and also on the side of the "suspected." The latter should have withdrawn voluntarily from the settlement previously occupied by the church-state party, and the former had not then learned that the sure way to perpetuate heterodoxy is to persecute and punish its adherents. Naturally, the Massachusetts historians have chronicled the virtues of the clergymen who upheld the Massachusetts plan, and the opponents of that plan, being neglected, were speedily forgotton. It is said of Samuel Skeltton, of Salem, Mass.: "Little has come down to us concerning him, owing, it is said, to the fact that he differed about clerical associations and other subjects from most of the principal persons in Massachusetts."

We know that Stephen Bachiler contended, with vigor and earnestness unusual for a man of his years, against the Puritan doctrine of a religious commonwealth, against that union of church and state of which they clung as to the ark of their safety, and which has since been universally conceded to be a lamentable error. He lived to see the beginning of the downfall of that "experiment fraught with evil," as the halfway covenant, allowing baptized persons, not church members, upon assenting to the church covenant, to have all the rights of members, except communion, was approved by the Synod called in Massachusetts in 1657. We know further that he most zealously maintained the rights of the New Hampshire settlements in their contest with Massachusetts, which ended in 1641 in the control of the weaker province by the stronger. Whatever material advantages were secured by New Hampshire through this union of the colonies, and they were by no means inconsiderable, were valued little by those ardent friends of New Hampshire, who resisted the aggression of the Bay Colony.

The great wrong done New Hampshire by the attempt to pervert the Massachusetts charter so as to include all territory south of an east and west line through the head of the Merrimac, could never be condoned by any advantages arising from the union. Stephen Bachiler staked his fortunes on the continued independence of the New Hampshire settlements, and lost. If the cause he championed had prevailed, he would today be remembered with gratitude as one of the stoutest champions of New Hampshire, and his life would undoubtedly have been materially different. He had settled Hampton under the authorization of Massachusetts, yet his subsequent acts show that he never supposed either of the Massachusetts claims to Hampton well founded. He knew it was not within their patent, nor was it vacant land first occupied by Massachusetts. Why, then, did he procure a grant from the Gereral Court of Massachusetts, and act under their directions? It was because he had already felt their displeasure, and thought the grant might be in some way a protection to himself and his company in making the settlement. But it is not worth while to discuss these matters at length, as they excited great bitterness once, though now, happily, long settled and entire good feeling prevails between the two states.

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, 1581, 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. On the 26th of January 1587/8 the new incumbent compounded for the payment of the first fruits of the vicarage.

The village of Wherewell stretches along the westerly bank of that troutful stream, the Test, in Hampshire, three and one-half miles from Andover. Very great historical interest attaches to this retired town and its ancient monastery. Wherewell Abby has been the home or the abiding place of three, and perhaps four, English queens, who were renowned for their extraordinary beauty. The parish of Wherewell hardly had any existence apart from the Abby, down to the year 1543, for, until that time, the Superior of the Monastery was lady of the manor, and owned the whole village and a large part of the neighborhood. The same church served for the parish and the monastery, with presumably a chapel for parochial services, as at Romsey. It had also a chapel with a special entrace, which was appropriated to the "Priory" as a pew. The earliest mention of Wherewell, or Whorewell, as it was then called, is found in the will of Kind Edred, A. D. 946, 955. He gave the town to the new monastery, subsequently called Hyde Abbey. In the year 986, Elfrida founded Wherewell Abbey for Benedictine nuns in penitence for the bloodshed in which she had been concerned. In the chartulary of Wherewell Abbey the story is thus told: "And in the place which by the inhabitants is called Wherewell founded the Church of the Holy Cross, beseeching Christ, that He, who, wounded on the (ever) memorable Cross, shed his blood for the redemption of the human race, might deign to grant her the pardon (purchased) by his death, His wounds, and by the shedding of his blood, rich (in graces)."

Wherewell contains five hundred and forty-one inhabitants, and must have been a very retired spot until the London and Southwestern Railroad ran a branch line through the town, about the year 1883, and built a very substantial and commodious station at Fullerton in the parish of Wherewell. Many of the residences, and especially the old court house near the station, are of early date, and look as if they had not changed appreciably in three centuries. The old Parish church of Holy Cross and St. Peter was pulled down and rebuilt in 1858. The old building was repaired after the Reformation with the best portions of the Abbey ruins. With the exception of some fragments of mouldings, one monumental effigy, and parts of two monuments, there are absolutely no traces of the old church.

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 persucution 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 presumbably 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. (Thus, in the year 1898 or earlier, disproving the contention that Rev. John Wing was with his family when they came to New England). 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 M. 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, (this must mean Chrispe, Batchelor and Company, John Chrispe, or Crispe, as the name was commonly written, and Stephen Bachiler were grantees named in patent.), in the year 1632, or thereabouts, for the mouth of the river (Sagadahoeke), and some tract of land adjacent, who came over in the ship named 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.

The Plough ship, of sixty tons, on the 6th day of July, 1631, arrived at Natascott (Nantasket). She brought ten passengers from London. They came with a patent to Sagadahoek; but not liking the place they came hither. Most of them proved familists, and vanished away. The clause about the Plough Company being familists was added long after the original entry. It has served as a basis for a careless Maine writer to charge that Stephen Bachiler was a Familist. Fortunately, other manifest errors in the same article indicate its untrustworthiness. It is evident that the members of the Plough Company, who came over in 1632, were not familists. The fact is that many of the earlier settlers of New England were of bad reputation. Hundreds of ignorant, starving creatures were taken from the streets and sent over by unscrupulous adventurers, and innumerable convicts were set free on condition of emigrating to New England. The latter colonists, especially those coming in the great movement between 1630 and 1640, were much superior to the earlier emigrants. Winthrop whould have knwon and mentioned the fact if Bachiler had been tainted with familism. In matters of opinion, that is, of belief, Dalton and Bachiler agreed, says Winthrop. Who ever heard that Dalton entertained familistic opinions. The charge is ridiculous and utterly unsupported.

It has been said that this grant was afterwards called the province of Lygonia, after Cicely Lygon, the mother of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; but Maverick says there was a patent granted for this (Casco) Bay some years since, by the title of the Province of Ligonia, to Collonel Alexander Rigby, which is no doubt true. It is earnestly to be hoped that this Plough patent, or a copy, will some time be discovered. At present, it is impossible to define the extent of the grant, or to prove beyond question what territory was occupied under it. Hubbards says it was south of the Sagadahock river, and twenty miles from the seaside, yet all agree that the original grant was forty miles square. Two contemporary writers say it was a patent for Sagadahock.

Two islands in the River Sagadahock, near the south side thereof, about sicty miles from the sea, are included in the grant, but no such islands exist. Great ignorance of our geography was shown in making the early grants, and they frequently overlap earlier grants. Sagadahock was a very elastic word in early days. It was applied to the river formed by the union of the Kennebec and Androscoggin, also to the region about that river, probably on both sides, like the present county of Sagadahock, and in later times to all the land east of the Sagadahock River to the St. Croix.

1 Rev. STEPHEN BACHILER

b. ca 1561, Eng., d. it is said, but not likely, ca 1660, Hackney, London, Eng.

Matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford 17 Nov 1581 with a B.A. 3 Feb 1586/7, he was the vicar at Wherwell, Hants, 17 July 1587 until deposed in 1605, but he was living there in 1614. Of South Stoneham, Co. Hants in 1631, he was licensed to visit his children in Holland, but having taken up with the company of merchant adventurers called the "Plough Company", he came to N.E., arriving at Boston in the "William and Francis" 5 June 1632, age 71.

He preached at Lynn the first year and was made freeman there in 1635; of Ipswich in 1636 and Yarmouth in 1637 to at least 16 Mar 1638, failing settlement at both; Newbury in 1638. In 1638-39 he was the leader in the settlement of Hampton, N.H. and is said to have named the town; excommunicated there but restored. In 1641 he was 'umpire' in an important reference case in Maine. In 1644 he was called to Exeter but was prohibited from preaching there by the General Court. 20 Apr 1647, he was late of Hampton now of Strawberry Bank.

His first wife may have been a Bate, a relative to Rev. John Bate, vicar at Wherwell, who called Stephen, Jr. "cousin"; he m. (2) 2 Mar 1623/4, Abbots-Ann, Eng., CHRISTIAN WEARE, widow. m. (3) 26 Mar 1627, HELENA MASON, widow who was +/- 48 in 1631 and d. bef 3 May 1647 when in Portsmouth, N.H. as he wrote, 'assigned "an honest neighbor (a widow)" to help care for his family'. m. (4) unhappily, the widow, MARY BEEDLE of Kittery, Me., with whom in 1650 he was ordered to live. The same year he was charged with marrying without bans.

16 Oct 1651 his wife, Mary, and George Rogers were convicted of adultry and whipped for the crime, she was ordered to wear the scarlet letter; 14 Oct 1652 she was presented for entertaining idle people on the Sabbath. She asked for a divorce 18 Oct 1656, alleging that he had gone to England many years since and married again, herself and two invalid children destitute on her hands. The date of his return to England is unknown, his power of attorney to Christopher Hussey was approved by Hampton Court in Nov of 1654.

(ref: Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire - Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, Walter Goodwin Davis, pg 81-82; Plymouth Colony, Its History & People - Eugene Aubrey Stratton, pg 72).

Stephen had:

i Nathaniel Bachiler, b. ca 1590, England. m. Hester Mercer

ii Deborah Bachiler, b. ca 1592, Eng, d. it is said, but not likely, ca 1692, Yarmouth, Ma. m. ca 1610, Rev. John Wing

iii Stephen Bachiler, b. ca 1594, Eng. Living in Wherwell, Eng. with his father in 1614, having been expelled from Magdalen College, Oxford, as the author of libellous verses

iv Samuel Bachiler, b. ca 1596 or ca 1597, Eng. A minister, late of Gorcum, Holland in 1640

v Ann Bachiler, b. ca 1601 or 1600, England. m. (1) John Sanborn. m. (2) bef 1640, Henry Atkinson of London, England.

vi Theodate Bachiler, b. ca 1603 or ca 1588, England, d. 20 Oct 1649, Hampton, New Hampshire. m. Christopher Hussey, b. 1598, England, d. 1686, Hampton, N.H.; son of John Hussey and Mary Wood

vii Henry Bachiler, b. England

viii Francis Bachiler, b. England