Person Page - 4

     Samuel was born on 13 March 1646/47 at Scituate, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Resolved White and Judith Vassall.

     Resolved died. Resolved was born on 12 November 1647 at Scituate, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Resolved White and Judith Vassall. His body was interred on 27 March 1671 at Marshfield, Massachusetts.¹

     Anna was born on 4 June 1649 at Scituate, Massachusetts.¹ She was the daughter of Resolved White and Judith Vassall.

     Josiah was born on 29 September 1654 at Scituate, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Resolved White and Judith Vassall.

     Susannah was born in August 1656 at Scituate, Massachusetts.¹ She was the daughter of Resolved White and Judith Vassall.

     William was a wool carder. William was born at prob. England.¹ He married Susanna NN---- on 1 July 1612 at Leyden, Holland.^2,3 He was listed on a passenger list on 5 August 1620 at sailing on the "Mayflower". William died on 21 February 1621/22 at Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts.¹

     Susanna was born at prob. England.¹
     
      It has been speculated that Susanna was this sister of Samuel and Edward
     Fuller of the "Mayflower", but has not been proven.
     
     
      "THE MAYFLOWER"
     
     
      The English ship the Mayflower carried the Separatist Puritans, later known as Pilgrims, to Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. The 180-ton vessel was about 12 years old and had been in the wine trade. It was chartered by John Carver, a leader of the Separatist congregation at Leiden, Holland, who had gone to London to make arrangements for the voyage to America. The ship was made ready at Southampton with a passenger list that included English Separatist, hired help (among them Myles Standish, a professional soldier and John Alden, a cooper) and other colonists who were to be taken along at the insistence of the London businessmen who were helping to finance the expedition.
     
     
      In the meantime the Leiden Separatist who had initiated the venture sailed for Southampton on July 22, 1620 with 35 members of the congregation and their leaders William Bradford and William Brewster aboard the 60-ton Speedwell. Both the Speedwell and the Mayflower carrying a total of about 120 passengers, sailed from Southampton on August 15 but they were twice forced back by dangerous leaks on the Speedwell. At the English port of Plymouth some of the Speedwell's passengers were regrouped on the Mayflower and on September 16th the historic voyage began.
     
     
      This time the Mayflower carried 102 passengers, only 37 of whom were from the Leiden congregation, in addition to the crew. The voyage took 65 days, during which two persons died. A boy, Oceanus Hopkins, was born at sea and another Peregrine White, was born as the ship lay at anchor off Cape Cod. The ship came in sight of Cape Cod on November 19 and sailed south. The colonists had been granted territory in Virginia but probably headed for a planned destination near the mouth of the Hudson River. The Mayflower turned back, however, and dropped anchor at Provincetown on November 21. That day 41 men signed the so-called Mayflower Compact, a "plantation covenant" modeled after a Separatist church covenant, by which they agreed to establish a "Civil Body Politic" (a temporary government) and to be bound by its laws. This agreement was thought necessary because there were rumors that some of the non-Separatists, called "Strangers," among the passengers would defy the Pilgrims if they landed in a place other than the specified in the land grant they received from the London Company. The compact became the basis of government in the Plymouth Colony. After it was signed, the Pilgrims elected John Carver their first Governor.
     
     
      After weeks of scouting for a suitable settlement area, the Mayflower's passengers finally landed at Plymouth on December 26, 1620.
     
     
      Although the Mayflower's captain and part-owner Christopher Jones, had threatened to leave the Pilgrims unless they quickly found a place to land, the ship remained at Plymouth during the first terrible winter of 1620-21, when half of the colonists died.
     
     
      The Mayflower left Plymouth on April 15, 1621 and arrived back in England on May 16.
     
     
      William Bradford's classic account of the Mayflower's voyage does not mention the ship by name, nor does it describe the vessel. In 1926, however, a model was constructed by R.C. Anderson from general information about late-16th-century merchant ships of its tonnage. This model, which is in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, gives the ship's dimensions as 90 ft (27.4m) long, with a 64-ft (19.5m) keel, 26-ft (7.9m) beam and a hold 11 ft (3.4m) deep. In 1957 a close replica of the Mayflower was sailed from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Mass., where it is on view.
     
     
      THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
     
      NOVEMBER 11, 1620
     
     
      "IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. WE WHOSE NAMES ARE UNDERWRITTEN, THE LOYAL SUBJECTS OF OUR DREAD SOVEREIGN LORD KING JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, AND HAVING UNDERTAKEN FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, AND ADVANCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, AND THE HONOR OF OUR KING AND COUNTRY, A VOYAGE TO PLANT THE FIRST COLONY IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF VIRGINIA; DO BY THESE PRESENTS, SOLEMNLY AND MUTUALLY IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND ONE ANOTHER, COVENANT AND COMBINE OURSELVES TOGETHER INTO A CIVIL BODY POLITICK, FOR OUT BETTER ORDERING AND PRESERVATION, AND FURTHERANCE OF THE ENDS AFORESAID; AND BY VIRTUE HEREOF DO ENACT, CONSTITUTE, AND FRAME, SUCH JUST AND EQUAL LAWS, ORDINANCE, ACTS, CONSTITUTIONS, AND OFFICES, FROM TIME TO TIME, AS SHALL BE THOUGHT MOST MEET AND CONVENIENT FOR THE GENERAL GOOD OF THE COLONY; UNTO WHICH WE PROMISE ALL DUE SUBMISSION AND OBEDIENCE. IN WITNESS WHEREOF WE HAVE HEREUNTO SUBSCRIBED OUR NAMES AT CAPE COD THE ELEVENTH OF NOVEMBER, IN THE REIGN OF OUR SOVEREIGN LORD KING JAMES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, THE EIGHTEENTH AND OF SCOTLAND, THE FIFTY-FOURTH. ANNO DOMINI, 1620
     
Mr. John Carver
     Mr. Stephen Hopkins
     Mr. William Bradford
     Digery Priest
     Mr. Edward Winslow
     Thomas Williams
     Mr. William Brewster
     Gilbert Winslow
     Isaac Alerton
     Edmund Margesson
     Miles Standish
     Peter Brown
     John Alden
     Richard Bitteridge
     John Turner
     George Soule
     Francis Eaton
     Edward Tilly
     James Chilton
     John Tilly
     John Craxton
     Francis Cooke
     John Billington
     Thomas Rogers
     Joses Gletcher
     Thomas Tinker
     John Goodman
     John Ridgate
     Mr. Samuel Fuller
     Edward Fuller
     Mr. Christopher Martin
     Richard Clark
     Mr. William Mullins
     Richard Gardiner
     Mr. William White
     Mr. John Allerton
     Mr. Richard Warren
     Thomas English
     John Howland
     Edward Doten
     Edward Liester.
She was the daughter of NN---- NN----. She married William White on 1 July 1612 at Leyden, Holland.^2,3 She was listed on a passenger list on 5 August 1620 at sailing on the "Mayflower". Susanna died circa 1654.¹

     
     
     
      William Vassall the first of his name who came to this country, was assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company, and one of the original patentees of New England lands. At a formal meeting of the governor and company held October 15, 1629, he with others, was appointed "to go over," and in the next year he arrived in this country, but returned after a short stay, in the ship "Lyon" In Jun, 1635, he embarked with wife and six children on board the "Blessing," for New England was among the number who came into Scituate in 1634-1635, although the was not a member of Mr. Lothrop's church. He was a man of considerable fortune and of some importance both in England and in the Massachusetts Colony. A most beautiful tract of land on the river was granted him, by far the largest tract allotted to any one settler. It contained more than 150 acres and Vassall began at once his plantation, which he called "West Newland." The house that he built in 1635 upon the beautiful slope of uplands, commanding a glorious view of the rising sun across fern meadows was named "Belle House." It served its name most truly from its outlook.
     
     
      William and Samuel Vassall were original patentees of New England lands. They were sons of John Vassall, an alderman of London, a man of great wealth, who in 1588 fitted out and commanded two vessels which he gave to the British Navy, to help oppose the Spanish Armada. William and Samuel were officers of the Massachusetts Company in London. It is said that Samuel at one time was the owner of the Mayflower. His monument in King's Chapel, Boston was erected in 1766 by his great grandson. He never came to New England but removed early to Barbados.
     
     
      William Vassall was one of Craddock's assistants at the time that he was made acting Governor of the Massachusetts Company in London and John Endicott had been sent to govern affairs on this side. His first direct knowledge of Massachusetts lands was in 1630 when he came to New England with John Winthrop, returning to London in the Ship Lyon in 1631. He was on this side of the Atlantic when complaints were made by the colonists against Endicott's government and the settlers chose him and his brother Samuel as their referees to present their petition to Craddock in England. He must have been favorably impressed by the probable future of the colonies for he returned in June 1635, embarking with his wife and six children in the ship "Blessing" with the intention of making a home in the new lands toward the west. Leaving his family in Roxbury, he erected his home upon his new plantation, "West Newland", the year of his arrival. He found Scituate a home greatly to his liking and became a member of Mr. Lothrop's church. While there was more or less controversy in the church during the next three or four years, Mr. Vassall seems to have taken little active part in it. He was a well educated man, and had thought deeply on matters that were causing religious disagreement both in England and in the Colonies.
     
     
      When the Reverend Charles Chauncey was settled as Mr. Lothrop's successor in 1641. Mr. Vassall soon found himself in great disfavor with his new pastor who would endure no opposition to views that he felt his talents and learning should make acceptable to his parishioners without too much questioning on their part. Mr. Vassall's powers of persuasive argument may have been quite as much in his disfavor as the ideas that he entertained for he was quite the equal of his new pastor in religious argument and drew to his opinions many other church members as well as a number of new settlers who were taking up lands upon the river. The "Second Church of Christ" in Scituate was formed in Vassall's house on February 2, 1642.
     
     
      William Vassall had much to do with public affairs in the town. The earliest records extant are in his beautiful handwriting and that of Edward Foster as no town Clerk was appointed until 1636. He held no office in the Colonial Government, perhaps by his disinclination, but more likely because his opinions, both religious and social were greatly in advance of his time. In this relation, Deane says: "It is worthy of remark that most of the principles held by such men as Cudworth, Hatherly, Vassall and Roger Williams, for which they suffered the persecutions of the early Colonial Governments were such principles of civil and religious liberty as are now recognized to be the truest and best."
     
     
      Once embroiled in controversy, Mr. Vassal's argumentative disposition kept him in more or less trouble for the next few years. He espoused the cause of the people of Hingham in their protest against a decision of the court relative to their choice of a captain of the town militia and in 1646 was sent to Engalnd as one of their emissaries to present this protest to the government there. He met with no success on his errand and finding himself out of sympathy with colonial leaders, joined his brother Samuel in Barbadoes in 1648, without returning to Scituate. He died in the Parish of St. Michael's in 1655, leaving a will in which his son, Capt. John Vassall was named executor.
     
     
      After Jamaica was taken by the British, the Vassalls made large fortunes in Barbadoes. The family life in St. Michael's was one of lavish magnificence, combined with the crudest service. English visitors were shocked by the attire of the negro servants who waited on tables loaded with silver plate, in the scantiest of clothing and that often in tatters.
     
     
      All the Vassalls were Loyalists and fled the country with the British forces when Boston was evacuated. Their properties were confiscated and sold and some of them died in poverty. The Vassall house at Belle House Neck, Scituate purchased in 1662 by John Cushing is said to have been neither large nor imposing but it housed the Cushings of three generations and was the birthplace of Chief Justice William in 1732. In 1742, Judge John Cushing, 2d, built the house now standing on the property, the home of Roger Sherman Dix. It was owned by the descendants of John Cushing, fourth of the name; elder half brother of Judge William, until its sale in 1842 to David Briggs from whose son it was purchased by Mr. Dix.
     
     ______ Ashleys of the Old Colony, pages xxix-xxxii.
William was born on 27 August 1592.² He was baptized on 27 August 1592. He was the son of John Vassall and Anne Russell. William applied for a marriage license to wed Ann King on 9 June 1613 at Cold Norton, county Essex, England.^3,4,5 He married Ann King circa 1613 at Cold Norton, county Essex, England.⁶ William died in 1655 at Barbadoes.⁷