Bachiler Family
The Rev. Stephen Bachiler was a very complex
individual. His opportunity for
recognition as an American Founding Father went up in flames when his home in
Strawberry, Massachusetts burned to the ground, taking with it his books,
papers, letters, sermons…It was a notable library and was utterly destroyed.
Stephen Bachiler was either a famous or infamous man
during his lifetime and unfortunately, fairly or not, the latter characteristic
seems to have haunted him through the centuries.
Even before it was a cause taken up by the Puritans,
Stephen was calling for “a Holy House without ceremonies,” a church completely
free of the influence and control of the state and its church. He was a non-conformist and embraced
Puritanism.
Mr. Prince, a contemporary, wrote that Stephen “was a
man of learning and ingenuity and wrote a fine and curious hand.” Without knowing anything about Stephen
Bachiler, a graphologist analyzed the minister’s handwriting and wrote, among other
things, “Among the most outstanding characteristics reflected in Mr. Bachiler’s
signature was his great sensuality. It
shows a great love and enjoyment of food, music and sexual pleasure.”
As to Stephen Bachiler’s sexual pleasure, the subject
appears to be part of his problems—whether reports were authentic or conjured
up by others who tried to tarnish his reputation. Someone wrote that he “comforted” all the
women on their crossing the Atlantic, and returned the kiss of a young woman
who duped him into a tryst. Fact or
fiction?
He was a widower three times, had four wives, never
being without the companionship of a wife for very long. Stephen’s first wife, Ann Bates, is the
mother of his 6 children. It was his
fourth, a woman of ill-repute, who all but destroyed him in his old age.
About 1589, Stephen married Ann Bates in Wherwell,
Hampshire, England. He found himself in
a difficult dilemma with the Anglican Church officials even before all of his
children were born. In Acts of English Privy Council Record,
for 1593 it says:
“A letter to Lord Bishop of Winton,
Mr. Doctor Bilson and the rest:
Whereas we perceive by your letters
of this present month, and the examinations there-with sent, that Stephen
Bachiler, vicar of Wherwel in your diocese, hath uttered a sermon at Newbuiry
verie lewd speeches tending seditiously to the derogation of her Majesties
government, and that you have examined him and committed him til farther
direction from us in this behalf: This
shall be to pray and require your lordship &c., to send the said Stephen
Bachiler under safe custodie up hither to me the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
with such further matter and proof as hath silthene [since then?] fallen out,
to be proceeded with according to the
nature and quality of his offence and the laws of this realm…”
The results of the meeting with the Archbishop have
not surfaced. Yet for 40 years more he
remained in Hampshire, preaching the Puritan doctrine.
Meanwhile, John Wing and his family had received
permission to return to England.
Unfortunately, John took ill and died in London in 1629.
After John’s death, Deborah and her children returned
to Holland. In 1632, Stephen Bachiler
and the Wing Family (the widow Deborah and children), headed for a new life in
New England. At that time, Stephen was
aged 71. They sailed on the ship William and Francis, and endured a
horrific 88-day crossing, longer than the normal 60 days.
Stephen Bachiler established a church in Massachusetts
Bay at which time his troubles began anew.
In his Journal on November 12, 1641, Gov. Winthrop wrote that Stephen
Bachiler “did solicit the chastity of his neighbor’s wife.” Then there were accusations of his having an
affair with a parishioner’s wife. At
first Stephen denied the charge, but later admitted his guilt to his
congregation.
Stephen wrote to John Winthrop on May 3, 1647, stating
that he had found a widow to have “some eye and care towards my family” and the
residents approved the arrangement to hire a maid. His next woe came in the form of his 4th
wife—Mary Beadle, housekeeper. She was
described as “beautiful as dawn,” but maybe the ugliest of all Stephen’s
misfortunes. He, himself read their
marriage vows. He and Mary, 60 years his
junior, were married one day and fined the next because they did not post the
banns. The court fined him 10 pounds,
but later reduced it to 5 pounds.
The worst was yet to come. On October 15, 1651 Mary Beadle Bachiler,
pregnant with the child of a neighbor, George Rogers, was presented to the
court for committing adultery with Mr. Rogers and sentenced “to receive 40
stripes, save one, at the first town meeting of Kittery, six weeks after her delivery,
and that she be branded with the letter A.
The “branding” was a cloth with the letter A on it to be worn around the
neck.
Mary and George Rogers appeared before the court for
“incontinency for living in one house together and lieing in one room.” Stephen Bachiler applied for a divorce, to
which Mary agreed. The court, however,
refused stating: “It is ordered by this
Court that Mr. Bachiler and his wife shall lyve together as man and wife as in
this Court they have publicly professed to doe, and if either desert one
another then hereby the court doth order that the marshall shall apprehend both
the said Mr. B and Mary, his wife, and bring them forthwith to Boston.” This was more than Stephen could
tolerate. In 1654, he walked to Boston,
seeking passage on a vessel bound for England, where he would be free of
disgrace.
Mary Beadle Bachiler applied for a divorce once
Stephen was gone, citing abandonment.
The Rev. Stephen Bachilor died in 1656 at Robert
Barbers, close to London, and was buried in the New Churchyard on October 31,
1656. He had paid to have the church
bells rung at his passing. He was 95 years
old.
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