HOME
a1
markets for English woolen goods among other things. At this point in time it was believed that there was only so much wealth available, and since wealth was equated to power, England was in all out economic warfare with Spain, Portugal, France, and Holland. The funding for colonizing these patents had to come from groups of people since the crown refused to fund the ventures. Stephen, though possibly forgotten did not forget his separatist views and times under Charles I were more difficult. In 1629 Stephen became minister of a newly organized colonizing society. This society was called the Company of the Husbandmen, or the Company of the Plough. Stephen invested 100 pounds in the venture and made an additional loan of 67 pounds to the company. The Company of Husbandmen obtained a patent to a substantial tract of land in southeastern Maine. This patent included the present site of the city of Portland. The patent was defined in relation to the River Sagedahock, and was obtained from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the leader of the founding of Maine. Maine was under the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and John Winthrop. Massachusetts considered Maine and Rhode Island colonies of inferior beings for their more tolerant attitudes towards religious freedom. Massachusetts was about as rigid in their treatment of persons of differing views as the Anglican Church was in England. In 1630, two years after John Endicott's group established Salem, 17 vessels with 2,000 puritans under John Winthrop settled Boston. In the winter of 1630/1631, a preliminary party from the Company of Husbandmen came to the patent area of the proposed Maine colony. They were very rapidly introduced to a Maine winter. And with such adverse conditions, the project was promptly abandoned. Because of this the Company of Husbandmen failed, but communication of the failure didn't reach England. Other members of the Company of Husbandmen, unaware of the failure, continued to arrive during the next year. It was in the spring of 1632, that the Company of Husbandmen sent two ships to New England. Those ships were the Whale and the William and Francis. The Reverend Mr. Bachiler was accompanied by his second wife Helena, his grandson Nathaniel Batcheller, three sons of his daughter Anne Sanborn, and several of his Hampshire adherents. His son, Nathaniel, who would have been forty-one or forty-two, remained in England. We don't know if Stephen, who was born in 1594, arrived in the new world before or after his father, Stephen. We also don't know why Stephen was expelled, in 1610, from Magdalen College. It is possible that he was too forceful in espousing his father's views, but that is speculation. Apparently, Nathaniel was the only child of Stephen's to remain in England. Nathaniel was a merchant in Southampton, England. Twenty years after the death of his wife Hester, his children received an inheritance from their uncle, Daniel Mercer, and another uncle Paul Mercer willed 200 pounds to them. Hester, before her death, received from her sister Mary Mercer Van der Bist a diamond ring and 1800 pounds. The three sons of Anne Sanborn were John, William, and Stephen. The line to Walter Ingalls Bachelder flows from John and Anne Sanborn through their son John. They sailed on the William and Francis. The voyage was long, 88 days, and arduous. They certainly had time to get their sea legs, if in fact they ever did. In contrast, Columbus set sail on August 31, 1492, and arrived in the Bahamas October 11, 1492, a total of 59 days. On June 5, 1632, Stephen and his group finally arrived at Boston. A copy of a letter to Governor John Winthrop showed that the difficulties of the trip continued even after they had arrived. Stephen had brought supplies with him consisting of four hogsheads of peas, 12 yards of broadcloth, 200 yards of list (a type of cloth), a contribution box, and oaken furniture. The letter was to claim ownership of the peas, which somehow had been misdirected. Stephen went to Saugus* (now Lynn), to the north of Boston, where his daughter Theodate and her husband Christopher Hussey** had preceded him. He promptly founded the first church in the community. It is still there and is now known as the First Congregational Church (Trinitarian) of Lynn. One of his first duties was to baptize the first white child born in the town, his grandson Stephen Hussey. It is highly likely that infant baptism was being practiced by the puritans at that time. Theodate was 44 years old. She and -5- * See Suffolk County Map on Additional Links page. ** Richard Milhaus Nixon was produced from this branch.
