Rev. John WYNGE (1584 – 1630) was Alex’s 10th Great Grandfather; one of 2,048 in this generation.

Rev. John Wygne  was baptized on 12 Jan 1584 in St. Mary’s Church, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. . His parents were Matthew WINGE and Mary [__?__] . He married Deborah BACHILER circa 1608.  He was planning to come to America, but he died at probate (will-proved), St. Mary Aldermary, London, England, between 2 November 1629 and 4 August 1630 before he had the chance.

Deborah Bachiler was born 23 Jun 1591 in Wherwell Hampshire, England.  She was the  the oldest child of Rev. Stephen BACHILER and Deborah BATES.   In 1632, shortly after the death of her husband, she emigrated from England to New England with her father, Stephen Bachiler. Deborah and her 4 sons came to New England on the ship William & Francis with her father and his wife, Helena Mason Bachiler. The date of death for Deborah is unknown. While some Wing family historians believe that she was the “Olde Goody Wing” who died in Yarmouth in JAN 1691/92, she was not mentioned in the delayed probate record of her son, Matthew Wing, in 1680 so was almost certainly already deceased at that date.

Children of Rev. John Wing and Deborah Bachiler:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	Debora(h) Winge	c.  Jan 1611	Edward Ford bef. 2 Nov 1629 London, England,	27 Aug 1680 England
2.	John WINGE II	1613	Elizabeth DILLINGHAM . Miriam Deane 31 Jan 1692/93	c Apr 1699 Harwich, Barnstable, MA
3.	Daniel Winge	1618, Flushing, Zealand	Hannah Swift 5 Nov 1642 Sandwich, PC . Anna Ewer Jun 1666 Sandwich, PC	10 Mar 1664 at Sandwich, MA
4.	Joseph Winge	5 Nov 1618		5 Nov 1618 Hamburg, Germany
5.	Stephen Winge	1621 at prob. Flushing, Zeeland	Oseah Dillingham Oct 1646 Sandwich, PC (Elizabeth’s sister and daughter of Edward DILLINGHAM) . Sarah Briggs 7 Jan 1654/55 Sandwich, PC	24 Apr 1710 Sandwich, MA, Interred at Spring Hill Cemetery.
6.	unnamed daughters Winge	c 1625
7.	Matthew Winge	The Hague, Netherlands, after 1627	Joan(e) Newman (Nicholson) c 1650 Stroud, Kent, England	bef. 1653Stroud, Kent, England

John Winge entered Oxford University on 15 Oct 1599, and at the age of 14, was at that time the youngest student ever to be enrolled.  He graduated with a B.A. from Queen’s College, Oxford on 12 Feb 1603/4.

John was first installed as a minister at St. Nicholas Church, Strood, Kent, England by late 1608, upon the death of the previous priest (Undoubtedly the “Mr Williams” who died 5 Dec 1608) . A study of the handwriting of the parish register indicates that John may have been there as early as 1605 (possibly assisting the previous pastor).  At about the same time John married Deborah Bachiler, the eldest daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler. John continued to preach there until the latter part of Nov 1614. The first two children of John and Deborah (coincidentally named Deborah and John) were baptized at Strood in 1609 & 1611 respectively.

John lived in Sandwich, Kent, England at one time. The only time available would have been during the period between his serving at Strood and his becoming pastor to the Merchant Adventurers at Hamburg.  Rev. John’s sermon “The Crown Conjugall” was preached here. This was his earliest sermon that he later published (in Nov 1620). Their son, Daniel was likely born there during this time period. If so, Daniel would have the distinction of being the only original settler of Sandwich in Plymouth Colony to have been born at its namesake city.

Rev. John Winge became the minister to the Society of Merchant Adventurers at Hamburg by 1617. During his stay at Hamburg, John published at least two of his sermons:  “Jacob’s Staffe” and “Abel’s Offering” both published in 1617.  While these were the two earliest sermons he published, he drafted them after his sermon “The Crown Conjugall.” While living at Hamburg, John and Deborah had a son (Joseph) baptized (5 Nov 1618). However, this son apparently died young.

Rev. John was installed as the pastor of the English Church at Flushing on 19 Jun 1620. While living at Flushing, he also periodically preached at Middelburg. It appears that Stephen, and possibly other children, were born at Flushing. He removed to The Hague, where he was installed the priest of the English Church there about 10 Mar 1627. The youngest son, Matthew, apparently was born while the family lived at Flushing.

It appears that life in the Dutch cities ruined John’s health. As early as 1620, in the dedication of his book “The Crown Conjugal” he spoke of “afflection upon mine external state, doe daily provoke and deeply challenge from me…” In his letter to Sir Dudley Carleton Rev. John stated that he had been so ill he could not even hold a quill pen to write.

It appears that Rev. John had decided to emigrate to New England, but his health worsened, and he died before plans can be finalized. He left a will at St. Mary Aldermary, London, dated 2 Nov 1629. The will stated all of his property was to be sold and the monies divided between his widow and his children. It is believed that he may have also had made out a will at The Hague.

When Sandwich, Mass was settled in 1637, the Wings were among the first there. Although Deborah’s name does not appear on the list of founding fathers of Sandwich (it having been a man’s world) she was and is still considered the “Matriarch of Sandwich

Deborah was widowed while in her early fourties. In 1632, shortly after the death of her husband, John Winge, she emigrated from England to New England with her father, Stephen Bachiler. Deborah and her 4 sons came to New England on the ship William & Francis with her father and his wife, Helena Mason Bachiler. Deborah remained in Saugus (now Lynn), Mass where her father was pastor until 1637. That was the year he removed to mid-Cape Cod (Yarmouth). She removed with her sons to upper, or western Cape Cod and there she became a founder of Sandwich. In Sandwich history, she is referred to as “the Matriarch”. Her husband, John Wing, had lived in Sandwich, England; a connection, if any, is not known.

There have been accounts that Deborah moved with her son John Wing to Sautucket (originally part of Yarmouth, later Harwich, but now Brewster) in 1657.  There is also an account that she lived with her son Stephen at the Wing (Old Fort) Home. All of these accounts could be true…but not proven…or all of them could be speculation because there is nothing mentioned about Deborah after she and her sons moved to Sandwich.

The troubles that her father (Rev. Stephen Bachiler) suffered must have had an effect on Deborah and her sons, but there are no known recorded events that indicate their involvement with him during that time. It has been stated that John Wing went with Rev. Bachiler when he attempted to settle Mattakeese, near Yarmouth, It was during the 1640’s that three of Deborah’s four sons would marry. Daniel, her 2nd son, 3rd child, marries in the year 1641 to Hannah Swift. John Wing, her oldest son, 2nd child, marries about 1645 to Elizabeth, Dillingham, daughter of Edward Dillingham of Sandwich.  Then Stephen, her 3rd son, 4th child marries Oseah Dillingham in 1646…after appearing before the General Court for having had carnal knowledge of Oseah before their marriage. By this time Deborah’s youngest son, Matthew, is 19 or 20 years old…yet you hear nothing about Matthew until about 1655 when you learn that Matthew married Joane Newman in Stroud, Kent, England…and there is still no mention of Deborah.

One theory is that Deborah died in the 1640’s…when 3 of her 4 sons married…not only married but Daniel bought property from Andrew Hallett in 1640…when he was about 23 years old. Stephen supposedly attained and made the Old Fort House a home in 1641, at the age of 20 years…and John received 6 acres of meadowland at Sandwich, Plymouth Colony in 1641. John was by then about 28 years old…and he marries in 1645 at about the age of 32 years. Perhaps John’s marriage is the most significant since he was considered the head of the Wing household in Sandwich.

We may never know when Deborah Bachiler Wing died for certain. We can only be sure that her life had changed dramatically in New England from what she had experienced in England or Holland. I am sure there must have been several times she longed for the austerity of her former life. How many times she must have yearned to see her daughter (also named Deborah) and perhaps she either wrote to her or had one of her sons sit by the fireplace with her while she dictated to them what she wanted to say. Those letters would have been delivered by someone who was going to a port where a ship was leaving for England and by the time it got to the ship, it would already be weeks old. Deborah’s letter would have been added to the pile that was already large for delivery in either London, Yarmouth or another port where hopefully it would be delivered with care to yet another town, village or vicarage. By some means, Deborah’s daughter, would be notified that there was a letter waiting for her. By the time Deborah read the letter her mother had sent to her, the letter would be months old.

There was a poem written about Deborah Bachiler Wing in 1903 by Mrs. Elizabeth Hoxie Ware of Sandwich, Mass.  It was read at the dedication of a bronze tablet marking the Sandwich location where Deborah Bachiler Wing raised her sons:

Long years ago in England,

When England yet was young,

Where the River Test flows softly,

Twixt banks of brightest green,

And Queen Elfrida’s convent,

through the arching trees is seen.

Softly she sang her childish thoughts,

As the daises her small feet pressed;

Softly she touched the fragrant flowers,

Or watched the wild birds nest.

And this is the song the wee maid sang:

“There’s never a day without a cloud

Or a joy without a sorrow

And the sun that sets in the rain tonight

Will shine for me tomorrow.”

The preacher prayed inside the church

or a conscience freed from sin

While the little child in innocence

Caught the heavenly voice within–

“Father I stood by the river

just as the moon went down,

And it lighted the church of Wherewell

As if with a golden crown

And Father, I saw a vision;

Dost thou think that children may?”

“And what was the vision daughter?

Tell it to me, pray.”

Her dark eyes grew more earnest,

While steady and strong was she;

“I saw four boys and a woman

In a vessel upon the sea.

And she was sad and lonely;

And a man that looked like thee

Stood near; and there was sound of weeping,

And the woman looked like me.”

“Didst see aught else, my daughter?”

And he thought of the threatening storm

Of church and state and conscience,

And his weary heart grew warm.

For might not his little maiden

Be chosen of God to warn

Benighted, priest ridden England

Of the rise of a brighter dawn?

Earnest and still that fair child stood,

As Deborah stood of old,

And God’s grace shone upon her

While she her vision told.

It came again unto her,

The same foreshadowing truth;

And with a tiny hand extended,

She saw through the bounds of youth.

Father, I see the vessel,

And many are there, who make

The air resound with prayers

For God and conscience sake.”

Scarce eighteen summers now have come and gone,

With each clouds of sunshine on the way;

Life’s story glimmers bright with youthful song,

And earnest hours have changed from foolish play.

The little child unto a maiden fair has grown;

A strong souled man has looked into her eyes

And from her heart her girlhood’s song has flown.

While in it’s place thoughts strange and sweet arise

Across her sunny pathway

With young love’s wooing came

Young John, the stalwart preacher,

With words of sweetest flame.

“Deborah, beloved maiden,

Thou art dear, and unto thee

Give I all my heart; now answer,

Givest thou thine to me?”

Deborah, the gentle maid,

With her eyes of dusky brown,

Answered softly, “John, I love thee”

With her fair face drooping down.

Think ye then that John the preacher

E’er remembered priestly gown,

With that sweet faced maid before him

With her hair of burnished brown?

Nay, for in his arms he gathered

Her love unto his heart;

“God do ill and more to me, love

If I fail to do my part.”

Came there then no thought or vision?

Forgotten was the prophesy

the sad-eyed lonely woman

Out upon the stormy sea.

A few more years have come and gone

While joy and sadness into life have grown

We see the blessings of the children five,

We hear the sadness of the widow’s moan.

The vision given in the fleeting years long gone,

Seems nearing now it’s strange, sad truth to prove

the woman on the stormy sea forlorn,

In spirit hath no confines to her love.

Ah rare indeed that company

The Lord did send out that day!

Did the little ship The Francis

Sail calmly on it’s way?

Sail, stately ship, more proudly;

Tbanners all unfurled;

Thou carry’st wondrous tidings

Unto an unknown world.

Oh, Shawme Lake, by Indians called, how fair!

We greet thee now, unknown to world and fame.

Oh Sandwich! Unto thee we give our love–

For in her longing heart she gave thee name

The following article was condensed from a biographical sketch compiled about 1914 by Col. George W. Wing (1856-1924), first president of the Wing Family of America.

John Wing, born in England in the latter 1500’s. Died about 1629, The Hague, Holland or 1630 in England. Married probably about 1610 to Deborah Bachiller. They probably were married in Holland.

Like his father-in-law, Stephen Bachiler, John Wing was an English minister who moved to Holland and became a Puritan pastor there, most likely for similar reasons. He had been residing at Sandwich, County Kent, England on the Strait of Dover and then at Banbury before migrating to Holland. There he became pastor of an English Puritan Congregation in Flushing, Province of Zealand. It is likely that he was associated in some way in Holland with Stephen Bachiler, as he married Stephen’s daughter. Pope, in PIONEERS ON MASSACHUSETTS, states that John Wing died in the Hague, Holland in 1629. Lovell, in SANDWICH: A CAPE COD TOWN, states that he died in England in 1630. An early Wing family genealogist, writing in 1881, stated that John came to America and settled in Sandwich. But more recent research proves that the writer must have confused John Wing with John Wing, Jr., his son, who did accompany his widowed mother, brothers, and Stephen Bachiler to America in 1632, and settled first in Lynn, and later in Sandwich.

Elizabeth ruled England with an iron hand. The Puritans were in a majority in the House of Commons, but the severe reprimands they had met with from the throne deterred them from enacting any religious laws. The prelates of the Church of England were still in the haughty exercise of all religious prerogatives. So that when Matthew, or perchance Mary, carried the infant John in their arms up the stately aisles of old St. Mary’s to the Saxon baptismal font, he was baptized with the parents and attendants kneeling at the sacrament, which was sealed by the sign of the cross. Every question of ceremony was regulated by Queen Elizabeth. Even the size and height of the ruff about Matthew’s neck was determined by the Queen’s edict.

The very year of John’s birth, Elizabeth consigned the religious life of England into the keeping of forty-four commissioners, who were enpowered by all means and ways they could devise, by juries, by the rack, by torture, by inquisition, by imprisonment, to reform all heresies and schism, and to punish all breaches of uniformity of worship. so we may well imagine that John was christened by his parents with strict regard to the country’s laws.

Matthew and Mary were not permitted to invite their neighbors to read and discuss the scriptures. All such gatherings, without the Queen’s special permission, were unlawful. And if, perchance, Matthew (who was a tailor) in his business sold a suit of clothes to a nobleman, he was obliged to wait that gentlman’s knightly pleasure for payment. If he sued to recover the price, he was liable to imprisoment himself. It was only during the succeeding generations that the noble principles of liberty took root. Executions took place for robbery, theft and felonies; whippings and burnings in the hand hand were legal modes of punishment for lesser crimes. In fact, the “Merrie England” of the days of Matthew and the boyhood of John affords us no reason to be in love with the picture of the absolute monarchy or with the government of “good Queen Bess.”

The boyhood of John was spent in Banbury. The square about the old Banbury cross was undoubtedly a playground, and time and again he must have passed and entered the old Reindeer Inn. The schools of the day were known as grammar schools, and undoubtedly John made good use of them, for he was able to matriculate at Oxford when but fifteen years of age. We cannot doubt that he was a regular Sunday attendant at St. Mary’s. His deeply spiritual nature was a surety of that. The sermons in the English churches at that time were merely homilies prepared by the prelates and given the vicars to read, exhorting their congregations to obey the Queen and extolling her goodness.

In John’s fourteenth year, all England was aflame with the approach of the great Spanish Armada. His father at that time was forty-eight years of age, and his brothers, Fulk and Thomas, twenty-four and twenty-two respectively. Unquestionably they were enrolled among the nation’s defenders. The year following the excitement attending the Armada, John Wing entered Oxford University. The school was only twenty-three miles from his home. The matriculation entry is as follows:

“John Wynge of Oxon, pleb. St. Alban’s Hall, 15 October, 1599, aged 14.”

On 12 February, 1603, Queen’s College invested him with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the days of John’s schooling there, Oxford was particularly active in the literary movement of that day, and undoubtedly the youth became acquainted there with many of the great lights who dazzled the world with their writings in the generation following.

That we may better appreciate the scholarly attainments of young John Wing, B.A., nineteen years of age, when he left the shadows of Queen’s College in 1603, a review of the times may prove interesting. Of the peers of the realm during Elizabeth’s reign only about sixty knew their letters. In the rual districts, to read and write were considered rare accomplishments, and even among the gentry below the first degree there was little difference in literary accomplishments between master and the boorish attendants. As we descend a step lower we reach a class wholly illiterate. Shakespeare’s father was High Bailiff of Stratford, but he could neither read nor write. Of nineteen aldermen of Stratford only six could write their names. Nor was the ignorance confined to the laymen. In1578, according to Neal, of one hundred and forty clergymen in Cornwall belonging to the established church, not one was capable of preaching, and throughout the kingdom, those who could preach were in the proportion of one to four.

The time of the induction of John into the holy order is conjectural. Oxford at the time of his graduation was, under Elizabeth’s reign, the fountain head of English church theology. His parents were members of the established church, and it was quite likely with a view of taking the orders that he pursued his studies at the University. It is most likely that the young Oxford graduate secured a position in some country village as a curate or assistant to the vicar of some parish and, while acting in that capacity, met Deborah Bachiler, daughter of the Vicar of Wherwell in Hampton.

Stephen Bachiler, the Vicar of Wherwell, had gained considerable reputation among his clerical brethren for learning and ability. A man of willful independent and forceful character, he had refused conformity with the requirements of his superiors in the chuch and in 1605 was deprived of his living at Wherwell. He immediately secured another following in the vicinity of Wherwell and continued to preach the gospel as a Presbyterian. It was an age of fierce religious controversy, and it was during the period immediately following Bachiler’s expulsion from his living at Wherwell that the young Oxford graduate met and courted Deborah. It will not for an instant be believed by those who have studied Bachiler’s dominating and forceful character that he would permit his daughter to marry a clergyman of the Church of England. Tradition says that he refused to give his youngest daughter, Theodate, in marriage to young Christopher Hussey until the latter would promise to take her to New England, where he himself proposed to settle. The influence of the courtship and the marriage of John and Deborah, and the subsequent associations with the father of the latter, may have had much to do with the breaking of the young man’s relations with the mother church.

John Wing and Deborah Bachiler were married about the year 1609-10. It may be conjectured that because John’s brother named a daughter Deborah, born to him in 1608, that the marriage occurred even earlier. At the time of his marriage, John was about twenty-five years of age and Deborah barely eighteen. The oldest child, Deborah was born in 1611. John, the second child, is said by some student of family history to have been born at Yarmouth. He is mentioned in his grandfather’s will made in 1614, so that it is probably that his birth occurred in 1613.

In 1617, John Wing is found preaching to the famous society of Merchant Adventurers of England in Hanover, Germany, and it is known definitely that he was in charge of a congregation at the old Roman cinque port of Sandwich in Kent at some period prior to 1620. The proof of this is contained in the dedication of his first book, “The Crown Conjugall”, printed in November, 1620. He thus inscribed it:

“To The Right Worshipfull Master Matthew Peke Esquire, Mayor of the Towne and Port of Sandwich, and to the Worshipfull, the Jurates of his brethren, the Common Counsell and whole Corporation for the same JOHN WING, doth with Grace and Peace and all good form from the living God through the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the worke of the Holy Ghost, (our former favours, and the abundant fruits of your love Right Worshipfull and welbeloved in the Lord) which I have from time to time experienced ever since it pleased the Lord to cast affliction upon mine external state, doe daily provoke and deeply challange from me, the manifestation of a thankfull hart unto you all to whose kindnes I stand a Debtor much engaged to this day.”

Mr. Stevens, in his “History of Presbyterianism” thus makes mention of our ancestor:

“Mr. Wing, a pious man, and edifying preacher, was first at Sandwich, but had latterly been chaplain to the Merchants Adventurers of England residing at Hamburg. He exerted himself much for the good of his people her (Flushing) until he removed to the Hague in 1627.”

On 19 June, 1620, he had been ordained as pastor of the churches of Flushing and Middleburg (in Holland) under the direction of Mr. John Paget of Amsterdam, assisted by two Dutch clergymen, and in the presence of the burgomaster and other magistrates.

There are many theories as to the exact religious beliefs of the Rev. John Wing. Robert Browne, the founder of English Congregationalism, as early as 1581, had emigrated to Middleburg, in Zealand, with his followers, and it was from here that he published his several works. His followers became distracted and divided on matters of discipline and were finally disbanded. It may have been remnants of Brown’s old congregation at Middleburg that John Wing preached to in 1620. The fact that the Dutch government recognized and materially aided the Rev. John Wing in his ministrations at the Hague and in his induction into the Pastorate at Middleburg, leads to the belief that he was a Presbyterian in his belief and teachings. He was the first settled English pastor at the Hague, being admitted 11 May, 1627. The states of Holland allowed him a subsidy of 300 pounds year, which, by a decree of 1628, was augmented to 500 pounds. A subscription of 100 pounds was raised by the English, and expended in repairing and beautifying the chapel. This church, or chapel, was much frequented by the royal family, and especially by Elizabeth, daughter of King James, wife of the ex-King of Bohemia. It was here that Mr. Wing preached 18 May, 1624, his sermon “The Saint’s Advantage, or the Wellfare of the Faithfull in the Worst Times” before Queen Elizabeth. The sermon was given at the Hague while Mr. Wing was still in the pastorate at Middleburg. It was printed in London, in 1624, by John Dawson for John Bellamie, and was sold at his shop the the Three Golden Lions, near the Royal Exchange.

A number of the sermons of the Rev. John Wing were published. Samuel Austin Allibone, in his “Dictionary of Authors” mentions some of the publications:

“1. The Crowne Conjugall, or the Spouse Royall, Middleburg, 1620

2. Jacob’s Staffe to Beare up the Faithful and Beat Down the Profane, Flushing, 1621

3. The Best Merchandis, 1622”

To those should be added “Abel’s Offering” and “The Saint’s Advantage.” The former was printed in 1622 and is dedicated “To the Right Worshipfull and worthy fellowship of Merchants Adventurers of England, residents of Delft, in Holland.” It had been preached in Middleburg, in Zealand. The book contains 138 pages. The latter sermon preached at Hamburg in November 1617, and was printed at Flushing in October of 1621.

Five of the volumes of John Wing’s publications are held by the British Museum and have been seen and examined there by several members of the Wing Family of America. At least one copy of each of the five publications is now in America. a Copy of the “Crown Conjugall” was secured by the late Col. George W. Wing, first president of the Wing Family of America, having been purchased in a London bookstore in 1903. A copy of the book “The Saint’s Advantage” is part of the John Adams collection in the Boston Public Library, carefully guarded under lock and key. On the title page of this copy is the following notation placed by Mr. Thomas Prince who owned the book at one time:

“This Wing was Pastor of ye English Puitan Chh. at Middleborough in Zeeland, wh. wido bro’t her children to Sandwich in New England who afterwards turned Quaker and frm whm ye Wings at Sandwich, Wareham, Rochester and Dartmouth are descended.”

In Septmeber, 1908, Mr. George Wing Sisson, at that time Vice President of the Wing Family of America, received from Miss Miriam H. L. wing, of Coventry, England, a bound volume cotaining “Jacob’s Staffe,” “The Best Merchandise”, and “Abel’s Offering”, bound within the same covers. Miss Wing was the daughter of an English Clergyman and stated that the volume had been purchased by her father from a London bookseller merely because the author bore his surname.

The religious views and teachings of the Rev. John Wing are not conjectural to his descendants. Over 800 pages of his writings or preachings are accessible to those of his posterity living today. They reveal to us a man of strong spituality, classic learning, masterful character, ready wit, fierce invective, a facile pen and a ready tongue. He lived in an age of cant and long-winded sermons, and at times his preachings take on the color of the age, but through them all gleams the effort to be of sincere use to his fellowmen.

Fully fifteen years of the lives of John Wing and his wife Deborah were spent in Germany and Holland as practical exiles from their native England. Hamburg and The Hague were cities of note and cosmopolitian beyond their contemporaries in Europe. Their associates, and the members of their congregations, were people of note and keen enterprise. The salary of 500 pounds a year while at The Hague afforded him the means of living in affluence. Reckoned for its purchasing power at that time, it would equal the modern salary of $10,000 given to favored ministers of the gospel, and speaks for itself of the value placed upon his services.

What changes of fortune brought him and his family to London before his death we are unable to determine. Perhaps it was a fatal illness: possibly the growing power of the Puritan movement: perhaps he too had caught the fever to emigrate to America. He sickened and died in London in 1630, probably during the summer, in his forty-sixth year, and his wife, Deborah, at thirty-eight was left a widow with five children.

No picture comes down to us through the ages of the Rev. John Wing. The Puritan and Presbyterian clergy of that period affected a small chin beard with mustaches, hair rather long and flowing, high hats with rather broad trims, black clothes and cloak, with knee breeches and silver- buckled shoes. The office of the clergy carried with it a great dignity and sterness of bearing. The Rev. John at all times felt the responsibilities of his mission.

The English recods contain this synopsis of his will:

“John Winge, late of the Hague in Holland, clerk, now living in St. Mary Aldermary, London, 2 November, 1629, proved Aug. 4, 1630. Certain lands (freehold) in Crickston and Stroud, Kent, shall be sold as conveniently may be and the money thereof arising shall be with all other goods, etc, divided into equal parts, the one to be had, received and enjoyed unto by my loving wife, Debora, and the other part or moiety to be equally and indifferently had, parted, divided and enjoyed unto amongst all my children, share and share alike, except unto and by my daughter Debora whom I have already advanced in marriage. Wife Debora to be executrix and Edward Foord of London, merchant, and Andrew Blake of Stroud, in Kent, yeomen, overseers.”

It is not unusual circumstance for the Rev. John Wing to be styled a “clerk” in his will. His father-in-law, also a minister, was so designated in at least three conveyances made by him about the same time. The term evidently had a broader meaning than is now ascribed to it, and was used to designate a scholarly gentleman.

A brief review of the family and surroundings of the widow Deborah Wing and her children at this period may bring the situation nearer home to us. Deborah herself was still a young woman of thirty-eight. Her only daughter, Deborah, aged about nineteen, had but recently married. Her eldest son, John, was but seventeen, her son Daniel a year or two younger than John, Stephen but nine and Matthew still younger. Her younger sister, Ann Sanborn, also widowed with a family , was living on the strand in London and her brothers, Samuel and Nathaniel, probably living in Holland. The freehold estate mentioned by Rev. John Wing in his will was located at Crickston and Stroud in Kent, a few miles distant from Sandwich. There is a tradition among the New England members of the family that Matthew Wing, Deborah’s youngest son, “went back to England to look after some property left behind.” We have positive knowledge that Matthew Wing returned to Stroud, married, lived and died there. The size, importance and value of the estate left by John to his wife and sons is not known; but it appears probable that they were provided with some means when they set out for America in the spring of 1632.

An Interesting History of Rev. John Wing…submitted by John Jackson…a Wing descendant.

This history was sent to me by a cousin…John Jackson. I found it so interesting that I had to include it on the website. The actual history was written by Elizabeth Wing Kurfman (the rest of her history is included in the section of Stephen Wing and His Descendants. Alice’s sources for this article include: 1. ) The Compedium of American Genealogy. 2.) Pioneers of Massachusetts…Pope. 3. ) Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England…Savage. 4. ) Cape Cod…A guide by Donald Wood. Thank you John for this contribution.

“Parents cannot doe all and performe their owne and their childrens parts also. The good which the parent doth endeavor, cannot come unto the childe, if he nglect himself. And therefore, all children that ever hope to be happy in this, or any other estate, must most humbly and sincerely seeke the face of the Lord and betake themselves to him, who will crown all such.”

The above is a quotation from a sermon preached by Rev. John Wing at Flushing, Zeeland in 1620. Seven volumes of his sermons are preserved in the British Museum. At least 3 copies are in America : one was at the Wing reunion held in Chicago in 1912, one was owned by George Wing Sisson at that time and the third is in the Boston Public Library. It is believed the latter was brought by Deborah Bachiler Wing to America in 1632, eventually coming into the possession of John Quincy Adams. It is now a part of the Adams Collection the the Boston Public Library. The Owl Editor stated that, “his sermons show a discrimenating, analytical mind, and a most intimate knowledge of the Bible.”

“Tring, Wing and Ivanhue Three manors did Hampton forego, for the striking of a blow.” (author unknown) Two manors in England bore the name Wing and Matthew descended from the Rutlandshire Wings. It is believed his people originally came out of Wales. Matthew was a tailor and apparently quite sucessful. He died in 1614 and he and Mary are both buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard at Banbury.

John Wing entered Queen’s College, Oxford University, at age 14, graduating in 1603. He was inducted into holy orders and rose rapidly in political esteem. He was one of seven men to whom King James granted the Charter of Banbury in 1606: an office he was supposed to hold for his lifetime. A few miles away lived Deborah, the eighteen year old daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Vicar of Wherwell. Deborah and John Wing were married in 1609-10. Their firstborn was a daughter, who they named Deborah. The Owl printed a picture of a wood carving, which was suppose to be a likeness of John, Deborah and their little daughter. In 1613 their son John, was born at Yarmouth, Daniel was next and Stephen, was born at Flushing in 1621. Their youngest son, Matthew, was born about 1625-26.

Rev. John Wing developed convictions, which made it impossible for him to conform to the established Church of England of that period. King James I, believed in the divine right of kings, and he severly persecuted both Roman Catholics and Puritans. When Charles I came to the throne in 1625, he continued to persecute the Puritans. John Wing was at Yarmouth, then Sandwich, where history records he suffered great hardships. An old document of Sandwich, Massachusetts, written by an early American Wing, states that Rev. John Wing fled England ot escape severe persectuion and when he later returned was put to death. Other sources record that he died at the Hague.

In 1617 to 1624 he was preaching in Flushing, Holland, Middleburg Zeeland and Hamburg, Germany. He was ordained pastor at the Hague in 1627, for which he received a yearly grant of 300 pounds from the Dutch government. That amount was increased to 500 pounds the following year. ( A laborer received 5 pounds. ) At the Hague, he preached before Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and daughter of King James I of England. His first volume of sermons were printed in 1620 with the title, “The Crown Conjugal, a Discovery of the True Honor and Happiness of Christian Matrimony.” Two more volumes were printed in 1621, a fourth in 1622 and in 1624, “The Saints Advantage”.

Some historians say Rev. John Wing died at the Hague in 1630, others claim he visited England in 1629 and was put to death there. His family came to America without disposing of his property in England, because records show that young Matthew later returned to claim his fathers estate in County Kent, near Sandwich. Matthew married Joann Newman, but he died young, without children. The widow Deborah and sons, in the company of her father and other family members, sailed for America March 9, 1632 in the ” William and Francis”. They arrived at Lynn, Massachusetts in 1632 and settled at Sandwich in 1637. There on Cape Cod they built their homes, some of which may still be seen today.

Children

The number of children had by John and Deborah Wing remains a matter of some uncertainty. We have no evidence that he had any daughters, and very little to make us suspect that he had more than three sons. A vague tradition relates that one son, Matthew, came with the family to America, but returned and died in England. All our reliable accounts, however, speak only of Daniel, John and Stephen, who came with him in the same vessel, and accompanied him until his settlement in Sandwich.

1. Debora(h) Winge

Deborah’s husband Edward Ford was born 1605 in London, Middlesex, England

Deborah and Edward did not immigrate.

2. John WINGE II (See his page)

3. Daniel Winge

Daniel’s first wife Hannah Swift was born 9 Apr 1625 in Bocking, Essex, England. Her parents were William Swift and Joan Sisson. Hannah died 31 Jan 1664 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Mass

Daniel’s second wife Anna Ewer was born 1635 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Mass. Her parents were Thomas Ewer and Sarah Learned. Anna died 1720 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Mass

Daniel came with his father from England, and accompanied him until he was settled at Sandwich. They resided near one another, and perhaps in the same house.

In 1640, June 28, Andrew HALLETT Jr, being about to remove to Yarmouth, conveyed certain landed property to Daniel Wing, the instrument being witnessed by John WINGE II and Edward DILLINGHAM. This was undoubtedly a farm in the immediate neighborhood of the paternal mansion. The house in which he resided was probably not far from the spot which we have supposed to be the residence of his father.

With his brothers he was enrolled in 1643 among those who were at that time between the ages of 16 and 60, and therefore liable to bear arms. Even at this early period some apprehensions of hostile movements on the part of the Narragansetts on the west of the Bay which now bears their name, began to be entertained, and the people were called upon for military drills and equipments. In Sandwich as well as in Plymouth and other places, twelve or more persons “were enjoined to bring their muskets with shot and powder every Lord’s Day to the meeting with their sword and furniture to every piece, ready for service if need should require.”

The taking of fish was an important matter in the commerce of the town and the profits of the leases of the Herring River, and the cutting up of whales and other large fish which had escaped after being wounded from their pursuers and been stranded upon the shores of the Bay, were no inconsiderable item in defraying the expenses of the schools.  Accordingly in 1652 “an agreement was made with Daniel Wing and Michael Blackwell for the taking of the fish in Herring River; and it was ordered that Edmund FREEMAN, Daniel Wing and four others who are named “shall take care of all the fish that Indians shall cut up within the limits of the town, so as to provide safely for it, and shall dispose of the fish for the town’s use; also, that if any man that is an inhabitant shall find a whale and report it to any of these six men, he shall have a double share; and that these six men shall take care to provide laborers and whatever is needful, so that whatever whales either Indian or white man gives notice of, they may dispose of the proceeds to the town’s use, to be divided equally to every inhabitant.”

An earlier building of a mill for the accommodation of the inhabitants, having failed, in 1654, four persons were engaged to build one, “the town paying twenty pounds;” and this sum was at once voluntarily subscribed by Daniel Wing and twenty-one other inhabitants. This and another mill were soon after erected, and millers were appointed by the town “to grind and have the toll for their pains.”

It was during the year 1655 that the names of Daniel Wing and a number of the prominent citizens of Sandwich are first mentioned in connection with a serious religious dissension in the town.  From the first settlement of the place, its inhabitants were looked upon by the authorities at Plymouth, as more than commonly indifferent to the execution of the laws in favor of uniformity in worship. Many persons had been subjected to fines for speaking disrespectfully of the laws, and of the mode of conducting public worship. So great became the falling off of attendance upon the ministrations of Mr. Leverich, the first minister, that, (about 1654) he concluded to leave the’ place, and for nearly twenty years the people were destitute of a regular pastor. In the meantime Mr. Richard Bourne and Mr. Thomas Tupper, persons “of a religious turn of mind, and possessed of some powers of public speaking but without a regular ordination,” conducted the services on the Lord’s day. “Each of them had his party, and each was the occupant of the pulpit according as he might have the most adherents.” The congregation had become much reduced in numbers, and was not formally divided, though distracted by factions. One portion of them are said to have been tinged with fanaticism and were much blamed for driving away the late pastor. Another portion is said to have been disgusted with such a state of things and to have mainly withdrawn frompublic worship. These last are said by Rev. Mr. Fessenden, the minister of Sandwich 1722-46, to have embraced “Antinomian and Familistical errors, under the ministry of Rev. Stephen BACHILER, the first minister of Lynn.”

And yet Daniel Wing’s name appears with eighteen others of the most respectable and conservative of the church members, attached to a call given about 1655/56, to some person engaged as a temporary supply. The call was entered upon the regular minutes of that time though it is now without superscription indicating to whom itwas addressed or its precise date.

Such notices prepare us to appreciate the position of Daniel Wing and others who acted with him in political and religious affairs. As early as 1646, a general movement was made throughout the Plymouth Colony in behalf of toleration.

A petition was extensively signed and presented to the General Court “to allow and maintain fulland free tolerance of religion to all men that would preserve the civil peace and submit to government.  It was supported by numbers of the Deputies, and by a large portion of the inhabitants of Sandwich. It was however overruled by the arbitrary act of Gov.Bradford. In 1654,it is recorded that “the people of both colonies began about this time to be indifferent to the ministry, and to exercise their own gifts, doubting the utilityof public preaching.” Up to this time Daniel acted with the church of Sandwich, and his contributions were among the largest in the support ofMr. Leverich and in the repairs of the parsonage. His name does not appear among the opponents of that minister, and the probability is that he was one of those who were offended at the proceedings which resulted in the long vacancy.

In 1657, “the people called Quakers” made their first appearance in Sandwich.  (See my postings Puritans v. Quakers) In Bowden’s “History of the Society of Friends in America,”it is mentioned that two English Friends named ‘Christopher Holden and John Copeland came to Sandwich on the 20th of 6th month ,1657, and had a number of meetings, and that their arrival was hailed with feelings of satisfaction by many who had long been burdened with a lifeless ministry and dead forms in religion. But the town had its advocates of reliigous intolerance and no small commotion ensued.” The Governor issued a warrant for their arrest, but when a copy of the warrant was asked for by Wm. Newland at whose house the meetings had been held, it was refused and its execution was resisted. A severe rebuke and a fine was then inflicted upon them. The two prisoners were sentenced to be whipped, but the selectmen of the town declined to act in the case and the marshal was obliged to take them to Barnstable to find a magistrate willing to comply with the order.

Tradition reports that many meetings were held at a secluded spot in the woods which from the preacher’s Christian name was afterwards known as “Christopher’s Hollow.” Numerous complaints were made against divers persons in Sandwich for “meetings at private houses and inveighing against magistrates;” and several men and women were publicly whipped for “disturbing public worship, for abusing the ministers,” for “encouraging” others in holding meetings, for “entertaining the preachers and for unworthy speeches.” Daniel Wing, with three others, was arrested “for tumultuous carriage at a meeting of Quakers.” and severely fined, though there is no evidence that a single Quaker, besides the preachers, was present, and it is certain that neither of these persons professed at that time any adherence to the new sect.

Daniel and Stephen Wing refused to take the “oath of fidelity,”not on the ground that they declined all oaths, but because this particular oath pledged them to assist in the execution of an intolerant enactment.

Among the fines inflicted on Daniel Wing we find March 1658 for entertaing Quakers, 20 shillings. For refusing to take the oath of fidelity,£5. imposed 4 times: Oct 1658, Oct 1669, Mar 1660, Jun 1660. December, 1658, excluded from the number of freemen. For refusing to aid the marshal, £10.

Indeed, so generally were the laws against free worship condemned in Sandwich, that the constable was “unable to discharge his duty by reason of many disturbent persons there residing,” and itwas enacted that “a marshal be chosen for such service in Sandwich, Barnstable and Yarmouth.” In 1658 a list was made out by the Governor and other magistrates of “certain persons who refused to take the oath of fidelity” and for that reason had no legal right to act as inhabitants. They were, therefore, each fined five pounds to the colony’s use, and it was ordered that each and every one of them should henceforth have no power to act in any town meeting till better evidence appeared of their legal admittance, nor to claim title or interest in any town privileges as town’s men, and that no man should henceforth be admitted an inhabitant of Sandwich, or enjoy the privileges thereol, without the approbation of the church and of Mr. Thomas PRENCE (the Governor), or of the assistants whom they shall choose. Many were summoned to Plymouth to account for nonattendance upon public worship, and distraints were exacted from these recusants in Sandwich to satisfy for fines to the amount of six hundred and sixty pounds. Of these fines Daniel Wing paid not less than twelve pounds.

Up to this time Daniel Wing, with others who acted with him appear simply as friends of toleration and resisters of an oppressive law. But it was not long before he and most of these sympathizers became active converts to the persecuted sect. “In 1658 no less than eighteen families in Sandwich recorded their names” in one of the documents of the Society. Writers of that period (1658-60) say: “We have two strong places in this land, the one at Newport and the other at Sandwich; almost the whole town of Sandwich is adhering towards them,” and the Records of Monthly Meetings of Friends show that “the Sandwich Monthly Meeting was the first established in America.”  Its records extend as far back as 1672, which is earlier than any other known in this country. It was not until the accession of King Charles the Second (about 1660) that these proceedings against the Quakers were discontinued by the royal order, and the most obnoxious laws were repealed in the colony of Plymouth, when we are told that “the Quakers became the most peaceful, industrious and moral of all the religious sects.” la the fervor of religious zeal, and while smarting under severe injuries, they doubtless at this early period provoked the authorities by indiscretions which none of their successors in the faith would attempt to justify, and yet every descendant of the Puritans must regret that those who had themselves suffered so much for their conscientious convictions should have inflicted such severities upon dissenters from their own views.

In 1658 the true bounds of every inhabitant’s lands were laid out and ordered by the General Court, so that the lands might be brought to record. There were fifty-five such owners whose names are recorded, among whom Daniel and Stephen Wing are mentioned. According to some records Daniel died in the year 1664, but Freeman and Savage make his death five years earlier (1659). His will was dated May 3, 1659, but as one of his children was born in 1660 and another later in the year 1664, we agree withthe Plymouth records inplacing his death near the latter date. He married, 9th month, 5, 1641, Hannah, adaughter of John Swift. The Swifts were numerous in the western part of the town, especially at Scusset (West Sandwich), where an inn was for many years kept by one of the name, of such notoriety as to give the place itself a considerable reputation Hannah died Dec. 1st, 1664, soon after the birth of her youngest child. Her father’s will, dated the twelfth day of the eighth month, 1662, bequeaths certain amounts to Samuel and John, the sons of his daughter Hannah ; and the inventory of his property was made May 1, 1666. by Stephen Wing and Stephen Skiffe.

5. Stephen Winge

Stephen’s first wife Oseah Dillingham was born Feb 1622, Cotesbach, England.  Her parents were Edward DILLINGHAM and Ursula CARTER.   Oseah died 29 Apr 1654 Sandwich, Plymouth Colony.

Stephen married Oseah Dillingham in 1646, after appearing before the General Court for having had carnal knowledge of Oseah before their marriage.

Because of her father’s reputation, Oseah Dillingham must have enjoyed a prominent position among her peers in the small village of Sandwich, Massachusetts. Therefore it must have been doubly humiliating for Oseah to have to endure the censure of the magistrates because of her pregnancy before her marriage to Stephen Wing.

“Whereas Steven Wing, of Sandwich, [and] Oseah Dillingham, were found to haue had carnall knowledge each of others body before contract of matrimony, which the said Steven Wing, coming into the face of the Court, freely acknowledging, he was, according to order of Court, fined in x li, and so is discharged.” Plymouth Court Records, March 2, 1646/47.

There are no any historical records that have survived that describe the outrage the Edward Dillingham must have experienced when he learned the news that Stephen Wing had taken advantage of his daughter. Chances are that Stephen Wing got a good thrashing in the woods followed by a severe upbraiding by Edward Dillingham and Stephen’s older brothers, John and Daniel Wing.

Stephen’s second wife Sarah Briggs was born 1641 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Mass. Her parents were John Briggs and Catherine [__?__]. Sarah died 26 Mar 1689 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Mass.

Stephen resided in Sandwich. It is contended by some that he continued to live with his father even after his marriage. Tradition, however, with considerable confidence and probability, fixes his precise location on a farm not far from Spring Hill, now in the possession of a descendant.

A part of the house which he built in 1644 is said to be still in existence.  From his business as a town official, we conclude that for a while at least he must have lived at the central village of Sandwich. In 1646-7, he was married to Oseah, the daughter of Edward Dillingham, one of the nine associates to whom the town had been granted April 3, 1637. In accordance with the rigid laws of that period, and which were enforced against all, however high their position in society, some objections were made against him and a fine was laid upon him. by the Court at Plymouth, March 2, 1646/47 for the too early birth of his first child after marriage. He appears however to have been an earnest advocate of religion and was a strenuous supporter of religious meetings and of public order. Yet he with many others of that period came in conflict with the exclusiveness and intolerance to which both church and state were then committed. From the first the whole family of his father and his mother’s father were inclined to a greater freedom in worship and life than the customs and laws of the colonies permitted. In this they had the sympathies of what seems to have been for many years a majority of the inhabitants of Sandwich.

The religious difficulties of the town by no means originated as has been supposed, with the advent of the Quakers. Loud complaints were made respecting those who resisted the severe and arbitrary laws of the colony long before any meetings forbidden by law were set up, or the name of Quaker was known And yet the prevalence of such a spirit and sentiment prepared (he people of Sandwich to decline enforcing and even to resist the cruel laws against the Quakers when these people made their appearance, in 1657 when Nicholas Upsall visited Sandwich there was a great commotion Public proclamation was made that for every hour’s entertainment of him “a severe fine was to be exacted.” In spite of such a law, several families at that time nol at allinclined to Quakerism, not only received him to their bouses, but allowed him and others to bold meetings and attended upon them. Stephen, with his brother Daniel, began first with contending for tolerance, and soon their sympathy with suffering was exchanged for conversion to the faith of the sufferers. Severe fives were imposed upon him, imprisonment was threatened if not absolutely inflicted on him, and even the town privileges of a freeman were withdrawn from him and his friends because he declined for a time to take the oath of fidelity which bound him to assist in the execution of such laws. He had been admitted a freeman and enrolled among those “liable to bear arms” in 1643, and had been assigned his proper proportion and boundary of land in 1658. So large, however, was the number of converts to the Friends, and so general the disposition to tolerate them among the people of Sandwich, that the laws against them could not be enforced, and if any punishments were inflicted it had to be done out of town. Stephen and his family became permanently connected with the Society of Friends, and his posterity have in all their generations remained true to his example.

In 1667 he with William Griffith presented to probate the will of his father-in law, Edward Dillingham,and in 1669 he was chosen town clerk. In 1675 the town voted to record his name with many others as having a just right to the privileges of the town. In 1678 he seems to have overcome his scruples about taking the oath of fidelity for his name that year appears among those on the list ofits receivers.

Oa the 9th day of the 4th month 1653-4, his wife Oseah died ;and on the 7th of the 11th month of the same year he married Sarah, the daughter of Johu Briggs, who came to America in 1635, aged 20. She died 3d month, 26, 1689 ; but the period of his own death is uncertain. One account gives it as 2d month, 24, 1710 (OldStyle). The will of one named Stephen Wing is given inthe records, dated Dec 2 1700, and proved July 13, 1710;and it mentions sons Nathanael, Elisha and John, and daughters Sarah Giflbrd and Abigail Wing, and a grandson, Jeremiah Gifford. “Ebenezer Wing and Matthew Wing, sons of the deceased/ were appointed by the judge to be executors of the will. From this date we infer that Stephen continued to live through the first decade of the last century, although he must then have been not less than eighty-eight years of age.

7. Matthew Winge

Matthew’s wife Joan(e) Newman (Nicholson) was born 1627 in Sandwich, Kent, England. Her parents were Robert Newman and [__?__]. Joan died 27 Aug 1680 in Stroud, Kent, England

There is a tradition among the New England members of the family that Matthew Wing, Deborah’s youngest son, “went back to England to look after some property left behind.” We have positive knowledge that Matthew Wing returned to Stroud, married, lived and died there.

Sources

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wingfamilyofamerica/p1344.htm#i2000267

http://worldcupcafe.pbworks.com/John+Winge

http://worldcupcafe.pbworks.com/Deborah+Bachiler+Wing

Quaker family of Daniel Wing in America

http://www.nashfamilyhistory.com/winglibrary.org/john.html

http://www.communitywalk.com/historic_wing_sites_in_sandwich/map/27748  Historic Wing Sites in Sandwich Very Cool

http://amoena.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/descendants-of-matthew-wing/