Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Their magazine American Ancestors, Fall 2018, has an interesting article by Robert Charles Anderson starting on page 29. They have been publishing books by Mr. Anderson called The Great Migration series, which gives information on the many people that left England for the American colonies, including the Mayflower passengers, and for the great migration of people about 50 years after the Mayflower. I have access to their online database, which includes some data from their Great Migration books.
They are coming out with a new book soon, to be released in December 2018, called Puritan Pedigrees: The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England. It outlines the growth of the Puritan network, and the reasons why many of the pilgrims came to America.
Stephen Bachiler is my 11th great grandfather. This lineage includes Matthew Gooding Reed and Ruth Anne Smith, which leads me to both American Patriot John Lecky (DAR and SAR) and to George Soule, Mayflower passenger. But another branch of that lineage leads to Stephen Bachiler.
Stephen Bachiler was not a Mayflower passenger, but is mentioned by name in the magazine article, and mentioned in more detail in the book, to be published soon. He was a great influence on the Great Migration, leaving England and coming to Massachusetts. He left mainly due to religious persecution.
According to the magazine article, Stephen Bachiler was born about 1561 in England, was a radical Puritan in his university days, and in the early 1600s was deprived of earning a living as a minister because he disagreed with English royalty on some points. He was vicar of Wherwill, Hampshire in England until 1605 when he was deprived of his job by the government. He was being punished because he disagreed with the English crown.
If you will recall, Henry VIII was a Catholic, wanted to divorce his wife to marry another, the pope refused, and so Henry started the Church of England, so he could basically be his own pope and make his own religious decisions. Every Protestant English monarch since then has been the head of the Church of England. The king or queen rules their country and their church. They do not have separation of church and state there. (A basic American belief.)
Stephen Bachiler sailed to New England in 1631, mainly to escape persecution and government policies. He was an independent thinker and wanted freedom.
For more information, consult American Ancestors magazine, Fall 2018, pp. 29-34, or the upcoming book Puritan Pedigrees: The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England, releasing next month (late December 2018) and available here.
It is fascinating to know that my ancestor is one of the big movers and shakers on why so many people left England for the Americas. Stephen Bachiler was an influence to be reckoned with, and was well respected in his time for challenging royalty and escaping England to come to the Americas.
And on this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful that we live in America, where these ideas of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the freedom to think any way you wish are not only allowed, but encouraged. And many of these ideas of freedom were promoted by my ancestors!
Happy Thanksgiving!