General Notes

"John Wing, third son and sixthe child of Matthew and Mary, was born at Banbury, England, and christened in the ancient Church of St. Mary's, January 12, 1584, in the 26th year of the reighn of Queen Elizabeth.

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 her 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 Mathew'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 empowered 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.

Mathew 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 gentleman's knightly pleasure or payment. If he sued to recover the price, he was liable to imprison 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 were legal modes of punishment of 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 also 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 mere 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 nations'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. 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 the 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."

"Of the peers of the realm during Elizabeth's reign only about sixty knew their letters. In the rural 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 at Stratford only six could write their names. Nor was the ignorance confined to the laymen. In 1578, according to Neal, on 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 fountainhead of English church theology. His parents were members of the established church, and it was quite 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."

John was almost assuredly influenced, if not intimidated, by Stephen Bachiler, who was wee-known for his strong opinions, and had already refused to allow his daughter, Theodate, to marry Christopher Hussey unless they agreed to move to the New World.

John and Deborah married around 1608-1610, aged about 25 and 18. Their first child, Deborah, was born in 1611.

"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...

"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 beliefs and teachings. He was the first settled English pastor English pastor as the Hague, being admitted 11 May, 1627. The states of Holland allowed him a subsidy of 300 pounds per 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. The church, or chapel, was much frequented by the royal family, and especially by Elizabeth, daughter of King James, wife of the King of Bohemia."

Many of his sermons remain and, while rambling, "reveal to us a man of strong spirituality, classic learning, masterful character, ready wit, fierce invective, a facile pen and a ready tongue. He lived in an age of cant and on-winded sermons, and at time his preachings take on the color of the age, but through them all gleams the effort to be of sincere use to his fellowmen."

After some fifteen years of exile in Holland, John, Deborah and their children returned to London where John fell ill and died. Whether he had previously planned to move to America or not is not known but, in any case, Deborah and the four sons and her father moved to America.

With some repetition, notes from Toni Nash's Web site:

See John Wing Jr. notes for sources of information.

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 Bachiler. 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 Hanbury 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.

Rev. John Wing and Deborah Bachiler Wing had at least four sons.

JOHN WING....1584 to 1630...(of England & Holland)
(Father of four sons brought to New England in 1632 by their widowed mother, from England to Saugus, Mass.)
(*) Serial No. 2 in published genealogy

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, third son and sixth child of Matthew and Mary, was born at Banbury, England, and christened in the ancient Church of St. Mary's., January 12, 1584, in the 26th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

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 empowered 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 gentleman's knightly pleasure for payment. If he sued to recover the price, he was liable to imprisonment 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 rural 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 reighn, 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 church 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 of 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 well beloved 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 challenge from me, the manifestation of a thankfull hart unto you all to whose kindness 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 Puritan 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 September, 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 containing "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 spirituality, 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 cosmopolitan 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 sternness of bearing. The Rev. John at all times felt the responsibilities of his mission.

The English records 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.

Will of Rev. John Wing



------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the name of God Amen, the second daie of November one thousand sixe hundred twenty nine And in the fifth yeare of the reigne of our Soveraigne Lord Kinge Charles etc. I John Winge late of the Hague in Holland, clarke, now living in the pish (parish) of St. Mary Aldermary London and being sicke in bodie but of good and perfect minde and memory praised bee Almightie God, Doe make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and forme following First and principallie I commend my soule into the hands of Almightie God my maker trusting and assuredly believing to have full and free remission of all my sinnes by and through the only marritte and righteousness of Jesus Christ my alone Savior and my bodie I committ to the earth of which it came to bee decently buried where it shall please the Lord to direct. And as touching my wordly estate and substance whereof I am now possessed, I give and bequeath the same as followeth. First whereas I am now possessed and interested of an in certayne lands being freehold with appurtenances lying and beinge in the parish of Crickston and Stroud in the county of Kent or elsewhere, I will and desire and my minde and meaning is that the same be sold as soon as conveniently maye bee by my Executrix herein after named to the best profitt and advantage, and that the money thereof arisinge shall bee (with all and singular of, my other goods chattels and estate etc. whatsoever) divided into two equal pts and porcons (parts and portions), the one moietty whereof to be had received and enioyed unto and by my loving wife Deborah and the other pte or moytie to bee equallie and indifferently had, parted, divided and enioyed unto and amongst all my children share and share like, except unto and by my daughter Deborah whom I have allready advanced in marriage. And therefore I will that what I have allready given as her marriage porcon shall be accepted as pte of her dividend and proporcon of my estate given amongst my children by this will. And my will and meaning is, and I doe hereby appoint that ye said legacies and porcons shall be paid unto my sonnes at their severall ages of one and twentie years and unto my daughters unmarried at their like several ages of one and twentie years or severall daites of marriage wen of them shall first happen. And if any of my child or children happen to die or depart this life before the said legacies shall become due to be paid unto them or any of them in and by this my will then I will that the survivor or survivors of him, her, or them that shall soe happen to die in the mean tyme, shall have, receive and enjoye the legacie and bequest of him, her, or them soe dying as in aforesaid equallie to and amongst all the said survivor or survivors. And I hereby will that my said wife shall have and enjoye the benefitt and profitt of my childrens porcon herein by my will bequeathed towards their educacon and maintenance until their said porcon shall become due and payable to them severallie and respectively according to this my present will. Item, I will that all such debts as I owe in right or in conscience, together with my funeral charges shall be first paid, deducted, and allowed out of all my estate. An . d I doe hereby name, nominate and appoint my loving wife Deborah my Executrix of this my last will & testament and my loving friends Edward Foorde of London mercht and Andrew Blake of Stroud in the Countie of