Person:Stephen Wing (2)

Stephen youngest of the sons of the Rev John and Deborah (Bachellor) Wing was born in England and was three when his mother embarked from England with him and his older sister Deborah for Holland. They came to New England with his mother when nine years old. There were four sons, Stephen, John, Daniel and Matthew.

It is believed that Edward Dillingham was a fellow passenger on the good ship William and Frncis with the widow Deborah and her four sons.

Stephen and Oseah must have had a romance of their own for they evidently loved well but not wisely. On March 2, 1647 Stephen was brought before a court and fined because of the fact that a child was born to his wife at "an unseasonable time after their marriage" which had been the preceding fall. Stephen freely acknowledged and he was according to the order of the Court, fined and discharged. Governor Bradford signed the record.

Frederick Clifton Pierce in "Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy page 93 writes; Stephen, the youngest son of John and Deborah Batchelder Wing, 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 concluded that for a while at least he must have lived at the central village of Sandwich.

In 1646/7 he married Oseah, the daughter of Edward Dillingham, one of the nine associates to whom the town was granted 3 April 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, 2 March 1646/7 for the too early birth of his first child after marriage. He appears, however, to have been an earnest advocate of religion and of morality, for he was a strenuous supporter of religious meetings and of public order, ye the, with many others of that period came in conflict with the exclusiveness and intolerance to which both church and state ware then committed. From the first the whole family of his father and is 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. Land complaints were made respecting those who resisted the severe and arbitrary laws of the colony long before any meetings for bidden by law were set up or the name of Quaker was known. Yet the prevalence of such a spirit and sentiment prepared the people of Sandwich to decline enforcing and even to resist the cruel law against the Quakers when these people made their appearance.

   From "Annals of the Wing Family of America Incorporated, 1949, pages 7-14 is a history of Stephen's life. Following is his Will which was probated July 13, 1710in Barnstable County:

   I Stephen Wing of the Town of Sandwich in the County of Barnstable in New England being aged and weal of Body yet through ye mercy of God of Disposing mind and memory and calling to mind ye uncertainty of this Transitory Life I am desirous according to my duty to sett things in order before God Shall Call me thence. And therefore Do make this my Last Will and Testament hereby Revoking and Depannelling all former Will and Wills by word or writing heretofore by me made and Do hereby Constitute and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following: viz: my Desire to Commit my Soul to God in Jesus Christ who gave it and my body to Decent Buriall at our friends Burieng place att Spring Hill when God shall please to Call me Hence; And as touching my Worldly Estate which God hath beyond my Deserts bestowed on me my Wil is to Dispost of it as followeth.

   Imprs my Will is that all my Debts on Right or Conscience to any man Due Togather with my Funeral Charges shall be first, Discharged by my Exectrs hereafter named in Convenient Time out of my Estate.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my son, Nathaniel Wing Ten Pounds.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my son, Elisha Wing Ten Pounds.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah Gifford fifty Shillings.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my daughter Abigail Twenty Shillings.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my son John Wing my Great Dripping pan and spitt.

   * Item I Will and bequeath unto my grandson Jeremiah Gifford Twenty Shillings and each Legacy to be paid in two years after my Decease.

   Finally my Will is and I Do hereby Constitute and appoint my two sons, viz: Ebenezer Wing and Matthew Wing Joynt Exectrs to this my last Will and Testament to admininster upon my said Estate and to pay my Debts and Legacys according to this my will.

   In witness whereff I have hereunto set my hand and seal this second day of December Anno Domoni 1700
   Stephen Wing (Seal)

   Signed, Sealed and declared to be his last will and testament in presence Stephen Skiff, Jashub Wing, Daniel Allen, Wm. Bassett.

   Barnstable, SS; on the 13th day of July 1710, when William Bassett, Daniel and Jashub Wing whose names are sett to this will as witnesses yet before Barnabas Loathrop Esqr Judge of Probate etc. for the County of Barnstable Did Testify as in the presence of God that they did see Stephen Wing late of Sandwich now Deceased sign and seal this instrument & heard him own it to be his Last Will and Testament.
   Attest: Wm. Bassett, Regtr.

   The Hoxie records, drawn from the records of the Spring HIll Meeting, state that Stephen Wing died 2nd month (April 24, 1710)

   "We are fortunate in knowing the age of Stephen and that he was three years old in 1624 when his mother embarked from England with him and his older sister Deborah for Holland. Stephen, like his brothers, spent the first years of his life at Flushing and at The Hagaue, and came to New England with his mother when nine years old."

   Taken off the internet, I think copied from OWL:
   Event: military muster roll 6 7 Quality: 3 AUG 1643 Sandwich, PC
   We are fortunate in knowing the age of Stephen and that he was three
   years old in 1624 when his mother embarked from England with him and
   his older sister Deborah for Holland. Stephen, like his brothers, spent the
   first years of his life at Flushing and at The Hague, and came to New
   England with his mother when nine years old.
   It is generally believed that immediately following the marriage
   of Stephen and Osheah they located in the "Old Fort House" near Spring
   Hill. Deborah and her son John, (and possibly Matthew) were living it
   was left to Stephen to establish himself with his young family. In the
   days of the first settlements upon the Cape, the pioneers had at various
   points built substantial stone and brick enclosures as defences from
   possible Indian forays. They soon came to know the Cape Indians were
   inclined to be peaceable and friendly and that these block houses or forts
   were unnecessary. It seems probable that, thru the influence of his
   father-in-law and brothers, the town of Sandwich sold or assigned the
   old fort and its surrounding acres to Stephen. Anyway, he seems to have
   lived there from the very first.[CI:130:?4:CI]
   Swift in his "History of Barnstable Families," says of the "Old Fort
   House:" "All the old houses at Spring Hill have undergone similar
   transformations. The Wing House, probably the oldest house in
   Massachusetts, built before 1643 as a fortification, has been altered
   so often that little of the original remains." The writer first visited the
   "Old Fort House" in the summer of 1901, and since that time has
   carefully examined it many times. Its walls, like those of the majority
   of the old Cape houses, are shingled. The fort itself now constitutes the
   parlor of Mr. Wing's home, a room 15x18 feet in dimension. Deep
   embrasures for the windows show the thickness of the stone walls
   encased, and old oaken rafters overhead indicate the size of the original
   building. A great fireplace almost occupies one end of the room, leading
   to an immense chimney around which the several parts of the building
   seem to have been gathered. A quaint, narrow stairway leads to the
   second floor, and the entire ensemble impresses one with its
   self-evident antiquity... The building nestles at the foot of a hill, just
   across the old road leading up to Spring Hill Meeting House, a half mile
   away. At the rear of the house are salt marshes stretching away to the
   waters of Cape Cod Bay, partially covered at high tide. A full panoramic
   sweep of the bay is presented, and a five minute walk brings one to the
   beach itself. We have the satisfaction of knowing that the home of
   Stephen and Osheah was most pleasantly situated.[CI:129:?4:CI]
   The story of the Wing house in brief is told upon a tablet erected by
   the Wing Family of America, which once or twice has held reunions at
   this original source of the various branches of the family. It reads:
   "Stephen Wing, son of the Rev. John and Deborah Wing, settled in
   Sandwich in 1637. He lived on this land and built this house in 1641. He
   was a member of the first Friends Meeting in America, established at
   Spring Hill in 1658, and suffered a great persecution at the hands of the
   Plymouth Government in the cause of Religious Liberty. He died in 1710
   and is buried at Spring Hill." There is, it seems, another version that the
   house was built in 1637: ...When the house was completed it was believed
   that Mrs. Deborah Wing lived there, and there is a tradition that the name
   of Sandwich was given to the town through the Widow Wing in fond
   memory of Sandwich, England, where her husband had received signal
   honors. [CI:127:?4:CI]

Father: JOHN WING b: 1 DEC 1584 Mother: DEBORAH BACHELDER b: 1592

Marriage 1 Osheah Dillingham

   * Married: 1646

Children

  1. Has No Children Nathaniel Wing b: ABT 1647
  2. Has No Children Deborah Wing b: ABT 1648
  3. Has No Children Ephriam Wing b: 21 APR 1649
  4. Has No Children Mercy or Mary Wing b: 13 NOV 1650

Marriage 2 SARAH BRIGGS b: 1641 in Sandwich, Massachusetts

   * Married: 7 NOV 1654 1

Children

  1. Has No Children Stephen Wing b: 5 NOV 1656
  2. Has No Children Sarah Wing b: 5 DEC 1659
  3. Has No Children John Wing b: 25 JUL 1661
  4. Has No Children Abigail Wing b: 1 MAR 1663/64
  5. Has Children ELISHA WING b: 2 DEC 1668 in Sandwich, Massachusetts
  6. Has No Children Ebenezer Wing b: 11 MAY 1671
  7. Has No Children Matthew Wing b: 1 JAN 1672/73
  8. Has No Children Joseph Wing b: 20 FEB 1676/77
  9. Has No Children Benjamin Wing b: 1 JUL 1678

Sources:

  1. 11ND MONTH,

1. ↑ Descendants of Rev. John Wing.
2.   Pierce, Frederick Clifton. Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy, Descendants of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, of England, Second Publisher: Genealogy.com, Second Address: Fremont,. (W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago, 1898)
   page 94, One account gives it as 2d month 24, 1710 (old style). The will of one named Stephen Wing is given in the records, dated Dec. 2, 1700, and proved July 13, 1710.
3. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   4:595.

   "STEPHEN, Sandwich 1643-59, br. of Daniel b. in Eng. had, by w. Oziah Dillingham, Deborah, b. 10 Oct. 1648; and Mercy, 13 Nov. 1650. His w. d. 29 Apr. 1654, and he m. 7 Jan. foll. Sarah Briggs, but I do not ascert. the name of f. had Stephen, 2 Sept. 1656; Sarah, 5 Feb. 1658; John, 22 or 25 Sept. 1661; Abigail, 1 May 1664; Elisha, 2 Feb. 1669; Ebenezer, 11 July 1671; and Matthew, 1 Mar. 1674. His w. d. 26 Mar. 1689, and he d. 24 Apr. 1710."