Owl. If not in September, perhaps we may put the Pageant on when the National Reunion is held in our Charmed Land.

A letter received from Grace Wing Barnes (Mrs. Harold Douglas), of Burlington, Iowa, daughter of our Col. George W. Wing, tells us that herself and husband will arrive in Seattle in June for the Kiwanis International. Mr. Barnes is delegate from his club, serving as its president. It will be their first coast trip. Grace wishes to be reinfected with some "Wing" pep. (We shall expect her to go back to Iowa and organize that great state). The Wings of Washington will welcome them with a will.

The following "Early Wings of England" was written and read by Lura B. Wing Benson at the meeting:

The first known mention we have of Matthew Wing is contained in the records of St. Mary's Church at Banbury, England, under date of April 21, 1576, when his second son, Thomas, was christened. Banbury is situated about ninety-five miles from London and eighteen miles from Stratford-on-Avon, the home of Shakespeare. Its population does not exceed 4,500 souls though its vicinity is thickly studded with villages. The famous little town is in the heart of a country that has been the scene of many stirring times in English history. Banbury is best known to English speaking people by a quaint nursery rhyme

al

"Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady on a white horse, etc."

The procession of the fine lady of the rings and bells takes place each year in Banbury with considerable ceremony.

From the golden clouds of this illustrious age there emerged to us from oblivion Matthew Wing. His grandfather was either a Roman Catholic or a Pagan. There is no record of his marriage or of the birth of his oldest son, Fulk. Matthew was born about 1548 in the days of the boy king, Edward VI. The days of Matthew Wing's boyhood were days of gloom, terror and depression in England. The father of Matthew was undoubtedly required to

acknowledge the "real presence" in the holy communion, as were all Englishmen of his day, and because they would not many were publicly burned at the stake. People were seized on suspicion and articles given them to sign, and on their refusal they were condemned to the flames. With guarded tones these horrible events must have been told of around the fireside of Matthew's home, and his life sobered with their recital.

Hollingshed, who lived in Queen Elizabeth's reign, gave a very curious account of the plain or rather rude way of living in the preceeding generation, which would be the generation of Matt. hew's parents. There was scarcely a chimney to the houses even in the larger towns. The fire was kindled by the wall and the smoke sought its way out by the roof or door or windows; the houses were nothing but twigs plastered over with clay, the people slept on straw pallets and had a good round log under their head for a pillow.

The value of money must be understood to appreciate the magnitude of Matthew's legacies in his will to his children. He gave 40 shillings to his son, John. The comptroller of King Edward VI paid only 30 shillings a year rental for his house in Channel Row. The best pig could be purchased for four pence and the wages of a working man were eight pence a day. Only four men in all London were rated with an income of more than four hundred pounds a year in 1586. Coaches were not introduced in England until after 1580 and if Matthew and his wife Mary journeyed abroad they rode upon a small pony, Mary behind, as did Queen Elizabeth behind her chamberlain.

The vital record of St. Mary's church at Banbury had been kept for eighteen years before the name of Wing appeared upon the church books in April 1576 when the baptism of Matthew's second son, Thomas, was recorded. The fact that from this time on for a period of over one hundred years the name of the family appears with regularity it may be surmised that Matthew and his wife married elsewhere and that their first son, Fulk, was not a native of Banbury.

During all the religious excitement

Matthew seems to have been a regular communicant at St. Mary's and in his will he expressed the desire that his body be buried in St. Mary's church yard. Perhaps he was a regular attendant for the reason that good "Queen Bess" provided a fine of twenty pounds upon those who absented themselves for a period of a month. Thirty years after the burial of Matthew Wing the bullets of Roundheads and Cavaliers were flying over his grave and the ground covering him was trampled upon by contending armies. Mary, wife of Matthew, and our first known maternal ancestor, was buried in St. Mary's church yard July 24th, 1613, and the first book of the church record recites: Matthew Wing, Taylor, buried Oct. 19, 1614. John Wing, the third son of Matthew and Mary was born in Banbury, England, and christened in in the ancient church of St. Mary's January, 1584

Every question of religious ceremony was regulated by Queen Elizabeth When Matthew, or perhaps Mary, carried the infant John up the stately aisles of old St. Mary's, he was baptized with the parents and attendants kneeling at the sacrament, which was sealed by the sign of the cross. England at this time was an absolute monarchy and execution took place for robbery and felonies; whippings and burnings were punishments for lesser crimes.

The boyhood of John was spent in Banbury. The schools of that day were called grammar schools and no doubt John made good use of them for he was able to matriculate at Oxford when only fifteen years of age. We cannot doubt that he was a regular Sunday school attendant at St. Mary's. His deeply spiritual nature was a surety of that. John entered Oxford University October 15, 1599, and in February, 1603, Queen's college invested him with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. That we may better appreciate the scholarly attainments of young John Wing when he finished Queen's college a review of the times may be interesting.

In the rural districts to read and write were considered rare accomplishments. And of the peers of the realm during Elizabeth's reign only about sixty knew

their letters. Shakespeare's father was High Bailiff of Stratford but he could neither read nor write. Oxford, at the time of John's graduation, was the head of English Church theology. John probably secured a position in some country village as a curate and while acting in that capacity he met Deborah Bachiler, daughter of the Vicar of Wherwell (Horrell) in Hampton. Deborah's father Stephen Bachiler, was a man of learning and ability and of independent forceful character. It was most likely through his influence that John later broke off his relations with his mother church. John and Deborah were married about 1609 when John was twentyfive years of age and Deborah barely eighteen.

and

In 1617 John Wing is found preaching to the famous society of Merchants Adventures of England in Hanover, Germany. In 1620 he was ordained pastor of the English Churches of Flushing and Middleburg. He was the first settled English pastor at the Hague. This church was much frequented by the Royal family and it was here that Mr. Wing preached his sermon "The Saints' Advantage" before Queen Elizabeth. This sermon was printed and sold in I ondon. In his foreword "To the Christian Reader" printed at Middleburg Mr. Wing says: "If I have spoken truth, who need protect me? If not, who can ?" Five of the volumes of John Wing's publications are held by the the British Museum and have been seen and examined there by several members of the Wing family from America. At least one copy of each of the five publications is now in America.

Our Dr. Emma Wing Thompson visited England in 1913 and was enabled to find and examine four of John Wing's books. They were "The Crowne Conjugal" written in 1620; "Jacob's Staffe" written in 1621; "The Best Merchandise" written in 1622 and "The Saints' Advantage" written in 1623. These books are well preserved and in their original bindings. Dr. Thompson asked the guide how much money would buy these books and he replied that no amount would ever buy them but that they could be reprinted at four cents.

for each seventy-two words. She suggested that at that rate no one except the millionaires of the Wing family will attempt it. The "Saints Advantage" is a part of the great John Adams collection in the Boston Public Library. This book is carefully guarded under lock and key by keepers of the library. Over 800 pages of John Wing's writings and and preachings are accessible to those of his posterity living to-day. They reveal to us a man of strong spirituality, classic learning, masterful characteristics. ready wit and a ready tongue. Through all his sermon gleams the effort to be of sincere use to his fellowmen. Fully fifteen years of the lives of John and Deborah were spent in Germany and Holland as practical exiles from their native land. Their associates and members of their congregation were people of note and keen enterprise.

Mr. Wing's salary of five hundred pounds a year while at the Hague afforded him the means of living in luxury. Reckoned for its purchasing capacity at that time it would equal the the modern salary of $10,000 given to favored ministers of the gospel and speaks for itself of the value placed upon his services.

We have been unable to learn what changes brought Mr. Wing and his family from the Hague to London. Perhaps the growing power of the Puritan movement or he may have been preparing to emigrate to America with his fatherin-law, Stephen Bachiler, who had decided to bring his entire family to this side of the Atlantic. But the Reverend John Wing became ill and died in London in 1630 at the age of forty-six and his wife Deborah at thirty-eight was left a widow with five children. Her only daughter, Deborah, aged nineteen had recently married. Her eldest son, John, was seventeen; her son, Daniel, was a year or two younger. Stephen was nine and Matthew still younger. It is thought that Deborah and her children returned to Holland after the the death of her husband as records show that Stephen Bachiler aged seventy went in June 1631 to visit his sons and daughters across the seas. He probably made this visit to Deborah that he might

complete final arrangements for settlement in New England, which occurred the following spring.

The sons of Mr. Bachiler known to us were Samuel and Nathaniel and his daughters were Deborah, Ann and Theodate. Much has been written of the remarkable career of Stephen Bachiler. He was one of the strong stormy characters of the New England colonies and he left a posterity among whom are numbered Daniel Webster, John Greenleaf Whittier and others of note. He was born in 1561 and entered Oxford at the age of twenty years where he received his B. A. degree and two years later he became vicar of the Church of the Holy Cross and St. Peter in the village of Wherwell. Here he remained for eighteen years but when King James came to the throne he said he would remove all nonconformist preachers. Stephen Bachiler espoused the teachings of the Puritans and preached them from his pulpit, consequently he was ejected in 1605. In 1622 we find him at Newton Stacy a mile and a half from Wherwell. Here be bought land and accumulated considerable property. He was was still preaching the Puritan doctrines Coming to New England at the age of seventy-one he entered upon a period of twenty-two years of strenuous labor. At the age of seventy-seven he walked one hundred miles. He was the founder of Hampton, the third settlement New Hampshire. Many settlers came to Hampton, among them was a clergyman, Timothy Dalton, who was associated with Bachiler in the ministry. From this time dated a long period of strife between these two men. Finally Bachiler became disheartened and left the new world to end his days in England and tradition says that he spent his last days in peace and comfort. He died at Hackney a village two miles from London in the one hundredth year of his age.

It was indeed a momentous step for Deborah to take when she left her old home to live in the New World. She and her children had been accustomed to comparative ease and luxury in large European towns and cities affording educational and social advantages. All

Mr.

Mr.

this to be changed for rude huts in the wilderness. They sailed on the William and Francis and were eighty-eight days crossing the Atlantic. They arrived in Boston Harbor in June 1632. The settlement was but eleven months old. Bachiler and his party proceeded immediately from Boston to Sougus, the home of Theodate and Christopher Hussey, the daughter and son-in-law of Stephen Bachiler. They had to travel the six miles over trails through the woods as there were no roads or they may have gone in a small boat across the bay. Mr. Bachiler began his work in the ministry the first Sunday after his arrival in America, baptizing four children that first day. Although Sougus had been settled about three years it had no organized church, so they probably gathered in the living room of some settler. The years of the Wing family spent at Sougus were evidently fraught with anxiety and trouble owing to the almost constant turmoil and contention in which Mr. Bachiler engaged with the authorities of the colony as well as with his church members. It may afford a reason for their long indifference to church influence after their removal to Sandwich and the readiness with which Daniel and Stephen embraced the peaceful Quaker doctrines more than twenty years later. It may also account, in some measure for the fact that after Mr. Bachiler withdrew to Ipswich the paths of the aged minister and his daughter Deborah and his Wing grandsons seem to have separated.

There is little of record relative to Deborah Wing and her children during their four or five years residence at Sougus. They did not lack food for there was an abundance of fish in the rivers and brooks and plenty of wild geese and ducks in the marshes. We are assured that the Indians were friendly for Black William, an Indian Duke, had given the place to the settlers.

In fond imagination we picture Widow Deborah Wing in her rude thatched log cabin in the woods at Sougus, surrounded by her four sons, giving to them and their rough surroundings something of the graces and refinement

I do not wish to intrude unreasonably often, but wish to correct two errors in the March 1928 issue of "The Owl". On page 1707. Deborah did not build the "Old Fort" house. The house in which according to tradition, she lived, is now the L on a dwelling occupied at the time of the first Wing reunion (1902) by one Mr. Pape, formerly janitor of the Congregational church, Sandwich.

On page 1719. "Edmund Harves" should read Edmund Hawes (Hawes). Very truly,

DANIEL WING.

KITH AND KIN

We note, with sorrow, the passing of two of our beloved officers of the Wing Family of America, Incorporated, since our last meeting.

Asahel R. Wing, Fort Edward, New York, and Mrs. Emma Wing Chamberlain, Brunswick, Me.

The next issue of the Owl will speak in detail of what they have done for the family. Sympathy is extended to the families by the Owl.