Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

194 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OE BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
sufficient pasturage in the woods for their cattle during the mild
season of the year, they were in winter straightened for fodder.
This was the prudential reason that induced Mr. Lothrop and a
majority of his people to remove to Barnstable. In his letters to
G-ov. Pi-euce, which will presently appear, he states the matter
with much clearness, and it is unnecessary for me to recapitulate
his reasons.
There was another cause of uneasiness and "difference in
judgment." About this time Mr. William" Vassall removed to
Scituate. He was a son of John Vassall, an aldermen of London,
and the brother of Samuel, a wealthy merchant of that city. He
was dissatisfied with the policy of the leading men of Massachusetts.
He was a latitudinarian in his opinions and had strong
radical tendencies. He had known Mr. Lothrop, in London, and
sympathized with him in his views. There was however, a wide
difference in the characters of the two men. Mr. Lothrop was
firm, yet gentle, discreet, cautious, and though always open to
conviction, and a constant seeker for new light, he formed no
opinions hastily. Mr. Vassall, though brought up under aristocratic
and conservative infiuences, was most radical in his views
and opinions. He was firm, often over-bearing and in all his
undertakings exhibited a strong disposition to lead, never to follow.
N He often acted from impulse, and though a man of noble
and generous feelings, a man of learning, a ready writer, and a
man of wealth, his impulsive nature unfitted him to act prudently
in the hour of trial and difficulty.
A mutilated passage in Mr. Lothrop's records, unfortunately
mixed up with another record, by one of the transcribers, however
shows the standing of Mr. Vassall at this time. Dec. 28, 1636,
(probably this is the true date) the records say "Divers of the
people having some dissatisfaction to Mr. Vassall, and he with
them," but it does not clearly appear that they were reconciled
and that they settled their differences and renewed their covenant
till Nov. 20, 1637.
Mr. Deane gives a full account of Mr. Vassall, and copies
•his numerous letters, written after Mr. Lothrop left Scituate. In
those letters the wayward character of the man is clearly exhibited.
He soon removed to Barbadoes, where he died before 1655.
I have made many quotations from the church records. The
passages to which I shall hereafter refer are of a similar tenor.
The careful examination of these and other records has satisfied
me that Neale, Crosley, Deane, and other writers on ecclesiastical
history, are mistaken in saying that the subject of baptism caused
uneasiness in Mr. Lothrop's church in London, in Scituate, and in
Barnstable ; and that the first Baptist church in England separated
itself from Mr. Lothrop's congregation in London. If not
in this article, I have in other papers made similar statements.