John VASSALL

Notes:

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers": Through the Vassalls you are remotely tinctured with somewhat aristocratic blood. There was a De Vassall of the fifteenth century who was the lord of Rinart near Cany in Normandy, who sent his son to England "on account of disturbances at home." This John had a son John, who achieved wealth and distinction. He had estates in Ratcliffe, and at Stepney, and in his later years was of Eastwood in Essex. He was prominent in the business world in London. For some years he served as an alderman. At the time of the attack of the Spanish Armada he fitted out, at his own expense, two ships to join the English fleet. One was Samuel of one hundred and forty tons, carrying seventy men, and the other the Tobey, Jr., of a like tonnage. It is stated that he commanded one of these ships in person in the memorable engagement with the Spanish fleet. He died September 13, 1625. His descendants were numerous. Among them were Lady Holland (Macaulay's Lady Holland), whose husband, Lord Holland, abandoned his own sufficiently distinguished name of Fox and by royal license took his wife's name of Vassall.
John Vassall, by his second wife, Anne Russell, had two sons, Samuel and William, who became interested in the new lands across the sea. They were both among the original patentees in 1628 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Samuel never came over to New England, but his financial interests in the new country were large. He was an alderman of London, a member of Parliament, and a royal commissioner in the matter of establishing peace with Scotland. There is a monument erected in his honor, by a grandson, in King's Chapel in Boston, which extols him principally as a man who refused to pay his taxes. He certainly had the strength of his convictions since he was imprisoned sixteen years for his failure to pay the same. His descendants in the West Indies and in Boston were people of wealth and distinction.

John married Anne RUSSELL England. Anne was born in Ratcliffe, Middlesex, England; died in Stephany, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. William VASSALL was born on 27 Aug 1592 in Ratcliffe, Devon, England; died in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.
2. Samuel VASSALL was born in 1586.