William Vincent
1627-*1697
The antecedents of this early settler remain unknown to the author after much searching in this country and England. The association of the name of Vincent with the alleged landing of John Pease, before 1642, made it desirable that the Vincent should be identified. There were none of the name at Great Baddow in Essex, where John Pease lived, but in the adjoining parish of Bromfield, about four miles distant, a family of Vincents had long lived, when the Pease family emigrated to New England. One Robert Vincent, *'an ancient man" of Butlers, an estate in the parish, died in December, 1632, and the property descended to his son Robert, who married Elizabeth Godsaffe on June 28, 1633, and on the same day William Vincent of Bromfield, singleman, married Mary Burr, daughter of the vicar of the parish. As our William Vincent was born in 1627, it is evident that he could not be the son of either of these persons. These people, however, had dealings with our Pease family and their connections, William Vincent, yeoman of Bromfield, gave a bond in August, 1636, to pay ; L.10 to Abraham Page (nephew of John Pease), when he comes of age, "at or in the South Porch of the Church of great Baddow." The witnesses were Thomas Burre, vicar of Bromfield and Margaret Pease, widow, grandmother of young Page. When Page arrived in this country in 1645, he made Robert Scott of Boston his attorney, to collect money from any person or persons whatsoever within the Realm of England, and it will be noticed that it was at Robert Scott's house where Malachi Browning died some years later. These facts have a direct bearing upon the possible association of the Vincents with the group of people who lived in the sight of the church at Great Baddow. A William Vincent was granted a lot of land at Norwich, Conn., in 1651, but the word "forfeited" is marked against it, and a guess may be hazarded that this was our William, then a young man of twenty-four years, who was there at the time when John Pease was prospecting for a new location. We may suppose that he returned to the Vineyard with Pease, in absence of a better hypothesis as to his whereabouts before coming to this town. His first appearance on our records is on March 15, 1655, when he bought of Robert Codman one half of the harbor lot on Starbuck's Neck, which Arey had sold to Codman, consisting of four acres. Whether he lived there is uncertain, but presumably he did, until the next year, on Feb. 18, 1656, when he bought of Edward Andrews, his house and land adjoining to it twenty acres more or less bounded on the east side by the land of John Burchard: on the west Mamanekorn Neck: the one end butting upon the fresh pond, the other end upon the common. This was at Mashakommukeset, where he afterwards resided, and it remained Vincent property for generations. Before December, 1655, he had married Susannah, daughter of Malachi and Mary (Collier) Browning, and the young couple set up housekeeping in this beautiful region, overlooking the great pond. In December, 1659, he was a juror, and in 1660, he is recorded as one of the proprietors and began to draw lots as such. He submitted to the Patentee's Government in 1661, and was one of a committee appointed to evict the Indians living within the town bounds the same year. He was of the Train Band in 1662, and in 1663 he was sued by William Weeks for a small debt, and with three others built the general fence for the town under contract. He was credited with owning half a lot at this time, presumably the Arey-Codman lot above referred to. In 1664 he participated in land divisions, and on April 21, 1665, was chosen town constable. But little is heard of him for the next ten years, except in some minor land transaction until the "Dutch Rebellion," in which he took part and was fined therefore. In 1675 he sued Peter Jenkins for debt, and four years later had a suit against sundry Indians who had detained his share of a whale and some *'Blubber. In 1680 he was fined for felling trees and ''cutting wood for Mr. Mayhew," and in 1681 was a juror. Various real estate transactions in 1682, 1684, and 1687, including further grants to him at Meshacket and Wintucket give us glimpses of his continued activity, and this brings us to May 10, 1690, when he made his will, then in his sixty-fourth year. By this time he had become estranged from his only son Thomas, to whom nine years before (Sept. 16, 1681), he had sold considerable of his property including one acre "by my shop." His name appears on the records in 1693, when he made an affidavit; in 1694, when he sold land at Wintucket, and on March 15, 1694-5, when he was listed as a proprietor of one share in the town.
The following is a list of his real estate holdings : This is a true record of the Petickeler parcels of Land which are now in the possession of William Vinsin upon this Island as followeth : first one Neck Called Shockamockset adjoining to Quanomica on the West and so Running by Marked Trees on the North, to Meshaket Neck on the East: and straight Down to the Pond on the South: this Neck meadow and upland being twenty five acres more or Less: with two acres of Land at Quanomica Being the Sixth Lott: with one acre of meadow lying at Chapequideck bounded by :............................., with the second Lott at Felix Neck: with the Seventh Lott Mechmies field: with a whole Right of Commonage and a sixth and twentieth part of fish and whale. this recorded by me the 24th of February 1663 Richard Sarson with that field where the said Vinson fenced In lying near the Great Swamp being five acres more or less: this was given May the Last Day: 64: with a full right of all the allotments which Towonticut Sachem reserved in the township and was bought of the said Sachem by Richard Sarson having liberty by this town so to do: the said Vinson hath paid for his part this foresaid purchase.
It is probable that William Vincent lived well into 1697, at which time he was three score and ten years of age, the Scriptural limit. His will was proven in court on July 14 of that year, and an abstract of it is as follows, being the first will recorded in the probate records of the county : — Edgartown upon Martha's Vineyard: the last will and testament of me William Vinson I do give unto my son Thomas Vinson ten shillings to be paid within ten days after my burial if he demands it of my executor: but if not demanded within the said ten days, then my will is, and I do give my son Thomas Vinson only one shilling to be paid at demand after the said ten days, at any time within an hundred year after the day of my burial: and my reasons for so doing and giving my said son Thomas Vinson no more is this, first: I have given him near forty pounds: besides he my said son Thomas Vinson hath not demeaned himself well towards me nor his mother, to our sad great grief. I do give my wife Susannah Vinson all my whole estate, both real and personal, I do appoint my said wife Susannah Vinson to be my sole executrix. and I do desire Richard Sarson and Simon Newcomb to do that kindness for me to see this my will performed so far as they can this twentieth day of May 1690. The mark of William Vinson ' Witnesses : Richard Sarson Philip Covel.
It is not known whether Thomas demanded the half crown or was content to be ''cut off with a shilling," which was made available to him for the entire next century. It is pleasant to record that there is evidence of the repentance of Thomas and the restoration of confidence between the aged mother and her only son in later years. The widow Susannah Vinson survived her husband a quarter of a century, and must have been very aged when she died. She made her will April 2, 1720, "being sick and weak in body," in which she gives some bedding and a "white chest with lock & key" to her grandson, Thomas Vinson, Jr., and gives all the rest of her estate to her son Thomas and his nine children. It was proved May 10, 1722, and it will be safe to infer that she died a short time before that date, probably in the early part of that year. Assuming that she was twenty years old when her son was born, she was about eighty-five at her decease. Vol.2, pp.115-118, History of Martha's Vineyard, (Annals of Edgartown, William Vincent), by Charles Edward Banks, Dukes County Historical Society 1925