If we were called upon to classify the three Wing brothers who settled at Sandwich, we would term John the fearless, practical pioneer; Daniel the idealist and religionist, and Stephen, the scholar and man of affairs. 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 nad 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 [he was] nine years old. We can imagine that at his impressionable years, the strange, new life in the woods of America was full of interest and adventure, and that he entered zealously into all its activities. Barely sixteen years of age when the family settled at Sandwich in the Spring of 1637, it is not probable that the adventure seemed serious to him at the time. The woods and streams were full of game, the maidens of the party were doubtless pleasant to look upon, and to a uyouth of Stephen's years, it must all have seemed a lark of splendid proportions. And was not Osheah Dillingham of the party? Perhaps she lived just across the Clearing over and beyond Wolf Trap Neck, and that a far cry across the waters of Lake Shawme would reach her home where "the old pear treee" still stands sentinel. We cannot disabuse our minds that Stephen and Osheah had a romance of their own. It is believed that Edward Dillingham was a fellow passenger on the William and Francis with Widow Deborah and her children; it is known that they lived at Saugus and made the settlement in the same party at Sandwich; that they lived close neighbors and friends side by side for many years. Be that as it may, young Stephen and Osheah "loved well but not wisely." Stephen was enrolled among "those capable of bearing arms" in the town in 1643. He married Osheah Dillingham sometime in the Fall of 1646, being at that time twenty-five years of age. Then followed an event possible only under the strict code of morals which devised and punished with the Scarlet Letter. Indiscretions and trivial offenses were taken note of by the rigorous laws of the Pilgrims. At different time, many of the leading men of the Colony were before the Court charged with irregularities. The rich, the poor, high and low stood upon an equality before the stern mandates of Plymouth. So we must take no particular shame or chagrin to ourselves that young Stephen Wing was before the Plymouth Court, March 2, 1647, and fined because of the fact that a child was born to his wife at an unseasonable time after their marriage. The Court records that "the said Wing coming into the fact of the Court, freely acknowledging, he was according to order of the Court, fined and discharged." Governor Bradford signed the record. 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 upon their first homestead; Daniel had purchased the Hallett farm, and 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, through 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. During the several reunions of the Wing Family at Sandwich, hundreds of Wings have visited and enjoyed the hospitality of this remarkable old home, now the property and occupied by Mr. Alvin Presbury Wing, Treasurer of the Wing Family of America, of the ninth generattion of his family who have lived there. 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 15 x 18 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 parrts of the building seem to have been gathered. A quaint, narrow stairway leads to the second floor, and the entire ensemble impress one with its self-evident antiquity. The attic of the "Old Fort House" is one of the most interesting places for all Wings in America. Carefully preserved by the successive generations of the family who have lived here, are accumul;ations of the household furniture and utensils dating back probably to the time of Stephen and Osheah. Here are warming pans, leather lanterns, spinning wheels, kitchen utensils, candle-sticks, flint-lock guns, and other retired househnold effects in quanities. The collection is scarcely surpassed by that of the Plymouth Memorial Hall. The old home and its contents is a veritable Mecca for the Wings of America. 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 way 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 itswelf. We hve the satisfaction of knowing that the home of Stephen and Osheah was most pleasantly situated. Writing to The Owl in April, 1901, Mr. Daniel Wing of Maywood, Illinois, stated that himself and his brother Stephen had visited the "Old Fort House" some twenty years before, and he thus describes it: "We had the pleasure of inspecting the "Old Stephen Wing dwelling house, a portion of which is supposed to have been one of several block houses which the Colonial government caused to be erected as a protection against the Indians. At the time of the visit, it was occupied by Presbury Wing, a highly respected preacher of the Society of Friends, who kindly gave us an account of the building and showed us the different apartments; even taking us into the unfinished attic where some of the original timbers are exposed to view. "The building, as it stands now, is in that part of the town known as Spring Hill, near the Friend's Meeting House, is an enlargement of the block house by additions upon two sides, made a great many years ago. This is shown by two ancient rafters still in position in the end wall of the atttic, the span of which just equals the width of the corner room below. That room measures 15 1/2 x 18 1/2 feet and each of its four walls is fourteen inches in thickness, while those of the portion subsequently built are of usual thickness for wooden walls. I think we were told that recent repairs had disclosed a filling of brick in the thick walls of the corner room. "The building is what is called in that section, a "double house;" i.e., it has a room on each side of the front door. When we saw it, it appeared to be well preserved, and , although its exposed surfaces are constructed entirely of wood, it bade fair to withstand the ravages of the weather for many years to come." In a paper read before the Sandwich Reunion of 1903, the late Prof. Henry Newell Hoxie said: "Of all the homes I have known in New England, with a single exception, that of Alvin E. Wing back of Spring Hill is the oldest undoubtedly. That house, I think, dates from the very earliest period of colonization here. His own grandfather and grandmother, uncle Joshua and aunt Beulah Wing, I perfectly remember. Friends of the old time and type, each who had definite and dignified seats in our Meeting House, which seats I also recall. Modern as this house looks today in its fresh guise of white and green, its timbers go back to a time probably when the red Indian was the large majority here; when the sea bird flying across the marshes saw but meandering foot paths and trails where there are now roads; and when there was nothing but unbroken forests from Sandwich to Falmouth, and from one end of the Cape to the other. For this is a true Indian block house originally thrown up as we find them in Barnstable and elsewhere in the state, stockades and forts to withstand the onslaught of savage forces by day and by night, the last place of refuge in dire need and extremity. From circumstances I cannot stop to expain here, I have always known this home most imtimately. He or she who twenty years ago had not penetrated the attic of this ancient homestead had never come in closest touch with the primitive history of primitive New England, for of curios illustrating that history, this is the most famous place for them that I have ever seen on earth. "About the year 1647, Stephen Wing, son of Deborah, left his home east of the Upper Shaume Lake, and settled here with his wife, Osheah Dillingham. Ten years later, with her decease, he married Sarah Briggs. "I have seen and copied the original deed of this farm and place, and now recall how this original Stephen, a wanderer and exile from the old world, within half a mile's ride from his mother's hearth, when age and perhaps infirmity had crept upon him, in the remarkable spelling of the period and with endless phraseology of old English law, handed over to his sons full possession of his estate, reserving only for himself his own support from that farm, a home in this old house, and what is a homily on his fondness for good apple eating - his own orchard." As I pass by in sucession this homestead of at least eight generations, I bend in reverence at its vast history of passing time and manners and men. In Antwep in Belgium I have again and again stood at the doors of an inn or hostelry for medieval monks and pilgrims 800 years old, and to all appearances good yet for the same period; but here in this new land of new chapter and new romance in human history for the old figure - laughing child and venerable man and woman for its story of colonization here. I hail it as connected wtih this Association, its one home of sure and authentic history." On the 9th of the 4th month, 1653-54, Stephen's wife, Osheah, died, after bearing him four children, of whom it is believed only one, the eldest, named Nathaniel, survived infancy. Being one of the younger men of the Sandwich settlement, there is little mention made of Stephen up to the time of his wife's death. He ws constable of Sandwich in 1654, and to his hands was committed the tax rates of the town for collection in butter or current money. This circumstance was made much of at the first Natiuonal Reunion of the Wing Family in Sandwich, in 1902, when the reunionists proceeded in procession from their place of meeting to the Town Hall, where a firkin of butter was formally turned over to the Selectmen of Sandwich in the presence of a great many people, and the Tax Collector formally acknowledged its receipt in payment of taxes of the Wing Family in full. Left with one or more infant children dependent upon him for support, it became incumbent upon Stephen to find himself another housekeeper. This he did, by marrying Sarah Briggs, the orphaned daughter of John Briggs on the 11th month of the same year his wife Osheah had died in. Stephen Wing was appointed Constable of Sandwich by the Plymouth Court, January 8, 1655. January 5, 1656, Stephen Wing served on the jury at Plymouth. At this same term of Court it appears thatt Stephen Wing sued Jonathan Fish and attached some of his property in an action ot recover 12 pounds. The Court record reads: "Jan. 5, 1656. Upon a sight of a letter of attorney showed in Court, whereby it appeered that Mr. Edward Dillingham who authorized to answere a suite commenced against Jonathan Fish by Stephen Winge of Sandwidge, in an action of the case, to the damage of twelve pounds, the said Edward Dillingham came into the Court and acknowledged a judgement of six pounds in behalf of the said, Jonathan Fish, where upon the said Stephen Wing rested satisfied; the attachment that was formerly lay upon a mare belinging to the said Fish resting upon the same jfor the space of two months. The judgement above said to be paid for the quality, as well as quantites, according to the terms of the bill of said Stephen Winge hath unto the hand of the said Jonathan Fish." The name of Greene appears in some mysterious way to be closely connected with the Wings at Sandwich. Joan Newman, wife and widow of Matthew Wing, the youngest of the Wing brothers who returned to England, committed the care of Matthew Wing's estate in New England to her brother-in-law, James Green of Malden. Here again in a court record of Plymouth happening the same date of the Fish law suit, Stephen Wing appears as the attorney for a John Green: "Whereas iit doth alsoe appeer that the said Edward Dillingham was authorized as an attorney in the behalf of the above Jonathan Fish to answere a complaint made by John Green, in an action of the case, to the damage of one pound, thirteen shillings, whereopon Stephen Winge, as attorney of the said John Green, rested satisfied." Then came on the Quaker persecution of 1657. Stephen Wing was one of the first to unite with the Friend's movement at Sandwich. The very first record we find in the Plymouth Court relative to the legal proceedings against the Sandwich Quakers was upon March 2, 1657-8, when Peter Gaunt, Daniel Wing, Ralph and William Allen were brought before the Plymouth Court and admonished for their "tumultuous carriage" at a Quaker meeting, and finally fined twenty shillings apiece for coming before the Court with their hats on. On the same day this entry in the Court record appears: "Lieut. Ellis, Steven Winge and Thomas Hutler, being summoned to answer for tumultuos carriage as aforesaid, being examined, and not found so faulty as supposed, were admonished and clared." Notwithstanding the fact that Stephen Wing had been an official of Sandwich the previous year, in October 1658, he was, with eight others, denied the "Priviledges of townsmen" and it was declared that "they had no power to act in town meeting until better evidence appear of their legal admittance." Oct. 6, 1659, Stephen Wing was complained of by Marshal George Barlow for refusing to assist him in the "countreyes service, being requited att three several time," and was fined twenty shillings by the Plymouth Court. At the same term of Court Stephen was fined 5 pounds for "refusing to take the oath of Fidelity." Again during the same month he was fined one pound. June 25, 1610, it was decreed by the Town of Sandwich that James Skiffe "should deliver to every musgettere of ye Military Company that went to the general Muster at Yarmouth the first Wednesday in July, 1666," certain quantites of gun powder. Stephen Wing appears to have been assigned two pounds as his proportionate share. The Quaker persecutions ceased during the years 1660-1, and Stephen Wing seems to have speedily assumed his former place in the affairs of the community and colony. March 2, 1662, he served upon a jury at Plymouth for the trial of a case between Richard Church and John Thomson, plaintiffs, against Captain Willitt, defendant. June 8, 1664, he served upon the Grand Inquest at Plymouth and was sworn. June 6, 1666, Stephen Wing and Thomas Butler were appointed by the Court as Surveyors of the highways. January 1, 1667, "The widow Knot did give unto John Toby one aker of march land - and shee did freely doe this -" in the presence of Richard Bourne, Richard Chadwell, William Newland and Stephen Wing. At a Town Meeting held May 11, 1665, Stephen Wing and Joseph Holway were made choice of as Grand Jury men. Again at a Town Meeting, May 19, 1671, Stephen Wing and Ludwick Hoxie were chosen Grand Jury men, and the Plymouth Colony records show that Stephen served on the Grand Inquest in June of that year with John Gorum, Mishtel Pearse and others. Stephen Wing must have served several years as Town Clerk and the records kept in 1669 and 1674 are known to be in his handwriting. Dec. 5, 1674, a contract was made iwth the town and Joseph Birge and Nehemiah Beese to build a town pound and "Stephen Wing shall asyne the leter of arrorney to the townes behalf - hee bing the Towne Clark." Feb 6, 1671. Stephen Wing brought to the town authorities one dozen heads of blackbirds and on the 19th of March, 1673, he was credited upon the town books with one dozen more heads. On the 12th of December 1673, Edward Freeman, Thomas Dexter, St., and Edward Perry were appointed a committee to defend in the town's behalf the title to Scorton Neck, which was claimed by Mark and Amos, sons of Sevonck, the Indian, and "Stephen Wing being the Town's Clark shall asine the leter of attorney that this 3 men shall procure as in the townes behalfe." The King Philip Indian War came in 1675-6. Nathaniel, Stephen's oldest son is known to have been a soldier. Sandwich furnished five men to fill the ranks of Captain Michael Peirse's Plymouth Company - Benjamin Nye, John Gibbs, Stephen Wing, Daniel Bessey and Caleb Blake. The Stephen Wing here mentioned was the first born son of Stephen and Sarah (Briggs), at that time twnety years of age. Young Stephen was killed, March 26, 1676, in the massacre of his company by the Indians under Cananchet at Seekonk. And so the Wings of Sandwich were among the very first to sacrifice their lives in the defense of the Colony which had so venomously persecuted them because of their religion. Jan. 27, 1681, the records cite that "the Towne hath made choice of Benjamin Hammond, Stephen Skiffe and Stephen Wing to made saill of the whale that is lately cast on shore in ye most they can of it in the townes behalf and the townes use." At a Town Meeting, Aug. 18, 1681, "Caleb Allen, and Will Allen are chosen to view a piece of land as Steven Wing would have of ye towne, and make report of it to yet towne at the next towne meeting." For the subsequent thirty years of Stephen's life there is little to be found concerning his public life. He was probably one of the last, if not the very last of the original settlers of Sandwich to survive. He lived 63 years in Sandwich after the date of the first settlement in 1637. Two daughters and five sons appear to have survived the perils of childhood and lived to crown his old age. His wife Sarah died 3rd month, 26, 1689, leaving him a widower for the second time, in the 68th year of his age. We are fortunate in the possession of an ancient deed executed by Stephen Wing on the 2nd day of December, 1700, the original of which is owned by a member of the Sandwich family which throws considerable light upon the history of his family. This deed was executed when Stephen was a widower and upward of eighty years of age, and conveys the "Old Fort House" and all its landed possessions in the Town of Sandwich to his sons Ebenezer and Matthew. Matthew was living at that time in Dartmouth and in possession there of an estate of his own, and just why he was selected by his father as a grantee in this deed of the old homestead is not quite clear. The consideration named is two hundred and fifty pounds. The deed was witnessed by Jeremiah Gifford and William Bassett and acknowledged by Stephen Skiffe, Justice of the Peace, and is of record in Barnstable County. It conveys "All that my messuage or Tennnement both Dwelling house barn and out Housing together with all my Upland marsh meadow ground Orchards Garden feeding pastures closes yards and all other lands whatsoever situate lying and being within the Town of Sandwich." It is presumed from this deed that Stephen in his old age made his home with his son Ebenezer who is known to have lived in the "Old Fort House" and it is more then likely that the aged pioneer died there. On the same day Stephen executed this deed to his sons, Ebenezer and Matthew, he also executed his will, and the two papers were probably drawn by the same person, Stephen Skiffe. This will was probated in Barnstable County, July 13, 1710, at which time William Bassett, Daniel Allen, and Jashub Wing testified before Judge Barnabas Lothrop that they, "did see Stephen Wing" sign and seal the same. His estate at that time inventoried twenty-seven pounds, three shillings. The will reads: 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 of writing heretofore by me made and Do hereby Constiture and Declare this to be my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following: viz: my Desire is 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 Will is to Dispose of it as followeth. Imprs my Will is that all my Debts on Right or Conscience to amy 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 Twnety 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 tow years after my Decease. Finally my Will is and I Do hereby Constiture and appoint my two sons, viz: Ebenezer Wing and Matthew Wing Joynt Exectrs to this my last Will and Testament to administer upon my said Estate and to pay my Debts and Legacys according to this my will. In witness whereoff 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 of Stephen Skiff Jashub Wing Daniel Allen Wm. Bassett Barnstable, SS; on the 13gh day of July 1710, when William Bassett, Daniel Allen and Jashub Wing whose name are sett to this will as witnesses yet before Barnabas Lothrop 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. The children of Stephen Wing intermarried with the Hatch, Gifford, Perry, Butler and Backhouse families. During the later years of his life, but two of his sons lived near him - Ebenezer on the home farm, and John at Scorton Neck, some two miles distant. Nathaniel the eldest, lived at Pocasset, some miles away; Elisha lived at Wareham, and Matthew married the widow Ricketson and lived in Dartmouth. It will be noted that Stephen committed, "my body to Decent Buruall at our friends Burieng place att Spring Hill until when God shall please to call me Hence." Unquestionable he lies there among the unmarked graves. A tablet to the memory of Stephen Wing was placed upon the lawn of the Old Fort House residence property and didicated by the Family Association during the New Bedford Reunion in 1910. The principal address was delivered by Mr. Myron G. Allen, and the tablet was unveiled by his wife, both lineal descendats of Stephen Wing. The tablet reads: STEPHEN WING SON OF THE REV. JOHN AND DEBORAH WING, CAME TO BOSTON IN 1632 WITH HIS MOTHER AND BROTHERS JOHN, DANIEL AND MATTHEW, WITH WHOM HE SETTLED IN SANDWICH IN 1637. HE LIVED UPON THIS LAND AND BUILT HIS HOME IN 1641. HE WAS AN ORIGINAL MEMBER OF THE FIRST FRIEND'S MEETING IN AMERICA ESTABLISHED AT SPRING HILL IN 1658 AND SUFFERED GREAT PERSECUTION AT HANDS OF THE PLYMOUTH GOVERNMENT IN THE CAUSE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. HE DIED IN 1710 AND LIES BURIED AT SPRING HILL ERECTED IN 1911 BY THE WING FAMILY OF AMERICA INCORPORATED |