William Aspinwall

William Aspinwall (1605 – c. 1662)[1] was an Englishman who emigrated to Boston with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He played an integral part in the early religious controversies of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

For other people named William Aspinwall, see William Aspinwall (disambiguation).

Life

Aspinwall as most of the Aspinwalls probably came from the County of Lancaster, England.[2]

Aspinwall arrived to Massachusetts Bay on board of Arabella with the Winthrop Fleet on 17 June 1630. Along with him was his wife, Elizabeth, who was sixteen at that time. Among with other settlers he came ashore at Charlestown on 1 July and was appointed a deacon. On 3 April 1632 Aspinwall took the oath of a freeman.[2]

In 1633 he moved to Boston, where he was one of the leading figures of the new settlement and in 1637 replaced Sir Henry Vane as a Deputy to the General Court.[2]

At the time of Aspinwall was involved in the Antinomian Controversy which severely divided the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. He joined himself with the adherents of Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright, aided in drafting their famous petition, and departed with them to Rhode Island. He was at Portsmouth in 1638, where he signed the covenant of formation, but he moved to the New Haven Colony in 1641.

By 1642, Aspinwall had rehabilitated his relations with the Boston authorities, and he began to acquire employment there recording official documents. In 1643, he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. It was declared by the Boston court in 1644 that Aspinwall "shall be a public notary for his jurisdiction," and he continued at this post until 1651. As a skilled surveyor, he joined a group of Boston merchants on an unsuccessful expedition up the Delaware River in search of furs. He was one of Boston's delegates to the Cambridge Synod of 1646.

Relations ran afoul for Aspinwall again in Boston, and in 1652 he sold his property and returned to England where he was living in Cheshire as late as April 13, 1662. Upon his return to England he became one of the Fifth Monarchists, a radical religious sect that had a brief existence in the turmoil of the Commonwealth of England.

He probably had seven children.[2]

Works

Aspinwall published theological tracts following his return to England. He compiled the Boston Book of Possessions listing the property of every freeman of the city. His notary records were published in 1903 by the Boston Record Commissioners as A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651.[3]

References
  1. Bremer, Francis J. "Aspinwall, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76217. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Aspinwall, Algernon Aikin, 1845-1923 (1901). The Aspinwall genealogy. Rutland, Vt., The Tuttle Co., Printers. pp. 11–19.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "A volume relating to the early history of Boston, containing the Aspinwall notarial records from 1644 to 1651". Retrieved 2008-07-17.
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