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More on the death of Rev. Stephen Bachiler

The material referred to here is a letter written in 1677 by William Hook to Increase Mather, in which Hook stated that "Mr. Bachelor" had died at Hackney. Historians, reading this letter, assumed that it referred to the Rev. Stephen Bachiler when in actuality it refers to the Rev. John Bachiler, who died at Hackney in 1674. The date of 1660 comes from the Hampton oral tradition that Bachiler died at the age of about 100 years. He was born about 1561, thus, a date of death of 1660.

One of the first to make this error was Alonzo Lewis in his "History of Lynn" (Boston: H.H. Eastburn, 1829) in which he states, "I have ascertained that he died at Hackney, in England, at the age of about one hundred years." (p.151) From there the error has continued to spread, until it has become impossible to put down. One can find several mentions of the 1660 Hackney death in many places in print and on the Internet.

One caveat on the date of death supplied by Sanborn in his article about the Allhallows Staining burial in 1656: Might this not also refer to the Rev. Stephen's son Stephen Jr., born about 1594 and ordained at Oxford on 19 September 1613? At present it is not known when or where the younger Stephen died.

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