Bernard Barton Vassall (1835-1894)
Semi-invalid Civil War veteran
Collector of northern Barton family data
Nephew of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
Descendant of a woman condemned to death in Salem as a witch
Bernard Barton Vassall was born on October 10, 1835, in Oxford, Massachusetts, and died on March 23, 1894, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is buried in North Cemetery in Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He was a descendant of Edward Barton (1620-1671) of Maine, the progenitor of the Barton family that included Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. Bernard Barton Vassall's mother was Clara Barton's sister, i.e., Clara Barton was Bernard Barton Vassall's Aunt Clara.
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, October 1880, page 412, announced Vassall's Barton genealogy in preparation:
"GENEALOGIES IN PREPARATION:
"Barton. By Bernard Barton Vassall, P.O. Box 1212, Worcester, Mass.—To contain descendants of Samuel and Hannah Barton, who were married in 1690, and lived in Framingham till 1716, when they removed to Oxford, Mass."
Hannah Barton, wife of Samuel Barton, was Hannah Bridges. Her mother was Sarah (Towne) Bridges who had been condemned to death in Salem as a witch, but the sentence was not carried out. Sarah's two sisters, Rebecca and Mary, were hanged as witches in 1692. Sarah (Towne) Bridges was Bernard Barton Vassall's 4th great grandmother.
Bernard Barton Vassall appears in the April 1863 issue of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, page 128, in a Vassall family genealogy. In 1863, he was 28 years old. There is nothing of interest to us in that article.
He appears in "Lieutenant William Barton of Morris County, New Jersey, and His Descendants," by William Eleazar Barton, 1900. On pages 15 and 16 of that volume, the author wrote:
"Lieut. Bernard Barton Vassall, of Worcester, Mass., who had collected much material for a Barton genealogy, and whose lamented death cut short his plan, wrote:
'As early as 1650 there were at least four separate heads of families located in America. Christopher Barton had come to the West Indies and settled in Virginia; Roger Barton had purchased land of the Dutch in New York and located at Rye, New York, and his descendants are found today in New York and Connecticut; Rufus Barton had settled at Warwick, Rhode Island, from whom many of the Rhode Island Bartons are descended; and Marmaduke Barton had become prominent in Essex County, Massachusetts. In addition to these, there were separate families, Edward, (who may have been a son of Marmaduke), was in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1644; Col. Thomas Barton was in Salem, Mass., in 1710; James Barton was in Newton, Mass., in 1668; Rev. Thomas Barton was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 1760. The Bartons in this country today are probably descended from more than twenty immigrant ancestors.'"
He appears in the October 1930 issue of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register in an article titled, "The Barton Family of Oxford, Mass.," by William Eleazar Barton. On page 416 we find the following:
"Many years before [Bernard Barton Vassall's] death he began to collect data relating to his ancestor, Samuel3 Barton of Oxford, and his descendants, with the intention of compiling a Barton genealogy; but an injury received by him in the Civil War, at the Battle of Balls Bluff, made him a semi-invalid for years, and prevented him from investigating the ancestry of this Samuel Barton and from completing his collection of genealogical material. His collection, however, in the hands of his widow and of interested members of the Barton family, was the foundation for researches begun in 1912, which resulted in the preparation of the present article."
Bernard Barton Vassall passed away in 1894 leaving his collection of genealogical data, but not a publication. His data about early Barton families in America were incorporated in William Eleazar Barton's book, Lieutenant William Barton of Morris County, New Jersey, and His Descendants, 1900, and his data about the descendants of Samuel and Hannah Barton were incorporated in William Eleazar Barton's article, "The Barton Family of Oxford, Mass.," 1930 in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.
Bernard Barton Vassall is buried in North Cemetery, Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts.
References:
For the Barton ancestry of Bernard Barton Vassall, and for his family connection to Clara Barton and to his 4th great grandmother, Sarah (Towne) Bridges, see "The Barton Family of Oxford, Mass.," by Rev. William E. Barton, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 84, October 1930.