Odd O'blography

Genealogy and the Scarlet Letter

Lilith 🎄 Christmas Cheer reminded us that The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was first published on March 16, 1850.


"Note: Today in literary history... This morning Al..."


Her note reminded me that I found a possible, almost, sort-of connection to Hawthorne's story while researching genealogy. One of the branches of my family tree reaches back 14 generations to the Reverend Steven Bachiler. He is, by far, the most interesting character in our family history.

Steven Bachiler was a controversial English clergyman who was dismissed from his church in Hampshire, England, for having puritan sympathies. Born about 1560, he outlived three wives in England and married again in America after founding the community of Hampton, New Hampshire in 1638. Bachiler also feuded with Puritan church authorities, being both excommunicated and reinstated in 1641. He was almost 80 when he married his fourth wife, Mary Beedle. She was a much younger widow who was soon convicted of adultery. The Wikipedia article on Steven Bachiler notes that Mary may have been the inspiration for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.

I am a descendant of Bachiler's daughter, Ann Bachiler Sanborn, through my great-great-grandmother, Judith Sanborne Kennedy. Judith's daughter, Emily Kennedy Truscott, traveled all around America in the 1940's to trace the family history. She found the link to Stephen Bachiler through the Sanborn lineage. Judith's granddaughter, Anna Kennedy Fisher, is my grandmother. I confirmed the details of Emily's research on the WikiTree web site. Other notable descendants of Stephen Bachiler include Winston Churchill, James Dean, Christopher Lloyd, Herman Mudgett, and Meghan Markle.