I have an article written by William Gould Vinal, "Cap'n" Bill." It was probably written about 1971. Apparently he was paid tribute in the August 1971 issue of YANKEE magaine and then he heard from several Vinal families and decided to pass along some family history to them. My mother gave me this article years ago. I don't know where she got it. (Cap'n Bill was born in 1881 in Newtonville. Therefore, he was about 90 years old when he wrote this article!
It begins "The widow Anna Vinal, and her 3 children, Martha (13), Stephen (6), and John (3) arrived in America in 1636, probably in January or February. They had embarked from Gravesend, London late in 1635 on the ship "Merchant's Hope, Captain Hugh Weston, master of the vessel." ... There is much to suggest that Anna came from the channel area in Sussex, from Kingston near Lewes ... The ship landed in Plymouth, Mass., but within the year 1636 the Vinal family relocated to Scituate. ... Anna, later known as Ann, an enterprising widow, erected a house in 1637, N. of Mushquashcut(spelling?) Pond, which is said to still exist today, although greatly added to. ... The location is on Ann Vinal Road SW of Mushquashcut(spelling?) Pond, near Freeman Vinal's house.
The article is quite interesting.
Thought the Scituate Vinals might like this information, if they don't already have it.
Note: There is another spelling of Vinal--Vinall. I wonder if we are all from the same descendents and somewhere along the line the spelling was changed for one family line???