Another Vassall Home

Faneuil-Phillips House

   This home was located on the east side of Pemberton Hill, the same hill on which the Vassall-Greene Home was located. It was built in 1709 by Andrew Faneuil, a rich Boston merchant, who, like Paul Revere's father was a French Huguenot by birth. At his death, this seven acre estate passed to his nephew, Peter Faneuil, who, in 1742, gave Faneuil Hall to the town of Boston, After his death in 1743, the house had several owners. At the time of the Revolution, it was owned by one of the Vassall family. After the Vassall family fled, the house was confiscated and sold. It was torn down at the same time the Vassall-Greene mansion was torn down and Pemberton Hill leveled by a real estate speculator.

   One can discern by the opulence of their homes, just how wealthy and prominent the Vassall family were in New England. As a matter of interest, John Vassall, the man from whom the New England Vassall line is descended, was also a French Hugenot who moved to England in the mid-sixteenth century at the time of the religious wars in France. The family was friendly with the Puritans and one of the Vassalls came to New England on the Arabella. The family's fortune was founded on massive slave plantations in Jamaica and the West Indies, as well as extensive involvement in the slave trade.