List of early settlers of Rhode Island

This is a collection of lists of early settlers (before 1700) in what became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the state of Rhode Island. Most of the lists are of the earliest settlers or inhabitants of a particular town or area.

Aboriginal tribes and leaders

Ninigret in 1681

The following aboriginal people lived in what became the state of Rhode Island.[1]

Wampanoag people lived throughout Plymouth Colony and around Mount Hope Bay (later Bristol, Rhode Island)

Narragansett people lived throughout the Rhode Island colony

Niantic people lived around the Pawcatuck River, in the western part of Rhode Island

Nipmuc people wandered within the colony of Rhode Island, mostly from the north

First European settler

First settlers of Providence

Those who came to Seekonk with Roger Williams early 1636

Narragansett Indians receiving Roger Williams

Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in October 1635 but was allowed to remain at his home in Salem until the end of winter, provided that he did not preach. However, his followers visited him at his home in sizable numbers, and the authorities deemed this as preaching. He was to be apprehended and put on a ship for England in January 1636. He was, however, tipped off by magistrate John Winthrop and slipped away from Salem near the middle of January, in the dead of winter, to find shelter with the Wampanoags. He bought a parcel of land in Seekonk from Wampanoag sachem Massasoit which was then at the western edge of the Plymouth Colony (now Rehoboth, Massachusetts). In a 1677 statement, Williams mentioned the four who were with him at Seekonk. The five members of the group were:[3][4][5]

Those who first settled Providence

The original 1636 deed for Providence, signed by Canonicus

In the spring of 1636, Williams and his company planted crops at Seekonk but were informed in a gentle letter from Governor Edward Winslow of Plymouth that they were within Plymouth's jurisdiction, and this fact would cause difficulties with the Massachusetts authorities. Without urgency, Winslow suggested that Williams and his group move across the Seekonk River into the territory of the Narragansetts, where no colony had any claim. By this time, it is likely that the family members of the original settlers had joined the group. Two other families also joined the settlement. Joshua Verin wrote a statement in 1650 mentioning "we six which came first to Providence", suggesting that he was the next to join the original five.[6] Also, Benedict Arnold later wrote, "Memm. We came to Providence to Dwell the 20th of April, 1636"; Providence had not yet been established, so he certainly was referring to Seekonk, where the Arnolds came from Hingham to join the other settlers.[6][7] It is likely, therefore, that sometime about June 1636 the following 25 people crossed the river from Seekonk, in the Plymouth Colony, to a location on the Moshassuck River in Narragansett territory which Williams soon named Providence Plantation:[8]

Original proprietors of Providence

Those named in a deed from Roger Williams, dated about 8 October 1638[10]

Providence civil compact, 1637

Several young men were admitted as inhabitants to Providence before the settlement was a year old, but they were discontent with their position and wanted to be able to vote and otherwise have equality with the older settlers. The following resolution was adopted in a town meeting on 20 August 1637, and is sometimes called the "civil compact." The 1637 date was on the original town records, but when they were transcribed in 1800, the page containing that date was missing. The text of the resolution is as follows:

We, whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of our body, in an orderly way, by the major assent of the present inhabitants, master of families, incorporated together into a town fellowship, and others whom they shall admit unto them only in civil things.[20]

Pawtuxet settlers

Pawtuxet River near where the Arnolds settled

Those settlers who left Providence to settle on the north side of the Pawtuxet River about 1638, putting themselves under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts from 1642 to 1658[21][22][23][24]

Signers of Providence agreement for a government, 1640

Town layout of Providence showing land plots of many of the earliest settlers

Those 39 Providence settlers who signed an agreement to form a government on 27 July 1640:[25]

Settlers of Cocumscussoc (Wickford) area

Smith's Castle, home of Richard Smith

Those early settlers who had trading posts in the area of Wickford in what was then the "Narragansett country" and later a part of North Kingstown, Rhode Island:[26][27]

Founders of Portsmouth

Portsmouth Compact

Supporters of Anne Hutchinson who signed the Portsmouth Compact, dated 7 March 1638[28]

The last four names on the list were crossed out, but these men nevertheless came to Portsmouth or Newport.

Inhabitants of Aquidneck Island (1638)

The following individuals were among the earliest settlers of Aquidneck Island in the Narragansett Bay, which was later named Rhode Island (from which the entire colony was given its name). The first group of 58 names appears to be settlers of Pocasset (later Portsmouth), while the second group of 42 appears to be settlers of Newport. These two lists come from Bartlett's Records of the Colony of Rhode Island..., and apparently the lists were compiled and incorporated into the town records of Newport on 25 November 1639. The actual arrival dates of the individuals likely span over several months during 1638; a few individuals have legible dates next to their names, while several others have illegible dates.[29]

"A Catalogue of such [persons] who, by the Generall consent of the Company were admitted to be Inhabytants of the Island now called Aqueedneck, having submitted themselves to the Government that is or shall be established, according to the word of God therein" [1638]

  • Samuel Hutchinson
  • Thomas Emons
  • Richard Awards
  • Edward Willcoks
  • George Gardiner
  • William Witherington
  • Mr. Samuel Gorton
  • John Wickes
  • Ralph Earle
  • Nicholas Browne
  • Richard Burden [Borden]
  • Richard Maxon
  • Mr. Nicholas Esson
  • Thomas Spicer
  • Robert Potter
  • William Nedham
  • Sampson Shatton
  • Adam Mott
  • John Mott
  • Mr. Robert Jefferyes
  • Thomas Hitt
  • James Tarr
  • John Roome
  • Robert Gilham
  • Jeremy Clarke
  • Nicholas Davis
  • Wm. Baker
  • John More
  • Anthony Pain
  • George Potter
  • Wm. Richardson
  • Wm. Quick
  • Thomas Clarke
  • John Johnson
  • William Hall
  • John Briggs
  • James Davis
  • George Parker
  • Erasmus Bullock
  • George Cleer
  • Thomas Hazard
  • William Cowlie
  • Jeffery Champlin
  • Richard Sarle
  • John Sloff
  • Thomas Beeder
  • John Tripp
  • Osamund Doutch
  • John Marshall
  • Robert Stanton
  • Joseph Clarke
  • Robert Carr
  • George Layton
  • John Arnold
  • Wm. Heavens [Havens]
  • Thomas Layton
  • Edward Poole
  • Mathew Sutherland

"Inhabitants admitted at the Town of Nieu-port since the 20th of the 3:1638" (since 20 May 1638)

  • Marmaduke Ward
  • Robert Field
  • Thomas Stafford
  • Job Tyler
  • Thomas Sauorie
  • Hugh Durdall
  • William Baker
  • John Layton
  • Mr. Will Foster
  • John Hall
  • Tobye Knight
  • John Peckum
  • Michel Williamson
  • Mr. Robert Lintell
  • Richard Smith
  • James Rogers
  • John Smith
  • Wm. Parker
  • John Grinman
  • Edward Rero
  • John Macummore
  • Robert Root
  • Ezekiah Meritt
  • James Burt
  • John Bartlett
  • Edward _________
  • Sampson Salter
  • Nicholas Cottrell
  • John Vaughan
  • John Smith
  • John Merchant (2 July)
  • Jeremy Gould
  • Enoch Hunt
  • Nathaniel Adams
  • Samuel Allen
  • George Allen
  • Ralph Allen
  • Mr. Thomas Burton
  • Henry Bishop
  • John Hicks
  • Edward Browce
  • Mathew Gridell (5 August)

Residents of Portsmouth after split with Newport

Anne Hutchinson/Mary Dyer Memorial Herb Garden at Founders' Brook Park, Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Those Portsmouth settlers who remained after the group left to found Newport, and who signed an agreement for a government on 30 April 1639:[30]

Founders of Newport

Henry Bull house, c. 1639, from a 1900 post card

Those who signed an agreement for a new government, 28 April 1639[31]

Founders of Warwick

Samuel Gorton's house built after King Philip's War

Those who purchased the land from the Indians, January 1643[32]

Pettaquamscutt purchasers

Pettaquamscutt Purchase in 1724

Those who purchased the Pettaquamscutt lands (later South Kingstown) from the Indian sachems, 1657[33]

Original purchasers:

Later purchasers:[34]

Early inhabitants of New Shoreham (Block Island)

Plaque showing both the names of the original purchasers, and names of the first settlers of Block Island

The original purchasers of Block Island in April 1661, whose names appear on a plaque at the north end of the island, were: Thomas Terry, John Clarke, William Jud, Samuel Dearing, Simon Ray, William Tosh, Tormut Rose, William Barker, Daniel Cumball, William Cohoone, Duncan Mack Williamson, John Rathbun, Edward Vorce, Jun., Trustrum Dodge, Sen., Nicholas White, William Billings, and John Ackurs (Acres). Those early settlers whose names appear on the plaque were:[35]

Those named in the Royal Charter of 1663

Rhode Island's Royal Charter of 1663

The early Rhode Island inhabitants named in the Rhode Island Royal Charter, dated 8 July 1663, and signed with the royal seal by King Charles II; this charter was the basis for Rhode Island's government for nearly two centuries:[36]

Assistants:

Others named in the document:

Early inhabitants of Westerly

Westerly, at first called Misquamicut, was purchased on 27 August 1661 by the following Newport men: William Vaughan, John Coggeshall, Jr., John Crandall, Hugh Mosher, James Barker, Caleb Carr, James Rogers, Joseph Torry, and John Cranston. Of these men, only John Crandall appears to have settled in Westerly. Following is a list of 24 Westerly inhabitants appearing in the town records of 18 May 1669:[37]

  • John Crandall
  • Edward Larkin
  • Stephen Wilcox
  • John Lewis
  • James Cross
  • Jonathan Armstrong
  • John Maxson
  • Jeffrey Champlin, Sr.
  • John Fairfield
  • Daniel Cromb
  • Nicholas Cottrell
  • Shubael Painter
  • Tobias Saunders
  • Robert Burdick
  • John Randall
  • John Matkoon
  • John Sharp
  • Daniel Stanton
  • James Babcock, Sr.
  • Thomas Painter
  • James Babcock, Jr.
  • John Babcock
  • Job Babcock
  • Josiah Clarke

Colonial leaders during King Philip's War

Garrison house being attacked during King Philip's War

During the devastating events of King Philip's War (1675-1678), the Rhode Island General Assembly sought the counsel of 16 prominent citizens of the colony with the following resolution, "Voted that in these troublesome times and straites in this Collony, this Assembly desiringe to have the advice and concurrance of the most juditious inhabitants, if it may be had for the good of the whole, doe desire at their next sittinge the Company and Councill of [the following]..."[38]

Original proprietors of East Greenwich

At a meeting of the General Assembly in Newport in May 1677, the following 48 individuals were granted 100-acre tracts in East Greenwich "for the services rendered during King Philip's War."[39]

  • John Spencer
  • Thomas Nichols, father of Deputy Governor Jonathan Nichols
  • Clement Weaver
  • Henry Brightman
  • George Vaughan
  • John Weaver
  • Charles Macarty
  • Thomas Wood
  • Thomas Frye, father of Deputy Governor Thoms Frye
  • Benjamin Griffin
  • Daniel Vaughan
  • Thomas Dungan, son of William and Frances (Latham) Dungan
  • John Pearce
  • Stephen Peckham
  • John Crandall, son of John Crandall
  • Preserved Pearce
  • Henry Lilly
  • John Albro, son of John Albro
  • Samuel Albro, son of John Albro
  • Philip Long
  • Richard Knight
  • John Peckham
  • Thomas Peckham
  • William Clarke
  • Edward Day
  • Edward Richmond
  • Edward Calvery
  • John Heath
  • Robert Havens
  • John Strainge
  • John Parker
  • George Browne
  • Richard Barnes
  • Samson Ballou
  • John Remington
  • Jonathan Devell
  • Benjamin Mowrey
  • Joseph Mowrey
  • William Wilbore, cousin of Samuel Wilbore
  • James Eyles Pearce
  • James Batty
  • Benjamin Gorton, son of Samuel Gorton
  • Henry Dyre, son of William and Mary Dyer
  • John Knowles
  • Stephen Arnold, son of William Arnold and brother of Governor Benedict Arnold
  • John Sanford, son of Governor John Sanford
  • William Hawkins
  • John Holden, son of Randall Holden

Settlers of Frenchtown

Original plat map of Frenchtown

The following individuals were French Huguenots who settled in what is now East Greenwich in 1687. On 12 October 1686 an agreement was signed between Richard Wharton, Elisha Hutchinson (son of Edward Hutchinson), and John Saffin, representing the Proprietors of the Narragansett Country, and Ezechiel Carre', Peter Le Breton and others representing the French immigrants. The following individuals signed the follow-on agreement, usually giving only their surname, and these same names are found on a plat map of the settlement. Also on the map are two additional lots: "La terre pour L'Eglise" (land for the church), and "La terr pour L'ecolle" (land for the school). Following some severe civil clashes with the English settlers, almost all of these people left Rhode Island to settle in Massachusetts and New York. Two families remained on their original land, however: LeMoine (later anglicized to Money, and then Mawney), and Targe' (which became Tourgee), and a third family, the Ayraults, moved to Newport.[40]

  • Dauid, Junior
  • Dauid, Senior
  • Chadene
  • foretier
  • Ezechiel Carre', Ministre
  • Louis Alaire
  • Jamain
  • Bussereau
  • Le moine (Moses LeMoine, father of Colonel Peter Mawney)
  • Abraum tourtellot
  • La Veue Galay
  • Targe', Junior
  • Targe', Senior
  • Grasilier
  • Amian
  • Lafou
  • Belhair
  • Milard
  • Jouet
  • Renaud
  • Le gendre
  • Bertin dit Laronde
  • Menardeau
  • Galay
  • Ratier
  • Dauid
  • Beauchamps
  • Moize le Brun
  • Le Breton
  • La Vigne
  • Tauerrier
  • Bouniot
  • Arnaud
  • Lambert
  • Rambert
  • Coudret
  • Jean Julien

Other prominent early settlers (pre-1700)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arnold, Samuel Greene (1859). History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol.1. New York: D. Appleton & Company. pp. 73–4.
  2. ↑ Arnold, 98-9
  3. ↑ Arnold, 97
  4. ↑ Bicknell, 1:158
  5. ↑ Chapin, Howard M. (1916). Documentary History of Rhode Island. Providence: Preston and Rounds Company. pp. 8–16.
  6. 1 2 Chapin, 11
  7. ↑ Bicknell, Thomas Williams (1920). The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol. 1. New York: The American Historical Society. pp. 143, 158.
  8. ↑ Chapin, 17
  9. ↑ Moriarty, G. Andrews (April 1944). "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island". The American Genealogist. 20: 227.
  10. ↑ Arnold, 100
  11. ↑ Austin, John Osborne (1887). Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. Albany, New York: J. Munsell's Sons. p. 416. ISBN 978-0-8063-0006-1.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles (1995). The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620–1633. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. pp. 1072–1076. ISBN 0-88082-044-6.
  13. ↑ Austin, 50
  14. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles; Sanborn, George F. Jr.; Sanborn, Melinde L. (2003). The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1634–1635. Vol. III G-H. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. p. 142. ISBN 0-88082-158-2.
  15. ↑ Austin, 200
  16. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles (2007). The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1634–1635. Vol. V M-P. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-88082-211-4.
  17. ↑ Anderson (1995), p. 1967
  18. ↑ Anderson (1995), p. 1943
  19. ↑ Austin, 102
  20. ↑ Field, Edward (1902). State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History. 1. Boston: Mason Publishing Company. p. 33.
  21. ↑ Gorton, Adelos (1907). The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton. George S. Ferguson Co. p. 39.
  22. ↑ Arnold, 102
  23. ↑ Bicknell, 1:143
  24. ↑ Moriarty, 20:227
  25. ↑ Staples, William R. (1843). Annals of the Town of Providence, from its First Settlement to the Organization of the City Government in June 1832. Providence: Printed by Knowles and Vose. pp. 40–43.
  26. ↑ Arnold, 195
  27. ↑ Bicknell, Thomas Williams (1920). The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol 2. New York: The American Historical Society. pp. 469–70.
  28. ↑ "The Portsmouth Compact". Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  29. ↑ Bartlett, John Russell (1856). Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in new England. 1. Providence: A. Crawford Greene and Brother. pp. 90–93.
  30. ↑ Arnold, 133
  31. ↑ Arnold, 132
  32. ↑ Arnold, 176
  33. ↑ "Kingston Congregational Church Collection". Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  34. ↑ "History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island". Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  35. ↑
  36. ↑ "Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  37. ↑ Denison, Frederic (1878). Westerly (Rhode Island) and its Witnesses, for Two Hundred and Fifty Years, 1626-1876. Providence: J.A. & R.A. Reid. pp. 47, 52.
  38. ↑
  39. ↑ Greene, Daniel H. (1877). History of the Town of East Greenwich and Adjacent Territory from 1677 to 1877. Providence: J.A. & R. A. Reid. pp. 9–10.
  40. ↑ Potter, Elisha R. (1879). Memoir Concerning the French Settlements and French Settlers in the Colony of Rhode Island. Providence: Sidney S. Rider. pp. 10–15.

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