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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.
Contents
- Aboriginal tribes and leaders
- First European settler
- Those who came to Seekonk with Roger Williams early 1636
- Those who first settled Providence
- Original proprietors of Providence
- Providence civil compact 1637
- Pawtuxet settlers
- Signers of Providence agreement for a government 1640
- Settlers of Cocumscussoc Wickford area
- Founders of Portsmouth
- Inhabitants of Aquidneck Island 1638
- Residents of Portsmouth after split with Newport
- Founders of Newport
- Founders of Warwick
- Pettaquamscutt purchasers
- Early inhabitants of New Shoreham Block Island
- Those named in the Royal Charter of 1663
- Early inhabitants of Westerly
- Colonial leaders during King Philips War
- Original proprietors of East Greenwich
- Settlers of Frenchtown
- Early Settlers of Bristol 1680
- Other prominent early settlers pre 1700
- References
Aboriginal tribes and leaders
The following aboriginal people lived in what became the state of Rhode Island.
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
Those who came to Seekonk with Roger Williams early 1636
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:
Those who first settled Providence
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. 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. 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:
Original proprietors of Providence
Those named in a deed from Roger Williams, dated about 8 October 1638
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.
Pawtuxet settlers
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
Signers of Providence agreement for a government, 1640
Those 39 Providence settlers who signed an agreement to form a government on 27 July 1640:
Settlers of Cocumscussoc (Wickford) area
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:
Founders of Portsmouth
Supporters of Anne Hutchinson who signed the Portsmouth Compact, dated 7 March 1638
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.
"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]
"Inhabitants admitted at the Town of Nieu-port since the 20th of the 3:1638" (since 20 May 1638)
Residents of Portsmouth after split with Newport
Those Portsmouth settlers who remained after the group left to found Newport, and who signed an agreement for a government on 30 April 1639:
Founders of Newport
Those who signed an agreement for a new government, 28 April 1639
Founders of Warwick
Those who purchased the land from the Indians, January 1643
Pettaquamscutt purchasers
Those who purchased the Pettaquamscutt lands (later South Kingstown) from the Indian sachems, 1657
Original purchasers:
Later purchasers:
Early inhabitants of New Shoreham (Block Island)
The original purchasers of Block Island in April 1661, whose names appear on a plaque at the north end of the island:
The early settlers whose names appear on the plaque:
Those named in the 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:
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:
Of these men, only John Crandall appears to have settled in Westerly.
Westerly inhabitants appearing in the town records of 18 May 1669:
Colonial leaders 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 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":
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."
Settlers of Frenchtown
French Huguenots settled in what is now East Greenwich in 1687. On 12 October 1686, an agreement was signed between the following, representing the French settlers and the land owners:
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). Almost all of these people left Rhode Island to settle in Massachusetts and New York following some severe civil clashes with the English settlers. Two families remained on their original land, however:
The Ayrault family moved to Newport.
Early Settlers of Bristol (1680)
Bristol's early history began as a commercial enterprise when John Gorham was awarded 100 acres of land if it could be "honorably purchased from the indians." Gorham's enterprise succeeded on 18 Sep 1680 when four proprietors were awarded the deed to Mt. Hope Lands:
On 27 Aug 1680, twelve men signed Articles agreeing to purchase lands:
On 1 Sep 1681, more than 60 families were present at the first town meeting and named these lands Bristol after Bristol, England. Bristol was originally part of Massachusetts, but it became part of Rhode Island when disputed lands were awarded to the Colony of Rhode Island in 1747.