ilil m m\ i ^: CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE WW Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924082452560 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN NARRAGANSETT. II[S>y. .ITAIHSS Me S2^A:i;OJiA'pr,}r).D. l-hiUislicilwHaiiy M OndfTdonV.lO Jolm ol,NY. HISTORY THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH NARRAGANSETT, RHODE-ISLAND; INCLUDING A HISTORY OF OTHER EPISCOEAL CHUKCHES IN TUE STATE ; WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A REPRINT OF A WORK NOW EXTREMELY BARE, ENTITLEP, TJPDIKE, ■In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. W. H. B. Smith's Flint, Ckurchman Office, 11 Fpruce-Street, N. Y, INDEX. Page. Abolirion of Slavery in R. I. 168,322 Abstracts of the Reports to the Propagation Soo. . . 446 Acadia, notice of, by Dr. McSpar- ran ... 520 Albro, Samuel and John . 40 Allen, Frederic . . 523 Allen family, ... 59 America Dissected — a rare work of Dr. McSparran's — see intro- ductory notice and appendix, 246 ,483 Andrews, James 411, John 413 Angell family . . 73 Anthony, Jotin . . 254 Arnold, Rev. Jonathan . 163 Arnold family, 109, 110, 126, 164 Astor, Wm. • . 411 Astrology, ancient belief in 349 Auchmuty family, . . 148 Auchmuty. Rev. Sam. ' . 150 " Sir Sam. . 152 Babcock, Dr. Joshua 307, Rev. Luke 312, Col. Henry 3 11, Capt. , George W. 121, family, 180, 307 Badger, Rev. Moses 415, 439 Bahamas, . • • 485 Bailey, Rev. Mr. • . 356 Balfour, George . 40, 125 Barliadoes . • • 484! Bardine, John . . 411 Bass, Bishop Edward . 307 Battle of Trenton, account of 273! Beach, Rev. Mr. . 401, 464 Beaven, Mr. pamphlet 240 Belcher, Gov. Jonathan 497 Bells for churches, brought from England • . 393, 435 Bennet, Sam. 875. Cornelius 400 Bermudas, described' by Dr. Mo. Sparran ... 483 Bernard, Gov. ' . . 290 Page Bernon, Gabriel 40, Family 41, 164 Berkley, Bishop 59, 120, 176, 290, 306, 394, 523^ his family 396--7 Bishop chosen m R. I. . 406 Bisset, Rev Mr. 345, 349, 402, 475 Blackburne, Rev. J. L. 423, con- tioversy with him about rights of elergy . .* . 423 Blodget, Wm. . . 109 Books sent by Society from Eng- land, . 393, 456, 458, 463' Bours, Rev. Peter 291, John 311, 404 Bowden,Rev. Mr. . . 415 Bowen, iBishop . • 422 Bowers, Rev. James . ■. 363 Bowler, Hon. Metcalf 419, 431 Bradstreet, Dudley . 450 Bray, Rev. Dr. . . 471 Brayton, Wm. D. 369, Hon. Geo. A. preface Brenton family 220, 317, 342,400,507 Bridge, Rev. Christopher 35, 38 Bristed, Rev. John . . 443 Bristol, church at 433, 473, 512 Bronson, Rev. Abraham 407 Brown, John C. preface. James 53, Joseph 53, Nathaniel' 46, 53, 84. Daniel 96, Rev. Oliver, notice of ' 118, Rev. Marmaduke 344, 345, 402, 469,, 473, 475, Hon. Arthur and his w^orks 346, Rev. Arthur 409, 454-5, 519, Gov. George 319, family 131, 212, 319, 372, 382,408, 411 Brownists, sect of 500, 501, 518 Bull, Hon. Henry 202, 392 Bullock, Israel . . 411 Burr, Aaron . . 95 Burge, Rev. Lemuel . 363-4 Burleit, John . . 411 Burlingame, Roger . 375 Byles, Rev. Dr. . . 354 INDEX Page Caner, Rev. Dr. 354, 356, 413, Rev. Henry . . . 477, 506 Caiionchet, poem on death of the Sachem ... 224 Carolina North, colony, described by Dr. McSparran when a colo- ny, episcopacy established there by charter — population 489, ex- ports of . . .490 Carolina, South, colony, described by Dr. McSparran, rice being un- enumerated iu the British tariff, th'ey export it to all parts of Eu- rope 487, English church estab- lished there by law 488, exports ..of . . . . 488 Carpenter, Willet and family 59, 279, Rev. James H. . 369 Carter, Rev. Mr. . . .485 Cary, Col. Henry letter to . 483 Case, John . 266, 275, 331 Center, James . . 221 Champlin, Chr. 110. Christopher G. Ill, George 112, Col. Chr. 512, family . . 110, 180 Channing, John . . 359 Charra, Rev. Mr. . . 409 Charlestown, church at . 512 Chase, Sam. 411,414, John 422, family . . . 109 Checkley, Rev. John . 205,410 Christ's Church, Westerly, histo- ry of ... 366 Church, in Newport 35, 39, 62.146, 370,392,446,455,473,511 " in Providence 57, 409, 446-8 451, 514 '• at East Greenwich 366,512 " at Westerly . . 365 " at Charlestown (formerly Westerly) old church 512 " at Kingston . • 367 " at Wakefield . . 368 " at Warwick old chu rch 369, 394 ! " at Bristol . 433,473,512 " at Warren . 444 473 Church, St. Pa,ul's at Narragansett first built 35, 271, 447-8, 450 fill, purchase of glebe 274, law- suit about church property with the Congregationalists 68, 70, 527, on division of the town fell in North Kingstown 39.364, used Page, as barracks in revolution 360, building taken down and remov- ed to Wiokford 362-4, picture ot 273, incorporated 364, parish di- vided in 1832, 363, (see McSpar- ran, Fayerweather, &o.) Church afTower Hill built, 363-4 Church, persecutions of the, by the Congregationalists 83, 207, 436 Church, sufferings of in revolution 150, 265, 267, &o. Clap, Rfev. Thomas. . 506 Clarke, John 1. 419, Rev. A. H. 410, Rev. A. L. 415, Rev. Wm. 357, Rev. Mr. . . 440 Clergy, controversy about rights of .... ,423 Climate of Narragansett, 191, 524j frequent thunder &o. 524, cold winter of 1740, 191, 201, 525 Coddington, Wra. 509, 36, 164, 306 CoitjDr. ... 305 Cole family, history of . 104,411 Cold winter of 1740, 191, 201, 525 Connecticut described by Dr. Mc- Sparran as a colony 501, govern- ment 502, trade . . 507 Conslitution of U. S. history of a- doptiori by R. I. Controversy, see episcopacy. Copley, the painter . . 3£9 Crane, Rev. Silas A. . 367 Cranston family, . 184, 321 Crawford, Gideon . . 411 Crocker, Rev. Nathan B. . 423 Cutler, Timothy 90, 96, see epis- copacy. Dehon, Rev. Theodore £98, 406-8 Dexter, Col. John S. . . 384 Dickinson, Charles 40, John 121, 148, 332, 371 Di.\on, Hon. N. F. . . 161 Dorrance, Wm. T. . . 409 Doyle, Rev. Mr. . . 537 Dudley, Thomas . . 509 D'Wolf, Rev. Erasfus . 364, 367 Eames, Rev. James H. . 369 East Greenwich, church at 366, 512 Elliott, Rev. Joseph . 506,507 Episcopacy, introduction of in A- merica 96, 139,' 393, 361, 405, 421, controversy about, occasion- ed by Dr. McSparran's sermon Page. 238, 527, rights of the clergy 424, church ijf R. I. was friendly to the revolution . . 245 Fales, Rev. Thomas P. • 444 Fayerweather, Rev. Saiti. minister at St. Paul's 269, 270, 291, 308, 354, 356, 468, his death and will 358 Field, Joseph . . 411 Fines, Charles . . 509 »Fitch, Rev. James . . 505 Fitton,John . . . 431 Fogg, Rev. Mr. . . 360 Folker, ReVi Patrick H. . 363 Francis, Abraham . 372,375 French settlers in Narragansett, 41, 60, 280, see Bernon, Lucas Frontbeck, Rev. )Vlr. . 357,412 Pry, Sarah . . . , 378 Gage, General . . . 563 Gardiner, Dr. Sylvester 126, 282, 523, Robert H. 129, Rev. John S. J. 130, 357, 406, Waller C. 362, family 68, 114, 125, 163, 186, 188, 212, 282, 330,354, 382 Georgia colony, described by Dr. MoSparran, character of"^ first settlers ... 486 Gibbs, Elizabeth . . 126 Gidley, John . . • 116 Goddard, 153, Prof. Wm. G. 156, 478, and preface Goffe, regicide . . 350 Gorton, Samuel, sect and opinions 17, 72, 376, 382 Gossip, ancient meaning of the word .... 347 Graves, Rev. Matthew 262, 412, .loha 264, 353, 412,439, 466 Green, John 23, Col. Christopher and his services 384, Gen. Na- thaniel 386, family 133,372. 377, Albert G. poem on death of Co- nnrichet ... 224 Griswold, Bishop . . 440 Guy, Rev. William ■ 39,449,450 Haly, Capt. Nathan . . 160| Halloweir, Robert . . 126 Hamilton, Marquis of, his land grants ' . . . 517 Hamihon, Robert . . 483, Hammett, John . . 377, 380 Handy, Maj. John . . 212' INDEX. IX Page. Hanging, the worst use men can be put ^o ... 491 Harwood, Lieut. Andrew A. 347, 367 Hathaway, Rev. Mr. . . 444 Hazard, George, Mayor of Newport 321, Nathaniel 321, Thomas one of the first abohtionists 322, Jon- athan J. 328rHon. Benjamin 478, Gov. Jeffrey 329, Isaac P. 515, family 179, 184, 247, 249, 275, 283,321,343 Helrae family 134, 165, 279^ 336 Hill, John 512, Hannah 110, James 354 Hillhouse, Hon. James A. 505, fam- ily .... 504 Hispaniola, piratical settlement at 485 Hitchcock, Col. . . 373 Holden family . 372, 376 Honyraan, Rev. James 46, 62, 145, 393, 400, 409, 446, 451, 464, Hon. James . . 343 Horses in Narragansett — see Pa- ce rs. Hopkins family 237, 352, 411 Howard, Joseph 213, Martin 220 Rowland, John 372, 384, 431 Hudson, N. Y. settlement from R. Island . . . 132 Huguenots in R. L 506, see Ber- non, Lucas. Hull, Stephen . . 422 Humphreys, extracts from his his- tory 465, and passim. Hunter, Hon. Wm. . . 478 Hutchinson, Anne and family 105 Indians in R. I. character and his- tory of 9, 221, supposed by Smi- bert and Wolf to be Tartars 523, war of 1675, 381, and see Co- nonchet and Richard Smith. Jansen, Rev. Louis . . 367 -larvis, Rev. Mr. . . . 414 Jefferson, Benjamin . 347 Jenckes, Gov. ... 53 Jenny, Dr.' . . . 495 Johnson, Rev. Samuel 96, 451-2, 463,' Isaac 509, Madam Kay, Nathaniel 393, -endows a school at Newport 397, 473, gift to Bristol church . 436, 445 Keith, Rev. Mr. . . 349 Kendal, Rev. Thomas . 1 18 INDEX. Page. King family . . . 371 King's Province, name given to Narragansett . . 24 King's Chiircbi . . . 409 Kingston, church at , 367 Knight, Madam, her journey thro' Narragansett . . .10 Knowles,Henry . . 371 Kollredge, John . . 40 Latten's poems . . . 349 Laurens, Mr. . . 506 Lawsuit with Congregationalists 68, 70, 527 Lay-readers, remarks on the prac- tice .... 527 Leaming,Rev. Jeremiah 267, 400,463 Levally family . . 371 Lewis, Enoch . ' . 515 Lillibridge, Thomas . • 40 Linierick, Rev. P.aul letter to 526 Lippit, Moses and famify 371-7, 391 Lockyear, Rev. Mr. . 392 Logwood trade . . 484 Low, Phebe 384, Anthony 391 Lacas. Augustas and family 280, 505 Lyon, Rev. John . . 318 Magell, Rpbert ; . 411 Maine province, described hy Dr. McSparran . . . 520 MacRae, Col. . . 114,126 McSparran, Rev. James 46, 62, 448, 450, his family 63, 68, 119, 274, 448, 450, 495, 526, 632, goes to England 191, sermons of 191, , 214, 238, controversy about the priesthood, see Episcopacy. Rea- sons for preaching his sermon on the priesthood 527, death of his wife 258, his opinion of the Irish Union 530, his charity 532, anti- cipates his aprroaching death, and desires to be remembe.red at his native place 527,coraniences the church at New London 503, his death 259, 467,522. portraits of him and wife 523, his "Amer- ica Dissected" 246, and see in- troductory notice and appendix. Intends to write a history 523, 530, origin of the name ot Mc- Spa,rran . . - 63 Marchant,Wm. . • . •184 Maryland colony, described by Dr. - •McSparran, church of England provided for there •. y^'t Mason, Maj. John • ■ ■, j Massachusetts colony, desoribett by Dr. McSpairan 518, education Merriam, Rev. C. . • ^21 Merritt, John . 411,413,475 Ministers in Massachusetts sup- ported by taxes 436, see Perse- cution. Ministry land lawsuit 68, 70, 527 Minturn family . . 131 Moffat, Dr. Thomas 221,252,341 Moody, Samuel , . 356 Moore, Rev. Wm. H. . 367 Moravians in Georgia . 486 Mumford family . 134, 145 Myles, Rev. Samuel . 90 Narragansett country, history of 9, boundaries disputed 19, climate of — see climate. Named King's province 24, education in 183, 280, state of society among the the early planters 174, 182, 333 378, 432, agriculture 174-9, 324, 448,514, fee Slavery. Cora hus- kings 185, church — see Church. Pacing horses, see Pacers. Nash, Rev. Sylvester . £66 Nason, Benjamin ; . 347 Negroes in R. I. 168, election 177 New England, described by Dr. McSparran . . . 500 Newfoundland . . 521 New Ham^pshire, described by Dr. McSparran, its importance to Eng. navy . . 519 New London, origin of chprch there . . . 503 Newman, Rev. Wm. . S66-7 Newport, church at 35, 392,511, 473 New Providence, pirates at 485 , New York colony, described by Dr. McSparran 498, immense grants of land 499, products 499, church theie . . ' . 499 Nicknames, practice of . 247 Nicholson, Gov. Francis 62, 392. - " 488, 520 Niles, Rev. Sam. and family 36,73, Rev. Wm. W. . . 367 Ninigret, Indian Sachem 221, Sa- INDEX. Page. chem George . . 5 1 2 Oliver, Rev. Thomas L. . 415 Olney, George . . . 419 Orem, Rev; Mr. 50, 410, 434, 450 Oxford settlement in Mass. 43, 60 Pacing horses . . 490, 614 Paget, Henry . . 411 Paper ihoney 516, tender 420,328 Parker, Bishop , . 357 Peck, Rev. Francis . 263, 444 Pennsylvania colony, described by D. McSparran, Quakers ^here 4 94^. church there 495 mass al- lowed there 495, Irish settle there 495, exports and manufacture of linen 496, education, . 496 Perry, Com. O. H. . 112, 330 Persecutions of church by puritans 83, 207, 436, in the revohition 150, 265-7 Pierce, Isaac B. . . 363 Phillips, George 509, family 40, 1 20 Pickett .... 50 Pigott, Edward 371, George £6 213,37,0 409,474, 451 Pirates at New Providence 485 Political history of R. I. Gov. Wan- ton and Sessions protest 299, 320 paper money party 328, Conven- tion to adopt U. S. Constitution 328, only instance known in R. I. of changing a popular leader after the old English fashion 229, excitement against Tories 333, Gov. Brown 319, Hon. B. Hazard 478 Pollen, Rev. Thomas 261,401,465 Pollock family . . 117 Post Office, history of . 155 Potter, Gov. Sam. J. 321, Judge William and family 231-8 Powell, Mr. . 47,134,165 Pratt, Rev. James . . 365 Providence, church at .409,514 PundersoHj Rev. Mr. 456, 512 Puritans disclaimed, seceding from church of England 508, perse- cute Episcopalians 8:J,207, 436, 610, persecute settlers of R. I. 376 Quakers in Pennsylvania 494, in Rhode Island . 322.510 Questman, meaning of the word 69 Ray, collector . . 46 Page. Reed, Rev. John and family 283 Religion in the colonies — see their names. Remington . . . 134 Reports of the propagation society, abstracts from . , . 445 Revolutionary history 121, 150, 221, 231, 291-9, 315, 327, 372, 379, 383, 403, 413, part of church men in . . 241-5, 436 Reynolds family . . 248 Rhodes, Wait . . 572 Rhode Island, settlement of — see Introduction, described by Dr. McSparran £07, Quakers there 610, church there 511, products 514, see political history — revo- lutionary history — church. Richardson, Wm. . . 240 Robinson, Gov. 515, Rowland 125, the unfortunate Hannah 188, Matthew 184, 275, 280, 359, .'06, family 133, 179, 188, 212, 319 Rogers, Rev. Wm. . . 416 Rome, George . . 333 Rouse, Rev. John H. . 363 Saffin, Hon. John : . ' 277 St. Luke's church at Tower Hill 364 St. Pauls ... 364 St. Luke's at East Greenwich 266 St. Peter's ... 367 St. John's Providence . 409 St. Michael's . . 433 Salstonetall, Richard 509, Win- throp 305, Com. Dudley 311 Sayre,Rev. James . 404 Scott, Wm. 188, Rebecca 237 Scotch settlers . 252,319 Seabury, Bishop and family 104, 134, 406 Sergeant, Rev. Mr. . . 356 Sessions, Gov. Darius 298, 382 Sewall, Rev. Dr. . . 354 Sidesmen . . . 422 Singing — old practice . 435 Slavery in Rhode Island, history of 168, attempts to instruct slaves 175, abolition of 168, 322, 530, in Virginia . . . 491 Smibert the painter 523, his opin- ion that the Indians were Tar- tars 523 — see Berckeley. Smith, Col. Sam. his conduct at Page Fort Mifflin or Mud Island 386-7, Gov. John 377, Rev. William 360j 405, 439, author of office of institution for ministers 36 1, Rev. Mr. Smith of New Providence 485 Smith, Richard — one of the first settlers ' . 15, 119, 182 Society for propagating gospel 393, See Books, Humphries, abstracts. Stamp act . . . 221 Stanton family . . 179 Stafford family . . 375 Stevenson, Wm. letter to 532 Stewart, Matthew 213, Gilbert the painter, born in Narragansett, picture of his birth place and history 262, Col. William 486 Sturgeon, Mr. . . 495 Sweet, family of bonesetters, histo- ry of 94, Dr. Sylvester 350 Sweeting, Mr. . . 41 1 Talbot, Silas . .' 386 Taylor, George 411,413, 457 Thayer, Major . . 386 Thompson, Ebenezer . 419 Torrey, Rev. Joseph 74, 1 17 Town^end, John . . 382 Tower Hill Church . . 364 Tourtellot family . . 60 Trenton battle . . 373 Trinity church, Newport 392 Trumbull, James H. . 160 Updike, Daniel Atty General 119, Dodowick 281, Daniel 289, fam; ily 107,118, 153, 163, 281-8 Usher, John 51, 343, 434, 452, 473 Vail, Rev. Thomas H. . 366 Veates, Roger . . . 402 Viets,Rev. Mr. . . 414 Vinton, Rev. Francis 365--8, 392,408 Virgraia colony, described by Dr. McSparran, settlers 490, exports of tobacco 491, slaves in 491, INDEX. Page. convicts transported from Eng- land to 491, Irish settlement m 49. Watefield church . • f°° Walker, Capt. W. ■ • fl Walter, Rev. Mr. • • °°Z Wanton family, history of ^»» Ward, John . ■ • . „l Warren, church at ■ 444, 473 Warren, Sir Peter 499, Rev. Jo- seph . . . • 362 Warwick old church 369, 394, 470 Washington, Gen. at the battle of Trenton . . . 373 Watson, Hon. Elisha 368, family 327 Watts, Rev. Mr. . . 457 Weeks, Rev. Joshua W.. 294 Westcott, Mercy . . 375 Westerly, church at 365,512 Whalley, Jeremiah 350, Theoph- ^ ilus. believed to be one of the regicide judges 350, family 360 Wheatley, Rev. H. . . 460 Wheaton, Rev. S. • . 498 Wheeler, Rev. W. 402, 414, 439 Whipple, Oliver 623, Colonel 48, 409, family 128,372,411 Wickes, Thomas 125, 300, family 381-4 Wiokford, church at . 362-4 Wilkinson, Jemima history of 233, 285, William 63, Samuel 63, Philip 219, family . 236 Willett family history 125, 276, 350 '"ilson, Mr. 1 17, Rev. James 421 Winsor, Mr. ... 63 Winthrop, Hannah and John 359, Gov. John . . 509 Wolf, the traveller, believes the In- dians to be Tartars . 523 Yale College, Berckeley's gift to 396, 504 ERRATA. Page 496, third line of the note, for father read brother. Page 166, the foot note should come in as a part of the text at the end ol the first paragraph on page 167. • NOTICE, It will be seen that a large portion of the following work is writ- ten upon the plan of selecting extracts -from the records of St. Paul's Church, in Narragansett, kept by Dr. McSparran and his succesors, and appending to these by way of notes in smaller type, all the in- formation the author could collect from other sources. These re- cords give very full accounts of every thing' which happened in his own Church, and also of his visits to other churches. By so doing, he has been enabled to introduce much information relating to family and political history, and the state of society and manners, which ho hopes will be interesting. Dr. MoSparian's " America Dissected" having becoma extremely rare, he concluded to I'eprint it entire at the end of this work. It was originally printed at Dublin, in the year 1753. The title is, — " Ametiica Dissected, being a full and true account of all the Amer- ican Colonies, shewing the intemperance of the climates, excessive heat and cold, and sudden violent changes of weather ; terrible and, mischievous thunder and lightning ; bad and unwholesome air, de- structive to human bodies ; badness of money ; danger from ene- mies ; but above all, to the souls of the poor people that remove thither, froni the multifariotis wicked and pestilent heresies that pre- vail in those parts. In several letterj from a Reverend Divine of the Church of England, Missionary to America and Doctor of Di- vinity : Published as a caution to unsteady people who may be tempted to leave their native country. Dublin : Printed and sold by NOTICE. S. PowbII, Dame-street, 1753." This title was probably prefixed to it by the printei's and not by Dr. McSparran himself. The Author's acknowledgments are due to the many friends who have aided him in the progress of this work, and particularly to the late Professor Goddard and Professor Gammell, Hon. George A. Brayton, and Hon. E. R. Potter, for valuable assistance in the course of its preparation and publication. Kingston, R. I., June 20, 1847. PREFACE. The material for authentic history lies hidden with Ihe separate actors in an age, and is to be found in the records of individual life. The historian owes to the biographer all the truth, and much of the beauty, wherewith he informs and delights the reader. Bi- ography is the grammar of historical literature, essential alike to ac- curacy and to ornament, which the young scholar learns from neces- sity, and the mature student resorts to for refreshment and pleasure. The personal anecdote and private adventure, that biography lends to history, fliag a charm over the annals of a people, which interests the mind and engages the heart. ' For it is biography which intro- duces us to our forefathers, and hands us a chair at their fireside, and makes us familiar in their households. It teaches us to love them as children ; while we feel honored by them as by friends communing with us on equal footing. Thus, biography draws closer the bonds that tie together the generations into one family, and causes us to feel those bonds to be strong, which Selfishness is evermore persuad- ing us are weak. Hence, biography is one of the instruments in furthering the design of God in establishing His church, wherein he would gather his children into their spiritual brotherhood. At least, it claims and deserves an elevated rank amongst generous and civil- izing influences. The biographer, then, who has been spending his hours in collecting the relics of -individual life, and who, like the Author of this volume, has formed into shape the scattered memo- rials of our ancestors, does good and laudable service, not to the historian only, but to man. In the name of history, I thank him, for these early annals of' our country; as a fellow-citizen of Rhode Island, I rejoice in his illustrations of our native State. As a church- man, 1 honor his enterprise of embalming the names and actions of those faithful servants of Christ, whose eminent labors pltinted the seeSs of the Gospel, which divine grace hath since blessed to such vigorous growth and abundant fruitfulness. The present volume owes its origin to a vote of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rhode Island, passed in the Con- PREFACE. vention of 1840, on the motion of the present writer; who, as chair- man of the committee appointed " to draught a History of the Church," had the good fortune to be associated with the author, to whom was assigned the church in Narragansett. While each mem- ber of the committee gladly set himself to rescue from oblivionthe local traditions, which were registered, either in the memory of the aged or in the records of neighboring parishes, they were both sur- prised and gratified to learn that so rich materials were awaiting the Author's research, and that he would give to his portion of the work, such elaborate and persevering industry as appears in this volume. This successful issue of the original design excites the laudable . pride of the Author's associates, and fills our hearts with devout gratitude to Him, " from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed." Yet our congratulations are solemnized by the painful recollec- tion of the decease of one of our companions, the late William G. Goddard, LL. D., of St. John's Parish, Prtvidencle, late Profes- sor of Belles Lettres in Brown University^who was deeply inter- ested in the project and progress of this volume, and who-, by his generous nature and refined taste, was pre-eminently qualified, both to appreciate the Author's work, and to aid in the execution of it. — Had he have been spared to this day, none more than he would have rejoiced in its completion, and none would have contributed more liberally, from an ample fortune, to extend its circulation. It is a pleasure, however, to record the fact, that, one who knew him well, John Carter Brown, Esq., has given the author a substan- tial memorial of Professor Goddard, as well as a proof of his own liberal mind, in subscribing munificently to multiply copies of this work. In conclusion, the writer invokes the Divine blessing on the vol- ume now committed to the press ; that it may recall to memory the tokens of former benefits and ayvaken fresh eflbrts to secure renewed favor from on High, upon our beloved church and country. F. VINTON, Brooklyn, N. Y., June 1st, 1847. INTRODUCTION. In giving a history of the Church in Narragansett, I have thought it advisable, in an Introduction, to give a sketch of the extent of the country, its early settlement, and the claims of other colonies to its territory ; and that a passing glance of the various controversies and conflicts relative to its possession and jurisdiction, its erection by the King into a distinct and sovereign gov- ernment, independent of Rhode Island, by the style of the King's Province, and its final re-union, would not be an uninteresting retrospect to those who are fond of looking at the past. The Narragansett country was anciently bounded, westerly by Pawcatuck river, southerly by the Atlantic, easterly on the Narragansett bay, embracing the islands, and on the Seekonk river, northeasterly on the Black- stone river, and northwardly and northwesterly as far as the present bounds of Rhode Island extend, and how much farther in that direction cannot now be ascer- tained. The Wampanoags, Nipmucs, and other tribes of Indians more easterly and northerly, were tributaries lA X INTRODUCTION. , to them, but threw off their allegiance after the arrival of the English. Respecting the name of Narragansett, Roger Wil- liams states, " that being inquisitive of vfhat root the denomination of Narragansett should come, I heard Narragansett was so named from a little island between Petaquamscutt (which was the name of a large rock near Tower Hill, and was afterwards given to a river in South Kingstown, dividing Tower Hill from Boston Neck, and emptying into the sea) and Misquamicut (westerly) on the sea and fresh water side. I went on purpose to see it, and about a place called Sugar Loaf Hill, (a high conical mount at Wakefield,) I saw it, and was within a pole of it, but could not learn why it was called Narragansett." There are a number of islands in the Point Judith Ponds, but which was pointed out to Mr. Williams as the Narragansett Island, is not now known, and no island now bears that distinctive name. Madam Knight, in her journey through Narragansett in 1704, while resting for the night at Havens' tavern, which stood on the site of the present residence of Wil- liam P. Maxwell, Esq., near the " Devil's Foot " rock in North Kingstown, listened she, says, " to a strong debate concerning the signification of the name of their coun- try, viz. Narragansett. One said it was named so by the Indians, because there grew a briar there of a pro- digious height and bigness, the like hardly ever known. INTRODUCTION. XI called by the Indians Narragansett, and quoted an Indian of so barbarous a name for his author, that I could not write it. His antagonist replied, no, it was ftom. a spring it had its name, and he well knew where it was, which was extreme cold in summer, and as hot as could be imagined in the winter, which was much resorted to by the natives, and by them called Narragansett, (hot and cold,) and that was the origin of their place's name." Brinley, in his history of Narragansett, in the Massa- chusetts Historical Society's collections, says that they numbered thirty thousand men. Roger Williams says, they could raise five thousand fighting men, and Hutch- inson, that they were the most numerous of all the tribes between Boston and the Hudson river. Roger Williams observes, that " in the Narragansett country, (which are the chief people of the land,) a man shall come to twenty towns, some bigger, some lesser, it may be a dozen in twenty miles travel." In the Indian war of 1675, the Narragansetts were destroyed or dispersed, excepting the Nyantic, now known as the Charlestown tribe. Ninigret, their Sa- chem, more sagacious than the rest, and well knowing the power of the whites, and the certainty of their suc- cess, having remained neutral in that fatal conflict, which almost annihilated his race, thus preserved the friend- ship of the whites, and the reservation that the tribe Xll INTRODUCTION. owned, was afterwards secured to them as the reward of their neutrality. The Narragansetts subsisted by hunting, fishing, and partially by agriculture. Their lands, for eight or ten miles distant from the sea shore, were cleared of wood, and on these prairies they raised Indian corn in abund- ance, and furnished the early settlers of Plymouth and Massachusetts with large quantities for subsistance. They were a strong, generous, and brave race. They were always more civil and courteous to the English, than any of the other Indians. Their kind and hos- pitable treatment of the emigrants to Rhode Island, and the welcome reception they gave our persecuted ances- tors, should endear their name to us all. The Narragansetts, as to civilization, were far in ad- vance of their neighbors. Hutchinson says, that " they were the most curious coiners of Wampumpeag, and supplied other nations with their pendants and bracelets, and also with tobacco pipes of stone, some blue and some white. They furnished the earthen vessels and pots for cookery and other domestic uses." " They were considered a commercial people, and not only began a trade with the English for goods for their own consumption, but soon learned to supply other distant nations at advanced prices, and to receive beaver and other furs in exchange, upon which they made a profit also. Various articles of their skillful workman- INTRODUCTION. XIU ship have been found from time to time, such as stone axes, tomahawks, mortars, pestles, pipes, arrow-heads, peag, &c." Respecting their reputation for integrity and good morals, Mr. Williams, after a residence of six years among them, and a close and intimate acquaintance with them, observes, " I could never discern that excess of scandalous sins among them, which Europe aboundeth with. Drunkenness and gluttony, they know not what sins they be, and though they have not so much to re- strain them as the English have, yet a man never hears of such crimes among them as robberies, murders, adul- teries, &c." The government of the Narragansetts appears to have been a patriarchal despotism. On the arrival of the English, there were two chief Sachems, Canonicus and Meantinomi, and under them several subordinate ones. The different small tribes under the separate sub- sachems, composed the great Narragansett nation. The succession to chief authority was generally preserved in the same family. The sub-sachems occupied the soil, and were moved from it at the will and pleasure of their chiefs. That the Narragansetts had an exalted estimation of their superiority over other tribes, is demonstrated by the following tradition mentioned by Hutchinson. "In the early times of this nation, some of the English Xiv INTRODUCTION. inhabitants learned from the old Indians, that they had, previous to their arrival, a Sachem, Tashtassuck, and their encomiums upon his wisdom and valor were much the same as the Delawares reported of their chief Sa- chem Tammany; that since there had not been his equal, &c. Tashtassuck had but two children, a son and a daughter, those he joined in marriage, because he could find none worthy of them out of his family. The product of this marriage were four sons, of whom Ca- nonicus was the oldest." With regard to their religious belief, Mr. Williams observes, " That they have a tradition, that to the south- west the gods chiefly dwell, and thither the souls of all good men and women go." " Their principal god seems to have been Kautantowit, or the southwest god. But they have many other objects of worship. They caU the soul Cowwewonch, derived from a word signifying sleep, because they said it worked and operated while the body slept. * * They believe that the souls of men and women go to Kautantowit's house. * * * Murderers, thieves, liars, &c., their souls, they say, wan- der restless abroad." " They have it from their fathers, that Kautantowit made one man and one woman of a stone, which dislik- ing, he broke them in pieces, and made another man and woman of a tree, which were the fountains of all man- , kind." INTRODUCTION. XV The Narragansetts soon became debased and corrupted after their intercourse with the whites, by intemperance, &c. ; and many of the vices with which our forefathers have charged the Indians, they never would have known, but for their intercourse with the whites. The name of the Narragansett country became cir- cumscribed as Canonicus and Meantinomi sold off their territory. After the sale of Providence to Williams, the island of Rhode Island to Coddington, and Shawomet or old Warwick to Gorton and their respective associ- ates, those territories virtually ceased to be called Nar- ragansett. After East Greenwich was conveyed and and erected into a township in 1677, the name of Nar- ragansett was circumscribed to the limits of the present county of Washington, bounding northerly on Hunt's river and the south line of the county of Kent. The first settlement in the State was by Roger Wil- liams, at Providence, in 1636, the others were by Cod- dington, at Portsmouth, in 1038 ; by Richard Smith, at Wickford, in Narragansett, in 1639, and by Gorton, in Warwick, in 1642-3. That Smith's was the third set- tlement, and before Gorton's, Roger Williams says in his testimony in favor of Smith's title to the Wickford lands, dated July 24, 1679, " that Mr. Richard Smith, sen., who, for his conscience to God, left fair possessions in Gloucestershire, and adventured with his relations and estate to New England, and^was a most acceptable XVI INTEODUCTION. inhabitant and prime leading man in Taunton, in Ply- mouth colony. For his conscience sake, (many differ- ences arising,) he left Taunton and came to the Narra- gansett country, where, by God's mercy and the favor of the Narragansett sachems, he broke the ice, (at his great charge and hazards,) and put up in the thickest of the barbarians the first English house among them. I humbly testify that about forty years (from this date) he kept possession, coming and going himself, children and servants, and had quiet possession of hishouses, lands and meadow ; and there in his own house, with much se- renity of, soul and comfort, he yielded up his spirit to God, the father of spirits, in peace." Forty years from the date of his testimony in 1679, carries Smith's settle- ment back to 1639. The Legislature of Rhode Island, in a letter to Rich- ard Smith, dated May 4th, 1664, say, " whereas you are an ancient inhabitant of this colony, of whom the colony hath had a good report." Richard Smith, the son of Richard Smith the first settler, in his petition to the King in behalf of himself and others, which is mentioned in the Colony records, under date of 1679, says, — " That your petitioners are inhabitants of that part of New England, called the Nar- ragansett country, where their ancestors did, about forty years since, sit down and expend great sums of money in planting and improving the same." INTRODUCTION. XVll Richard Wharton, Elisha Hutchinson and John Saffin, in their petition to the King, dated October, 1680, re- specting their titles to the Narragansett lands, say, " that part of the lands aforesaid were purchased by Roger Williams, yet livings and Mr. Richard Smith, deceased, BboMi forty years ago, and possessed to this day by his son Richard Smith." This speaks of Williams at Pro- vidence, and Smith at Wickford, as the first purchasers in the Narragansett country. Brinley says, in his history of Narragansett, before mentioned, under date of 164 1, " Richard Smith pur- chased a tract of the Narragansett Indians, (computed at (30,000,) erected a house for trade, and gave free enter- tainment to travellers, it being the great road of the country." By this statement, it appears that the house had been erected, and the road travelled in 1641. The timber of virhich it was constructed was imported from Taunton River by water, as the country was prairie to some extent from the shore, and there were no oxen or teams to procure it at Wickford. The imported materials are in the house now. Speaking of Gorton's purchase of Shawomet or War- wick, in January, 1643, Callender says, that Gorton " came to Rhode Island in June, 1648, where he tarried till 1639-40; then he was on some contention banished the Island. Thence he went to Providence, where many of the people growing uneasy at his planting and XVlii INTRODUCTION. building at Pawtuxet," (on the north side of the river,) "and complaining to the Massachusetts government, in 1642, he was summoned to appear before their court, which he despised. However, he purchased this tract " (on the south side of the river called Shawomet or War- wick,) " of the Indians, and removed there with his friends." Callender further states, that about 1642-3, Roger Williams and one Mr. Wilcox, erected trading- houses in the Narragansett country, and there were some few plantations settled near them. Williams built near Smith, who, all admit, erected the first house, and Wil- liams afterwards sold out to Smith. The preceding facts by Williams ; the petitions of Smith, sen., and Smith, jun., and Wharton and others, furnish satisfactory proof that Richard Smith's settle- ment at Wickford in Narragansett, was prior to the year 1640 ; and taken together with the statement of Brinley, that Smith's purchase was in 1641, corroborated by Cal- lender, who says, that the three trading-houses of Smith, Williams, and Wilcox, were erected in 1642-3, and that some few plantations were settled near them, is conclu- sive evidence that Smith's settlement at Wickford was previous to that of Gorton, at Warwick, in January, 1643. As the power of the Indians became weakened from the increased settlements and intrusions of the whites, the question of the jurisdiction of the Narragansett coun- try became a subject of avaricious contention. In 163 1, INTRODUCTION. XIX Connecticut obtained her first patent, bounding them east on the " Narragansett river," which they contended was what is now called Seekonk or Blackstone river. The Rhode Island patent obtained in 1G43, bounded her " northward and northeast on Massachusetts, east and southeast on Plymouth, south on the ocean, and west and northwest by the Narragansetts, the whole tract extending about twenty-five English miles unto the Pequod river or country." The boundaries being loose and undefined by particular designated names or places, "the geography of the country being hardly emerged into any tolerable light, that instead of ascertaining their limits on earth, they fixed their boundaries in the Heavens." From this uncertainty of designation, a controversy soon arose between the two colonies, respecting the charier jurisdiction of the Narragansett country. The settlements under the respective colonies were disputed, various and serious disturbances ensued, mingled with a bitter and acrimonious correspondence enforcing their respective titles. To strengthen their right, Connec- ticut, in 1662, obtained a new charter, bounding that colony " on the east by Narragansett river, commonly called Narragansett bay, where the said river falleth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachu- setts plantation, on the south by the sea in longitude as the line of Massachusetts colony, running from east to XX INTRODUCTION. west, that is to say, from the Narragansett bay on the east to the south sea on the west part, with the islands thereto adjoining." The old Rhode Island patent of 1643^ it will be recol- lected, also included the Narragansett country, and the disputes about the jurisdiction of this tract had been the cause of great contentions with Connecticut, and occa- sional altercations with Plymouth. If the Narragansett was the Seekonk river, Connecticut contended that the Narragansett country was embraced in her chartered limits. And if the Narragansett was adjudged to be the Pawcatuck river, then Plymouth claimed the same ter- ritory as being embraced within her chartered limits, as the " Narragansett river " was her west boundary. Mas- sachusetts also claimed that part of Narragansett that lay west of the Wecapaug river in westerly, running about five or six miles east of Pawcatuck, as her part of the division of the Pequod country, obtained by the conquest in 1637. Thus stood Rhode Island possessed of only the towns on the island of Rhode Island, Providence, and the Shaw- omet settlements, contending singly for her rights against the power and physical energies of her three powerful neighbors, and only comforted and cheered by the dis- tant hope of protection from the King. The Connec- ticut charter of 1662, embracing Narragansett ; Rhode Island, to sustain herself at this crisis, also petitioned INTRODUCTION. XXI the throne for a new charter, establishing her ancient jurisdiction, including the questioned title to Narragan- sett, which agitated anew at court the acrimonious dis- pute between the colony agents, respecting the true location and name of the " Narragansett river," contem- plated in their respective grants. For a more equitable adjustment of this litigated colonial controversy, the king called in the Connecticut charter, recently granted, for further Consideration. In this posture of affairs, Mr. Winthrop, the agent of Connecticut, apprehensive of re- sults fatal in other respects from the inhibition, agreed with the agent of Rhode Island, Mr. Clark, to a general reference of the questions in dispute. William Brenton, Esq., Major Robert Thompson, Capt, Richard Doane, Capt. John Brookehaven, and Doctor Benjamin Worsley, were mutually chosen by the parties, the arbitrators to hear and decide the question. They fixed on terms which were signed and sealed by the agents, of both colonies, Messrs. Winthrop and Clark, on the 7th of April, 1663. " That a river, there commonly called and known by the name of Pawcatuck river, shall be the certain bounds between those two colonies, which said river shall, for the future, be also called Narragansett river." "That the proprietors and inhabitants of that land about Smith's trading house, claimed and purchased by Major Atherton and others, shall have free liberty to choose to which of those colonies they will belong." XXil INTRODUCTION. On the third of July, 1663, they accordingly assembled and made choice of Connecticut. The Rhode Island Charter of July 8th, 1663, mentioned and confirmed the first article of the before mentioned award, but omitted the others. This charter, in NoA'-ember, 1663, was re- ceived by Rhode Island, read publicly before the people and accepted. This auspicious result inspired Rhode Island with a confident hope that this irritating controversy was brought to a successful termination. The agreement, solemn and formal as it was in prospect, proved delusive. It did not settle the controversy. Connecticut con- tended, that although Mr. Winthrop had a commission as agent to procure their charter, that in conformity thereto he did so, and transmitted it home; and upon that event, his commission was fulfilled, and to all in- tents his agency had ceased, and that thereafter he had no power to put their charter to arbitration, or authority to annul it, except instructed anew, and that the whole procedure was unknown to them. That in another re- spect Rhode Island herself had nullified the agreement in not admitting the jurisdiction of Connecticut over the inhabitants of Narragansett, who had elected, according to its provisions, to live under their government. To relieve Rhode Island from a dilemma so pressing, Roger Williams, in a letter to Major Mason of Connecticut, in explanation of the apparent perplexity that surrounded INTRODUCTION. Xxiii the transaction, says — "Upon our humble address by our agent, Mr. Clark, to his majesty, and his gracious promise of renewing our former charter, Mr. Winthrop upon some mistake, had entrenched upon our line, but not only so, but as it is said, upon the lines of other charters also. Upon Mr. Clarke's complaint, your char- ter was called in again, and it had never been returned, but upon a report that the agents, Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Clark, were agreed by the mediation of friends, (and it is true they came to a solemn agreement under han(''s and seals,) which agreement was never violated on our part." This partial armistice rather exasperated than allayed the disposition of the parties, and the contest was re- newed with increased vigor. In the same year, Rhode Island and Connecticut appointed magistrates in Narra- gansett, to execute their respective laws. In March, 1664, twenty armed men crossed the Pawcatuck, and with force entered the house of a citizen adhering to the government of Rhode Island, assaulted and seized the owner, and carried him captive to Connecticut. Rhode Island, in the May following, seized John Greene, of Quidnesit, an adherent of the opposite government, transported him to Newport, and threatened to arrest and imprison all others that would not subject them- selves to their jurisdiction. The courts of each Colony holding their opposite sessions and promulgating their Xxiv INTRODUCTION.^ conflicting decisions, the continued arrests, captures and incarcerations of ^the adherents of each party, seemed to threaten a speedy effusion of blood. An inhabitant* of Wickford, writing to Connecticut for forces, says, "we are in greater trouble than ever, and like to be war." These differences, intrusions and acts of violence and injustice reached the ears of the home government, and to prevent the threatened catastrophe, the King, in April, 1664, appointed Col. Richard Nicholas, Sir Ro- bert Carr, George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick, Esquires, commissioners (of which Col. Nicholas dur- ing life was always to be one) " to determine all com- plaints, causes, and matters, military, civil, and criminal, in the Colonies of New England." In May, 1665, the commissioners (Nichols absent) by an order under their hands and seals, erected the Narragansett country, bounded westward by Pawcatuck river, and from thence in "a north line drawn to Mas- sachusetts, line from the middle of said river into an independent jurisdiction, called King's Province, and ordered that no person of whatever Colony soever, SHALL PRESUME TO EXERCISE ANY JURISDICTION WITHIN THE King's Province, but such as receive authority FROM US, UNDER OUR HANDS AND SEALS, Until his ma- jesty's pleasure be further known;" and that the magis- trates of Rhode Island exercise the authority of Justices of the Peace in the King's Province until May, 1665. « INTRODUCTION. XXV After that day, they empowered the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistants only, as magistrates to hold courts, &c., in said Province. The letter of the King confirmed the decision of the commissioners, as " to the possession, government, and absolute and immediate sovereignty " of the King's Province* Thus Rhode Is- land become dissevered, and the Narragansett country, one half of her territory, was erected into an .indepen- dent and sovereign province, by the name of the King's Province ; and in all acts of Parliament aflfecting the colony, passed after this date, it is referred to by the style of " The Colony of Rhode Island and Provi- dence Plantations, and the King's Province," naming them separately and independently ; and the govern- ment of Rhode Island, in many of their State papers and letters, used the same style. Yet the magistrates ap- pointed in conformity to proclamation of the commis- sioners and the confirmation of the king, probably never exercised independent jurisdiction over said province north of the Warwick line. This act of the commissioners gave new uneasiness to a state already perplexed almost to madness. She saw the increased inconveniences that would arise from the erection of a new jurisdiction over one half of her chartered domain, which, instead of relieving her from impending troubles, would only fetter her energies in subsequent contentions with her powerful rival. In addi- 3a XXVI INTRODUCTION. tion to this, she also feared it might jeopard her future limits, and to avoid such a result, in 1666, she present- ed a loyal address to the King, and another to Lord Chancellor Clarendon, praying the re-union of Narra- gansett to Rhode Island, which proved unavailing. Under these perplexing embarrassments, the Indian war of 1675 commenced. At a period long previous, the natives of Rhode Island submitted theiijselves to the king, and the authorities of the State, and lived in amity with- the people. But the United, Colonies, re- gardless of colonial jurisdiction, invaded the colony with their armies, and exterminated the Narragansetts at a blow. In a letter to the king, in 1677, Rhode Is-. land states, " concerning the late war with the Indians, we render you this account : It began in June, 1675, and broke forth between King Philip and the colony of New Plymouth, and was prosecuted by the United Color nies, as they term themselves, and afterwards several other nations of Indians were concerned in said war, whereby many and most of your majesty's subjects in these parts were greatly distressed and ruined. But this your majesty's colony, not being concerned in the war only as necessity required for the defence of their lives and what they could of their estates, and as coun- trymen and fellow-subjects, did, with our boats and pro- visions, assist and relieve our neighbors, we being no other ways concerned." In a letter to Connecticut, INTRODUCTION, XXVll dated in 1676, Rhode Island says : " We are very apt to believe that, if matters come to a just inquiry concerning the cause of the war, that our Narragansett Sachems, which were subjects of his majesty, and by his aforesaid commissioners taken into protection and put under our government, and to us at all times manifest- ed their submission by appearing when sent for; nei- ther was there any manifestation of war against us from them, till, by the United Colonies, they were forced to war or to such submission as it seems they could not subject to, thereby involving us in such hazards, charge and losses, which have fallen upon us in our out-planta- tions, that no colony hath received the like, consider- ing our number of people," After the extermination of the Narragansetts they claimed the King's Province as a conquered territory, to which Rhode Island, for this reason among others, had no title. Under pre- tence of an amicable adjustment, Rhode Island being thus crippled and down-trodden by the incursions of the United Colonies, Connecticut offered peace upon a division of territory, saying " that, although our just rights, both by patent and conquest, extend much fur- ther, yet our readiness to amicable and neighborly com- pliance is such, (that for peace' sake,) we content our- selves to take with Cowesit (that is, from Apponaug to Connecticut line,) to be the boundary between your colony and ours." In this state of exhaustion, and for xxyiii inteoduction. the peaceable enjoyment of the remainder, Rhode Is- land felt herself compelled to answer, "that if you would accept of one half of all the land in the tract abovesaid unpurchased, we should not much scruple to surrender it to be at your disposal, provided it may be inhabited by such persons as shall faithfully submit to this, his majesty's authority, in this jurisdiction. We have made this tender out of that respect we bear to the country in general." This proposition Connecti- cut refused. In this state of despair, Rhode Island threw herself upon her own energies, and determined if she fell, to fall with dignity. The decision of the king's commissioners had had but little' effect upon Connecticut. They aUedged that the commissioners' award was void, because Colonel Nichols, who was required always to be one of the board, was absent, and that he had subsequently re- voked the order of the other commissioners. Their committee proceeded to the King's Province, surveyed and laid out new plantations within the disputed boun- daries, and Rhode Island settled others with her ad- herents. Claimants occupied under both governments. Proclanlations fulminated from both colonies, conjuring their partisans to fidelity, and breathing vengeance against intruders. Arrests and captures were made by officers, aided by troops of horse, and laws were enact- ed by each government, threatening forfeiture of estate INTRODUCTION. XXIX to all who claimed under or acknowledged the jurisdic- tion of the other. John Saffin, holding under Connecticut, was convict- ed at Newport, of adhering to a foreign jurisdiction, and his estate confiscated, and others prosecuted, imprison- ed, or bailed. In retaliation, Connecticut seized several Ehode Islanders,, and imprisoned them at Hartford and New London. In the midst of this turbulent state of affairs, Rhode Island, in 1680, appealed to the king, and gave notice to Connecticut, that she might prepare for trial without delay, of which the latter accepted, and as- sured Rhode Island in return " that they should exer- cise no further government east of Pawcatuck river until his majesty decided the appeal." Agents were not dispatched by either party to prose- cute the appeal, and things remained in as disturbed a condition as before. For the purpose of quieting the animosities which in their progress had much increased, the king, in April, 1683, commissioned Edward Cranfield, Lieutenant Gov- ernor and Commander-in-Chief of New Hampshire, Wm. Stoughton, Joseph Dudley, Edward Randolph, S. Shrimpton, John Fitz Winthrop, Edward Palmer, John Pynchon, Jr., and Nathaniel Saltonstall, Esqrs., " for the quieting of all disputes that have arisen concerning the right of propriety to the jurisdiction and soil of a cer- tain tract of land in New England called the King's XXX INTRODUCTION. , Province or Narragansett country." From the constitu- tion of this court, being composed of commissioners selected from the United Colonies, whose feelings had ever been inimical to the existence of Rhode Island, she augured anything but auspicious results. ■ The com- missioners assembled at Smith's Castle, near Wickford, in pursuance of their appointment, attended by the agents of Connecticut and Plymouth, to litigate their respective claims to the King's Province. Rhode Is- land peremptorily refused to acknovpledge.the authority of the court. Her legislature assembled within a mile, denied their right to adjudicate, and ordered their ser- geant-at-arms, with his trumpet, at the head of a troop of horse, " by loud proclamation, to prohibit them from keeping court in any part of their jurisdiction." They adjourned to Boston, and finally adjudged, as might have been expected, " that the jurisdiction of the King's Pro- vince belonged of right to Connecticut." The sturdy remonstrance of Rhode Island to the king, against the partial organization of the Court, defeated the confirma- tion of its decision. Another effort was made, as ill-advised as the prece- ding, to terminate the existing agitations. The king, in 1685, commissioned Joseph Dudley, as President of of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and the King's Province — ^thus uniting the four provinces under one common head. He assumed the government, and by INTRODUCTION. XXXI proclamation declared the King's Province a separate government, independent of Rhode Island. He assem- bled his council at Smith's Castle, and in the plenitude of authority, established courts, appointed magistrates, and, to obliterate every recollection of their former politi- cal existence, substituted the town name of Rochester for Kingstown, Haversham for Westerly, and Bedford for Greenwich. Rhode Island, enfeebled by dismem- berment, quietly submitted until the arrest of Andros, and the subversion of his government, when she re- established her authority. All endeavors by the home government to produce harmonious relations proved fruitless. Rhode Island and Connecticut subsequently attempted to settle their boundaries by commissioners of their own, and after much negotiation, an agreement was made in 1703, but this proved unsatisfactory, and was not confirmed by Connecticut. Finally, all eflForts to produce a peaceful conclusion of this long and painful controversy failing, Rhode Island, in a letter to Connecticut, dated July 7th, 1720, declared, " as you rejected all endeavors," (mean- ing the line of 1703, which was run near where the boundary is now established,) " as well as aU other en- deavors for an accommodation, and will not be satisfied without swallowing up the greatest part of our small colony, we are therefore determined, with the bless- ing of .God, with all expedition, to make our appeal to XXXii INTRODUCTION. the king in council, for his determination and decree of our westerly bounds ; and that you may not be sur- prised, we humbly notify you thereof, that you may take such steps as you may think fit to justify and vin- dicate yourselves." Rhode Island appointed Joseph Jenckes, Esq., their Lieutenant Governor, a special agent to proceed to London to conduct the appeal. Connec- ticut appointed Jeremiah Dummer, the resident agent of Massachusetts, their agent for the same purpose, and the trial proceeded. Conflicts ceased, as if both parties were weary of the tedious, irritating, and savage contro- versy, and waited with sullen patience the decision of the common umpire at Whitehall. In 1726, the king in council promulgated his final decision, establishing Pawcatuck river as the west boun- dary of Rhode Island; and uniting the King's Pro- vince, which had existed fifty years, as an independent jurisdiction to Rhode Island. To give a particular account of the various conflicts, negotiations, and events that occurred in Narragansett, or the King's Province, through the course of eighty- three years, during which period, the controversy re- specting jurisdiction lasted ; and the parts enacted in it by the various and distinguished men of Rhode Island ; to portray the blunt and energetic character of Governor Benedict Arnold ; (the courteous and conciliatory course pf Governor Brenton;) the firm and unyielding decision of t INTRODUCTION. XXxiii the Cranstons ; the unflinching Quaker spirit of Cod- dington and Easton ; the quick, inquisitive, and argu- mentative mind of Roger Williams, the active defenders of Rhode Island, in her early perils, would require a volume. HISTORY OF THE NARUAGANSETT CHURCH. A NUMBER of families attached to the worship of the Church of England, had, previously to the year 1700, settled in the Narragansett country. They worshipped in private houses, until the Rev. Mr. Christopher Bridge became their regular pastor in 1706. We have no posi- tive information how long he continued to officiate. Doctor McSparran, in his work on the colonies, entitled " America Dissected," printed in Dublin, 1753, observes, " a little church was built in Newport, the metropolis of the colony, in 1702, and that in which I officiated, in 1707. There have been two incumbents before me, but neither of them had resolution enough to grapple with the difficulties of the mission above a year apiece." But the Rev. Mr. Samuel Niles, who was first settled over the Presbyterian or Congregational Society in South Kingstown, in a deposition on the trial concerning the ministerial land, says, " soon after I came to preach the gospel at Kingstown, (now South Kingstown,) i the col- 36 HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHURCH. ony of Rhode Island, in the Narragansett country, by an invitation of sundry well-disposed persons in said town, which was in the year 1702, or thereabouts; the Rev. Mr. Bridge, a professor of the Church of England, con- tinued in, the north part of said Kingstown, as it was then called, at the same time that he, the said Niles, preached in the south part." Mr. Niles removed from Narragansett to Braintree, in Massachusetts, in 1710. Being a resident of Narragansett at the time, he is more likely to be correct as to the length of Mr. Bridge's in- cumbency than Dr. McSparran, who did not arrive there till many years after that period. This strength^is the probability that Mr. Bridge continued his ministry much longer than a year, and that the society of Episcopalians was gathered, and the church built, under his rectorship. The Rev. Samuel Niles was born at Block Island, Rhode Island, May 1, 1673, was graduated at Harvard University in 1690, and was ordained in Braintree, 1711. His first wife was Elizabeth, the daughter of the Rev. Peter Thatcher, of Milton, by whom he had, among other children, Sarrjuel, born in May, 1711; she died in 1716. His second wife was Ann, the daughter of the Hon. Nathaniel Coddington, of Newport, to whom he was married by Gov. Cranston, in November, 1716. By her he hid Elisha and Susanna, twins. She died in 1732, and in 1737, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of the Rev. William Adams, pastor of Christ Church, Dedham, and widow of the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Windham, Connecticut. Although Mr. Niles entered the ministry late in life, the period of his continuance in it, over fifty years, was comparatively long. In the course of that time, he composed and published the following works, viz : 1745, " Tristia Ecclesiarum, a brief and sorrowful account of the HISTOKY OF THE NAHEAffANSETT CETJECH. 37 present state of the churches in New England," spoken of as a val- uable work, deserving a republication. 1747, " God's Wonder. Working Providence for New England, in the Reduction of Louisburg, in verse." 1752, "Vindication of Divers Gospel Doctrines. Also a few re- marks on Mr. John Bass' Narrative." 1757, " The True Doctrine of Original Sin, in answer to John Taylor of Milton." (320 pages.) Besides the above, Mr. Niles composed a History of the Indian wars. The elder President Adams, in a letter to the late Judge Tudor, thus spoke of the work and its author, " there is somewhere in existence, as I hope and believe, a manuscript history of the In- dian wars, written by the Rev. Samuel Niles, of Braintree. Almost sixty years ago, I was an humble acquaintance of this venerable clergyman, then, as I believe, more than four score years of age. He asked me many questions, and informed me in his own house, that he was endeavoring to recollect and commit to writing, an his- tory of the Indian wars in his own time and before it, as far as he could collect information. The history he completed and prepared for the press ; but no printer would undertake it, or venture to pro- pose a subscription for its publication. Since my return from Europe, I inquired of his eldest son, the Hon. Samuel Niles, on a visit he made me at my house, what was become of that manuscript. He laughed and said, it was still safe in the till of a certain trunk, but no encouragement had ever appeared for its publication. Ye liberal Christians, laugh not at me, nor frown upon me for reviving the memory of your once formidable enemy. I was then no more a disciple of his theological science, than you are now. But I then revered, and still revere the honest, virtuous, and pious man. Fas est ah hoste doceri. And his memorial of faith might be of great value to the country.'' The manuscript was lately found in a box of papers bequeathed by the late Dr. Freeman, of Boston, to the Massachusetts Historical Society, and is published in one of the last volumes of these col- lections. Mr. Niles died in Ma,y, 1762, aged 89. Samuel Niles, Jr., was graduated at Cambridge, 1731. He was a representative from Brain- tree to the General Court, Judge of Suffolk Court of Common Pleas, 38 HISTORY OF THE NAKEAGANSETT CHUECH. &c. He married his cousin Sarah Niles, of Kingstown, Rhode Island — died in 1804. Nathaniel and the late Samuel Niles, sons of Samuel Niles, Jr., graduated at Princeton College. The third and fourth sons, Jeremiah and Sands, and his daughter Elizabetli, died at South Kingstown at advanced ages. — Extractedfrom Hobart's Historical Sketch of AMngton. The Rev. Mr. Beidgk was appointed by the Bishop of London, assistant minister to the Rev. Mr. Miles, the rector of King's Chapel, Boston. He arrived in March, 1699. In 1703, at the request of the vestry, Mr. Bridge proceeded to England in order to solicit sub- scriptions for the enlargement of the chapel, a measure made neces- sary by the increase of the congregation. A misunderstanding about this time arose between Mr. Miles and Mr. Bridge, which , grew into a serious division, and threatened the peace and prosperity of the church. The Bishop of London (Compton) condemned the course of Mr. Bridge, and in his letter to the church says, "there- fore I shall not be so earnest for his removal, otherwise than I am convinced it is impossible for him and Mr. Miles to live together in peace. I know his spirit is too higli to submit to that subordination which is absolutely necessary he should comply with while he stays at Boston, So that I would by all means advise him to go to Narra- gansett, where he may have an hundred pounds per annum, sterling, besides what perquisites he may make upon the place, and then he will be his own master." About the 1st of October, 1706, Mr. Bridge came to Narragansett. The wardens of King's Chapel spoke of him with regard and respect, and the Bishop promised him the continuance of his favor. It however appears that Mr. Bridge, after his settlement in Nar- ragansett, created a new difficulty, as we learn from the Bishop's letter to the officers of King's Chapel, dated in May, 1708, he says, " not being yet fully informed to what degree, and upon what grounds Mr. Bridge hath committed that insolent riot upon the church of Rhode Island." What is meant by the violent riot committed by Mr. Bridge upon the church of Rhode Island, alluded to, by the Bishop, has not been ascertained. Mr. Bridge did not remain long in Narragansett, but removed to Rye, in New York, where he was again settled in the ministry, and where he finished his earthly pilgrimage on the 28th of May, 1719. HISTORY OF THE NABEAGANSETT CHTJECH. 39 The following obituary notice is from the Boston newspaper of June Istj to 8th, 1719. " We have an account from Rye, in the govern- ment of New Yorjt, of the death of the Rev. Mr. Bridge, M. A., a presbyter of the Church of England, and minister of the gospel in that place, who died on Saturday, the 23d of May last. He was for- merly, for many years together, one of the ministers of the Church of England in Boston, a religious and worthy man, a very good scholar, and a fine grave preacher ; his performances in the pulpit were solid, judicious and profitable — his conversation was agreeable and improving. And though a strict churchman in his principles, yet of great respect and charity to dissenters, and much esteemed by them. He was bred at the University of Cambridge in England, and was about forty-eight years of age when he died, very much lamented." — Extracted from Greenwood's History of King's Chapel. In 1722, the town of Kingstown was divided by act of the legis- lature into two towns, called North and South Kingstown. The church of the parish, built in 1707, fell on the North Kingstown side of the dividing line. The same edifice was, in 1800, removed to Wickford and is still used for divine service as St. Paul's church in North Kingstown. In 17 17, the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- pel in Foreign Parts, appointed the Rev. Mr. Guy, a missionary over the Narragansett parish. He continued until 1719, when, at his own request, he was removed to South Carolina. The Rev. William Guy, in 1712, was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, an assistant minister to the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, in Charleston, South Carolina. In the same year, he was elected minister of the parish of St. Helen's, in Port Royal Island, in the same colony, and officiated in deacon's orders. In 1713, he returned to England, and received priest's orders, and the Lon- don Society appointed him their missionary at St. Helen's. The parish was very extensive, the whole nation of Yammosee Indians being included in it. He was diligent in the discharge of all parts 40 HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. of his ministerial oiSce. In the Indian war of 1715, he narrowly escaped being cut off by the Yammosees, by taking refuge on board of an English ship bound to Charleston, having abandoned all his effects — some fell into the hands of the Indians and were massacred. On account of this calamity, the Parent Society gave to the suffering missionaries a half year's salary, of thirty pounds each. After the desolation of the parish of St. Helen's, Mr. Guy was sent a mission- ary to Narragansett. He arrived in the latter part of the year 1717, and in the autumn of 1718, he returned to South Carolina on account of his health, and was Soon after settled over St. Andrew's church, thirteen miles from Charleston. He continued their rector until his death, in 1751. He is reported to have been diligent in the discharge of his official duties, not confining himself to his own immediate people, but extending his ministrations to a considerable distance. So successful were his exertions, that the parishioners were induced to enlarge their church, while a subscription was raised for building a new one in a different part of the mission. — Humphrey and Haw- Jcins. The first entry in the. church records is the following : Kingstown, in Narragansett, April 14, 1718. At a meeting of the parishioners aforesaid, the follow- ing persons were elected for Church Wardens and Ves- try, for the year ensuing, viz : Mr. Samuel Phillips, j ,, c! . ? Church Wardens. " OAMUEL AlBRO, ) " Charles Dickinson, " Gabriel Bernon, , " George Balfour, " Thomas Lillibridge, > Vestrymen. " John Koltredge, " Thomas Phillips, " John Albro, HISTOEY OF. THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 41 On the same day, Messrs. Dickinson, Bernon, Kol- tredge, and. Phillips were sworn into their offices, as were also the wardens. And Messrs. Charles Dickin- son, Gabriel Bernon, Samuel Albro, Samuel Phillips, George Balfour, were appointed to go to Boston, with a letter from the vestry, in order to obtain a benefaction or contribution towards finishing the church of Narra- gansett. And Messrs. Phillips and Albro were also ap- pointed to wait upon the gentlemen of Newport, in order to obtain the like benefactions. In relation to Mr. Bernon's family, we find the fol- lowing entry in the records at a subsequent period. July 11, 1721. Four children were baptized at Pro- vidence, viz: Mary Bernon, and Eve Bernon, Anna Donnison, and Elizabeth Donnison, by Rev. Mr. Mc- Sparran. Speaking of Mr. Gabriel Bernon, the work styled " The Hugue- nots in France and America," says " The records of the Huguenots contain no memoria,ls more inter- esting than those which relate to this excellent man." " The sub- ject of this sketch, Gabriel Bernon, was a protestant merchant, of an ancient and honorable family of Rochelle, where he was born, April 6th, 1644. * * He was the son of Andre Bernon and Su- sanne Guillomard, his wife. His zeal in the Protestant cause had rendered him obnoxious to the authorities for some time previous to the revocation of the edict of Nantes ; and he was two years impris- oned. There exists in the family a small edition of the Psalms, en- titled ' Pseaumes de David, mis en rime Fran9ois, par Clement Ma- rot et Theodore de B^ze.' Tradition states that this was presented him by a fellow prisoner. This was printed in its minute form, to 5a 42 HISTOKY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHITECH. enable its persecuted owners the more readily to secrete it in their bosoms, whea surprised at their simple devotions." " Gabriel Bernon left his native city and took refuge in England, just before the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He was like the prudent man in the scriptures, ' he foresaw the evil and hid himself.' In his native country nothing met his ear but threats and impreca- tions ; and as was the case before the massacre of St. Bartholomew, even the pulpits propagated the maxims, ' that faith need not be kept with heretics ; and that to massacre them was just, pious, and useful to salvation.' Bigotry reigned; mercy had veiled her face; and the choice of the three great evils, thus fell to the poor Huguenot, expatriation, death, or recantation, worse than a thousand deaths. In leaving France, Gabriel Bernon must have been subjected to great trials. He left brothers and every thing that could render life desirable. But all these sacrifices he counted as dust, in comparison to liberty of conscience. He remained some time in England. A notarial certificate of denization, still preserved, together with many other manuscripts, bears date, London, 1687. He came to America soon after;" to Providence in 1698, and then removed into ''the Narragansett country, where the- ruins of -his house still exist." He purchased several tracts of land in North Kingstown, was elected one of the vestry of St. Paul's, in 1718, and in the. succeeding year returned to Providence. Previous to his first arrival in Providence, " he vested part of the property he brought with him from France, in a plantation at Oxford, Massachusetts. His title to this estate was afterwards most unjustly disputed. From a plan drawn by himself, it appears that it measured two thousand six hundred and seventy- two acres, and was estimated to be worth £1000. This he hoped, would prove a solid investment." The following documents will serve to show to the descendants of the Huguenots in this western world, the perplexities and embarrass- ments that the early settlers and pioneers of civilization had to en- counter. They well merit a record on our pages as exhibiting the bright example of a Huguenot who willingly abandoned the luxu- ries and refinements of the " old, " and fled to the shores of the " new world," then an inhospitable wilderness, for the pure pur- poses of enjoying the privilege of worshipping his God agreable to HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 43 the dictates of his conscience. These documents, too, will probably present to the many respectable families in Rhode Island, which are lineally descended from him, the only veritable sketch they will ever possess of the eventful life of their distinguished ancestor. It appears that Mr. Bernon had petitioned the royal council, in Boston, for assistance against the ravages of the Indians, on account of the many taxes, &c. he had paid the king, and for services he had rendered the country in various ways. Instead of the assis- tance prayed for, Joseph Dudley sent him a captain's commission, and he was desired to defend himself; build forts, &c. Boston, July 7th, 1702. Me. Gabriel Bernon: Herewith you have a commission for Capts^in of New Oxford. I desire you forthwith to repair thither and show your said commis- sion, and take care that the people be armed, and take them in your own house, with a palisade for the security of the inhabitants ; and if they are at such a distance in your villages, that there shall be need of another place to draw together in case of danger, consider of another proper house, and write to me, and you shall have order therein. I am, Your obedient Servant, J. Dudley. A further brief and interesting outline of additional difficulties and perplexities respecting the New Oxford estate is set forth in a printed memorial, addressed by him to the Royal Governor and Council of Massachusetts. THE HUMBLE PETITION OF GABRIEL BERNON, Of New Oxford, in New England, to his excellency, SAMUEL SHUTE, Esq. Gabriel Bernon, one of the most ancient families in Rochelle, in France, begs of your excellency and honor graciously to assist him in his gi'eat necessity, and that your excellency and honors would be pleased to take into your wise consideration : 44 HISTORY OF THE NARRA&AXSETT CHTTECH. That your petitioner, upon the breach of the edit of Nantes, to shun the persecution of France, fled to London ; upon his arrival, Teffereau, Esq., treasurer of the Protestant Church of France, pre- sented your petitioner to the honorable, the Society for the Propaga- ting of the Gospel among the Indians in New England; of which Mr. Thompson, the Governor, offered to install him in the said society, and offered him land in the Government of the Massachu- setts-Bay Whereupon one Isaac Bertrand du Tvffeau deshed your excel- lency's and honor's petitioner to assist him, the said Bertrand du Tuffeau, to come over to New England to settle a plantation for their refuge ; whibh he did, by advancing unto the said Tuffeau the sum of two hundred pounds sterling ; and since three hundred pounds eight shillings and ten pence : which, with the exchange and interest from that time, 'would amount to above one thousand pounds. The said Isaac du Tuffeau being arrived at Boston, with letters of credit from Major Thompson and your humble petitioner, delivered them to his late Excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq., and the Hon. WiEiam Stoughton, Esq., deceased, who did grant to the said Du Tuffeau seven hundred and fifty acres of land for the said petitioner at New Oxford, where he laid out or spent the abovesaid money. Furthermore, the said Du Tuffeau did allure your excellency's and honor's petitioner, by exciting of him by letters to come to Boston, as he can show. The said Du Tuffeau being (through poverty) forced to abandon the said plantation, sold his cattle and other moveables for his own particular use, went to London, and there died in an hospital. Your excellency's and honor's petitioner being excited by letters of the said Tuffeau' s, shipped himself, his family and servants, with some other families, as can be made to appear ; and paid to Captain Foyle, and Captain Ware, passage for above forty persons. Your excellency's and honor's petitioner being arrived at Boston, present- ed letters from Major Thompson, afore-mentioned, to the above said Dudley and Stoughton, Esqrs., who were pleased (besides the seven hundred and fifty acres that were granted to Bertrand du Tuffeau and your humble petitioner,) to grant to your petitioner one thousand seven hundred and fifty acres of land more ; and for a more au- thentic security, his late excellency and honor was pleased to ac- HISTORY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHURCH. 45 company me to New Oxford, to put me in possession of the said two thousand five hundred acres of land, which I have peaceably en- joyed for better than these thirty years last past, having spent above two thousand pounds to defend the same from the Indians, who at divers times have ruined the said plantation, and have murdered men, women, and children. ' Your excellency's and honor's petitioner does now most humbly represent, that the inhabitants of New Oxford, do now dispute my right and title, in order to hinder me from the sale of the said plan- tation, which would put me to the utmost extremity, being now near eighty years of age, and having several children by my first wife, and so seeing children of my children — I have since married an English woman, by whom also I have several children, all which have dependence (under God) for a subsistence on me, after I have spent more than ten thousand pounds towards the benefit of the country ; in building ships, making nails, and promoting the mak- ing of stuffs, hats, and rosin, &c. Your petitioner, therefore, doth most humbly beg your excellency and honor's compassion; and that you would graciously be pleased to grant me such titles as may confirm to me and mine the said two thousand five hundred acres of land without any misunderstanding, clear and free from any molestation either from the inhabitants of the said New Oxford, or any pretensions of the above said Bertrand du Tuffeau, so that I and mine may either dispose' of, or peaceably and quietly live upon, the said plantation of New Oxford ; and your petitioner shall ever pray for, and devote himself to your govern- ment, begging leave to assure you, that he is. May it please your Excellency's and Honors, Your most Dutiful and Obedient Servant, Gabriel Beknon. The zeal for the cause of religion still continued, and we find him earnestly endeavoring to establish an Episcopal Church in Provi- dence. Some delays occurred that gave rise to the following cor- respondence between Mr. Bernon, the Rev. Mr. Honeyman, of Newport, and the Rev. Mr. McSparran, of Narragansett. 46 HISTORY OF THE NAREA&ANSETT CHUHCH. Kingstown, July 2d, 1721. Me. Bernon : Pursuant to your request and my appointment with Collector Ray, I've determined to be at your house the 10th of this month, and to preach and baptize your children on Tuesday, so that you may notify as many as you please, particularly Mr. Nathaniel Brown, of Kittlepoint, your messenger to me. I had your favor of the last post, which I shall have opportunity to discourse with you of at your house. I have enclosed two European letters to a friend of mine which I hope you'll carefully forward. This, in haste, accept from, sir. Your very humble servant, James. McSparean. To Gabriel Bernon. {letter from the rev. James honeyman to gabriel bernon, at providence, rhode island.] Sir : — I am favored with yours of the 2 1st instant, and am very glad to find therein your zealoOs concern for settling the Church of England in your town. You, no doubt, remember, that, at our first discourse on that subject, I frankly and gener- ously offered ray service to go there, and preach and baptize any persons or children that wanted to be admitted to that sacra- ment; which offer, you know, was rejected. However, if there be any still that desire me to go thither upon that design, I shall be always reac^y to comply with any motions that may advance the interests of religion, according to the doctrine and discipline of our church. I am very sensible the Presbyterians are very forward and earnest in. their applications and endeavors of having their way of worship established among the people of your town, but then, if the people are not willing to receive it, I wish they would testify their dissent under their hands, as also their desires to have a church settled among them. As for Colonel Whipple, I am a stranger to him, and by consequence can have no influence over him. And, indeed, the season is so far advanced for this year, that there can be hardly any essays made before the spring, and then, if there be any prsopect of encouragement, I hope I shall not be HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 47 wanting to my duty. As for what relates to Mr. Powel, you can- not be insensible of the pains I took to procure a reconciliation. I shall, therefore, now only observe unto you, that the most of the duties of mankind are reciprocal ; for instance, there are mutual good offices between ministers and hearers, parents and children, and therefore, as we expect our children should treat us with duty and observance, we must also consider that there is due from us to them affection, maintenance, and what else b^ongs to the paternal relation. I shall now conclude by assuring you 'that I am, Your very humble servant. Signed, James Honetman. Newport, in Rhode Island, Sept. 25th, 1821. To Mr. Gabriel Bernon : Kind Sir — I received your's of the 29th September, unsealed. I rejoice you continue zealous and forward to promote a Church of England in your town, wherein if there were any motions made, I assure you, I should not be the last nor most inactive, in promoting, according to my small interest and influence, that great and good work. Mr. Honeyman never mentioned anything to me about it, nor is it practicable for me to begin Such an affair ; considering I am be- come the mock of malice by the the steps 1 have taken in the like affair at Bristol. However, if you'll sound your people's inclinations and purposes respecting the same, and this I conceive as it is a critical, so in my mind it is a proper juncture for such a motion, considering the pro- gress the Presbyterians (as they are called) are making among you ; I say if you sound your neighbors inclinations and see what they would rather, or rather what they will do, and acquaint me there- with, I shall be more capable of giving my poor advice and concur- rence. When I go to Swanzey, your way, I have not determined, but whenever it is, if nothing prevents, will do myself the honor to wait on you. In the mean time, I recommend activity to you in the lau- dable affair, the memory whereof will be savory, and reflect honor upon your posterity, as well as contribute to make your latter end more deservedly famous than your beginning could possibly be. 48 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHtTECH. I am, with prayers to God for the settlement of. a church at Pro- vidence, and the welfare of you and yours, with all due respect for yourself, and lady and family, kind sir. Your most obedient and humble Servant, in all I may, James McSparkan. Nakragansett, October 5th, 1721. * Newport, in Rhode Island, June 1st, 1722. Sir : — I propose, by divine assistance, to preach in your town upon the seventeenth day of this instant, being the third Sunday of the month ; whereof I desire you to inform the people, especially those that wish well to our church, that they may then give their at- tendance. I also design to take my turn with some of the brethren to. come and preach unto you, until you have a more constant supply, and use my utmost endeavors that you may have a church settled among you. My humble service to your lady. I also desire you will give my respects to Colonel Whipple, though unknown, and in my name de- sire his countenance to our good design. I am, sir, Your most humble Servant, James Honetman. To Mr. Gabriel Bernon, in Providence. ANSWER TO THE ABOVE LETTER. Sir :, — Your proposal, by the Divine assistance, to preach to us the seventeenth day of this instant, will be very acceptable to the people, especially to those that wish well to our church ; they pro- mise to give their attendance. Lieutenant Whipple, son of Colonel Whipple, hath taken upon him to find a convenient place to preach. I have presented your respects to Colonel Whipple in presence of Mr. Jenks, our Lieuten- ant Governor, and I have showed your letter to Judge Waterman, a man of very good parts, and a sober and religious man ; these I reckon the three chief men of our town. I hope and desire, with passion, that your honor should be better HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHTJECH. 49 accommodated with those three gentlemen for settling the Church in our town of Providence, that I look to be for the glory of God, the honor of the English Nation, the good "and advantage of the town, and the greatest satisfaction to our august King George, to bring his people to serve God according to the Reformation, under Edward the VI. and the Queen Elizabeth, &c. The gentlemen. Minister and Presbytery of the government of Boston and Connecticut, are very busy to promote and advance their cause, and preferred to build their meeting in our said town. If they are for the glory of God in Heaven, peace in earth, good will amongst men, they should agree with the Church of England, or give as good reason for their separation from the Church of England, as the Church of England gives for their separation from Popery. My wife returris her service unto you, and offers such poor lodg- ing as we have. My respects to your lady. I am your most humble servant, Gabriel Beenon. Providence, June 4, 1722. Me. Bernon : I wrote the 11th instant, on my return from Bristol, I would preach for you, but hearing that Mr. Honeyman will be with you next Sunday, and that Mr. Orem is gone to Boston, I have put off my journey ; therefore, I pray you excuse me from my promise at this time. I should be glad at any time to render your town any service. I am now in haste, and have only time to assure you that I am, with all due respects, sir, Your very humble servant, James McSfarran. Narragansett, June 15th, 1723. Providence, July 4th, 1722. Sir : — Since my return from New York I have received your let- ter. I shall be glad at any time to have the honor to have you and Mr. Dickman call upon me. I have also your's of the 15th to an- swer, and give me leave to tell your honor that Mr. Honeyman hath 6a 50 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHURCH. promised next Sunday, 8th July, to exchange with Mr. Orem, Min- ister of Bristol, and the Sunday following) 15th instant, to come to our town of Providence to preach to us. And if your honor, to take your turn, and come on Sunday after, the 22d July, let us know it ; and I shall warn the people to submit- our duty to you. Pray excuse my liberty. I remain, with respect, Your most humble servant, Gabriel Bernon. Last Sunday, first July, Mr. Picket did preach in our town of Providence to the edification of the people, and Sunday, the 8th. We have some hope to see you on Sunday, the 22d. Providence, 5th July, 1722. Sir : — Your fervent affection for the church is to be imitated. Wherefore I have inclosed a copy of my letter to Mr. McSparran, and I do not know what his honor will be pleased to do, and I hope you will tell me ; and also if we may expect, Sunday the 15th in- stant,^ to see you according to your promise. My great inclination is to follow your fervency, and to be, with respect, Your most humble servant, Gabriel Bernon. Providence, the 5th July, 1722. Sir : — I return my thanks for the favor of your's of the fifth in- stant. Mr. Orem, of Bristol, has promised to be with you next Sun- day, the 15th of this month ; and the Sunday fortnight after that, namely, the 29th of this month, you may, with God's help, depend upon my preaching in your town. As for Mr. McSparran, you may invite him as you think fit, providing he don't interfere on those days, rior such as we may for the future appoint in coming unto you. My service to Colonel Whipple, and tell him I shall be glad, when I come to Providence, to see the success of his zeal and your's, in getting subscriptions for building your church, in which, I hopes you have, with him, already made some considerable progress. My respects to your good lady, whom I heartily thank for her great. HISTOEY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHTTECH. 51 civilities to me when 1 was last at Providence. I am, with very great esteem, sir, Your most ohedient and humble servant, James honeyman, Newpoet, in Rhode Island, July lOth, 1722. Pray, sir, observe that next Sunday Mr. Orem is to be with you, and that on'the 29th instant I fully design, life and health permitting, to be at Providence. Me. Beenon : Sir — 1 this day received your's of the 4th of this current July, and for answer, you may depend upon my coming to assist you at Providence on Sunday, the 22d of this month, if God in His Provi- dence permit. Mr. Orem told me he purposed to be with you on the 15th. As for my part, none shall be readier to serve the inter- ests of the church in yOur town than I shall be, according to my capacity and opportunity. I pray God to succeed your undertaking in this affair, and pour his blessing upon you and your family — to whom remember me. I am in haste, and have only time to assure you 1 remain, with due regard, sir. Your most humble and obedient servant, James McSpaeran. Kingstown, in Narragansett, July 12th 1722. P. S. — Give your people notice to meet at the usual time and place. J. M. S. Newpoet, September 6th, 1722. Sir : — I return^you my hearty thanks for your's of the 4th instant, so full of expressions of kindness and civility. I earnestly desire you will be pleased to testify your respects for me by showing your favored countenance to this young gentleman, Mr. Usher, the bearer ; who, I doubt not, by his virtuous life and agreeable con- versation, will deserve it. If he gives full content and satisfaction, so that your people think him a proper person to be settled in your town, as I verily do, I shall readily concur with them in recom- mendino- him, and representing your state and condition to the Honorable Society and the Bishop of London. My praying your OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 52 HISTOKT OF THE NAKEAGANSETT CHTTECH. care of this gentleman, together with my respects for yourself, lady, and family, concludes me Your most obedient and humble servant, James Honetman. Mr. Gabriel Berkton. [the answer to the above letter, with the^ approbation of the gentlemen^ of ottr town of providence, in the " beginning and birth OF THE CHURCH OF PROVIDENCE, 2lst SEPTEM- BER, 1722. Sir : — I have your's of the 6th instant before me. Give me leave, sir, without any compliments, to tell you that I do not deserve nor desire thanks for my expression of kindness and civility, or for any- thing I can do for the church, and I may say, that the veneration I have for the Church of England is so great, that all I can do, cer- tainly my duty will fall'short to the church. Excuse me for wait- ing to this day, 2lst of September, to return my respects to you, for I could not do it without communicating with the gentlemen of our town and our neighbors, concerning the young gentleman, the bearer of your le,tter ; he may be as you say, of a very virtuous life, and very agreeable, and good conversation, to give full content and satisfaction to the people of our town. As you say, you believe him to be a proper person to be a settled minister of our town, tmd that you will verily and readily be glad to concur with our town in recommending him, and representing our state and condition to the Honorable Society and the Bishop of London. For answer, I have great respect for Governor Usher and his lady, his father and mo- ther, and I was glad to receive the young man in my house for a month or six weeks at your request, and for the great consideration I have for his father, and mother, and himself. But, sir, the consideration of the church and the consideration of our friend are two things, and if the gentleman was my own son, with all the proper virtues your honor recommends in Mr. Usher, it would be against my conscience to propose him for minister of our town of Providence, and you know as well as we, that a great build- ing and a young gentleman don't make a church. And you are, sir, as sensible as we, that self-love, partiality, and consideration of HISTORY OF THE NAERA&ANSETT CHTECH. 53 persons' pride, are the antipathy of the true Church, reformed from Rome, and chiefly in this occurrence of time, when our town is without any settlement, and we must have no partiality in the set- tling of a true Church. And, sir, to be plain with you, we did not -think that the coming of the gentleman, Mr. Usher, would hinder you, Mr. Oram, and Mr. McSparran from coming to administer the sacrament, and pro- moting the church in our town, as you did promise to take your turn. And besides, it is necessary to consider, with all wisdom, that we ;:> have, in our town, learned men. Let them be Popish Churchmen, Presbyterians, Protestant Quakers, or Antinomians — and if there be some Profanes, that hold no religion at all — we have a great many worthy gentlemen that apply themselves to read the Holy Scriptures, and are very well able to give an account of their faith ; as for in- stance : Mr. Jenks, our Lieutenant Governor, by his answer to William y Wilkinson, the greatest preacher among the Quakers, and Mr. Samuel Wilkinson, the old man, deserves respect for his erudition in divine and civil law, historical narrative, natural and politic ; and you may see by the letters of Mr. Jonathan Sprague, Richard Waterman, Harris, and several gentlemen, by their answers to Mr. John Danforth, Peter Tacher, Joseph Belcher, ministers commis- sioned by the Association of Presbyterian Ministry, gentlemen of New England. We have also Mr. Winsor, Mr. James Brown, Mr. Hawkins, of /■ the Anabaptists Church, and great preachers ; and their auditors, Mr. Outram, mathematician, Mr. Tillingart, Power, and Harris, merchants — all sober men, that can learn and teach things by true demonstration, that may come to the Church of England, as already Mr. Joseph Brown, captain experimented, and well known by his good service to the country of Massachusetts and all New England, that hath bought already the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, and a great many other gentlemen, very willing and affectioned to the Church of England. Mr. Nathaniel Brown and his brethren, that hath given and favored us the ground to set this church upon. Sir, we can't well settle the Church of Old England in our towfl 54 HISTOEY OF THE NAERAGAKSETT CHTJECH. of Providence without one learned minister of good erudition ; and we desire that he should be an Old England gentleman tninister, with probity to reconcile worthies, good neighbors, and fellow, citizens, in love and respect one for another, by a right charity and right understanding, &c. So we intend, as soon as possible, to make our application to the Honorable Society, and to his grace the Lord Bishop of London, and we pray yoii, sir, and all our friends, whom we must first inform of our circumstances and capability, and our Church of Providence shall pray for.them that will help us. So you must excuse us if we can't make any agreement or condition with the young gentleman, Mr. Usher. We believe that he will do very well to go to Old England, to be ordained minister if he can ; for there will be other towns than ours that will want ministers ; and we want in sincerity and probity to have a good minister from Old England. So We are plain to you, be plain with us ; and, sir, we thank you for what you have done already for our Church of Providence in Newport— we hope you will do the same in Boston, Bristol, Narragansett, and any- where, for the honor and love of the Chuich of England. My wife and family thank you for your civility, and return theirs. Respects to you and your worthy family from myself. Sir, Your most humble and most affectioned servant, Gabriel Beenon, Providence. To Rev. James Honeyman. [letter to g. beenon.] SiE, — I have just received your's of the 21st inst., whereby I per- ceive you have misunderstood my zeal to serve you in proposing Mr. Usher's giving you an experiment of his conversation and abilities, for he is as great a stranger to me as he is to you, nor had I any interest in the world to serve him, and it is perfectly equal to me, whether you receive or reject him : only, I must be plain to say, that, though I acknowledge your town wants a minister of great vir- tue, and good erudition, yet I think it a little too soon to insist upon such terms ; whereas it is not certain whether you shall have any one at all or no ; and it seems to me that, unless some more prudent measures be speedily taken, than I find are yet concerted amongst you, you may be without a minister for some considerable time. HISTORY OF THE NAREA&ANSETT CHUECH. 55 I have hitherto done my utmost to express my concern for, and advance the interest of your church ; but if my endeavors have been mistaken, I shall be more cautious and reserved for the future. The distance of the place, and the drawing nigh of winter, make it un- certain when I shall take any more turns to Providence, in the meati time, my respects for yourself, lady alid children — conclude me. Sir, your most humble servant, James Honeyman. Newpoet, in Rhode Island, September 28tb, 1722. [ANSWEE to THE FOEEGOING.] 7th October, 1722. SiE — By your's of the 28th inst., we see you have our's of the 2lst., whereby you perceive we have misunderstood your zeal to serve us in proposing Mr. Usher for minister of our town. We assure you we have all respect for your zeal to help us, in promoting the build- ing of our church in Providence town, and we pray you to continue the same zeal. As it is the same to you in proposing Mr. Usher, and it is perfectly equal to you, whether we receive or reject him, as you say posi- tively, why should you be displeased? Mr. Usher is more free to go to the University of England, at this present, than to be accepted as our minister ; and as he is so young, for time to come he may be able for the ministry. And as you are plain to us to acknowledge that our town wants a minister of great virtue and good erudition, give us leave, good sir, to do our utmost to try to have such an one, and join with us to pray God to send us such one for the glory of God, the honor of the church, and the edification of our town. For, as our town hath been almost a hundred years without a minister, persecuted by the Presbyterian minister, it is better for us to stay six months or one year more, and have a good and able minister, than to have an unable one. You say it is a little too soon to insist upon such terms, when it is not certain that we shall have any one at all, as no one hath been oifered to us beside Mr. Usher ; but we believe it more prudent first to give to the honorable Society our circumstances and capabilities, and depend on them to fit us. They know better than we who shall 56 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. DO most proper for us, and as we claim as of the Church of England, we desire to be under the Church of England. But it seems to you that unless some more prudent means be speedily taken, than you fear are now concerted amongst us, that we may be without a minister for a considerable time. But our Providence town will trust God's good providence, and not be too hasty. We believe that you have done your utmost for advancing the building of our church, and we shall be glad if you be pleased to concur with us in all the prudent measures. London was not built at once. But you say, if your endeavors have been mistaken, you shall be more cautious and reserved for the future ; and we may tell you for the future, we hope we shall have a better understanding, but what- ever happens, we will have respect for your honor, for Mr. Orem and for Mr. McSparran. We acknowledge that it is a great deal of trouble for you three gentlemen to supply us of your ministers, and to administer to us the sacraments, and that the winter is coming on. But let nothing discourage us in the undertaking of good works, and if we are unworthy, and not able to reward you, God is the remu- nerator, and requites all them that do good, and the church shall acknowledge and reward your deeds, and be glad to help us, as a good mother her children. So let none of us be discouraged, and let us join together with sincerity, integrity, and with all probity, and nothing can hinder us to go forward. Assuring you of our respect, Sir, your most humble and most affectioned servant, Gabriel Bernon, With the approbation of the Church of Providence. I return my respects unto yOu, and your lady and family, and myself and family will be glad to see you at our house at any time when you apd yours will honor our town of Providence. [letter from (JABRIEL bernon to the. secretary of THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS.] Sir— We have received your letter of the 20th July, and we see that the venerable and Honorable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, have appointed the Rev. Mr. Pigot, late HISTORY OF THE NAKEAGANSRTT CHTJECH. 57 minister of Stratford in Connecticut colony, to be Missionary to our town of Providence. We are, to the highest degree, sensible and thankful for their speedy compliance, charity, generosity, and benevolence. We beg for their continued favor, with all respect, submission, and humility, as they are a good mother to the churches, to be pleased to let us represent our poor condition, for we are like children to parents, that want all their cares and assistance. And let us publish that our Providence town was first settled by Mr. Roger Williams and other gentlemen, banished and persecuted by Boston and Salem people for their reli- gion, and kindly received by the savage Indians, for which our town was named Providence, and all our hope is in God's providence for that, we have built a church that we have named King's Church, where we intend to obey, serve, and adore God, according to the Protestant Religion, and the Reformation by Edward VI., Cranmer, and the blessed Queen Elizabeth. The gentlemen, Presbyterian ministers, are very busy and urgent to come into our town of Providence to preach ; they come often from Massachusetts and Connecticut governments, to solicit us to be our ministers, and they have sent us several letters ; they did raise a meeting house the other side of our river, to their charge and cost — that they have pulled down to build a big and greater, on our side of our river, that is not finished, so they preach in any house where they can, and for all that, they get but little ground. Mr. Pigot may be a worthy gentleman, fit minister for our town, and for whom we have respect ; he hath married a lady of a good family, with fine land in the bound of Warwick, where he is build- ing a house, twelve miles from our town. Warwick is a consider- able town, betwixt his plantations and ours. Our great business is to represent that we are, in our town of Providence,* ten thousand persons, besides the people round about us, belonging to Massachusetts government, that are willing to con- form to the National Church Episcopal of England. So we want the whole and entire ministry of a minister, and he shall have em- ployment enough to accomplish his mission. And then we shall do * It will be remembered that at this time, the town of Providence included all Providence County. 7a 58 HISTORY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHTTECH. our Utmost to contribute to his salary according to our ability — it is to be considered, that at present, we are but few that promote and maintain the church, a great many incline to it — all things go well for a beginning. Sunday last Mr. Pigot did administer the sacrament in our church, but all was not finished ; on Monday following, we elected a vestry, to the satisfaction of all them that compose the church. The same day, Mr. Pigot went to- Stratford to fetch his family. On his return, we shall see what step he will take to settle amongst us, and we shall give an account to the illustrious Society. Sir, to be short and plain, all the world is in great consternation at present, at Popery's arbitrary power. Roger Williams, and all those that have settled in our Pi'ovidence town, have been persecuted, bruised, and banished out of Massachusetts- government, for not sub- mitting themselves to the arbitrary power of the Presbytery, and we lear nothing more than this arbitrary power of the clergy ; (Power before Popery,) did ruin the world, and since Popery, the arbitrary power of the clergy hath- ruined Europe; and it is plain, clear, ap- parent, and manifest, that the preteiision of Popery, its arbitrary power, will ruin all the universe, if kings and legislators, (Chris . tians,) do not maintain their right and authority against anti-Chris- tians, &c. ' We are in Providence town, settling the Church of England like children in infancy ; we are afraid of the clergy's arbitrary power. A good and orthodox minister will dissipate and remove all fears, and we pray almighty God that Mr. Pigot prove so. The charity ot our benefactors will pardon our fears, if we are but faithful to the National Church of England, true, loyal, trusty friends, and true subjects to our blessed, sacred, and august King George, to maintain with all our hearts and souls the supremacy of his crown; and so we remain, with all veneration, subjects to the king, and to the eminent Society, faithful Episcopal churchmen, and unto you, sir, with respect, Your most obedient and humble servant, Gabriel Beknon. Providence Town, the 7th April, 1724. We will extract a few more paragraphs from the work entitled "Huguenots," &c. HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 59 " Dean Berkeley, then residing at Newport, in a letter to Mr. Ber- non, written in French, remarks, (after thanking him for his beau- tiful prose and his belle poesie,) 'Your reflections on the events of this world, show a very laudable zeal for religion and the glory of God.' Indeed, through all his trials, and they were many, Gabriel Bernon uniformly sustained the character of a Christian gentleman ; in his own words, it was his ' most fervent desire to sustain himself in the fear of God.' " " After Gabriel Bernon had established himself in Providence, he again visited England, where he was presented at court." "The first wife of Mr. Bernon was a French lady, Esther Le Roy by name, a daughter of Francois Le Roy, of Rochelle. She had a number of children, who came with her to America. He married a second time in this country, to Mary Harris, the grand- daughter of William Harris, who landed at Whatcheer with Roger Williams." " The only son of Mr. Bernon died young, and he is now repre- sented by the descendants of a numerous family of daughters, who may be traced in some of the most respectable families in Rhode Island. There are many memorials preserved of him, such as several cajrved chairs, a gold rattle, the Psalm Book before mentioned, and an ancient sword, bearing date 1414. The gold rattle, Psalm Book, !in4 other articles, are in the possession of Willet Carpenter, Esq., of Narragansett, and the sword in the possession of Mr. Philip Allen, the carved chair in the possession of Mr Z&chariah Allen, (the great-grand-children of Mr. Bernon.) His memory is respect- fully cherished in the hearts of his descendants, who delight to dwell on the piety, learning, and sacrifices of their French ancestors. He died February 1st, 1736, in the ninety-second year of his age. His obituary notice was published in Boston, July 19, 1736, where he resided a short time before he came to Providence." " On the first instant, departed this life, at Providence, Mr. Gabriel Bernon, in the 92d year of his age. He was a gentleman by birth and estate, born in Rochelle, in France, and about fifty years ago he left his native country, and the greatest part of his estate ; and for thfe cause of true religion, fled into New England, where he has ever since continued, and behaved himself as a zealous Protestant 60 HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGAKSETT CHURCH. professor. He was courteous, honest, and kind, and died in great faith and hope in his Redeemer, and assurance of Salvation ; and has left a good name among his acquaintances. He evidenced the pow- er of Christianity in his great sufferings, by leaving his country and his gretit estate, that he might worship God according to his conscience." "He was decently buried under the Episcopal Church at Provi- dence, and a great concourse of people attended his funeral, to whom the Rev. Mr. Brown preached an agreeable and eloquent funeral sermon, from Psalms xxxix. 4." " Gabriel Turtellot was also a refugee. He was born in Bor- deaux, and came to this country with Gabriel Bernon, whose daugh- ter Marie, he married. He died at sea. Several very respectable families in Rhode Island are descended from him." Jesse S. Tour- tellot, a member of the Legislature from Gloucester, and cashier of the Franklin Bank, is a' lineal descendant of the first emigrant. A number of Huguenot families came to Rhode Island soon after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The Lucas, Ayraults, LeMoines, Chadseys, Tourj^s, Tarbeaux, Ej^s, Nichols, were among them. The ruins of the fort built by Gabriel Bernon, in the town of Oxford, Massachusetts, are still visible. They are situated on the declivity of a lofty hill, and continue to be designated by the neigh- boring inhabitants as the " Old French Fort." The adjacent stream bears also the name of " French River," to this day. The walls of the old fort have been mostly overthrown, and, in the ruthless spirit of modern improvement in our country, which spares not reverently the monuments of antiquity, the materials have been removed, and used in the construction of the adjacent fences of the lot in which the ruins are located. Sufficient of the foundation stones, however, remain to mark out the limits of the fort, as it was originally built, and a mound of them has been piled up in the works. The walls of one of the angles still present a salient, bastion-like appearance to the eye of the visitor, indicative of the palpable fact of the military design of this only remaining piece of masonry, that survives to stamp the recollection of the Indian tmrs on the memory of the present in- habitants of the peaceful hills of New England. The following sketch will afford a view of the outlines of the " Old French Fort," as they at present exist. § o Si Ex O o d o •« ^ o ■Si v> § S ■§ S; ^ 1 e; 8 E^ o 1 m Mary, married to Henry Post. 7th — Deborah, married to Robert Abbott, jr. 8th — Nathaniel G., married to Lydia, daughter of Samuel Coates, of Philadelphia. 9th — Niobe, who resides in New York ; and 10th — John, who in 1817, removed to New Orleans, where he is now living in the enjoyment of the respect and confi- dence of that community ; he married Lydia, daughter of James Clements, of Philadelphia. The descendants of William Minturn have numbered one hun- dred and forty-six persons. "May 27th, 1733, were intermarried in Narragansett, 134 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHITRCH. by Mr. McSparran, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Seabury, min- ister of the Church at New London, in Connecticut, and Mrs. Elizabeth Powell, of Narragansett." The Rev. Mr. Seabury was born in 1706, and was graduated at Har- vard University, in 1724. He settled at Groton, Connecticut, as a Congregational minister, and is said to have married Abigail, the daughter of Thomas Mumford, of North Groton. William Gardi- ner, of Boston Neck, Narragansett, married Abigail Remington, the aunt of Mrs. Seabury. From intercouse with Dr. McSparran, who married Hannah, the daughter of Willam Gardiner, Mr. Seabury became an Episcopal clergyman, and was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in 1728, the first missionary of St. James' Church, then at New London^ which Dr. McSparran had been instrumental in erecting. His first wife died in 1731. In 1733, he married Elizabeth Powell, the daughter of Adam Powell, a merchant of Newport, and grand daughter of Gabriel Bernon. He remained rector of the church at New London thirteen years, and removed to Hemstead, on Long Island, in 1742, where he died, June 15th, 1764. The following letter from Mrs. Seabury to Judge Helme, of Tower Hill, Narragansett, who married her sister, Esther Powell, announcing to him the death of her husband, and the an- swer, conveying to her the affecting intelligence of the decease of her sister, and the adjustment of her legacy, notwithstanding the depreciation and loss of interest, is so highly honorable, that it is but justice to his memory that it should be inserted. Hempstead, July 15th, 1764. Dear Brother, as you are to me in a double capacity, both in regard to the relation between us, and in regard to our unhappy con- dition, for I heard, by report, that my sister is dead ; but I have not had a line from you, at which I am somewhat surprised. As to my own deplorable state, my dear husband left me and his family, the l9th of June, to go to England, from whence he returned, the 7 th of June, a sick, and I may say, a dying man, for he lived one pain- ful week, and then resigned his soul into the arms of his dear Saviour. HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHTTECH. 135 Dear Sir : — rour own heart will better suggest to you what I feel, than any words I can make use of. I can only say, I have lost one of the best husbands, and am left with six children ; the eldest son and daughter married — the youngest son with a merchant in New York, and the other three with me — one of which is a daughter of nineteen, one a son of seventeen, and the other a daughter of six years. Dear Sir — I am both a widow and a stranger. My husband did not lay up treasures on earth ; though, I have reason to think, he did in Heaven, where no rust doth corrupt ; and my whole trust is in Him, who hath said, " He is the Father of the fatherless, and the widow's God. Sir — as there is in your hands a legacy left me by my mother, I should be glad to know of you what I am to expect from it, for I shall be in want of it by next May. If you write to me, please direct to the care of Mr. Henry Rem- sen, jr., Hanover Square, New York, the gentleman with whom my son lives, and he will forward the letter. I have no more to say, Sir, but to commend you and your chil- dren to God Almighty, and begging your prayers for me and mine. I am. Sir, Your affectionate Sister, and Humble Servant, Elizabeth Seabury. To James Helme, Esq., South Kingstown. South Kingstown, July 23d, 1764. My Dear Sister : — ^I have received your letter of the 5th cur- rent, though the melancholy news with which it was charged had reached our ears before that came to hand. I heartily condole with you on the mournful occasion. I wrote brother Seabury a few broken lines the 23d of March last, (which I find has not come to hand,) giving an account of the severe stroke of afflictive Providence, which happened to us the day before, in the death of the dearest of women, the tenderest of mothers, and the sincerest christian. Her state of health had been interrupted at times, during the fall and winter past, and on Sunday, the 11th of March, she was taken with a pain in her shoulder and 136 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. breast, with great difficulty of breathing. On letting of blood, she was somewhat relieved ; but being about seven months in her twelfth pregnancy she still continued very ill, until Monday, the 19th, when she was delivered of a male child, which lived about five hours. As she was much better npon her delivery, herself and all of us enter- tained hopes of her recovery, and the physicians imagined that the danger was over, — but on Tuesday night her pains and difficulty of breathing returned, and she remained with great patience under inexpressible anguish, until Thursday, the 22d, when, (oh, how shall I relate the distress of that melancholy day,) after taking a final and affectionate farewell of the whole family, in full assurance of a blessed immortality, she breathed her pious soul into the arms of her Redeemer. Her last admonition, " live so as I may meet you in Heaven," still sounds in my ears. O, my dear Sister, to return your own words — "your own heart will better suggest to you what 1 feel than any Words I can make use of." Imagine to yourself, the dearest, the best, the tenderest wife, torn from the bleeding side of the man who- loved her above all earthly good. Imagine to yourself a man destitute and forlorn, to whom the whole world is a blank and a wilderness ; imagine to yourself the concern of a parent for eight motherless children, the youngest of whom is about two and a half years old, and then tell me, my dear sister, if my case is not truly wretched. Though the ways of Providence seem dark and perplexing to our narrow capacities, yet we know that infinite goodness does always what is best. Infinite wisdom cannot err, and all the ways of God are right. Let us therefore, my dear Sister submit ourselves to the determinations of Heaven, and endeavor to follow them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Your legacy, like all other estates in this Colony that lay in money, is greatly depreciated in value. However, I shall do you all the justice in my power, by making good the depreciation, and although I have not made an exact calculation, believe it will amount to about £1,550, which at £7 per dollar, the now legal and cur^ rent price, may be in value about two hundred and twenty dollars, which I shall endeavor to have in readiness by the time you men- tion, or when (or before,) I hope to see you here ; and if I can col- mSTOEY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 137 lect any considerable sum to the value of one hundred dollars, more or less, before that time, should be glad you would give proper orders, to whom I may pay it. I have an only daughter and seven sons, the second of whom lives with Mr. Robinson, an Attorney at Law ; the rest are at home with me, and all desire their compliments of duty may be accepta- ble. May the God of all grace protect, comfort, and support you and yours, is the sincere prayer of my dear Sister. Your affectionate Brother, And humble servant, James Helme. To Mrs. Elizabeth Seabury. Hempstead, Nov. 26th, 1764. My Dear Brother : — I received yours of the 23d of July, charged with the affecting account of the death of my dear and only Sister ; in regard to which, and my own troubles, I beg to say with Job — " the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." It is some time since I received yours, and should have answered you before, but have been much hurried with business ; having, with the assistance of some gentlemen of this Parish, raised a dwelling house and got it under cover, but do not purpose doing any more to it this winter, as I see no prospect of being obliged to quit the par- sonage. As to the money in your hands, I know not how to convey it to Hempstead, for I do not think my affairs will allow of my making a journey to you. I should be extremely glad of a visit from you, my neice, or any of my nephews, to whom pray make my compli- ment of condolence. My children present their duty to you, and love to their cousins. That God Almighty may assist, comfort, and direct you, in all your difficulties, is the earnest prayer of Your affectionate Sister, And humble servant, Elizabeth Seabury. To James Helme, Esq. 17a 138 HISTOEY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHT7»CH. My Dear Sister: — Agreeable to your desire of the 11th current, I sent you, by my nephew, Nathaniel Seabury, J5500, old tenor, in gold and silver, as the value for your legacy. I have made good the depreciation of the money, and allowed interest to you for the whole time ; though I have been obliged to receive it at the depreciated value, and often had a great part of the money lying by me, for months together, for want of a proper person to let it to — at other times have been at the trouble and expense of law-suits, and in such cases, with us, we are always obliged to levy six months after judg- ment, for the money, without a farthing of interest being allowed — and I cannot help thinking, that, upon the whole, I have not received so much value for the legacy. I hope, in this affair, I have ap- proved myself to your acceptance ; if not, let me know, and if any mistake has been made, it shall be rectified ; although, I believe there is none. I must now repeat to you what you wrote to me in June, 1765 ; I hope the finishing of this affair will not put an end to our correspondence. Your near relation to that person who was the comfort of my life, and the joy of my heart, and that brotherly kindness with which you have treated me, will always make you and yours very near and dear to me. My nephew tells me that you have some thoughts of making a journey to New London some time hence ; when you are so near, I beg you to favor us so much as to make us a visit, as all my children are desirous of waiting on their aunt. I still remain in a state of widowhood, without the least appearance of altering that condition — and indeed, when I reflect that the dear, dead partner who has left me, to receive the reward of a well spent life, has not lefl her equal behind her — how can I attempt a second mar- riage, and how can I, my dear Sister, dwell upon so tender a subject ? Let it be our endeavor to meeet her in yon celestial regions, where bliss and immortality crown the happy subjects. My children all make their most profound compliments of duty to their dear aunt, and love to their cousins. With my sincere love to all my dear nephews and neices, I am, my dear Sister, Your affectionate Brother, James Helme. Mrs. Elizabeth Seab0ey. HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 139 " His second wife survived him more than thirty years, and died February 6th, 1799, at the age of eighty-seven. Few better men have lived than Mr. Seabury. He discharged every duty of his sacred function, with the greatest diligence and indefatigable labor ; leaving behind him a character, held in high estimation, and an ex- ample worthy of imitation. " Mr. Seabury lefl four sons, Samuel, Adam, Nathaniel, and David, and three daughters, Mary, Jane, and Elizabeth. " Samuel, the eldest son by the first wife, was born at New Lon- don, in 1728, and graduated at Yale College, in 1748, and went to Scotland for the purpose of studying medicine, but turning his at- tention to theology, he took orders in the Church of England, and, on his return, settled in New Brunswick. In 1756, he removed to the Church of Jamaica, Long Island ; from thence he went to West Chester, in 1766, where he was rector of the church, and kept a classical school, until the British entered New York, in 1776, when being a royalist, he took refuge in that city, where he remained until 1783." In 1784, Mr. Seabury was recommended by the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut, and some in New York, for Bishop of Connecticut. He went to England for the purpose of being consecrated. The Archbishop of Canterbury, doubted his canonical authority to con- secrate, without the authority of an act of Parliament, a Bishop resident out of the British empire ; this, then, being by the treaty of peace, an independent and foreign country. The following, says Hawkins' Missions of the Church, is Mr. Granville Sharp's account of the interview between the Arch- . bishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop elect of Connecticut : — " Dr. Seabury, in coming to England, called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, for consecration, to the great surprise of the Arch- bishop, who was apprehensive it would give great offence to the Ame- ricans, with whom we had just then made peace ; and therefore, his grace (the very worthy and learned Dr. Moore,) wished to be al- lowed some time to consider of the request ; upon which Dr. Seabury very abruptly left the room, saying, ' If your grace will not grant me consecration, I know where to obtain it ; and immediately set off for Aberdeen. The Archbishop communicated to G. Sharp this account of Dr. Seabury 's behaviour; and G. Sharp, in return. 140 HISTORY OF THE KAREAGANSETT CHURCH. informed his grace, that a General Convention was actually ap . pointed in America, for the election of Bishops. On hearing this, the Ardhbishop gave G. Sharp authority to assure the Americaiis, that if they elected unexceptionable persons and transmitted proper certificates of their morals and conduct, and of their suitable abili- ties for so important a charge, he would do every thing in his power to promote their good intentions.' " It was certainly only reasonable that the Archbishop should take time to deliberate and to consult with his suffragans, on a mat- ter of such importance as the consecration of a Bishop for an inde- pendant pountry. Without, indeed, the consent of the crown, he could not legally consecr3,te ; and besides, he might have had scruples about the propriety of doing so, partly from the circumstance of the Bishop elect not being the choice of the whole church, and partly from an apprehension of giving umbrage to a power with whom a treaty of peace^had but lately been signed. Oii the other hand it was natural that Seabury, an hereditary missionary, who had lived through years and years of disappointed hope, and had seen the church languish for want of a head, should be impatient of further delay, and that fearful of legal obstructions, he should, even though it were somewhat precipitately, address himself to Bishops who were unfettered by state connection, and of whose sympathies he was well assured. Nor should it be forgotten, that he was strongly advised to adopt this course by one whose name, station and learning gave weight to, his opinion. Dr. George Berkeley, pre- benda,ry of Canterbury', who inherited all his father's zeal for the Colonial Church, had, for some time previously, been in correspon- dence with Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen, on the subject of transmitting to America the gift of Episcopacy from the suffering Church of Scotland. **** " From Dr. Seabury's own account, it would appear that he did not even apply to the Scotish Bishops until he had ascertained that the government would not permit a Bishop to be consecrated without the formal request, or at least, consent of Congress, which, he added, 'there is no chance of obtaining, and which the clergy of Connecti- cut would not apply for, were the chance ever so good.' At length, every obstacle having been removed, Dr. Seabury went to Scotland and was there consecrated on the 14th of November, 1784, by HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CH0RCH. 141 Bishops Kelgour, Petrie, andSkinner. Early in the summer of the ensuing year, he returned to Connecticut the first Bishop of our church (for Talbot and Weldon left no traces behind them,) that had been seen in that part of the North American Continent.' " The number of Episcopal congregations in the Provinces at this time, were 70, and the members of the church 40,000. GranviHe Sharp did not, of course, for a moment doubt the full validity of Bishop Seabury's consecration, but was still as anxious as ever to see the succession conveyed to America through the English branch of the church. This he rightly considered as a matter of the high- est importance, and accordingly kept up an active correspondence on the subject, with persons of various characters and professions, as Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, the first ambassador from the United States, Dr. Rush, an eminent physician at Philadelphia, of the Presbyterian denomination, and the Rev. Mr. Manning, a clergy, man of Rhode Island. By these means he was enabled to keep the Archbishop fully informed on the subject. Dr. Rush wrote to him, April 27th, 1784 : — ' I am happy in being able to inform you, that attempts are now making to revive the Episcopal church in the United States. Though a member of the Presbyterian Church, yet I esteem very highly, the articles and worship of the Church of England. Such is the liberality produced among the dissenters by the war, that I do not think they will now object to a Bishop being fixed in each of our States, provided he has no civil revenue or juris- diction. " In a letter to his brother, Mr. Sharp thus expresses his gratifi- cation at the prospect of a successful issue of the labors of himself and others in this great cause. He says, January lOth^ 1786, ' the Church of England is likely to take the lead, and to be gloriously established in America.' And a week later the following entry oc- curs in his journal: — 'January 13th, 1786; informed by Mr. Adams, American ambassador, that the Convention of the Episcopal Church of America (which included Carolina, the Jerseys, and Maryland, as well as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York,) have written a letter to the two Archbishops, requesting them to conse- crate a person whom they should send ; that the letter was inclosed to him, and delivered with his own hand.' " The next morning he waited upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, 142 HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHITRCH. who, he says, ' told me that theTequisition is a very proper one, and expressed in vefy respectful terms ; and assured me that he is a very sincere friend to what is proposed, and will promote it to the utmost of his power ; provided they send persons duly quali- fied.' "When all seemed thus .prepared, soma very formidable diffi- culties were suggested, respecting the orthodoxy of the persons to be elected, and the alterations which had been made in the Book of Common Prayer. As long as any uncertainty remained on these points, the greatest caution was necessary, and the Archbishop, therefore, demanded satisfactory proof that the clergymen to be presented for consecration, were in doctrine uncorrupt. In an- swer to the address of the Convention, the Archbishop thus expres- sed the unanimous opinion of the English Bishops. , ' While we are anxious to give every proof, of not only our brotherly affection, but of our facility in forwarding your wishes, we cannot but be ex- tremely cautious, lest we should be the instruments of establishing an ecclesiastical system, which will be called a branch of the Church of England, btit afterwards may possibly appear to have departed from it essentially, either in doctrine or in disci- pline.' " The church at large, is under the greatest obligations to the Bishops, for the faithful execution of their trust at this critical time. Their christian firmness, and a little wise delay, gave the Conven- tion an opportunity of withdrawing the most objectionable altera- tions in their Prayer Book, which was mainly constructed according to the revision of Archbishop Tillotson and a committee of Divines, in 1689. The preface states that, by an examination of the altered form, ' it will appear that this, church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England, in any essential point of doc- trine, discipline, or worship ; or further than local circumstances require, or to deviate in any thing essential from the thirty-nine ar- , tides.' " On the 17th July, 1786, Mr. Sharp waited on the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a copy of. the New American Prayer Book ; and a few days later, July 27th, 1786, he writes to his brother as fol- lows : — The Archbishop very obligingly read over to me the letters which he and the Archbishop of York wrote to the American Con- HISTOKY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHTTECH. 143 vention, and the forms of the certificates and testimonials which they proposed as being satisfactory. The letter is exceedingly well drawn up, with all the solemnity and true Christian propriety that you could possibly wish on the occassion. " This very delicate and protracted, but important negociation, was now brought to a successful issue. The Rev. Wm. White, and the Rev. Samuel Provoost, who had been duly elected to the sees of Pennsylvania and New York, arrived in London at the end of November, 1786, bearing testimonials signed by the Conventions of their respective states. They were at once introduced to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, by Mr. Granville Sharp, and formally pre- sented to his grace a few days afterwards, by Mr. Adams, the Ame- rican minister. At length, on the 4th February, 1787, [an act of Parliament having been passed for the purpose,] they were conse- crated in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace, by the Archbishop of Can- terbury, assisted by the Archbishop of York, and Bishops of Bath and Wells, and Peterborough. " The two Bishops did not linger in England, but embarked in a few days after their consecration, and arrived in New York on the 7th of April, — Easter Day, — a happy omen as it was considered, for the reviving church of that country, (soon after Bishop Madi- son was consecrated in London.) Thus at last, after nearly two centuries of struggle, the church was perfected in America. At the Episcopal Convention, in Philadelphia, in 1786, the va- lidity of the orders conferred on Bishop Seabury by the Scots Bishops, was questioned, which created some warmth, and means were immediately taken to obtain valid consecrations, as has been above stated, and the threatened difficulties were averted. — Bishop Seabury's consecration was afterwards admitted to be canon- ical. " Bishop Seabury," continues Thompson, " was the first Ameri- can citizen who attained to that title. Ou his return to this coun- try, he settled in his father's parish, at New London ; presiding, of course, over the diocese of Connecticut, and, in 1790, he was elected Bishop of Rhode Island, the clerical functions of which sacred offices he continued to exercise until his death, February 25th, 1796, aged sixty-eight. The following is inscribed on his tomb-stone, at New London : 144 HISTORY OE THE NAEHA&ANSETT CHTJECH. HEKE LIES THE BODY OF SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D., BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT AND EHODE ISLAND, WHO DEPARTED THIS TEANSITOEY SCENE, FEBEUAEY 25th, 1796, IN THE SIXTY-EIGHTH OF HIS AGE, AND THE ELEVENTH OF HIS EPISCOPAL CONSECEATION. INGENIOUS WITHOUT TEIDE, LEARNED WITHOUT PEDANTRY, GOOD WITHOUT SEVERITY. HE WAS DULY QUALIFIED TO DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND THE BISHOP. IN THE PULPIT HE ENFORCED EELIGION } IN HIS CONDUCT HE EXEMPLIFIED IT. THE POOR HE ASSISTED WITH HIS CHARITY ; THE IGNORANT HE BLESSED WITH HIS INSTRUCTION. THE FRIEND OF MEN, HE EVER DESIGNED THEM GOOD J THE ENEMY OF VICE, HE EVER OPPOSED IT. CHRISTIAN ! DOST' THOU ASPIRE TO HAPPINESS ? SEABURY HAS SHOWN THE WAY THAT LEADS TO IT. " Charles Seabury, the youngest son of the Bishop, was born in West Chester, in May, 1770, and succeeded his father in the church, at New London. In 1796, he preached a while at Jamaica. His first wife was Anne, the daughter of Roswell Saltonstall, of New London, by whom he had issue. His son, Samuel Seabury, D. D., is the present rector of the church of the Annunciation, in the city of New York, and editor of the Churchman, a religious news- paper." "Bishop Seabury died in 1796. His death was a heavy loss to his infant communion ; yet he had lived long enough to leave a marked impress of his character upon its institutions. His influence was most important whilst the foundations of the ecclesiastical fabric were being laid. For he was a clear-sighted man, of a bold spirit, and better acquainted than any of his coadjutors with those guiding principles which were then especially required. His own bias, in- deed, was to extremes in the very opposite direction from that to which their inclination led them. Trained amidst the New England sects, he had early learned to value the distinctive features of his HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHTTRCH. 145 own communion ; and receiving the consecration from the Scotch Bishops, the affections of his heart opened freely towards them, and drew the whole bent of his mind towards their forms and practices. Had it been left to him alone to form the temper and mould the insti- tutions of the western church, there would have been little hope of its ever embracing the whole of the jealous population of that wide republic. But his views were a wholesome check upon those with whom he had to act. Of these, Bishop Madison had been bred a lawyer in the worst days of Virginia laxity. He was an elegant scholar, a good president of a college, and a mild and courteous gentleman ; but he had none of the Christian learning and little of the untiring energy in action which his difficult position rendered needful. Bishop White, mild, meek, and conciliatory, inclined al- ways to those councils which bore most faintly the stamp of his own communion, and fulfilling, through these qualities, a most important part in the common work, was indisposed by character and temper from taking resolutely the position which the times required. From that which he was sure was right, nothing indeed could move him ; but he was naturally over-tolerant of all opinions. " These very qualities made him a most useful coadjutor to the Bishop of Connecticut. For, as it was his great endeavor to secure unanimity of action, he was ready to take part in many things to which he was himself indifferent, when he saw his brother's earnest- ness concerning them. The same easy temper as to things he judged indifferent, which would have led him, for the sake of peace, to con- cede to the most opposite objections what ought not to be yielded, now made him take the stricter side in matters which he saw would not be given up by Bishop Seabury. On this principle he voted for reinserting in the liturgy the Athanasian creed, whilst he scrupled not to say that he would never use it ; and agreed to place in the communion office the prayers of invocation and oblation, though he himself had never regretted their omission." — Archdeacon Wilher- force. "August 15th, 1734. Cecelia Mumford, grand daughter of the Rev. James Honeyman, of Rhode Island, an infant and daughter of William Mumford, of 18a 146 HISTORY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHtTECH. South Kingstown, was baptised by Mr. McSparran, of Narragansett ; the sureties were said Mr. McSparran, Mrs. Honeyman, and Mrs. Wickham." "July 10th, 1735. Mr. McSparran baptised William Mumford, a child, son of William Mumford, shopkeeper in South Kingtown. The sureties were the grand father, the Rev. Mr. James Honeyman, and the grand mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Honeyman, and the uncle of the child, Mr. Francis Honeyman." In 1704, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at the solicitation of the wardens, appointed the Rev. James Honeyman their missionary at Trinity Church, Newport. Mr. Ho- neyman discharged the duties of his mission with great faithfulness and diligence for nearly fifty years. "Besides the cares of his own particular district," says Hawkins, " he made frequent visits to the neighboring towns on the continent, until another minister was assigned to them. Very early in his ca- reer, he felt the great disadvantages under which the church was laboring, for' want of a superintending head. Writing to the Secre- tary of the Society, in 1709, he says, 'You can neither well believe, nor I express, what excellent services for the cause of religion a Bishop would do in these parts ;' and he expresses a conviction that if one was sent, ' these infant settlements would become beautiful nurseries, which now seem to languish for want of a father to over- see and bless them.' In 1714, he presented a memorial to Governor Nicholson, on the religious condition of Rhode Island. The people, he says, were divided among Quakers, Ana-Baptists, Independents, Gortonians, and Infidels, with a remnant of true Churchmen. He then proceeds to suggest a remedy, in the settlement of a competent number of clergy in the several townships, under the jurisdiction of a Bishop, the establishment of schools, and a proper encouragement from the civil government. A new and most painful duty was im- posed on him, in 1723, in attending daily, for nearly three months, a HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. 147 great number of pirates, who were brought into Rhode Island, tried, condemned, and executed. " There is not, probably, a single mission; at the present time, in the "whole of our North American Colonies, so beset with difficulties and discouragements, and so entirely dependent upon the zeal and judgment of individual clergymen in charge, as were most of the parishes in the now independent States, at the commencement of the last century. No better instance can be given than this of Rhode Island, where a single clergyman was set to labor in the midst of a population hostile, for the most part, to the church, and without the smallest support from secular authority. In 1728, Mr. Honeyman, and another clergyman, the Rev. J. Mc- Sparran, who, since 1719, had occupied the mission of Narragansett, sent home a joint memorial," complaining of the " frowns and dis- couragements " to which they were subjected by the government. " The only further extract that need be given from Mr. Honey- man's correspondence, is dated Sept. 1732, and occurs in connection with an application to the society for a small increase of his stipend) to enable him to provide for his family: 'Between New-York and Boston, a distance of 300 miles, and wherein there are many mis- sions, there is not a congregation, in the way of the Church of Eng- land, that can pretend to compare with mine, or equal it in any re- spect ; nor does my church consist of members that were of it when I came here, for I have buried them all ; nor is there one person now alive that did then belong to it ; so that our present appearing is en- tirely owing to the blessing of God upon my endeavors to serve him. The late Henry Bull, in his manuscript history of Trinity Church i says, Mr. Honeyman was a gentleman well calculated to unite his own society, which grew and flourished exceedingly under his charge, as well as to conciliate those of other religious persuasions, all of whom he embraced in the arms of charity.' In 1750, the Rev. Mr. Honeyman died, after having lived to an advanced age, and to see his church large and flourishing. He was buried at the expense of the church, on the south of the passage from the gate to the church, where his tomb-stone now lies, and which is engraved as follows : " HERE LIES THE DUST OP JAMES HONEYMAN, OF VENEBABLE AND EVER WORTHY MEMORY, 148 HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHURCH. for a faithful minister, of near fifty years, in the Episcopal Church in this town, which, by divine iniluence on his labors, has flourished and exceedingly increased. He was of a respectable family in Scot- land — an excellent scholar, a sound divine, and an accomplished gentleman. A strong asserter of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, and yet, with the arm of charity, embraced all sincere followers of Christ. Happy in his relative station in life, the duties of which he sustained and discharged in a laudable and exem- plary manner. Blessed with an excellent and vigorous constitution, which he made subservient to the various duties of a numerous pa- rish, until a paralytic disorder interrupted him in the pulpit, and in two years, without impairing hjs understanding, cut short the thread of life, on July 2d, 1750. There is a bust portrait of him in Trinity Church, Newport. " Sept. 3d, 1734, at the house of Mr. Benjamin Mum- ford, in South Kingstown, were intermarried, by Mr. Mc- Sparran, Arthur Gates Auchmuty to Ann Dickinson." Robert Auchmuty was the first of the American family of that name. He was the descendant of an ancient Scotch family, holding a barony in the north of that country. His father settled in Eng- land. Early in the eighteenth century, Robert came to this coun- try, and settled in Boston. He was considered a profound lawyer, and possessed remarkable talents, shrewdness and wit, and anecdotes of him have been handed down, from generation to generation, to this day. He was greatly respected and beloved, both in public and private life. His memory is held in high veneration by the bar in Massachusetts, and his opinions are still respected by the profession. He has many descendants still left there. He was^Judge of Admi- ralty many years before his death. Robert Auchmuty, son of Judge Auchmuty, was distinguished in his profession. He held the ofiice of Judge of Admiralty at the de- claration of Independence, when he left, and settled in England. He was one of the Commissioners, with Gov. Wanton, of Rhode Island, Samuel Horsemanden, Chief Justice of New- York, Frederic Sraythc) HISTORY OF THE NARRA6ANSETT CHURCH. 149 Chief Justice of New Jersey, Peter Oliver, Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts, to inquire into the destruction of the Gaspee, 1772. Speaking of the elder and younger Auchmuty, Wasburn, in his Judicial History of Massachusetts, says : Upon the death of Judge Byfield, in 1733, " Robert Auchmuty was appointed to succeed him, as Judge of Admiralty, and his com- mission embraced Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Sherly, afterwards Governor, was appointed at the same time Judge Advocate of the same court." Judge Auchmuty held the office until 1747, when he was super- seded by Chambers Russell. He was an eminent barrister, but when he was admitted to prac- tice does not appear. He was in practice soon after 1719, and the profession owed much to his character and efforts for the elevated stand it was beginning to assume, and the system and order which now began to distinguish its forms of practice. Among other public offices with which he was honored, he was one of the Directors of the Land Bank — was appointed, from time to time, to act as Attorney General, in the absence of that officer, and also, during the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Overing. He was sent to England, in 1741, to settle the dispute between this province and that of Rhode Island, relative to the boundary line be- tween them. He resided at his seat in Roxbury. It was while he was in England that he is said to have conceived and matured the plan of expedition against Cape Breton and Louis- burg, which crowned the Provincial troops with so much glory and renown. He died in April, 1760. Mr. Bollan, so long the agent of the Pro- vince in London, studied his profession under Mr. Auchmuty's tuition. His daughter married the distinguished Judge Pratt, of New- York, and his two sons, Samuel was minister in New-York, and Ro- bert became an eminent lawyer in Massachusetts, and was for many years Judge of Admiralty in that province. Chambers Russell was appointed, in the place of the elder Auch- muty, as a Judge of Admiralty, for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, in 1747. He held this office until his death, in 1767. 150 HISTOKY OF THE NAHHAGANSETT CHURCH. " Upon the death of Russell, Robert Auchmuty, the younger, was appointed to his place by the Governor. This was in April, but on the 6th of July he was duly commissioned as Judge of Admiralty, for all New England,~with a salary of £300 a year. Previous to this time, the compensation of that officer had been a per-centage (usually five) upon all condemnations, and had not generally amounted to more than £100 per annum. His commission was received in March, 1769, when his salary was increased to £600 per annum. He continued to hold the office as long as the authority of the British Crown was recognized, and being a zealous royalist, he left the country, in 1776, for England. Previous to leaving the country, his place of residence was Roxbury. Although he had not the advantages of a collegiate education, he became an able and eminent lawyer. As an advocate, he was elo- quent and successful. Among his cotemporaries were Otis, Quincy, Hawley, and Judges Paine, Sargent, Bradbury, R. Sewall, W. Gushing, and Sullivan, and though lessJearned than some of these, he was employed in most of the important jury trials. It was to him, together with that class of lawyers above named, that the piofession owed the respectability which since his day has characterized the bar of Massachusetts. He held the office of Advocate of the Court of Admiralty from Au- gust 2, 1762, till his appointment as Judge, having been originally appointed in the place of Mr. Bollan, to hold the office during his absence." It is to be regretted that of men as distinguished in their day as'were the Auchmutys, father and son, so few memorials now remain. They will hereafter be found to have possessed a large share of the public confidence, and to have left a decided impress of their characters upon the profession which they adorned. The Hon. James Auchmuty, another son of the elder Robert, was also a conspicuous lawyer, and a Judge in Nova Scotia, where he resided many years. He had a son, a very gallan*^ officer in the British Army, who was killed whgn young, in a battle in the West Indies. The Rev. Samuel Auchmuty was another son of the elder Robert, born in Boston, in 1725, graduated at Harvard University in 1742, and was taken by his father to England, where he was ordained a HISTORY OF THE NAKKAGANSETT CHUECH. 151 minister in the Episcopal Church, and was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, an assistant minister of Trinity Church in New- York. He married, in 1749, a daughter of Richard Nichols, Governor of that Province. In 1764, at the death of the Rector, he was appointed to succeed him, and took charge of all the churches in the city, performing his arduous duties with faithfulness until the revolution. At that time he was making arrangements to return to England, in expectation of being consecrated Bishop of New- York. (By the old inhabitants of the city, he was always spo- ken of with the highest respect and affection, and as Bishop Auch- muty.) But that event rendered it necessary for him to stay by his devoted flock, and if possible, to keep the church together ; for he was a loya! subject of his sovereign, as well as a faithful minister of Christ. He continued his ministrations in the church, and succeeded in keeping his flock together. Dr. Auchmuty opposed the revolution and adhered to the cause of the king and the mother country, and when the Americans took possession of New York city, in 1777, it is said that a message was sent to him from Lord Sterling, by one of his sons ; " that if he read the prayer for the king the following Sunday, he would send a band of soldiers to take him out of the desk." His son knowing his father's indomitable spirit, did not deliver the message, but with some of his class-mates from ColumbiaCoUege, attended the church, with arms concealed under their gowns, and sat near the pulpit for his protection. He could not omit these prayers without, as he con- sidered, violating his ordination vows. As soon as he commenced reading it. Lord Sterling marched into the church with a band of soldiers, and music playing " Yankee Doodle." The Dr's. voice never faltered, but he went on and finished the prayers, and the soldiers marched up one aisle and down another, and went out again without any violence. After church, he sent for the keys of Trinity and its chapels, and ordered that they should not be again opened until the liturgy could be performed without interruption, and took them to New Jersey. When the British took possession of New York, he resolved at once to return to his beloved flock, and applied for leave to pass the American lines. This request was denied. With the unfailing energy that characterised his whole career, he determined to return on foot through circuitous paths to avoid 152 HISTOBY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. the American lines. After undergoing great hardships ; sleeping in the woods, and heedless of exposure, he reached the city. During his absence Trinity Church and his parsonage had been burnt to the ground. His papers and the church records were all destroyed. The Sunday following, he preached in St. Paul's Church for the last time. The hardships he had undergone brought on an illness which terminated his life after a few days, March 4th 1777, in the fifty- second year of his age. He was buried under the altar of St. Paul's. Interesting notices of his labors, his sufferings, and death, may be found in Hawkins' " Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England, in the North American Colonies," London, 1845. Dr. Auchmuty received the degree of S. T. D., at Oxford, in 1766. The children of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty weie, 1st— Mary Julianna, born 1750, married General Mulcaster, of the Royal Engineers, and left two sons and two daughters. 2nd--Margaret, died young. 3rd— Isabella, born 1753, married a Mr. Burton, of Kent, in Eng- land, and left no children. 4th— Robert Nicholls, born 1758, mar- ried Henrietta, daughter of Henry John Overing, his second cousin. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, January 28th, 1813, leaving eight children, one of whom is Mrs. Maria M. Wainwright, now living in Washington, D. C He was a graduate of Columbia Col- lege, and served as a volunteer in the English army, at the time of the revolution. 5th — Richard Harrison, born 1756, a surgeon in the Royal army ; was taken prisoner at Yorktown, and died while a prisoner on parole. 6th — Samuel, afterwards Sir Samuel, born 1758, graduated at Columbia College, served in Egypt, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, was a Brigadier General and K. C. B., in 1807, and commanded the ejcpedition against Montevideo, which he took. He was promoted to be Lieutenant General, received the thanks of both houses of Parliament and a service of plate. He was after- wards intrusted with a very important command in ithe channelj at the time of Napoleon's threatened invasion ; was then Gover- nor of Madras, commander of an expedition against the Island of Java, which he took in 1811. On returning to England he again received the thanks of Parliament, and a service of plate from the East India Company. He retired for a while to his estate, in Kent, which he left on being appointed Commander of the Forces in Jre- HISTORY OF THE NAEHAGANSETT CHTTECH. 153 land, where he died, August 11th, 1822, and was buried in Christ Church, Dablin. The inscription on his tomb is : " Sacred to the memory of the Right Honorable Sir Samuel Auchmuty, G. C. B., of his Majesty's seventy-eighth Regiment of Foot, who died on the 11th August, 1822, aetat sixty-four, whilst commanding his Majesty's forces in Ireland. He was a brave, experienced and suc- cessful officer, and victorious whenever he had the command. He twice received the thanks of Parliament for his services. The cap- ture of Montevideo, in South America, and the Island of Java, in the East Indies, added both to his fame and fortune. This monu- ment was erected by his relatives, as a tribute to his private as well as his public worth,'' 7th — Jane, married Richard Tylden, of Heversham, Kent, in England, and had two sons and a daughter. Arthur Gates Auchmuty," says a correspondent, " must I think, have been the brother of the elder Judge Auchmuty ; he could have been only temporarily in Rhode Island, or I should have heard of his residing there, had it been otherwise. He was interred in Trinity Church yard, Newport. " December 11th, 1735. Dr. Giles Goddard, of Groton, in Connecticut, was married to Miss Sarah Updike, at the house of her father. Captain Lodowick Updike, by Mr. McSparran. Dr. Giles Goddard, immediately after his marriage, removed to New London, Connecticut, where he commenced the practice of medicine. He was also, for many years, postmaster of the town. In his professional character, he appears to have united much bene- volence with a considerable share of medical skill. He was from early life accustomed to the worship of the Church of England, and was a zealous defender of its doctrines and institutions, and on several occasions of pressing exigency, he proved himself a firm friend to its ministers. He continued to reside at New London un- til his death, which took place after a lingering illness, January 31st 1757, in the fifty-third year of his age. During his last sickness, he 19a 154 HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. became an earnest and heartfelt believer in the truths of revelation, and his dying words evinced in a remarkable manner, the power of divine truth, in sustaining the soul amid the struggles of the inevita- ble hour. He left a widow and two children — Mary Catharine Goddard and William Goddard, of whom the former died unmarried, at an ad- vanced age. William Goddard, the only son of Dr. Giles Goddard, was born at New London, October 20th, 1740. He was early in life apprenticed to James Parker, a printer, in New York, of whom he learned the practice of the art. Immediately, on becoming of age, he removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he set up a printing press and established a weekly newspaper, called the " Providence Gazette and Country Journal,'' of which the first number was issued Octo- ber 20th, 1762. This paper was discontinued from May 11th to August 24th, 1765, in consequence of the excitement in the colony, occasioned by the Stamp Act ; and when its publication was resum- ed it bore the imprint of "Sarah Goddard & Co.," his mother having become associated with him in the establishment. The Gazette was the first paper ever printed at Providence, and at the period of its origin, there was but one other in the colony. When the differ- ences with the mother country began, it earnestly espoused the cause of the colonies ; and during the war of the revolution it was a faithful chronicler of events, and a firm supporter of the Declaration of Independence. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, Mr. Goddard left the Gazette in the hands of his mother, who now received the, assistance of Mr. John Carter, and repaired to New York, where he was for a short time associated with the proprietor of " Parker's Gazette and Post Boy.'' But leaving New York in the autumn of 1766, he set- tled in Philadelphia, associating with himself, as silent partners, the celebrated Joseph Galloway and Mr. Thomas Whaltur, a wealthy merchant, and commeneed the publication of " The Penn- sylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser." The first number was issued January 6th, 1767. It was conducted with ability and spirit, and soon gained a wide circulation. In consequence however, as is supposed, of a diflTerence in political sentiments between Mr. Goddard and his partners, he withdrew from the establishment, in HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 155 1770. In the year preceding, the firm of Sarah Goddard & Co., at Providence, had been dissolved, and the Providence Gazette was given up to the management of John Carter. After being forced into an unhappy and somewhat violent controversy with his former partners in Philadelphia, who had now arra:yed themselves on the side of the crown, Mr. Goddard removed to Baltimore, where he soon became concerned in the publication of another newspaper. The first number appeared jn August, 1773, and was styled " The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser." This paper he con- tinued to publish twice a week, with but little interruption, till August, 1792, when he sold the establishment and retired to a farm which he purchased in Johnston, Rhode Island. In addition to his long connection with the public press of the country — a connection which he maintained with ability and distinc- tion — Mr, Goddard, soon after his removal to Baltimore, devoted himself with great earnestness, to the enterprise, then deemed of great importance to the colonies, of establishing, by subscription, a line of post-riders from New Hampshire to Georgia, in opposition to the English Post Office System, which was regarded as ill-arranged and oppressive in its rates of postage. He left the management of his journal in the hands of his sister, Mary Catharine Goddard, and travelled through the colonies for the purpose of forwarding the enter- prise. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, however, the Continental Congress assumed the management of the Post Office, and Mr. Goddard received from Dr. Franklin, the Postmaster General, the appointment of surveyor of the Post-roads and comptroller of the Post Office ; an office which he held for several months, till becom- ing dissatisfied with the appointment of a successor to Dr. Franklin, he resigned the situation and returned to Baltimore. Here, amid the excitements of the revolution, he was more than once iovoJved in fierce political controversies, and became, on several occasions, the object of a popular fury so serious and threatening, that he deemed it prudent to repair to Annapolis, the seat of government, and place himself under the protection of the Legislative Assembly. This protection was promptly afforded, and the tumult of angry pas- sions passed away with the trifling incidents which had pro- duced it- He was married, MdV 25th, 1766, to Abigail Angell, daughter of 156 HISTORY OF THE HARKAGANSETT CHUKCH. James Angell, Esq., of Providence ; a lady of rare intellectual enr dowments, and of superior education, who survived him for twenty- eight years, and died in Providence, December 3lst, 1845, in the eighty-seventh year of her age. The death of William Goddard took place in Providence, December 23d, 1817, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. — He left to the . care of their surviving parent, and for the solace of her advancing years, five children, one son and four daugh- ters. Of the children of William Goddard who survived their father, the only son was William Giles Goddard ; a name which in Rhode Island has become associated with rare literary accomplishments, val- uable public services, and high social and moral worth, whose recent, sudden extinction will be long and deeply lamented. He was born m Johnston, January 2d, 1794, and spent his earliest years amid the scenes of the country. In 1803 his father moved the family to Providence, where under the tuition of the best instructors the town at that time afforded, he pursued the usual studies pieparatory to a collegiate education. He entered the Freshman Class, at Brown University, in 1808, and after pursuing the prescribed course of study, received his first degree with his class, in 1812, in the nine- teenth year of bis age. In college, his highest scholarship was in the Belles-Lettres, and his favorite exercises were in English com- position. Both his father and mother were persons of unusual ac- curacy and elegance in the use of the English language, and it is possible that their example, in this respect, may account for the early bias which he developed, and in some degree, perhaps, for the subsequent finish and beauty of style which he ac- quired. Having already chosen the law for a profession, immediately on leaving college, he went to Worcester and entered upon his studies in the office and under the direction of the Hon. Francis Blake, at that time a distinguished advocate at the Massachusetts bar. But neither his health, which had already been undermined by a severe illness, nor the controlling tastes of his mind, were such as would fit him for the collisions of the forum, or for the wearisome routine of the' attorney's office. He delighted rather to tread the serener walks of letters, and especeially to exercise upon favorite topics, his pow- HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. 157 ers of composition, which were already of a high order. While at Worcester, he was a frequent contributor to the press of the town, and was at one time the associate editor of the Worcester Spy. In 1814 he abandoned the study of the law, and returned to Pro- vidence with the intention of connecting himself with the press and becoming an editor as the occupation of his life. He immediately purchased the Rhode Island American, a paper already of good standing in Providence, and conducted it for a period of eleven years ; the greater part of the time as sole editor and proprietor, with such ability, discretion, and courtesy as soon won for it a place among the best papers in the Union. The American was zealously devoted to the support of the Federal party of that day ; but in the hands of Mr. Goddard, it was never a merely partizan sheet. It was at all times the earnest advocate of the interests of the com- munity, and even in the most exciting party disputes, its columns Were never disgraced by personalities, or sullied by falsehoods. In the discharge of his duties, as an editor, and in maintaining the reputation of his paper, he was of necessity, as well as in accor- dance with his own tastes, led to the extensive reading of the best authors of English and American literature, and the thorough study of the principles of government, and especially of the theory and history of our own Federal Constitution. He was thus able to en- rich his columns alike with well selected passages from the writings of standard authors, and with the sound and carefully formed views of his own mind. In the year 1821, Mr. Goddard was married to Miss Charlotte R. Ives, daughter of Thopnas P. Ives, Esq,, an eminent merchant of Providence. In 1825, he was appointed by the Corporation of Brown Univer- sity, to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics in that institution, then recently vacated by the resignation of Rev. Dr. Park. He immediately relinquished his editorship and entered upon the new sphere of duties to which he had been called. His instructions, however, were soon transferred from the department of Metaphysics to that of Rhetoric and Criticism, for which his tastes and acquirements admirably qualified him, and which, together with the American Constitution, formed the leading subjects of his teaching during his active connection with the University. In 1834, the 158 HISTORY OE THE NAERAGANSETT CH0ECH. Style of his Professorship was changed to that of Belles-Lettres. In 1842, in consequence of protracted ill health, he resigned his place in the Faculty of the University, and withdrew from all participa- tion in its instructions. He was however, immediately elected to its Board of Fellows, and continued, till his death, to be one of its most faithful councillors and guardians. At about the same time he also received, from the President and Corporation of Bowdoin College, Maine, the honorary degree of "Doctor of Laws. The students of the University, during the period of Professor Goddard's connection with its /Faculty, were invariably impressed with the exquisite delicacy of his taste in English literature, and his unusual facility in composition. Most of his writings have been given to the public in forms not fitted for permanence. His few published discourses, however, have taken a high place among works of their kind in our literature, and have secured for themselves a wide re- putation. As a political writer, he often exerted an important in- fluence in relation to the public questions of the day, and he al- ways brought to the discussion of these questions, the spirit of an in- dependent and highminded man, as well as the pen of an elegant writer. No man was more devoted to the interests and honor of his native state, and no one ever maintained them by the public press, in language more chaste and dignified, or in a spirit more free from bitterness and personality. The published writings of Mr. Goddard which bear his name are an address to the Phi, Beta Kappa Society, connected with the University, on " The Value of Liberal Studies ;" A Sketch of the Life of James Manning, first President of Brown University ; an address " In Commemoration of the death of William Henry Har- rison, President of the United States," delivered at the request of the City Council of Providence ; A Discourse, on the Change of the Civil Government of Rhode Island, delivered at Newport, before both Houses of the Assembly, in May, 1843. These productions alone, though few in, number, are sufl[icient to evince his rare skill as a writer, and to show what he might have accomplished in ele- gant literature, had his health but permitted him to attempt loftier undertakings and more protracted labors. HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 159 In addition to these, and to a large number of political essays, published anonymously, he is known to have been tiie author of the obituary sketches which have appeared, of many of the eminent citizens of Rhode Island who have died within twenty years past. These sketches are believed to be very numerous, and if collected, would form a volume of rare and curious interest, as well as of great historical value. Such a volume would also well illustrate the delicacy and skill with which he was accustomed, to dis- criminate the outlines of a wide variety of public and private char- acters. The natural tastes and feelings of Mr. Goddard, as well as the avocations to which his manhood was mainly devoted, all tended to render him unwilling to engage in the excitements of public life. Though often actually enlisted in the political contests of the state, he never aspired to personal promotion, and was wholly destitute both of the spirit and the aims of the vulgar politician. He was never a candidate for political office, save in the single instance when he was elected to represent the city of Providence in the Gen- eral Assembly of the state. Of this body he was a useful and honored member at the time of his death. Professor Goddard was educated in the forms of the Episcopal Church, and through life was an Episcopalian as were his father and grandfather before him. He was a member of the parish of St. John's, in Providence, in which for many years he held the office of Warden. During the later part of his life especially, in which he was comparatively free from professional toils, he render- ed an amount of valuable service to the public institutions of reli- gion, education, and philanthropy in thecity of Providence, which has entitled him to the lasting gratitude of his fellow citizens, and has associated his name and memory with most of the higher inter- ests of that community. He was also an earnest student of Chris- tianity and a firm and humble believer in its sacred truths, and was unusually well read in the writings of the best English divines. His death was fearfully sudden ; it took place while seated at the dinner table with his family, and was occasioned while in the act of swallowing, by some spasmodic action of the organs of deglutition, which produced immediate strangulation. 160 HISTOEY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHTJIOH. The sudden departure of an eminent citizen, thus snatched in a moment from a sphere of honor and usefulness, and from all the en- dearments of domestic life, could not fail to produce a deep impression upon the mind of the community. Every interest of society seemed to have sustained a loss. The several public bodies with which he was connected evinced their respect for his memory, in resolutions which were published at the time, and the Faculty of the University requested their President, Rev. Dr. Wayland, to deliver a discourse in commemoration of his life and services. This discourse, which has sipce been published, is an eloquent and well merited tri- bute to his memory.' We commend it to the perusal of every reader, who would contemplate and fully comprehend the character of one, who deserves to be ranked among the most accomplished scholars, and the worthiest citizens our state has ever produced. "April 17th, 1738. The Rev. Dr. McSparran bap- tised at Groton, in Connecticut, four adults and three children, viz : the wife of John Haily, called Mary Haily, and six of her children, namely: John, Joshua, and Martha Haily, adults, and Elizabeth, Caleb, and Jeremiah Haily, children." Respecting the family of Haily or Haley, Mr. James H. Trura- bull, of Stonington, Connecticut, a young gentleman of great an- tiquarian research, has furnisheJ the foUovping information : " I fear I can afford you but little aid in regard to the Haily or Haley family, as the name does occur among the first settlers of Stonington, or on our early records. I have not had occasion hither- to investigate their descent, and know little of their early history. Of the children of John and Mary Haley, mentioned in the church record ; their 1st son, John, left four sons, John and Edmund, twins ; Joshua and Belcher, and nine daughters. 2nd, Joshua, died with- out issue. 3rd, Caleb, left three sons, Caleb, Elisha and Stephen ; (Elisha is now a resident in Groton, served four years as a member of Congress, from this district, from 1831 to 1835.) 4th, Jeremiah, HISTOEV OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHUECH. 161 married a daughter of Ambrose Helliard, (who moved to Preston, Connecticut, from Narragansett,) left four sons. 1st, Jeremiah ; 2nd, Nathan ; 3rd, George ; 4th, Simeon, and five daughters, viz : Mary, married to Captain Allen Potter, of New Haven, and subse- quently of Rochester, New York, where he died. 2nd, Catharine, married Paul Burrows. 3rd, Charlotte, married Burnett. 4th, Rhoda, married Samuel Holdredge. 5th, Hannah, married Perces Woodward-" " Captain Nathan Haley, the second son of Jeremiah, was for many years a resident of Nantes, in France ; where, during the lat- ter part of his life, he held the post of United States Consul. In consequence of his active participation in the revolution of 1830, he received from the French government the Cross of the Legion of Honor. He died at Nantes, January 3d, 1841, aged seventy-four. Of his early life I can say but little with which you have not been made acquainted by the letter from the late Hon. N. F. Dixon, published in the appendix of the " Memoirs of the Rhode Island Bar." " The following obituary notice I have translated, thinking that it may be of interest." (From a New York paper of 1841.) " The following, from a paper published at Nantes, in France, has been handed us for publication :" " Mr. Nathan Haley, United States Consul, at Nantes, died on the third day of January, at his residence, in Rue Lafayette. " Subsequent to the revolution of July, Mr. Haley was presented with the Cross of the Legion of Honor, for important services rendered France. Born on a soil of freedom, and resident among us for many years, Mr. Haley cherished the most sincere and ardent wishes for the liberty and welfare of France, and was ever ready to make any personal sacrifices for the good of his adopted country. " Mr. Haley was universally esteemed and beloved. Never was there a friend more constant ; never was there a heart in which was felt stronger compassion for suffering humanity. Not merely con- tent to be found taking part in all public subscriptions, for the relief of distress, he was constantly scattering his secret bounties, and the needy never sought his assistance in vain. 20a 162 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHTJRCH. " The republic of the United States has lost a most worthy repre- sentative ; Nantes has lost a most estimable citizen. " The obsequies of Mr. Haley were very numerously attended. Public functionaries, magistrates, and citizens of all classes were present. The Pall was borne by the different European Consuls, in their several costumes, and escorted by a company of the 72nd regiment of the line. The Protestant minister pronounced a dis- course at the interment, replete with philosophy and elevated reli- gious sentiment. " Dr. Martial, who has served with honor in our army, and is nephew of Mr. Haley, pronounced the following words, which were heard with difficulty, from the emotions, which the speaker could not suppress : " Nathan Haley, Consul of the United States of America, cheva- lier of the Legion of Honor, native of Stonington, deceased in his seventy-fifth year, after long and severe sufTering, from Chronic asthma ; he was truly a man of exalted chai-acter. His life was dis- tinguished for justice, and benevolence of action, and was crowded with deeds of charity. Friend, sincere and generous — husband, tender and affectionate — receive from us the tribute of our sincere regrets. Rest in peace with God." " Mr. Haley was above all, the friend of the people — of the poor and laboring classes — of whom he delighted in being the supporter. This numerous and honorable portion of our population, who never forget a benefactor, nor lose the remembrance of sympathy extended to them, did not fail to render a last homage ; and Mr. Alexander Milliat, one of their number, was deputed to express their sentiments, which he did in an address, appropriate to the oc- casion." The late Mr. Dixon, in the letter referred to, in speaking of Haley, says : " Haley had his birth on the east bank of the Mystic river ; his parents were too confiding to think of involving the agency of art or authority, to restrain the bold and eccentric sallies of a spirited youth. His early days were marked with deeds of daring, and in riper years, as a mariner, he rose to the rank of a ship's comman- der. He was but little indebted to early education, while native HISTORY OF THK NAERAGANSETT Ci£0ECH. 163 talents gave him currency among the better informed, and evinced his capacity for business. His mental and physical energies were of no ordinary character. The French revolution naturally at- tracted him to its scenes, for he loved the confusion of v^ar. He served with distinction, as an officer in the navy of France, and was one of Bonaparte's Legion of Honor. It mupt be admitted, how- ever, that some of his deeds, consistent as they may have been with his code of honor, were of doubful morality — yet his whole life was interspersed with occasional acts of benevolence and kindness. His native country confided to him the American Consulate at Nantes, in France, where he lived and died the present year," (1841.) "September 17th, 1738. The Rev. Jonathan Ar- nold, Presbyter of the Church of England, and incum- bent of New Haven, in Connecticut, did at the house of Dr. McSparran, baptise a negro child, by the name of Margaret, surnamed African — sureties, the Dr. and his wife." The Rev. Jonathan Arnold graduated at Yale College, in 1723 — was a Congregational minister of the Church at West Haven, Con- necticut. In 1734, he became an Episcopalian, and in 1736 went to England for orders. On his return from England, in 1737, he was appointed a missionary, and stationed at West Haven, Derby, and Waterbury, at which places he officiated until 1739, when he sailed for England, and was lost on the voyage. "September 2nd, 1739. Mr. John Gardiner, of Bos- ton Neck, was admitted (for the first time,) to the sa- crament of the Lord's Supper. So was Mrs. Anstis Updike, the wife of Colonel Daniel Updike, having been heretofore, before her removal to the Mainland, 164 HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. a communicant at the Church of Newport : and a month before, were admitted, upon their removal from Newport, Colonel William Coddington, and Jane, his wife." Colonel William Coddington was a son of Thomas and Mary Codd;ngton, and grandson of the elder Governor William Codding, ton, who emigrated from England to Boston, with Governor Win- throp, in 1630. The Antinomian controversy, respecting Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Wheelwright, arising soon after his arrival, he, with Dr. John Clarke and others, removed to Newport, pur- chased of the Indians Rhode Island, and formed the first settle- ment there. The Colonel Coddington, mentioned in the record, was born, Jan- uary 1st, 1690. His first wife was Comfort Arnold, the eldest daughter of Benedict, son or grandson of Governor Benedict Arnold. He married his second wife, Jane Bernon, the daughter of Gabriel Bernon, at Newport, October 11th, 1722. How long Colonel Cod- dington remained a resident of Narragansett, is uncertain. He was selected Church Warden of St Paul's in April, 1741, and his name and that of his wife appear often on the church record. Col. Updike the Colony Attorney, Capt. Chase, and Col. Coddington were brothers-in-law, having married the three daughters of Bene- dict Arnold ; and the last wife of Col. Coddington being the sister of Esther Helme, the wife of Judge Helme, the daughter of Mr. Bernon, are circumstances which might have been the inducement for his residence in Narragansett. J Col. Coddington was a well educated and accomplished gentleman. The Rev. John Callender, in his century sermon, delivered in New- port, in 1738, which was dedicated to him, says : " It is not barely to give you a public testimony of my gratitude for many personal favors, nor yet of that esteem and respect which all men bear you, for your singular equity and benevolence, not only in private life, but in all the various offices in which you have adorned your coun- try, that I prefix your name to these papers ; but because an at- tempt to Recover some account of this happy island, and to make a HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUECH. 165 religious improvement of the merciful providences of God towards it, is justly due to the lineal representative of that worthy gen- tleman, who was the great instrument of its original settle- ment." " If the following discourse has done any justice to the memory and character of the pious people who first settled this colony ; or if it has any tendency to promote the true original ends of this plantation, I am sure of your patronage. And as to what relates to some articles, different from your judgment and practice in religious matters, the generosity and candor you inherit from your great ancestors will easily bear with me, endeavoring to vindicate my own opinions on such an occasion." The 17th of September, 1744, was memorable for a most distres- sing accident, which took place at Newport ; a number of persons had collected on the wharf of Col. Malbone, to witness the depar- ture of two privateers, when a quantity of powder which had been placed in one of the stores, by some unaccountable means, exploded, killing and wounding a number of persons. By this visitation, the town lost three of its principal citizens. Col. William Coddington, Mr. Seaton Grant, (maternal grand father of the late Christopher Grant Champlin,) and John Fidley Esquire, who were either kil- led or mortally wounded. "October 19th, 1738. James Helme, of South Kingstown, and Esther Powell, of North Kingstown, were lawfully married by me Joseph Torrey." — Extracted from Dr. Torrey's record. " September 2 1st, 1740. Dr. McSparran baptised, at the Church of St. Paul's, the child of James and Esther Helme, by the name of Esther. The sureties were Colonel Coddington, his wife, and daughter." " October 4th, 1746. Dr. McSparran, (after reading the visitation service over Hester Powell, the grand- mother,) then baptised two children of James Helme, 166 HISTORY OF THE NAKKAGANSETT CHUKCH. Esquire, and Esther Powell, his wife, named Rouse* and Sarah Helme. Their sureties were the Doctor, and Madam Coddington, of Newport." " The 20th of said October, died said Hester Powell and was buried on Tower Hill, the 22nd, by Dr. Mc- Sparran, who preached her funeral sermon in Dr. Tor- rey's meeting house." December 3rd, 1746, Dr. McSparran preached at the Court House, Tower Hill, and baptised Powell Helme, a child about four years old, son of James and Esther, his wife." The family of Helme were among the first settlers in Narragan- sett. Mr. James Helme was a gentleman of mild and urbane man- ners, of estimable character, and of considerable wealth. He resided at Tower Hill, in South Kingstown, and for many years kept a large retail store. His dwelling, although dilapidated, is still * Rouse J. Helme (the J. being inserted to distinguish him from others of the same name,) was born at Tower Hill, in 1744. He received a competent edu- cation, under a private instructor, in the elementary branches of learn- ing, and was besides, a respectable proficient in the learned languages. He early displayed a predilection for the study of the law, and to promote his views, his father placed him in the office of Mbttthew Robinson, Esquire, who was re- puted one of the best special pleaders arid most learned lawyers of the day. — Mr. Helme opened an office at the village of Kingston, in his native town, where he soon obtained a large share of practise. He early embarked in politics, and was elected to many^ offices of honor and responsibility. He was a member of the council of war, during the revolution ; deputy secretary, and member of the General Assembly for many years. In the Legislature, Mr. Helme boldly opposed the paper money system of 1786 ; and, on the ascendancy of that party, in the succeeding year, he was superceded as a representative. But being Em able lawyer and a skilful draftsman, his services were so highly requisite in con- ducting the business of the legislature, that the dominant party, though poli- tically opposed to him, elected him their clerk, and testified their approbation of his abilities, by subsequent re-elections. HISTOHY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHTJECH. 167 Standing. In 1767, he was elected by the Legislature, Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of the State, and was re-elected as Chief or Associate Justice of the same court, until 1775. He died in 1777, and was interred in the burial ground, on Tower Hill. His wife was the grandaughter of Gabriel Bernon, the Protestant Huguenot, and daughter of Adam Powell and Hester Powell, who before marriage, was Hester Bernon. Being unable to break through the strength of the paper money influence in South Kingstown, Mr. Helme, in 1788, was returned a member of the Legislature from New Shoreham, under a law pas- sed during the revolution, authorizing that town, being an Island, to choose its representatives from citizens of other towns, and he con- tinued a representative of that town until his death. He was an able debater, a man of ready wit, a sound lawyer, and a skillful draftsman ; fond of society, and of convivial habits. His opinion on the trial of the Judges for their decision, against the paper money laws, in the case of Trevett, vs. Weeden, did him great credit. — Among other things, he said — " If they," the General Assembly, " proceed to try the Judges, either by themselves, or a court to be appointed specially for that purpose, they must cause them first to be impeached, and state the facts upon which the impeachment is founded ; the common law will direct the manner of process, and should they be found guilty, they cannot be removed from their offices, but by bill in the nature of a bill of Attainder, which must pass both houses, and be enacted into a law." He died in the meridian of life, on the 13th of October, 1789, in the forty-sixth year of his age, and his remains lie interred in the burial ground, on Tower Hill, where his ancestors repose. Suita- ble grave stones are erected to his memory, with the following in- scription : IN MEMORY OF ROUSE J. HELME. WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE, OCTOBER 13tH, 1789, IN THE FORTY-SIXTH YEAR OF HIS AGE. " AND THE SERVANT SAID, LORD, IT IS DONE AS THOU HAST COMMANDED, AND YET THERE IS ROOM." 168 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. " August 2ncl, 1741. Dr. McSparran catechised the negroes, and there were present on that occasion, at church, near about or more than one hundred." We shall endeavor here to present some account of the state of slavery, and the slave trade in Rhode Island, and shall give some statistics in relation to it, which have been furnished us by E. R. Potter. ' Many of the merchants of Rhode Island were formerly engaged in the slave trade, and made considerable fortunes from it ; although it would appear from the account we shall presently give, that it was never countenanced by the legislature, or by public opinion in that state. In a speech, made by Judge Sm'th, of South Carolina, in the United States Senate, December 8th, 1820, upon the admission of Missouri, he states that, in the year 1804, the ports of South Carolina were opened for the importation of African slaves, by act of the legislature, and remained open four years. During these four years there were two hundred and two vessels engaged in this trade to the port of Charleston, and they belonged to the following places : Charleston, 61 ; Rhode Island, 59 ;' Great Britain, 70 ; Baltimore, 4; Boston, 1 ; Norfolk, 2 ; Connecticut, 1; Sweden, 1; France, 3—202. He also gives, from the Custom House books of Charleston, the number of slaves imported there, during those four years, and by what nation or state — viz : Imported by British vessels, 19,649; Imported by French ves- sels, 1,078 ; in Charleston vessels, 7,723 ; in Bristol, R. I., vessels, 2,914 ; in Newport, R. I., vessels, 3,488 ; in Providence, R. I., ves- sels, 556 ; in Warren, R. I., 280 ; in Baltimore vessels, 7iJ0 ; in Savannah vessels, 300 ; in Norfolk vessels, 287 ; in Hartford ves- sels, 250 ; in Boston vessels, 200 ; in Philadelphia vessels, 200 ; in New Orleans, 100.— 18,048.— Total, 38,775. We also give here some extracts from a report upon abolition pe- titions, made by Elisha R. Potter, of Kingstown, to the House of Representatives of the Rhode Island Legislature, in January, 1840. HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. 169 It contains some valuable statistics, and also a full history of the legislation of the state upon this subject. * "One of the measures proposed is, to abolish slavery in the State of Rhode Island. " It appears by the United States census of 1830, that there were then seventeen slaves in Rhode Island. As all children of slaves, who were born after March 1, 1784, were by law declared to be free, these slaves must of course be forty-six years old or more. It is presumed they are nearly all superannuated, and instead of being' a source of profit are a burden to tbeir nominal owners, who are now obliged to maintain them. The only consequence of liberating them would be no possible benefit to the slaves themselves, but the trans- ferring the obligation to maintain them from the families of the own- ers to the towns, who would be obliged to support them as common paupers. Besides, it is probable that the census of 1840 will show the number then living in the state to be very small, perhaps none. The committee, therefore, cannot agree with the petitioners here, and do not recommend any action on this part of the subject. " The committee will now give a statement of the number of slaves which have been in Rhode Island in times past. " Before 1790, when the United States census was first taken, our accounts do not exhibit the number of slaves separately, but only the number of negroes, whether slaves or free. Whole Population. Negroes, 1730 17,935 1,648 1748 32,773 3,077 1774 59,678 3,761 1783 51,869 2,086 " The census of 1730 did not include the towns east of the Bay, which were not added to this state until 1746. This will account for a part of the increase of negroes appearing in 1748. Besides, about 1730-48, the Rhode Island merchants had traded largely to the West Indies, bringing back negroes as a part of their return cargoes. " The census taken in 1783 does not include New Shoreham 21a 170 HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHTJECH. which was then in possession of the British. This exhibits a re- duction in the number of negroes, many of whom had enlisted in the army, and others been manumitted and gone off. " In 1780. the number oi slaves in the State, between ten and fifty, was estimated, by a committee of the Legislature, to be five hundred and eighteen. " But from 1790, the census taken by the United States gives us an accurate account of the number of slaves. Who LE Population. Slaves 1790 69,110 9.'J2 1800 69,1?2 381 1810 77,031 108 1820 83,059 48 1830 97,199 17 "Notwithstanding our laws, up to and even after February, 1784, did not prohibit; but permitted the holding of slaves ; there never was a very large number of them here ; and although slavery ex- isted here, and some of our merchants, from the love of gain, en- gaged in the slave trade and imported slaves; the general. course of Rhode Island legislation upon the subject, of which we now will give a brief account, is highly honorable to the State. " The first act we find passed upon the subject is May 18, 1652, by the commissioners of Providence Plantations and War- wick : — " Whereas, there is a common course practised among English- men, to buy negroes, to the end that they may have them for ser- vice or slaves forever, for the preventing of such practices. among us, let it be ordered that no black mankind, or white, being forced to covenant, bond, or otherwise, serve any man or his assigns longer than ten years, or until they come to be twenty-four years of age, if they be taken under fourteen, from the time of their coming with- in the liberties of this Colony, and at the end or term of ten years to set them free, as the manner is with English servants ; and that man that will not let them go free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end that they may be enslaved to others for a longer time, he or they shall forfeit to the Colony forty pounds. HISTORY OF THE NARRA&ANSETT CHITECH. 171 " The Colony was not at this time all united under one govern, ment, and this law, therefore, might not be in force all over the Colony. At any rate, it appears some negroes were imported ; for, in 1676, when an enumeration of people was made, for the purpose of establishing a watohguard, the blacks were of sufficient consequence to be ordered to be numbered separately. "InMarph, 1675,-6, the Legislature passed this order, that 'no Indian in this Colony be a slave, but only to pay their debts, or for their bringing up, or courtesy they have received, or to perform covenant, as if they had been countrymen, not in war.' Some of the Indian captives were, however, in the great Indian war of 1675-6, sold by the Colony ; not for life, however, but for a term of years, according to their circumstances, and for their protection. " October, 1714, we find an act passed, to prevent slaves runnijig away. " July, 1715, an act was passed, to prohibit the importation of Indian slaves into this Colony. This act was continued in force, and re-enacted in the Digest of laws ol 1766. It states in the pre- amble, that the increase of their nnmber discourages the immigra- tion of white laborers. It is probable that a great part of the slaves imported into Rhode Island, up to that time, had been Indians. The New England Colonies were in the habit of selling as slaves, the In- dian captives they took in their frequent wars. Other Colonies, probably, did the same. Of the guilt of this practice but little, if any, can be laid to the State of Rhode Island. " In Feburary, 1728, an act was passed, requiring persons, manu- mitting mulatto or negro slaves, to give security against their be- coming a town charge. "In June, 1774, an act was passed, prohibiting the importation of negroes into this Colony, the preamble of which we will quote :- ' Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest, and as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others, &c.' By this act, all slaves thereafter brought into the State, were to be free, ex- cept slaves of persons travelling through the State, or persons coming from other British Colonies to reside here. Citizens of Rhode Island, 172 HISTORY OF THE NAKRAGANSBTT CHTTBCS. owning slaves, were forbidden to bring slaves into the Colony, except they gave bond to carry them out again in a year. This exception, however, was expressly repealed in February, 1784. " By an act passed in the time of the revolution, in February, 1778, slaves were allowed to enlist into the army, and were declared free upon enlisting. Provision was made tor compensating the owners. Under this law numbers of them did enlist, and obtained their freedom, and served with distinguished fidelity during the war. " In October, 1779, an act was passed, to prevent slaves being sold out of the State without their consent. " It has been stated by a distinguished foreign writer, that it was common in the Northern States, when they abolished slavery, (as they did it prospectively, by enacting that all bom after a certain time should be free,) for the owners of the slaves in those States to sell them off to the people of the States where, slavery still existed ; and thus to abolish slavery, get rid of the trouble of the slave popu- lation, and make a profit at the same time ; and he refers to the State of New York for example. " No such charge, it is believed, can be brought against Rhode Island. By the law of October, 1779, they effectually prevented such a practice. " In Feb., 1784, 'an act authorizing the manumission of negroes, mulattoes, and others, and for the gradual abolition of slavery,' was passed. The preamble is worth copying. ' Whereas, all men are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the holding of mankind in a state of slavery as private property, which has gra- dually obtained by unrestrained custom and the permission of laws, is repugnant to this principle, and subversive of the happiness of mankind, the great end of all civil government,' &c. This act de- clares all children of slaves born after March 1st, 1784, to be free ; and makes regulations for their support. At the same session they prohibited the importation or sale of negroes in the State. The pro- visions for the support of slaves, were further altered in October, 1785. " In October, 1787, an act was passed ' to prevent the slave trade, and to encourage the abolition of slavery.' This act refers to the fact of the slave trade having been carried on from this State, HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHITRCH. 173 and censures it in strong terms as contrary to the principles of jus- tice, humanity, and sound policy. It imposes a penalty on every citizen who, as master, agent, or owner of any vessel, shall buy, sell, or receive on board his ship for sale any slave, &c. " In June, 1790, a society was formed in Providence, and incorpo- rated by the legislature, for promoting the abolition of slavery. — it includes the names of most of the distinguished men of the State at that time. " Upon this short history of Legislation in Rhode Island upon the subject of slavery, we will only remark, that slaves were never sub- jected here to severer punishments than whites for the same otfences, as has been the case in some States ; and they enjoyed the protection of the laws for offences against their persons equally with the whites. And again, no law was ever passed to restrain the manu- mission of slaves, except just so far as was necessary to prevent their becoming chargeable to the towns where they lived. A mas- ter might desire to liberate his old and worn out slaves with a view of getting rid of the expense of their support, and this the law inter- fered to prevent ; but with this exception, there never was any re- straint upon the power of manumission, and our town clerks' offices contain the records of numerous manumissions made by slave own- ers of their own accord. " It is believed that while slavery existed in Rhode Island, the slaves were always treated with humanity, and that they were gen- erally rather a burden than a source of profit to their owners. And the owning of them encouraged idleness and extravagance, and has been the cause of the ruin of many formerly wealthy families among us.^^ "It was formerly usual with the people of the South, to acknowl- edge that S'lavery was an evil, but to consider it as a necessary evil, from which they knew not how to deliver themselves. Many of .their leading men now take the contrary course, and whether in earnest or not, actually advocate the institution of slavery as a bles- sing. A Southern Governor has done this in a public message to ihe Legislature- — has asserted that slavery has a necessary exis- tence in all states of society, and that white slavery exists at the North in fact, if not in name^ Such conduct, and such insults as 174 HISTOET OF THE NAEEAeANSETT CHTJKCH. these, to the free laboring population of the Northern States have, it is believed, had full as much effect in increasing the number of abolitionists at the North, and exciting their feelings, as abolition societies, lecturing, or any other cause whatever. " If the right of petition and of free discussion, had not been in- fringed, the efforts of the societies at the North, would probably have been entirely confined to influencing public opinion by the diffusion of information, and by fair and open argument, through the means of lecturing and the press. The committee believe it to be but jus- tice to the character of the northern people, to say, that any attempt on the part of any persons, to interfere with institutions in the southern states, by any other than peaceable and legal means, would be as resolutely opposed by the great body of the people of the North, including the abolitionists- themselves, as it would be by the Southern S-tates." Of the negroes and slaves in Rhode Island the greater part were in a very few towns, Newport, North and South Kingstown, War- wick, Bristol, Portsmouth, and Jamestown. By the census of 1748-J> the town of South Kingstown had more negroes in it th^n any other town except Newport. This is also true of the census of 1774 and 1783. The committee to tike the estimate in 1780, re-ported the whole namherfif slaves in the State between the ages often and fifty, to be 518. , Of these South Kingstown had 156, North Kingstown 78? Exeter 45, Warwick 41, Providence 40. Newport had, until just before, been in possession of the British, and was not included in the estimate. Kings county, (now Washington,) wliich contained one-third of the population of the State, numbered more than a thousand slaves. — The census of 1730 gives a less number, but it was popular to, con- ceal numbei's fi'om the observation of the home government. Fami- lies would average from five t& forty slaves each ; they owned slaves in proportion to their means of support. The slaves and horses were about equal in number; the latter were raised for exportation. New- port was the great slave market of New England. There were some importers of slaves in Narragansett, among them were Rowland Ro- binson, the son of Gov. Robinson, and Colonel Thomas Hazard. Mr. Robinson afterwards became conscience-strieken cm this subject, and HISTOEY OE THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUKCH. 175 bought up and emancipated those that he had imported. Some of the large mansion-houses of the slave-holders, with spacious gable roofs, are now standing, the garret-rooms in which, with their out-houses were the sleeping places of the slaves. The distribution law after- wards subdivided the great estates, and most of these large mansion, houses were too expensive to be maintaintained by people of less pro- perty, and have been mostly replaced by small tenements. The slaves were in abject ignorance as a body ; they were treated with great humanity, but as if created to be of an inferior race. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel became early awak- ened to the moral and spiritual degradation of the slaves, and took an active interest in their enlightenment. Humphrey, in his History of the Society, printed 1730, says : — " The Society look upon the instruction and conversion of the negroes, as a principal branch of their care ; esteeming it a great reproach to the Christian name, that so many thousands of persons should continue in the same state of Pagan darkness under a Christian government, and living in Chris- tian families, as they lay before under, in their own heathen coun- tries. The Society immediately from their first inst'tution strove to promote their conversion and instruction ; and inasmuch as their in- come would not enable them to send numbers of eatechists sufficient to instruct the negroes, yet they resolved to do their utmost, and at least, to give this work the mark of their highest approbation. They wrote therefore to all their missionaries, that they should use their best endeavors atprooer times, to instruct the negroes, and should specially take occasion to recommend it zealously to their masters to order their slaves at convenient times, to come to them that they might be in- structed." They opened catechising schools in 1704, and employed teachers, which had a happy influence in elevating the character of the slaves. " Dr. Fleetwood, the Bishop of St. Asaph, preached a sermon before the Society in 1711, setting foith the duty of mstruct- ing the negroes in the Christian faith. The Society thought this so useful a discourse that they printed and dispersed abroad in the Plantations great numbers of that sermon in the same year; and in the year 1725 reprinted the same and dispersed again large num- bers." They printed ten thousand copies of the letter of the Bishop of London " addressed to the Masters and Mistresses of Families in 176 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHUECH" the English Plantations abroad," in 1727, and sent them to all the English Colonies and Islands, to be distributed to masters of families and other inhabitants, which produced great influence. The Address says : — " The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, have this affair (instruction of the blacks,) much at heart ; and having lately had it under their consideration, are unanimously of opinion that nothing would give quick and effectual progress to the work as the sending a catechist from hence, whose only business it should be, to instruct the negroes, within particular districts to be assigned to them, and who have no avocation of any kind, would be at full liberty to attend the most proper times and seasons for instruc- tion, and employing their thoughts wholly that way, would be far better acquainted with the proper modes of proceeding in the work, and also pursue those methods more closely than any occasional in- structor can be supposed to do." " Let me beseech you to consider them, not merely as slaves, and upon the same level with laboring beasts, but as men slaves and women slaves, who have the same frame and faculties with yourselves, and have souls capable of being made happy, and reason and understanding to receive instruction in order to it." The early planting of these doctrines in the minds of the people, soon rriitigated the severity of slavery, and has produced the final work of emancipation throughout the extent of the British do- minions and one half of the North American States. In conformity to the Bishop of London's letter, addrpssed to these missionaries and to all masters and mistriesses, impressing upon them the great importance, as a religious duty, to teach their slaves and domestics to read and write, and to cause them to give a strict atten- dance to the weekly instructipns of their pastors in their respective parish churches. Dr. MoSparran attended weekly in his church for the purposes of their instruction, and addressed his parishioners in emphatic language, in condemnation of the prevailing error, that it was inconsistent to instruct, baptise, or admit slaves to the commun- ion. Dean Berkley, who repeatedly visited Narragansett, accompanied by Smybert, Col. Updike, and Dr. McSparran, to examine into the con- dition and character of the Narragansett Indians, in his sermon be- fore the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, at their anniver- sary, in 1731, says : — "The native Indians, who are said to have been HISTORY OF THE KAHRAGANSETT CHURCH. 177 thousands within the compass of this colony, do not at present amount to a thousand, including every age and sect ; and these are nearly all servants or laborers for the English, who have contributed more to destroy their bodies by the use of strong liquors, than by any means to improve their minds or save their souls. This slow poison jointly operating with the small-pox, and their wars, (but much more destructive than both,) has consumed the Indians, not only in our colonies, but also far and wide upon our confines, and having made havoc of them, is now doing the same thing by those who taught them this odious vice." " The negroes in the government of Rhode Island, are about hall as many more than the Indians, and both together scarce amount to a seventh part of the whole colony. The religion of these people, as is natural to suppose, takes after that of their masters. Some few are baptized, several frequent the different assemblies, and far the great- er part none at all. An ancient antipathy to the Indians, whom it seems our first planters (therein, as in certain other particulars, af- fecting to imitate Jews rather than Christians,) imagined they had a right to treat on the foot of Canaanites and Amalekites, together with an irrational contempt of blacks as creatures of another species, who had no right to be instructed or admitted to the sacraments, have proved a main obstacle to the conversion of these poor people." " To this may be added, an erroneous notion, that the being bap- tized is inconsistent with the state of slavery. To undeceive them in this particular, which had too much weight, it seemed a proper step, if the opinion of His Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor General could be procured. This opinion they cheerfully sent over, signed with their own hands ; which was accordingly printed in Rhode Is- land, and dispersed throughout the Plantations. I heartily wish it may produce the intended effect." The opinions of the Attorney and Solicitor which were printed and dispersed have been sought for, but cannot now be found. In imitation of the whites, the negroes held an annual election on the third Saturday in June, when they elected their Governor. — When the slaves were numerous, each town held its election. This annual festivity was looked for with great anxiety. Party was as violent and acrimonious with them as among the whites. The slaves assumed the power and pride and took the relative rank of their mas- 22a 178 HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. ters, and it was degrading to the reputation of the owner if his slave appeared in inferior apparel, or with less money than the slave of another master of equal wealth. The horses of the wealthy land- holders were on this day all surrendered to the use of the slaves, and with cues, real or false, head pomatumed and powdered, cooked hat, mounted on the best Narraganselt pacers, sometimes with their masters' sword, with their ladies on pillions, they pranced to election, which commenced generally, at 10 o'clock. The canvass for votes soon commenced, the tables with refreshments were spread, and all friends of the respective candidates were solicited to partake, and as much anxiety and interest would manifest itself, and as much family pride and influence was exercised and interest created, as in other elections, and preceded by weeks of parmateering, (parliamenteer- ing ;) about one o'clock the Vote would be taken, by ranging the friends of the respective candidates in two lines under the directions of a chief marshall, (Guy Watson, who distinguished himself in the black regiment under Colonel Greene, at Red Bank, acted as chief marshall after the revolution, until the annual elections ceased,) with assistants. This was generally a tumultous crisis until the count commenced, when silence was proclaimed, and after that no man could change sides or go from one rank to the other. The chief marshall announced the number of votes for each candidiate, and in an audible voice proclaimed the name of the Governor elected for the ensuing year. The election treat corresponded in extravagance in proportion to the wealth of his master. The defeated candidate was, acccording to custom, introduced by the chief marshall, and drank the first toast after the inauguration, and all animosities were forgotten. At dinner, the Governor was seated at the head of the long table, under trees or an arbor, with the unsuccessful candidate at his light, and his lady on the left. The afternoon was spent in dancing, game of quoits, athletic exercises, &c. As the slaves de- creased in number, these elections became more concentred. In 1795,. elections were held in North and South Kingsto\vn, but in a few years, one was held in South Kingstown only, and they have for years ceased. The servant of the late E. R. Potter was elected Governor about the year 1800. The canvass was very expensive to his master. — Soon after the election, Mr. Potter had a conference with the Gover- HISTOKY OF THE NARRAGAWSETT CHURCH. 179 nor, and stated to him that the one or the other must give up politics, or the expense would ruin them both. Grovernor John took the wisest course, abandoned politics, and retired to the shades of private life. In Narragansett resided the great landed aristocracy of the Colony. Their plantations were large ; some of them very extensive. Major Mason, of Connecticut, in a letter to the Commissioners of that Colony, dated August 3rd, 1670, persuading them to relinquish all further claims of jurisdiction over the Narragansett country, says: "Those places that are any way considerable, are already taken up by several men, in farms and large tracts of lands, some having five, six, and ten miles square — yea, and some I suppose, have much more, which you or some of yours may see or feel hereafter. These things I know to be true, as they did manifestly appear in view when the Commissioners were at Narragansett. I suppose you cannot be unacquainted with these things." The original tract taken up and owned by Richard Smith, was three wide and nine'miles long. Mr. Isaac P. Hazard, in a communication states: "The farm of my grea't grandfather, Robert Hazard, extended from the Jencks farm (which it included,) to the south end of Boston Neck, and ex- tended across the Petaquamscutt river to near where the village of Peace-Dale now is, and I am not sure but it took in a great part of this village." " He had extensive ranges for cattle and horses some where in the neighborhood of the ' Great Pond,' or ' Wordens Pond,' and I have heard my father say, that at one time, he occupied nearly twelve thousand acres. The principal value of his lands, however, con- sisted of about two thousand acres lying on Boston Neck and imme- diately on the west side of Petaquamscutt river, which separated it from the Boston Neck lands." " My grandfather. Governor William Robinson's farm, embraced the north part of Point Judith, including Little Neck, extending South one or two farms below the farm now owned by my brother, Joseph P. Hazard, and westward to Sugar Loaf Hill." Governor William Robinson owned acres ; he devised valuable farms to his sons. Col. Stanton owned one tract of four and a half miles long and two miles wide ; he kept forty horses, as 180' HISTORY OF THE NAERAGANSETT CHURCH. many slaves, and made a great dairy, besides other productions.— After his death, his son Lodowick kept thirty cows on one hundred *nd fifty acres of it. Col. Charaplin possessed in one tract over one thousand acres ; kept thirty-five horses, fifty-five cows, six hundred to seven hundred sheep, and a proportionate number of slaves. — Hezekiah Babcock, of Hopskinstown, improved eight hundred acres ; James Babcock, of Westerly, owned two thousand acres, horses, slaves, and stock in proportion. Col. Joseph Noyes had four hun- dred acres ; kept twenty-two horses and twenty -five cows. His son afterwards kept fifty-two cows on the same farm. Col. Updike, the Colony Attorney, owned three thousand acres. Col. Potter possessed acres, now constituting seven valuable farms. Mr. Sewall owned sixteen hundred acres on Point Judith, which is now divided into eight farms, now of the value of seventy-five thousand dollars. Robert Hazard owned sixteen hundred acres in Boston Neck,_ which now constitute six farms, of the aggregate value seventy-seven thousand dollars. The Gardiners, Niles's, and Bren- tons owned great tracts of valuable land. The ordinary farms con- tained three hundred acres. They were improved by slaves and la- boring Indians. The slaves and horses were about equal in number. Corn, tobacco, cheese, and wool were the staple articles produced, and horses were reared for exportation. Douglass, in his summary, printed in 1760, says : " Rhode Island Colony in general, is a country pasture, not for grain ; by extending along the shore of the ocean, and a great bay, the air is softened by a sea vapor which fertilizeth the soil j their winters are softer and shorter than up inland ; it is noted for dairies, whence the best of cheese made in any part of New England, is called (abroad,) Rhode Island cheese." " The most considerable farms are in the Narragansett country. Their highest dairy of one farm, communibus annis, milks about one hundred and ten cows, cuts two hundred loads of hay, makes about thirteen thousand pounds of cheese, besides butter, and sells off considerable in calves and fatted bullocks. A farmer from seventy-three milch cows in five months made ten thousand pounds of cheese ; besides cheese in a season, one cow yields one firkin of butter, from seventy to eighty pounds. In good land they reckon after the rate of two acres for a milch cow." HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 181 Mr. Hazard, in the same communication, further states : " From my father and grandmother, I have heard that my great grandfather, Robert Hazard, had twelve negro women as dairy women, each of whom had a girl to assist her, making from twelve to twenty-four cheeses a day ; and since I have grown up, we had one of his cheese vats of the second size, according to the tradition in our family, vi'hich held nearly one bushel. My father has informed me that so superior was the grass in the early settlement of this coun- try, that nearly double the milk, or butter and cheese was obtained from a cow as at present, and that only twelve cows were allowed to each dairy woman and her assistants. One hundred and fifty cows being about the number he generally kept." " The hay fields and meadows, to use my father's expressions, grew full of grass, meaning the grass was very thick all over them, and as high as the tops of the walls and fences, the same as it now grows on the virgin soil Of the west, and my father frequently observed in con- trasting them, that he doubted if any western lands would produce more grass than Boston neck would when first settled." " As a proof of its excellence, my father observed that his grand- father paid for some of his last purchases, sixty dollars per acre, when money was double the value it is now, or more, and nevir lands, back a little way from the sea, plenty, and at a very small price." " He kept about four thousand sheep, manufacturing most of the clothing, both woolen and linen for his household, which must have been very large, as I heard my grandmother say, that after he par- tially retired from his extensive farming operations, or curtailed them by giving up part of his lands to his children, he congratulated his family and friends on the small number to which he had reduced his household for the coming winter, being only seventy in parlor and kitchen." " Grain, and probably hay (but of the last I am not informed) were at that time shipped to the West Indies, but of the extent of his grain crop I know nothing except what my father has told me that he generally loaded two vessels annually, at or near the south ferry, with cheese and grain in the hold, and horses on deck, all the pro- duce of his farm, which sailed direct for the West Indies ; and the balance was sold in Newport, and sometimes in Boston, where his cheese was in high repute, selling at nearly double the usual rates," 182 HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHURCH. " Agriculture on the sea coast of Rhode Island at that time was on a very different scale from what it is now, as the West Indies which were early settled, furnished a good and ready market for the whole produce of these small British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America." " The labor was then mostly performed by African slaves, or Nar- ragansett Indians, who were then, as they still are, a most efficienj body of laborers, and of great use to the farmers,, during hay harvest particularly. The Sewall farm kept one hundred cows and produced 13,000 pounds of cheese annually. N. Hazard kept 42 cows, and made 9,200 pounds of cheese from the Champlin farm of 700 acres. Joseph N. Austin, on the Clarke farm of 350 acres, kept 36 cows, and made 8,000 pounds of cheese. Rowland Robinson improved 1000 acres, and made an immense dairy — one cow would average two pounds of cheese a day. Rents were payable in produce, and from the break- ing out of the French Revolution to the general peace upon the ex- pulsion of Napoleon, the United States being the neutral carriers for Europe, the price of cheese was ten dollars per hundred, and corn, barley, &c., in due proportion, and the rents being paid in cheese and other produce, vast amounts were raised. 6,000 pounds of cheese was equivalent to $600 annual rent for years. The cream was then used in cheese and the Narragansett cheese maintained a high char- acter for richness and flavor, but since the general peace, butter has risen and cheese hath fallen in price, consequently the cream has been wrought into butter, and cheese has lost its value and reputation. Recently a money rent has been substituted for a produce rent, and the productive value of the former staples has diminished. The wife of Richard Smith brought from^Glocestershire to this coun- try, the recipe for making the celebrated Cheshire cheese, and from that recipe the Narragansett was made in imitation of the Cheshire cheese, and it early gained for the table and market an established reputation for superior flavor and excellence, and continued to main- tain its predominating character until the farmers, as before mention, ed, were induced to convert their cream into butter. Ancient Narragansett was distinguished for its frank and generous hospitality. Strangers and travelling gentlemen were always receiv- ed and entertained as guests. If not acquainted with some family. HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 1S3 they were introduced by letter, and an acquaintance with one family of respectaBility, was an introduction to all their friends. — Public houses for the entertainment of strangers were rare. Stran- gers and travellers without letters, were compelled to tarry at them, but citizens were expected to sojourn with their relations and acquain- tances. Newport, distinguished as it was before the Revolution, had few public houses of entertainment, and those small, not exceeding the dimensions of the common dwelling-houses. The old public house of Mr. Townsend, so celebrated in its day, was an ordinary two story house, and rather narrow, and he entertained in it the dis- tinguished travellers of his time. It has been greatly enlarged since. The public houses in Providence were equally inferior in dimensions. The public houses or taverns in the country were merely conven- iences for town councils, justices' courts, and the retail of ardent spirits, and were rarely frequented as the stopping places of gentle- men and strangers. Madame Knight well describes these country taverns in her travels through this colony in 1704. Dr. Franklin, in his journeys to and from Philadelphia to Boston, always arranged to tarry with Dr. Babcock, in Westerly, the night. Gentlemen who had once travelled the country by introduction, had regular places for refreshment and repose on all their future peregrinations. The society of that day was refined and well-informed. The landed aristocracy showed an early regard to the suitable education of their children. Books were not so general as at this period, but the wealthy were careful of the education of their offspring. Well qualified tutors emigrated to the colonies, and were employed in family instruction, and to complete their education their pupils were afterwards placed in the families of learned clergymen. Charles Thomson, Gov. McKean, and George Reed, who conspicuously figur- ed in our revolutionary history, were educated under Allison, an Irish clergyman. Dr. McSparran received young gentlemen in his family for instruction. Thomas Clapp, the efficient President of Yale College, completed his education under him. Dr. Checkley, a graduate of Oxford University, the missionary at Providence, educated several of the sons of Narragansett, and others were placed under clergymen of Massachusetts and Connecticut for the same purpose. The instruction of youth in the private families of learned men, with the opportunity of associating with their distinguished visit- 184 HISTORY OF THE NAKEAGANSETT CHUECH. ors and friends improved their minds, and accomplished their man- ■ ners. In this respect probably, the instruction of children would be equal, if not preferable to thai obtained where great numbers of young men are collected together in colleges, and where they are deprived of the social cultivation derived from the intercourse and discipline of well-regulated families, and the friends and well-informed gentle- men that visit them. The young ladies also, were generally instructed in the same man- ner, under well-qualfied private tutors, and then placed in the schools of Boston for further instruction and accomplishment. That the gentlemen of ancient Narragansett were well-informed, and possessed of intellectual taste, the remains of their libraries and paintings would be sufficient testimonials if other sources of informa- tion were defective. Dr. Babcock, Col. Stanton, Judge Helme, Capt. Jones, Col. Potter, Col. Willet, Col. Bobert Brown, the Hazards, Capt. Silas Brown, the Brentons, owned valuable libraries. Dr. McSpar- ran, Doct. Fayerweather, Col. Updike, and Matthew Robinson, pos- sessed rich collections for that day in classical and English litera- ture. The family paintings of Dr. Babcock went njostly into the Salton- stall family of New London, and a fine portrait of Col. Harry Bab- cock was with a branch of his family in Stonington, and within a short time has been removed from thence to New York. A bust portrait of Mr. Kay, the collector, was in the family of the Browns, through the Brentons, a few years since. The portraits of Dr Mc- Sparran and wife, painted by Smybert in 1729, at the Doctor's house in Narragansett, are with the family of Frederic Allen, Esquire, in Maine, (Mrs. Allen being the great neice of Mrs. McSparran), and copies only are in Rhode Island. The portrait of Dr. Fayerweather, by Copley, is in South Kingstown. The portraits of the wife and mother-in-law of Col. Updike, (it is supposed) by Smybert, are in the family. Those of the father and mother of Matthew Robinson, Esq. are in the family of the late Hon. E. R. Potter. Mr. Marchant has a fine miniature likeness of his father, the late Judge Marchant, painted by Copley, in London in 1771 ; there is also a portrait of the late Judge Marchant in Boston. The late Edward Hazard possessed three full-length portraits of his father-in-law, the late Hon. Thomas Crans. ton, wife and daughter, (the latter afterwards married the Rev. Luke HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 185 Babcock, son of Dr. Babcock), painted by Copley before the Revolu- tion, which, with the carved frames gilded, cost one thousand dol- lars at that period. The paintings of the other families besides family portraits are now dispersed, and their libraries were divided among their children and are all lost. This state of society supported by slavery would produce festivity and dissipation, the natural result of wealth and leisure. Excur- sions to Hartford to luxuriate on bloated salmon were the annual in- dulgencies of May. Pace races on the beach for the prize of a sil- ver tankard and roasts of shelled and scaled fish were the social indulgencies of summer. When autumn arrived, the corn husking festivals commenced. Invitations were extended to all those pro- prietors who were in habits of family intimacy, and in return the invited guests sent their slaves to aid the host by their services. Large numbers would be gathered of both sexes, expensive enter- tainments prepared, and after the repast the recreation of dancing commenced, as every family was provided with a large hall in their spacious mansions, and with natural musicians among their slaves. Gentlemen in their scarlet coats and swords, with laced ruffles over their hands, hair turned back from the forehead and curled and frizzled, clubbed or queued behind, highly powdered and pomatumed, small-clothes, silk stockings, and shoes ornamented with brilliant buckles ; and ladies dressed in brocade, cushioned head-dresses, and high-heeled shoes, performed the formal minuet with its thirty-six different positions and changes. These festivities would sometimes continue for days, -and the banquets among the land proprietors would for a longer or shorter time be continued during the season of harvest. These seasons of hilarity and festivity were as gratify- ing to the slaves as to their masters, as bountiful preparations were made and like amusements were enjoyed by them in the large kitch- ens and out-h6uses, the places of their residence. The great land proprietors indulged in these expensive festivals until the Revolu- tion. People now living relate the fact of John Potter having had a thousand bushels of corn husked in one day. This practice was continued occasionally down to the year 1800, but on a diminished scale of expense and numbers. At Christmas commenced the Holy-days. The work of the sea- son was completed and doTie up, and the twelve days were generally 23a 186 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHURCH. devoted to festive associations. In former times, all connexions by- blood or affinity, were entitled to respectful attentions, and they were treated as welcome guests, as a matter of right on one side and cour. , tesy on the other. Every gentleman of estate had his circle of con- nexions, friends, and acquaintances, and they were invited from one plantation to another. Every member of the family had his particu- lar horse and servant, and they rarely rode unattended by their ser- vant, to open gates and to take charge of the horse. Carriages were unknown, and the public roads were not so good, nor so numerous (many of them,) as at present. Narragansett has fewer public roads than most parts of the State. There were driftways from one plan- tation to another, with gates, and this inconvenient obstruction still continues. Quedneset is travelled mostly through gates, and from one extreme of Boston neck to the other, a distance of ten miles, through the richest tract of land in Narragansett, the only mode of travelling is by drit\ways with gates, and the great Point Judith tract, had no public road, until very lately. When all the riding was done on horseback, servants always attended their masters, the badness of the roads and the troublesome impediments of gates and bars were not as sensibly felt as at this day, when carriages are used and every man is his own servant. But the wedding was the great gala of olden time. The exhibi- tion of expensive apparel and the attendance of numbers almost ex- ceeds belief. The last of these celebrations was given about the year 1790, by Nicholas Gardiner, Esquire ; it was attended by six hundred guests. I knew Mr. Gardiner. He dressed in the rich style of former days, with a cocked hat, full-bottomed white wig, snuff-, colored coat, and waistcoat with deep pockets, cape low so as not to disturb the wig, and at the same time expose the large silver stock- buckle of the plaited neck-cloth of white linen cambric, small-clothes, and white-topped boots, finely polished. He was a portly, courteous gentleman of the old school. Since his death, his estate has been divided into several good farms. The fox-chase, with hounds and horns, fishing and fowling, were objects of enchanting recreation. Wild pigeons, partridges, quails, woodcocks, squirrels, and rabbits were innumerable. Such were the amusements, pastimes, festivities and galas of Ancient Narragan- sett. HISTOKY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHUECH. 167 It may not be uninteresting to mention the names of some of the old families which frequently associated as friends and companions. Among them were, Dr. Babcock, Col. Stanton, Col. Champlin, the two Gov. Hazards, Gov. Robinson, Col. Potter, Judge Potter, the Gardniers, Col. Willet, Elisha Cole, John and Edward Cole, Judge Helme, Col. Updike, Matthew Robinson, Col. Brown, Dr. McSparran, and Dr. Fayerweather. They received frequent visits from Dr. Gar- diner, the Sewells, and others, from Boston. Dr. Moffatt, Judge Light- foot, Col. Coddington, George Rome, Judge Marchant, the Brentons, and others, from Newport, several of whom owned estates in Narra- gansett, and spent much of their time there, with their respective friends and acquaintances. These constituted a bright, intellectual and fascinating society. Great sociability and interchange of visits pre- vailed among them, and strangers were welcome, and treated with old-fashioned urbanity and hospitality ; but the political acrimony, strife and discord engendered by the Revolution, broke up and des- troyed their previously existing intercourse, and harmonious relations were never restored. By that event we became another and a new people. Mr. Isaac P. Hazard in a letter observes : " Few persons are now aware of the change that has taken place in the Society here within the last fifty or sixty years." " At the time and before the war of the Revolution, it was the seat of hospitality, refinement and luxury ; and the accounts I have received from various persons in my travels about the United States, who visited this country at that time, corroborate the statements I have had from the olden branches of our family, my grandfather, father, and others. Within two years, Mrs. Doctor Lee, whom I met with in New York, and who spent a long school vacation here at the age of sixteen, pictured the romantic scenery and situation of the old mansions, few at present standing, with great vividness, and at the same time, she described the politeness, refinement, and hospi- tality of the inhabitants, as beyond what she had ever before known or conceived of, as fully to convince me of the truth of her state- ment, had I not before have heard it described by others in the same manner — and fully maintained the character of the old English country gentlemen from whom they descended." Yes, alas ! the state of society has changed, and the revolution 188 HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. has been deep, effectual, complete. The abolition of slavery— the repeal of the law of primogenture— the statute division of estates equally among all, has divided and subdivided inheritances in such infinitissimal portions, that the whole has disappeared from every branch of their families ; and in most instances not a foot remains among them— nay, not even " the green graves of their sires." The houseless, wandering pedestrian descendant, looks at the mansion and plantation of his fathers, and exclaims — " Now thou standest In faded majesty, as if to mourn The dissolution of an ancient race !" "Dec. 31, 1741. (The bans being duly published in the church of St. Paul's, Narragansett,) Rowland Robinson, son of William, was married to Anstis Gardi- ner, daughter of John Gardiner, by the Rev. Doctor McSparran." Rowland Robinson was the eldest son of Governor Wm. Robinson, by his first wife. He was a gentleman of opulence, and sustained many responsible offices under the State government. His noble mansion is still standing in a good state of preservation, and is one of the remaining memorials of the aristocracy of the past age. His child, ren were Hannah, Mary, and William. Mary died single, at middle age ; William married Ann, the daughter of George Scott, of New- port, and died a short time previous to his father, without issue. Hannah was styled the Unfortunate Hannah Robinson ; she was the celebrated beauty of her day, and, if unbroken tradition is sufficient authority, the appellation was justly bestowed. The late Doctor William Bowen, of Providence, frequently conversed about her, and observed, " that Miss Robinson was the most perfect model of beauty that he ever knew ; and that he had frequently visited at her father's. Her figure was graceful and dignified, her complexion fair and beautiful, and her manner urbane and captivating. That the usual mode of riding at that period was on horseback ; of this exercise she was exceedingly fond, and rode with such ease and elegance, HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 189 that he was passionately fond of her, and proposed to her a matri- monial union. She replied, that his wishes to promote her happiness were highly flattering, that, as a friend, she should ever entertain for him the highest respect ; and, in that character, should ever be extremely gratified to see him, but that she was bound to disclose to him, however reluctant she felt to give him pain, that she was engaged.'^ He further observed, " that though disappointed in the hope he had so ardently cherished, the refusal was imparted with such suavity and tenderness, united with personal respect, that though disappointed, he felt consoled," The late Hon. Elisha R. Potter, Judge Waite, and others who knew Miss Robinson, fully confirmed Doctor Bowen's testimony in respect to her personal beauty and accomplished manner. Mr. Peter Simons, a young gentleman of Newport, became early attached to Miss Robinson ; they had been schoolmates, and the attachment was reciprocal. Her father, without any apparent reason, was hostile to the connection, and his efforts were unwearied to prevent their union. Mr. Robinson, in temperament, was constitutionally irritable, rash, and unyielding. His antipathies, when once fixed, no reason or argument could re- move. Mr. Simons had early in life become attached to Miss Robin, son ; it had been reciprocated ; their dispositions were congenial ; time had cemented their affections , she had plighted her faith, and no promises or threats could induce her to violate the vows she had made ; she could become a martyr ; she would suffer, but she could not betray her own heart or the faith that another had reposed in her. And as might have been expected, the violent and unreasonable measures adopted by her father, instead of subduing only increased the fervor of their attachment. Her conduct was constantly sub- jected to the strictest scrutiny. If she walked, her movements were watched ; if she rode, a servant was ordered to be in constant attendance ; if a visit was contemplated, he immediately suspected it was only a pretence for an arranged interview ; and even after departure, if the most trifling circumstance gave color to the suspi- cion, he would immediately pursue and compel her to return. In one instance, she left home to visit her aunt at New London ; her father soon afterwards discovered from his windows a vessel leaving Newport, and taking a course for the same place. Although the vessel and the persons on board were wholly unknown to him, his 190 HlSTOEy OF THE NaREAGANSETT CHTTECH. jealousies were immediately aroused, conjecturing it was Mr. Simons intending to fulfill an arrangement previously made. He hastened to New London, arrived a few hours only after his daugh- ter, and insisted on her instant return. No persuasion or argument could induce him to change his determination, and she was compel- led to return with him. Her uncle, the late Col. John Gardiner, commiserated the condi- tion of his unfortunate neice. He knew her determination was not to be changed, or her resolution overcome by parental exaction, however severe ; and aware that the wrongs she had suiTered, and the perplexities she had undergone, had already sensibly affected her health, and would soon destroy her constitution, with a generosity and disinterestedness that belonged to his character, contrived inter- views between Mr. Simons and Miss Robinson unknown to her father. The window where she sat, and the shrubbery behind which" his person was concealed at these evening interviews, are still shown by the family residing there. These were perilous meetings, for such was the determined antipathy of the father, that detection would probably have resulted in the instant death of Mr. Simons ; but, as is usual ill such cases, their precautions were in proportion to the imminence of their danger. All efforts to obtain the consent of her father, aided by the influ- ence of her mother, having proved unavailing, and seeing no pros- pect of his ever becoming reconciled to their union, she abandoned all further efforts to reconcile" him to her wishes, and consented to make arrangements for an elopement. Having obtained her father's consent to visit her aunt Updike, near Wickford, she lefl home, accompanied by the servant who usually attended her. On arriving at the gate that lead to her aunt's house, Mr. Simons was in waiting with a carriage, as had been previously arranged, and disregarding the expostulations of the servant — who feared for his own safety should he return without her — she entered the carriage, and that evening they were married in Providence. The intelligence of the elopement, when communicated to Mr. Robinson by the servant, roused all the fury of his ire. He offered a reward for their appre- hension, but no discovery could be made. Every friend and relative became accessory to their concealment. Even the name of the clergy- man who performed the nuptial ceremony could never be ascertained. mSTOEY OF THE NAREAffANSETT CHUECH. 191 But the anticipated happiness of the beautiful and ill-fated lady- was destined to be short lived. The severity with which she had been treated, the unkind and harassing perplexities she had endured, had so materially affected her health, and preyed upon her constitu- tion, that, in a few short months, the fairest of her sex exhibited evident symptoms of a speedy decline. At the urgent solicitations of her mother, Mr. Robinson finally permitted the daughter once more to return ; but it was too late, the ceaseless vigils of a mother's love could not restore her ; and, in a few short weeks, this beautiful and unfortunate woman — the victim of a father's relentless obstinacy — expired in the arms of her husband. Many visit the cemetery where the remains of the victim of paren- tal severity repose — a spot consecrated by the ashes of one whose life was a hallowed sacrifice of devotion and fidelity to the selected object of her earliest affections. In June, 1736, Mr. McSparran went to England, on a visit, and returned in August, 1737. During his resi- dence in England, the University of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of Doctor in Divinity. The unusual severity of the winter of 1740-1, is men- tioned in the history of the times. In addition to its rigor, the appalling ravages of the small pox and other contagious diseases spread mortality on every side. At the same period, the colonies were engaged in a war with Spain, and an informal one with France, which aggravated the distresses and the domestic calamities of the country. Under these afflictive dispensations, Dr. McSparran delivered a sermon on the 15th of March, in St. Paul's Church, Narragansett, from Micah, chap, vi, V. 9. " The Lord's voice crieth unto .the city, and the man of Wisdom shall see thy name ; hear ye the rod, 192 HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. and who hath appointed it." He depicted the state of the times with much power. He observes, " Through the unmerited mercies of God, health is restored to our habitations, and we are delivered from the late distres- sing sickness, the small pox, rash, and measles ; and though the first swept numbers in proportion to the in- fected, yet the two last threatened, and blessed be God, only threatened many more. It becomes us, my breth- ren, to call to mind what concern then seized our souls, what construction we put on those voices of God, and how well we have answered the ends of those correc- tions. Sure we have not forgot so soon the fear that filled our hearts when almost all that were able fled from their houses, while the infected were forced into the pest-houses of the public, and others (too quick for the inquisitors) shut up their own." " We have seen the sick abandoned to mercenary or ignorant attendance, excluded from the face of their physician and their friends, deprived of the last duties of the Divine, and buried with the burial of an ass ! And what service have we, the survivors, done to the God who did then accept of the atonement, and com- manded the destroying angel to cease so soon from punishing ? Have we considered aright what God did then for us, and can we (with a good conscience) say that we (in particular) have mended our manners, or that the complexion of Christianity in this colony in general HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHURCH. 193 is bettered by that calamity ? ! that we could say so in truth ! oh, that those afflictions had proved effec- tual in forming Christ in our hearts, or that we had heard or understood the voice of the rod ; been inwardly acquainted, and made our peace with the God that sent it. I am afraid that the impression and promises of that sad season are, for the most part, worn out of our minds, and therefore has God reserved us to be awakened in the 2nd place, by the loud and calamitous call of a wast- ing war." " It is an elegant and ancient observation, that if men did listen to the laws of Christ, and postpone their ambi- tioil and interest to His admonition and counsels, all countries would soon combine in an inviolable league of love. The rules of Christianity are inconsistent with all kinds of war but defensive ; for Avhich reason Chris- tian princes, while they wield the sword with one hand, they waive their manifesto with the other. The church daily prays for peace, and I dare say every good man wishes there was no such thing as war in the world ! But alas ! offences will come, and our sins do many times cry so much louder than our prayers — that are made to prevent evil — that the sword is made the instrument of God's vengeance, though managed by the hands of men." " The miseries of war are so many, and effects of it so tragical and uncertain, that David preferred falling 24a 194 HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHURCH. into the hands of God,, and being exposed to the raging pestilence, than falling into the hands of men and being subject to the mischiefs and miseries of this merciless murder of men. * * * The worst effect of pesti- lential sickness is death ; where many are infected, there also many recover, with all the benefits of mortification about them, and their devotions raised higher by their deliverance." " Famine also is a less violent and raging judgment ; as there are often more means to prevent it, and prudent n>ethods to be'ar up under it. It is true, it often brings diseases that determine in death. It is true also, that the humanity of men and charity of Christians do often relieve it ; and when they cannot do that, they can die in each others arms, with mutual devotions, which is a kind of comfort in death itself." "But war breaks in like beasts of prey; it worries many it does not kill ; wounds many it does not destroy ; kills whole troops it never touches ; and leaves none secure or undispersed. War throws off all reverence for law and religion, that its barbarities may be the more immortal ; it survives death itself, and prosecutes those it kills with want of burial." " Commanders are commonly arbitrary, inferiors inso- lent, and all rapacious and deaf to complaint. (Inter arma silent leges) is as certain a truth, as that (nulla fides pietasque vires qui castra sequuntur,) Marius told HISTOEY OP THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUECH. 185 some petitioners for justice, that he could not hear the voice of the law for the noise and clatter of weapons. And Pompey professed to another, that he could not think of the law in armor. Military men, accustomed to violence, think violence itself no crime ; and plunder and spoil, instead of an evil, they esteem their privilege and reward. Indeed, they that have the fairest fortunes are most exposed ; nor can any man enjoy any thing, but at the mercy of a domineering martialist. " Were one to travel the woild and visit the scenes of war, how might he trace this wasting monster by her terrible footsteps in all places distinguished with blood ; on this side, houses without inhabitants, palaces of princes demolished, cities sacked and rifled, and things sacred seized with unhallowed hands; on that, the shrieks of abused and affrighted women, the heart- melting moans of helpless and fatherless children, the wounding woes of the widow and childless parent ; and every where torrents of tears trickling down from the eyes of those that are undone. Then might he also observe the insulting soldier making merry with the miseries of men, and so unconcerned at the overthrow he has occasioned, that he often esteems them his glory and happiness. Good God ! how humiliating it is to behold hundreds and thousands cut off in a day, that cost as many mothers (for many years together) an infinite expense of tenderness, trouble, and pains to bring forth, 196 HISTORY OF THE NAEKAGANSETT CHURCH. nourish, and nurture into men. To see all these, of every quality and condition, slain and slaughtered in an undistinguished confusion, surely the roaring of cannon, the blood, fire, and smoke, with the cries of the wound- ed and the groans of the dying, must be terrible even to the troops themselves, till they are made desperate and insensible by the ardor and ecstacy of battle; and what is the more melancholy meditation to a religious mind, is the irremediable mischief and misery of those who are surprised and slain in their sins." " One would think that those who carry their lives in their hands, and eat their bread on the borders of death, should be the best prepared for it. But there is reason to fear that a great part of the soldiery are a sort of men that, by a loose life, are very unfit to die ; and by dying so suddenly, die a double death, and sink into a sad eternity." " It is storied of Philip oj Macedon, that he said he could sleep securely in his camp, if his friend Antipater were by awake ; but how much safer do they sleep who are protected by Providence, guarded by angels, and watched by a never-sleeping sentinel — the Great Watch- man of Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps 1 But war, it seems, is not the only warning given to repent ; but "Thirdly — ^We are warned also by the uncommon inclemencies of a cold and long winter. " The elements have been armed with such piercing HISTORY OF THE NAREAGANSETT CHTTRCH. 197 cold and suffocating snows, as if God intended the .air that he gave us to live and breathe in should become the instrument to execute his vengeance on us, for our ingratitude to his goodness, and our trangression of his law. We may contemplate to our comfort the wisdom and power of God in the beautiful structure of the hea- vens, and his wise sorting of the seasons, for the benefit and delight of man. But as no human skill can count the number of the stars, nor call them hy their names, so exceeds the utmost art of astrotiomy, for either extreme heat or extreme cold, otherwise than by the distance of the sun; yet what we see have variations and vicissi- tudes that do not always correspond to that cause. It is no small comfort to consider God's care to provide food for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and to supply their starving importunity. And our grati- tude grows, as we are assured all this is ultimately intended as a kindness and bounty for the souls of men. But how of late has the grazier groaned to see the severity of the season, to hear his herds and his flocks making moan for their meat ; and after a few fruitless complaints uttered in accents peculiar to their kind, drop down and die, and disappoint the increase and expecta- tion of the spring." " With what amazement do we behold and can ill en- dure God's sudden and intolerable cold, that proceeds from the breath of his nostrils ! The snow that looks 198 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSKTT CHUHCH. SO white, innocent, and light, as if it would bear down and oppress nothing, yet we see it hides and covers the earth from the warmth and light of the sun ; and thus *does also the ice turn rivers into rocks,, and the sea (as it were) into dry land. We see the fluid" element, which yielded to the smallest force become so hard and rigid, that it resists the impression of the traveller's foot, and the weight of beasts and burthens with a firmness supe- rior to the driest land. Boreas has so far entered into the chambers of the south, that he hath sealed up the sun and intercepted his dissolving influence ; and south- ern snows are signs of that planet's impotent efforts to regain his usurped dominions. The great Luminary that rules the day, has now advanced and displayed his banner on this side of the Line, yet so faint are his ar- mies, tho' innumerable and each atom harnessed in fire, that they cannot force the frost to give ground, nor dis- solve the intrenchment of snow. No arm that is not almighty can melt or open what Orion has shut up, bound in bands, and hardened ; or freeze and make fast what the Pleiades have loosed and softened ; the first being the constellation, which in the Omnipotent's hands be- get and begin the winter ; as the other are the orbs that attend the advancing Spring." " How many sad remembrancers do remain, to remind us of the past winter ? The husbandman and the mari- ner, the rich and the poor, have already sensibly felt its HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 199 bad effects, and though the dissolved rivers have opened their mouths, returned to their channels and offer their usual administrations to navigation, fishing, and com- merce ; yet, alas ! are not the cattle now corrupting in in the fields, and that after they have consumed most of the corn that might have maintained us to that time?' " Famine of food, which though (blessed be God,) we do not yet feel, we have notwithstanding some reason to fear. Whatever second causes concur to occasion a scarcity of food, nature becomes the hungry man's ex- ecutioner and tormentor, racking him with an impatient and importunate appetite, when there is nothing to allay or relieve it." It must be a sad spectacle to behold numbers of faint and famished creatures, like walking ghosts and inhabi- tants of the grave, and nothing to allay their hunger. It blasts the beauty of youth and the comely complexion of old age, weakens the strength of the mighty and puz- zles the prudence of the wise, to provide but a small relief, nay, whenever policy and strength remain, the fury of famine turns them into instruments of violence. This cruel calamity will turn a city into a wilderness, and make man prey upon his own kind, with a ferocity exceeding the most savage creatures, and hunger will drive men to the most desperate designs." ' " When the multitudes of Rome were enraged for the want of corn, the wise Cato was unwilling to interpose 200 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. with the rioters. Now if any thing be wanting to lend life to this imperfect picture, refer to Eusebius who saw one and says: 'In the city so many died that there were not men to bury them, nor ground to cover them with. In the country the houses were desolate, and pa- rents who brought their children to market to make money to assuage their hunger, died in the place before the chapman came. Ladies of the best quality were forced to beg their bread, and those that walked the streets were more like images than men. Some were so feeble that they were not able to ask an alms, and others stretching out their hands to receive, dropped down dead before they had hold of it. If any of the richer sort were disposed to bestow their charity, he was forced to desist, or be in danger of being pressed to death by the multitude and violence of the necessitous. Finally, all the streets were full of dead bodies, nor was there any to bury them, as the living expected every moment to die themselves.' God forbid, that we should ever be exposed to such extremity ; but how easy it is for the same God to afflict us with the like evils, if we have given greater or even as great provocations as sinners that have suffered before us ! Let us therefore fly to God with an early and earnest importunity, since none but He can remove what we feel, or avert what we fear." Liberal extracts from this eloquent discourse are here HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 201 given, because the copy before us is probably the only one now extant. To show that Dr. McSparran's picture of the frightful severity of the winter of 1740 is not exaggerated, we quote some other authorities. Watson, in his " Historic Tales of Olden Times in Pennsylvania," speaks of it thus : " The winter of 1740-1, a great snow. This win- ter was very severe during the continuance of the great snow. It was in general more than three feet deep. The back settlers (says the Gazette) subsisted chiefly on the carcasses of the deer found or lying round them. Great part of the gang of the horses and cows in the woods also died. Ten or twelve deer are found in the compass of a few acres, near the springs. The chief se^ verity was in February. Many deer came to the plan- tations and fed on hay with the other creatures. Squir- rels and birds were found frozen to death. By the 19th of March the river became quite open. Old Mrs. Shoe- maker, whom I knew," continues Watson, " told me of her recollections of that severe winter to the above ef- fect. Her words were that all the tops of the fences were so covered thgt sleighs and sleds passed over them in every direction. James Logan's letter of 1748 calls it the hard winter of 1740, as a proverbial saying, ' it was one of remarkable severity, the most rigorous he has ever known here.' Kalm says it began the 10th of December and continued to the 13th of March, old style, 25a 202 HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. and that some of the stags came to the barns to eat with the cattle, and became domesticated thereby." The following is from the R. I. Republican, dated the 26th day of February, 1840, communicated by Henry Bull, Esquire : " It is stated in a paragraph recently published in several papers, that during ihe cold winter of 1740, a man drove a horse and sleigh on the ice from Hurlgate, near New York, to Cape Cod. That this feat was actually performed is rendered highly probable by the following memorandum made by Gov. William Greene, of Warwick, and found among his papers by one of his descendants, Richard W. Ward, Esquire, of the city of New York. It gives, we believ'e, the most au- thentic and particular account of that extraordinary win- ter that is extant : "Memorandum of the Winter ok 1740, 0. S. " This winter by all accounts, was the coldest known in New England since the memory of man. It began in the early part of November with extreme cold, and so continued with considerable snow until the first week in December. The weather was then fine and warm for three or four days, (the General Assembly sitting at Newport.) Soon after this, the weather was again so excessively cold, that the Narragansett Bay was soon frozen over, and the people passed and repassed from Providence to Newport on the ice, and from Newport to Bristol. Occasionally, however, the ferry boat pass- HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 203 ed to Fox Hill. The storms of snow fell one upon another until it was almost knee deep, and it lay until the 1 1th or 12th of January, when a sudden thaw laid the earth bare in spots for a few days. This was. again succeeded by violent cold weather, and in a very few days by snow storms till the 28th, 29th and the said three days, there was a great ("riving snow storm, 30th of January, (the General Assembly then sitting at Warwick, by adjournment,) when for the greater part of which fell full three feet deep, in addition to what lay on the ground before. The snow having drifted, the tops of the stone walls and other fences were covered, and so hard was the crust in many places the cattle fre- quently passed over them." " The prevailing winds during the principal storms of the winter were from the north, northwest, and west ; some considerable snows fell with the wind at southwest, south, and southeast." " The ice broke up from Warwick Neck down the bay, about the 3rd or 4th of March, but continued /as; up the river, so that the inhabitants still passed from Warwick to Bristol, as was creditably reported. The snow in the woods where it had fallen on a level, was supposed to be three feet deep on the 10th of March." " During the great snow the last January, there was a great loss of both cattle and sheep ; some were smoth- 204 HISTORY OE THE NARKAGANSETT CHURCH. ered, and a great number of sheep were driven into the sea by^the wind." •' The weather continued extremely cold till the 23rd of February, which was a fine warm day, and thawed the snow to that degree that the ground was bare in spots for two or three days. Then came another severe storm with excessive cold weather, and so continued till the 10th of March, when it became somewhat milder, and the snow began to thaw moderately until the 14th of March, when the wind was southwest and the weather foggy. The snow thawed rapidly, and spots of ground were bare in the plain lands, but the greater part of the snow still remained. On the 15th the weather was mo- derate and so continued till the 19th, when it again be- came cold with some rain. The 22nd was a fine warm day ; 23rd and 24th considerable snow j 25th snow, and the weather cold for the season ; the snow gradually dis- appeared without any rain to make a sudden freshet. The last of the ice went out of the Cowesit (Warwick) bay the 3Gth and 3 1st of March, but some of the snow continued to lay in drifts by the fences till the 15th of April." " The spring came slowly on, and during the greater part of it, the weather was cold with severe gales of wind from the west and nothwest. My hay was gone the 15th of April, and out of 322 sheep I lost nearly one half." HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUKCH. 205 " In the midst of the winter it was frozen from the main to Rhode Island, and from thence southward oup t^ sea. It was reported by the inhabitants that theij could see nothing but ice." There were mere than thirty snow storms besides small flights not worth mentioning. The spring was so back- ward that in the first week in May the woods at a dis- tance appeared to be dead. The first peach-trees were in bloom on the 27th of May; apple-trees on the 13th." Dr. McSparran in a letter to Henry Gary in Ire- land, 1752, says : As from my house 1 can see the Atlantic ocean, I have seen it froze as far as the human eye could reach" — undoubtedly referring to the same winter. "Oct. 14, 1742. Between two and three o'clock in the morning, died suddenly in the chamber with Col. Daniel Updike and Mr. John Checkley, junr.. Captain William Walker, of Providence, F. R. S., and was interred in the churchyard of St. Paul's, Narragansett, the 15th of said month. The funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Mc- Sparran." John Checkley — a name of high repute in the early history of Episcopacy in America. Pie was born in the city of Boston, in 1680, of English parentage. His parents must have been in easy circumstances, for after giving him the best advantages in Boston, under the celebrated Ezekiel Cheever, they sent him to England. He finished his studies at the University of Oxford, and then set out upon a course of travels on 206 HISTORY OF THE NAfiEAGANSETT CHUKCH. the continent. He went over the greatest part of Europe, and " col lecled some valuable curiosities, such as paintings, manuscripts, &o." (Elliot's Biog. Diet. p. 105.) Thes6 facts are important in the illustration of Checkley's future career ; showing that his en- trance into orders, late in life, must have been from the purest attachment to the church, and from no wordly considerations. They are quite sufficient to rebut all the slanders which have been brought against his want of piety. His earnest and- uncompromising devo- tion to Episcopacy in New England — during an era when almost all New England was thoroughly impregnated with Puritanism— of course exposed him to that censure ; for a Puritan condemns one's pretensions to piety when he differs, or rather presumes to differ from himself, just as recklessly as a Romanist, under similar circumstan- ces, would condemn his pretensions to orthodoxy. Checkley returned from his travels, and fixed himself in his native place. The date of his return is not given us, but it is known that he was in Boston in 1715 ; for during that year he published a tract against the Calvinistic theory of predestination, which made some stir in the land of the self-esteemed elect, and provoked an answer. About this time, he married the sister of the Rev. Dr. Miller, Epis- copal missionary at Braintree, now Quincy, by whom he had two children, John and Rebecca. What Checkley's employments now were is not known. Proba- bly he pursued a life of literary leisure. One thing, however, is very certain, he was always devoted to the best interests of the church, and continually on the alert to promote them. He published in 1723, a pamphlet which is deserving of careful recollection ; for it was the forerunner of the controversy upon Epis- copacy on this continent. Its title is, " A modest proof of the order and government settled by Christ and his apostles in the church, by showing — 1. What sacred offices were instituted by them. 2. How those offices were distinguished. 3. That they were to be perpetual and standing in the church. 4. Who succeed in them, and rightly execute them to this day." It was during this same year (1723) that Dr. Cutler, then Rector or President of Yale College, conformed to the Church of England, and was settled over Christ Church, Boston. Doubtless this pamphlet, not to say other circumstances, HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. 207 brought him and Checkley into close contact, and insured their union and action in reference to the great contemplated synod of the Puri. tans, which was to sit in 1724-5 ; ostensibly in respect to " the judg- ment of heaven," as Cotton Mather represented, but really in respect to that greatest of judgments, in a Puritan's view, which the king talked of inflicting upon America, viz., the sending a bishop over. But of that matter more presently. Checkley continued hie zeal for Episcopacy without abatement. Not content with his " modest proof," he, in the same year, (1723) republished Leslie's famous Short and Easy method wtth the Deists, to which he subjoined a discourse concerning Episcopacy. Now this, in Puritanical logic, was adding insult to injury ; and as the times were getting ominously dark — the President of Yale College become an apostate, and an actual live bishop about to be intruded upon the inheritance of the saints — it became necessary to make a serious demonstration. Accordingly, intimidation was attempted by the penalties of law. Checkley was arrested as a libeller, and a disturber of the public peace. He was tried. The jury were a little qualmish, and pronounced him guilty, if publishing in defence of Episcopacy was a libel. The court at once decided it such, and pronounced the following judgment, " Suffolk, ss. At a court of Assize, &c. Nov. 27, 1724. Checkley, The Court, having maturely advised on this adsect special verdict, are of opinion that the said John Dom. Reg. Checkley is guilty of publishing and selling of a false and scandalous libel. It is therefore conadered by the Court, that the said John Checkley shall pay a fine of fifty pounds to the king, and enter into recognizance in the sum of one hundred pounds, with two sureties in the sum of fifty pounds each, for his good behavior for six months, and also pay costs of prosecution ; standing committed until this sentence be performed. Att'd Samuel Tyley, Clerk." V Such was the amiable decree of the laws of freedom, and within the purlieus of Faneuil Hall, "the cradle of liberty," upon an unfortunate churchman, for the mere utterance of his opinions about 208 HISTORY OF THE NARHAGANSETT CHURCH. religion. And, what seems most farcical, this sentence is gravely pronounced in the name of a king who was the civil head of the church whose r'ghts Checkley maintained ; and that king is coolly made to pocket a fifty pounds penalty, not for the assault, but the defence of a faith he himself was sworn to uphold 1 Checkley republished his pamphlet in 1728, in the city of London, during a visit he made to England with the view of obtaining Holy Orders ; and remembering the harshness and almost comic inconsis- tency with which he had been treated, added to it the following, as he calls it, " specimen of a true dissenting catechism, upon right true blue dissenting principles, with learned notes by way of ex- plication." He gives us two questions, and two answers, with one note, composed of two lines of poetry. Whether this is a sample of a longer catechism, or the entire catechism itself, the writer of this article cannot say ; but here is what he gives, and as he gives it. Question. — Why don't the Dissenters, in their public worship, make use of the Creeds ? Answer. — Why ? Because they are not set down, word for word, in the Bible. Question. — Well ; but why don't the Dissenters, in their public worship, make use of the Lord's Prayer ? Answer. — Oh ! Because that is set down, word for word, in the Bible. JVote. — They're so perverse and opposite. As if they worshipped God for spite, Checkley, doubtless, paid his fine for rendering the king a service, entered into his recognizances, and lived on to annoy the poor Puritans a second time. He obtained secret information of the anti- Episcopal conclave which was to assemble at Boston in 1724—5, to discuss the rationale of the Divine Administration respecting New England ; and by means of his letters, with those of Dr Cutler's, the council was not so much as permitted to assemble. Some account of this affair may be found in Dr. Coit's book on Puritan- ism, note 103, pp. 503-505. In 1727, Checkley, now at the advanced age of forty-seven, determined to go to England, that he might devote the residue of his HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUECH. 209 life to the service of the church of his love, in his native land, in functions of the most sacred character. Why, at such a very un- usual age, he should take that step, we are not particularly informed. His enemies said he had learning enough, but was altogether desti- tute of piety. Piety ! could secular motives induce a man, almost half a century old, and who had spent his life probably in literary leisure — who had time enough, and means enough, to take a journey over Europe, and bring home curiosities which would have been thought sufficient for the revenue of a lordling — could secular motives induce such a man to assume a religious office, amid a people who would never give him rest, and for the paltry pittance of fifty pounds a year — the salary he might receive as a missionary from the society for propagating the gospel ? They may think so, with whom a penny is a weighty, and a dollar an almighty consid- eration ; but a mind imbued with a particle of Christian generosity, will put a different construction on the matter. Checkley was not seeking much, either in the way of revenue or comfort, by resorting to London to ask his bishop for holy orders. Nevertheless he was followed to London, and most sedulously, by Puritan apprehension and vengeance. He had scarcely slept there a night before he was, at the instigation of New England informers, absolutely seized as a traitor by a king's bailiff; and, of course, not his liberty only, but his life, put in jeopardy. I have this from a manuscript letter of the Rev. Dr. Burhans, one of our oldest clergy, formerly of Newtown, Connecticut, whose first wife was a direct descendant of one of Checkley's wardens, when he was finally gratified in the long-cherished desire of his heart, and established in an American patish. This project was plainly somewhat desperate, and failed. But his enemies were too shrewd to rest their hopes upon a solitary effort. Beside their complaint of him as a traitor, two of the Puritan min- isters of Marblehead indited a letter against him to the Bishop of London, the celebrated Edmund Gibson. In this sweet missive, in order to awaken the bishop's political prejudices, they denounced him as a Non-juror, and in consequence an enemy to the house then on the British throne — the House of Hanover. To awaken the bishop's prejudices against him as a peace disturber, (for they knew 26a 210 HISTORY OF THE NARKAGANSETT CHURCH. Dr. Gibson's kindly feeling and Catholic temperament,) they called him a bitter enemy to all other denominations but his own — to awaken the bishop's prejudices against him as an ignoramus, they declared he had had no liberal education : very true this last, when we remember they had Harvard College only in their eye. and thought nothing of Oxford, with all its sad appliances for making churchmen. One of the ministers, also, who signed this letter, was a man who complained, down to his very grave, of somewhat similar treatment received by himself from the hands of Cotton Mather — (Mass. Hist. Coll. 1st ser. viii. 68.) But a churchman was now the object of his vengeance ; and as it is la>vful to spoil the Egypt- ians, he probably felt no very alarming twinges of conscience. The second shot against Checkley was better aimed, and it told well. Bishop Gibson declined ordaining him, and he was constrain, ed to return a layman, rather than a Reverend, with the stately income of fifty whole sterling pounds ! Nevertheless, the anxious desire to serve God in the Gospel of his Son slept not in the breast of this unfortunate churchman, who had not a nook or corner there for true piety to nestle in ! In the year 1739, the Bishop of Exeter, Stephen Weston, a friend of Bishop Sherlock's, was found willing to hear this impracticable man, begging at the age of fifty-nine, to be allowed to minister in one of the hard- est spheres on earth to which a churchman was ever doomed, and for enough — so far as the income of his post was concerned — to keep body and soul possibly in each others neighborhood. Bishop Weston actually ordained him — perhaps the oldest candidate in the history of the Christian chur.ch, who was ever admitted to the honors of an office, which was all but enough to kill any ordinary subject of his years in twelve round months. And it is pleasant to reflect, that he probably ordained him with the consent of Bishop Gibson ; for he was then alive, and in fact did not die till nearly ten years af\erwards. Well, armed with his sacred credentials, John Checkley at last stood upon his natal soil prepared to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. He was sent to Providence, in Rhode Island, no doHbt to remove him somewhat from the atmosphere of Boston, which would certainly have mustered for his devoted head some good stout thunderclaps. And there he ministered, officiating HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHURCH. 211 at intervals at Warwick aad Attleborough, for 14 years ; till, in 1753, in the seventy-third year of his ardent life, God gave him respite, and called him home. It was much to be desired that we had some authentic memorials of a ministry, began at almost the utmost verge of man's longest ordinary life. It ought to have been a curious and exciting thing to hear one who had been a scholar from his youth — a traveller, a wit, and a philosopher — who had been contending half his life, per- haps, to be permitted to be a priest in any parish, however humble, and amid perils almost as thick and dangerous as an apostle's, and who at length clambered up t«^a-jleacon's " good degree," with the marks of sixty winters on his head. But- almost a century has piled its dust upon a Checkley's grave, and this short record is all, perhaps, which will ever so much as strive to do honor to his name. Peace to thine ashes, untiring servant of Christ and of the church. The faith which sustained thee teaches us, that ample amends will soon be made for all earth's forgetfulness. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years ; and thou shalt be recompensed immortally at the resurrection of the just. " Mr. Checkley had two children," says Dr. Elliott, " a son," the Mr. John Checkley, Jun., mentioned in the church record, " who was graduated at Harvard College, 1738. He studied divinity with his father, went to England for orders," and was appointed mission- ary to Newark, N. J., and during his sojourn in England " he died of the small-pox. His talents were excellent, and he was a most amiable youth. The daughter married Henry Paget, an Irish gen- tleman. She left three children, two of them are living at this time," (when Elliot published) " united to very respectable con- nections.'' " March 10, 1774, Dr. McSparran baptized at New London (where he officiated the 3d and 10th, the first and second Sundays in March,) Elizabeth, the daughter of Matthew Stewart, and Abigail, his wife. The sai(J child was born the 6th day of March, at 3 o'clock." 212 HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGASSETT CHITRCH. Matthew Stewart emigrated from Ireland to America, and settled at New London. He married Abigail, the daughter of William, and grandaughter of William Gardiner, one of the first settlers in Boston-neck, Narfagansett. Mrs. Stewart was niece of Dr. Gardi- her, of Boston, and Mrs. McSparran. Mr. Stewart left eight child- ren. Elizabeth, the person baptized, married Roswell Saltonstall, the son of Grovernor Saltonstall. 2. Abigail died single at the age of 15. 3. Matthew died at 17. 4. William married Jane Win- throp, of New London, a descendant of Gov. Winthrop, and died in 1798, and left one child, Ann, who is living and unmarried. 5. Hannah was the second wife of John Robinson, of South Kingstown, survived her husband, and died about 20 years since, without issue. 6. Ann died single. 7. Mary married Joshua Starr, of New London — left no issue. 8. Walter died single. 9. Abigail died young. 10. Frances was the third wife of Major John Handy, the oldest son of Capt. Charles Handy. Capt. Handy's first wife was the daughter of Capt. John Brown, the father of Col. Robert, who settled and died in South Kingstown. His second wife was the widow of Capt. Philip Wilkinson, and daughter of Jahleel Brenton, of Brenton's Neck, near Newport, Major John Handy was a merchant in Newport. He entered the revolutionary army, and was promoted to the rank of Major. He died in Newport, in 1828, aged 72. He read the Declaration of Independence to the military and people from the Court House steps in Newport in 1776, as ordered by the Legislature ; and at the semi-century celebration in 1826, Major Handy read it again to the military and people from the same place. Nicholas Lechmere, Comptroller of the Customs in Newport, married Elizabeth, the daughter of William Gardiner, and sister of Mrs. Stewart. He went away with the British, when they evacua- ted Newport. Nicholas, his son, was appointed a Commissary in the British army. "May 17, 1745. Dr. McSparran read prayers and preached at the house of Samuel Cooper in Scituate, thirty miles distant from his own house, and baptized a HISTORY OF THE NAEEAGANSETT CHUECH. 213 son of Mr. Howard, named Joseph Howard, and receiv- ed another of said Howard's sons into the congregation, having formerly been privately baptized by Mr. Pigot in his travels through these woods where his wife had, and still has some lands." The Rev. Mr. Stickney, Rector of St. Michael's Church, Marble- head, has kindly furnished the following memoir of the Rev. Mr. Pigot : " The Rev. George Pigot was educated in his father's grammar school, in which he was for some time an usher. " Mr. Pigot was the Venerable Society's Missionary at Stratford, (Conn.) He removed thence to Providence, Rhode Island, about 1723, to make way for the Rev. Mr. (afterwards Doctor) Johnson. From Providence he removed to Marblehead, and became the Rector of St. Michael's parish in the autumn of 1727. " Besides his parish in Marblehead, Mr. Pigot had a small congrega- tion of worshippers in Salem, to whom he gave monthly lectures, and administered occasionally the Holy Communion. " He was a gentleman of considerable literary ability, and distin- guished himself honorably in a controversy with the Rev. John Bar- nard, one of the Congregational ministers of the town, upon the cele- bration of Christmas, a controversy which Mr. Barnard had provoked by an attack upon the ancient practice of the Church. "Mr. Pigot suffered domestic afflictions of very rare severity during the prevalence of that fatal mala