USA > Rhode Island > Early Rhode Island; a social history of the people > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
The first settlement was at Pocasset, now Portsmouth, in 1638. Under the first compact, a complete democracy had enacted laws in the general body of freemen, the "judge " merely presiding. As in Providence, and be- fore a year elapsed, this cumbrous democracy creaked. January 2, 1639, the freemen delegated power to the judge, assisted by his three " elders," who should govern " according to the general rule of the word of God." Re- porting quarterly to the freemen, their administration could be vetoed thus : " If by the Body or any of them the Lord shall be pleased to dispense light to the contrary of what by the Judge and Elders hath been determined formerly, that then and there it shall be repealed as the act of the Body." 10 This system lasted four months ; a most curious formulation of vox populi. This modulation of theocratic principles-whether autocratic or democratic -is most instructive.
The ultra democratic proceedings had offended Cod- dington and those who wanted an effective working gov- ernment. A minority in numbers, which constituted the major strength and substance of the community, arranged to secede. The mother settlement at Pocasset, April 28- 30, 1639, made a new compact as the "loyal subjects of King Charles in a Civill Body Politicke," and elected Wil- liam Hutchinson judge, with eight assistants. A quar- terly court and jury of twelve was provided. This was the first government in the colony, moulded according to English law, and subject to the King. Theocracy and democracy were gradually being shaped to the common law, with its inherent obligations.
10 Brigham, " R. I.," p. 47.
·
1
£
54
The Island
Portsmouth preserved good records, and some details of the life there are interesting. As usual, the matter is chiefly of land conveyance, highways, administration of rates and such municipal affairs, with an occasional record of marriage, birth or death, but we get now and then a glimpse of something which interests more directly. For example : 11 May 15, 1649, Adam Mott, having offered a cow forever and five bushels of corn by the year, "so long as the ould man shall live," the neighbors, " every man that was free thereto," made it up to forty bushels. Mr. William Balston, a prominent citizen, in considera- tion, agreed to give "onto father mott " for a year " house rome dyate lodging and washings "-quite an instance of social co-operation. Ear marks of cattle were frequently recorded, especially after 1650. The first entry is Sept. 1, 1645, of Edward Anthony-" a hind gad on the left ear."
The immortal Pickwick was anticipated in debate July 16, 1650. In an action for slander before the town Court brought by John Sanford against Captain Richard Moris, the latter said " he had not nor Could not Charge the plaintiff to bee a thief in any Pticuler, and further sayd that if any words passed from him at Which Jeames Badcock (sic) tooke offence the said Captaine professed he knew not that he did speake any such words nether would he deny that he did but said if he did speake any such words it was in a passion and desiered m' Sanford to pass it by." After such lucid apology everybody was satisfied.
In 1651, the " Clarke of the measuers " was ordered to inspect once per month that the " to peny white loafe way 16 ounces and beere bee sould for two pence a quarte." For offense, forfeit 10s. In 1654 William Freeborne was
11 " Records of the Town of Portsmouth," p. 40 et seq.
٠ ٠٦٨
55
1640]
Customs of the Time
allowed ten pounds " at the Rate of silver pay," besides the cow and five bushels corn to " keepe ould mott " for the year. This included clothing for the beneficiary.
A prison was ordered to be built near the "Stockes " and a " doppinge stoole was to be sett at the water side by the po[ ]de." This year was memorable in super- vising and correcting the morals of this simple commun- ity. "In respect of several inconveniences that have ' hapined,'" it was ordered that no man sign a bill of divorce, unless the separation be allowed by the Colony ; if offending, he should be fined £10. sterling. More signifi- cant was the ordinance that no man should harbor an- other man's wife " after waringe," and in case of offense, he should forfeit £5. sterling for every night.
Manners as well as morals were overlooked by these worthy burghers. In 1656 a committee, Mr. William Balston, chairman, was appointed " to speake with shreifs wife and William Charles and George Lawtons Wife and to give them the best advise and Warning for ther own peace and the peace of the place." We do not envy the selectmen for their responsibility in adjusting the dis- putes of these jangling females. Of larger public con- cern was a committee to procure the powder and shot ordered by the " generall Court " for Portsmouth. Roger Williams' constant service in Colonial affairs appears ; for the committee were to pay him for getting the ammuni- tion. There are frequent admissions of persons as " free- men " or as "inhabitants." There was also much detail in the management of the common lands; provisions against cutting timber, handling of cattle, etc. In 1660 William Baker petitioned the town to take his sheep and " Contrebute to his Nesesaty "; for which there was ap- propriated £8, " after the Rats of wompom 8 per peny," for one year.
yex Tol
56
The Island
In 1662 at a meeting of " the free inhabitants of the Towne" a curious form of citizenship was made mani- fest. Peter Folger, late of " martin's Vinyard, presented to the free inhabitants of this towne " a lease of house and land from William Cory, the said Folger shall have " a beinge amongst vs during the terme of the said lease."
Adam Mott, who so thriftily arranged in 1649 for " ole father Mott " by giving a cow and five bushels corn per year toward his support by the town, died in 1661. His inventory showed £371.6, besides some land previously conveyed to his sons-a good estate for that time. Care- ful provisions were made to equalize the shares of the sons. The executors, Edward Thurston and Richard Few, were to receive each an ewe sheep for services. The widow was to have the " howsage and land " for life. The executors were to persuade her at her death "in ye disposinge of mouables with in howse or abroad to give it to them accordinge, to discrecion whom beest desearues it in there Care and Respect to hir while she lives, vpon which my desseir is you will have your Eyes as my ffrinds, and harts Redey." He instructs further "if my Children should be Crosse to there mother so yt it should force hir to marey againe. I give full power to my Executers to take good & full securitie for the makinge good of ye Estate so longe as she lives that my will may be performed." This provision might cut both ways. Evidently, Mott's immortal, marital obligations were to be as scrupulous as was his economic bargain with the town for supporting his father in old age.
Some prices may be noted, 4 oxen, £28; five cows and one bull, £30; one horse, one mare and colt, £36; 32 ewes, 2 rams, £32; 6 swine, £4. Wearing clothes, books, two suits, two doublets and brecches, one gown of gray cloth, and every day clothes, in all £11; 4 yards coarse
--
57
1640]
Furniture and Dress
Kersey, £1; 8 pair stockings, £1.12; 1 feather bed and furniture, £6; various beds not included; 1 brass kettle, £1; 6 pewter dishes (14 lbs.), 1 quart, 2 pint pots, £1.6; iron pots, pans, etc., £3.14; 7 pair sheets, 2 table cloths, 6 napkins, pillowbers, £4; 2 tables, 1 joint stool and chair, £1.4; 1 cart and plow, 2 chains, £3.10; 1 hoe and axe, 2 scythes, 10s. The whole inventory indicates a comfortable household. And chairs were a luxury, as they were in Providence at the same period, where people were not as well off.
These proceedings are worthy of study. Doubtless, Newport was living in similar fashion, though the records are lost. Providence hardly shows so close, domiciliary superintendence ; and there was no ecclesiastical interfer- ence whatever, such as generally influenced New England towns. The Portsmouth dwellers were Puritan in spirit and brought their lives to as rigid civic regulation as was possible. The common poor were cared for as usual, but the especial responsibility for those only half pauperized is very interesting. The minute discussions of these free- men and selectmen look petty now, but the whole way of life was hard and petty.
April 30th, Nicholas Easton voyaged around to Coaster's Harbor, now the United States Naval Station. Following him, the seceders located southward, immedi- ately erecting a house or houses. May 16, 1639, the first order recorded " the Plantation now begun at this South- west end of the Island shall be called Newport." The body politic of the new plantation, now established at Newport, negotiated with the more imponderable spirit hovering at Portsmouth. November 25th, after some communication back and forth, the Newport settlers made an order for courts, adopting the Portsmouth principle of allegiance to King Charles. They appointed two men
Ini
58
The Island
also to obtain " a Patent of the Island from his Majestie," styling themselves as " the Body Politicke in the Ile of Aquethnec." March 12, 1640, union between the two plantations was effected and the "brethren " at Ports- mouth came in. Coddington was chosen Governor with William Brenton as Deputy. In the union, Newport took the initiative, and her political ascendancy prevailed in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations for a century and a quarter.
The tendencies of the Coddington party toward strong government did not immediately affect the Newport plan- tation. In March, 1641, they could enact sensibly " the Government which this Bodie Politick doth attend unto in this Island, and the Jurisdiction thereof, in favor of our Prince is a Democracie, or Popular Government." 12 This democracy lasted until the union of the towns under the royal charter in 1647. In 1644, they adopted the name " Isle of Rodes, or Rhode Island." 13 The name accord- ing to Williams, as confirmed by the best modern re- search, is "in Greek an Isle of Roses." 14
The land system of the Island was like that of Provi- dence generally, and an important act ordained in 1640- 41 that, " none be accounted a delinquent for Doctrine: Provided it be not " directly repugnant to the Govern- ment or Lawes established." The settlers at Portsmouth would have been Congregationalists had the ruling powers at the Bay permitted. Winthrop says, in 1639, " they gathered a church in a very disordered way; for they took some excommunicated persons, and others who were members of the Church at Boston and not dismissed." And the lawyer Lechford, more orthodox than the par-
12 " R. I. Col. Rec.," Vol. 1, 112.
13 Ibid, 127.
14 Cf. Brigham, " R. I.," p. 51.
1
BUILT ABOUT 1640.
THE BULL HOUSE, NEWPORT.
-
·
59
Separation of Baptists and Quakers
1640]
sons themselves, said, "no church, a meeting which teaches and calls it Prophesie." 15 John Clarke preached to the meeting. Winthrop said Anne Hutchinson broached new heresies each year, Anne being "opposed to all magistracy." Yet in fact her husband was a magis- trate at Portsmouth. As noted, a court in regular form was instituted there. Newport soon followed the exam- ple, and stocks, whipping-post and prison-the enlightened accessories of justice-were soon provided. The Puritans of the Bay could not report exactly matters which they in no wise comprehended. Richman thinks the impelling lati- tudinarianism fast drifted the would-be Congregation- alists toward the Baptist or at least the Anabaptist view. Independency-little comprehended then-impelled Chris- tians toward freedom for the believer and the separation of church and state. Roger Williams, "the time- spirit " 16 was helped by unwitting instruments like Anne Hutchinson and Samuel Gorton.
Further evolution was going forward at Newport. In 1640, a " church fellowship " 17 was gathered under the leadership of Dr. John Clarke and Robert Lenthall. This effervescing, doctrinal fellowship disagreed, Coddington and his friends adopting views which were to end in Quakerism, while Clark, and his followers formed a Bap- tist church in 1644.
In fact, the Island early developed stable institutions, which Providence lacked from the beginning. The Provi- dence planters sought freedom of conscience, it is true; but historians sometimes forget that no community can live by spirit exclusively. So the old Massachusetts fish- erman interrupted the exhorter, claiming that the English
15 " Plain Dealing," p. 41.
16 " R. I .- Its Making," p. 136.
17 Keayne MSS., " Prince Soc. Pub.," Vol. XXII., p. 401.
6 9
60
The Island
emigrants crossed the seas to worship God, saying, " No, we came to live." The land system at Providence afforded a good opportunity for new planters to become independ- ent. Having acquired this material security, their varying views in theology tempted differences in social action. Some four-fifths of the community for many years would not directly assist the only church.18 Dissent apparently agreed only in further dissent. Political and social development necessarily halted. The desiderated pure democracy failed for lack of legislative and executive power,-whether in initiative or in restraint. Town meet- ings made poor substitutes for courts of law. As late as 1654, Sir Henry Vane remonstrated to Williams, "How is it there are such divisions amongst you? Such headiness tumults, injustice. .
. Are there no . wise men amongst you, who can find out some way or means of union and reconciliation for you amongst yourselves, before you become a prey to common enemies ? " 19
The Plantations north and south were unlike as a yeast cake varies from a wholesome loaf of bread. Williams, educated and lofty-but not a political and social organ- izer-was alone in his university training; his neigh- bors, many of them able, were not instructed men. In Newport, Coddington, Clarke, Coggeshall, Jeffries, the Hutchinsons, were men of wealth and culture, eminent before they emigrated to New England. Among the very first schools supported by taxation in America was Lent- hall's " publick school " at Newport in 1640. In formal legislation, in courts, church and school, Newport was in advance of Providence. But let us remember, the yeast
18 Brigham, p. 55.
19 " R. I. Col. Rec.," Vol. I., p. 285. :
61
Samuel Gorton Again
1640]
cake has potentiality far beyond that of the developed bread.
It was in the future, in the domain unknown, that Providence was to excel.
None of the founders had more yeast in his make-up - than Samuel Gorton, who was introduced in the Paw- tuxet controversy and the interference of Massachu- setts.20 In nature he was modern-if not the most modern of all the Puritan counter-irritants. We must now trace his first relations with our Plantations. Mor- ton called him " a proud and pestilential seducer." Per- haps it would be too much to say that condemnation by agitators at the Bay would now be sufficient praise, but all Morton's direct charges have been disproved.21 The prosecution of Antinomians at the Bay was not agree- able to him, and he left for Plymouth. He defended a servant girl, whom he believed to be unjustly accused, and he was banished from Plymouth in December, 1638. The offense was mainly technical, for beyond all theological or legal differences, was his " exasperating spirit of in- dependence." True to the essence of English law- though an obstinate extremist-he protested against the methods of the court "let them not be parties and judges." Driven out in a heavy snow storm, with his wife nursing an infant, he joined the exiles at Ports- ` mouth. In defending a suit against another servant he fared no better, for he insisted that this court had no authority from the Crown. After much controversy, Gov- ernor Coddington summed against him. When he re- sisted, the Governor said, " All you that own the King, take away Gorton and carry him to prison." Then Gor- ton exclaimed, " All you that own the King, take away
20 Ante, p. 38.
21 Brigham, p. 57n.
£
6.2
The Island
Coddington and carry him to prison." This retort direct could hardly accord with any course of law then possible on the Island. If the transcendentalist were the one in- dividual in the universe, he would be complete. It has been urged reasonably 22 that Gorton would rebel against any legal system the colonies could maintain ; but we must consider his whole career and not any one technical point. He was a sincere individualist before the legal and social rights of such a creature were known-not a mere out- law. In his letter to Morton 23 he said simply, " I would rather suffer among some people than be a ruler together with them, according to their principles and manner of management of their authority." He has outdone the pa- tience of all historians ; but let us handle him tenderly. It was this self-centered adamantine firmness in him and those similar-if not so able-which made of Rhode Island a rock in a shaken world; or a resisting government against theocratic systems and encroaching neighbors.
Coddington, supported by institutions, was not much intimidated by the remonstrant. Gorton influenced a few comrades, and they migrated together to Providence, probably in the winter of 1640-41. He made some prose- lytes there, but the town would not grant him the privi- leges of a proprietor and citizen. Williams bewails the situation to Winthrop. "Mr. Gorton having foully abused high and low at Aquedneck, is now bewitching and madding poor Providence 24 some few and myself do withstand his inhabitation and town privi- leges." 25 He finally joined the Pawtuxet settlers and became a leading founder of Warwick, as has been noted.
22 Sheffield's " Gorton," p. 38.
23 Ibid, p. 8.
24 Cotton taunted Williams as being superseded "by a more prodigious minter of exhorbitant novelties than himself."
25 Brigham, p. 61.
63
1640]
A True Mystic
Mystics rarely found sects and Gorton could not per- petuate himself. Yet, in himself he will always interest all students of individual development. Dr. Ezra Stiles heard and recorded the testimony 26 of his last disciple, John Angell, in 1771. The actual memorials of Gorton's life are not as important as the traces of his inevitable influence, as it affected other lives in the generations fol- lowing him. We cannot read the poetic utterance of Sarah Helen Whitman, descended from Nicholas Power, an adherent of Gorton, or the philosophic writings of Job Durfee, as well as others, without recognizing that Rhode Island has drawn intimately and effectively from the sources of eternal truth. Mr. Lewis G. Jaynes has lately asserted 27 sensibly that Samuel Gorton was the "premature John Baptist of New England transcen- destalism," the spiritual father of Channing, Emerson and Parker. When a mystic doctrine has penetrated and impressed a people, it needs no ecclesiastical formula or dogmatic foundation on which to rest. Active theology is the passing record of the time-spirit.
The winter of 1639-40 was memorable for the Island
26 " The Friends had come out of the world in some ways, but still were in darkness or twilight, but that Gorton was far beyond them, he said, high way up to the dispensation of light. The Quakers were in no wise to be compared with him; nor any man else can, since the primitive times of the Church, especially since they came out of Popish darkness. He said Gorton was a holy man; wept day and night for the sins and blindness of the world; his eyes were a fountain of tears, and always full of tears-a man full of thought and study-had a long walk out through the trees or woods by his house, where he constantly walked morning and evening, and even in the depths of the night, alone by himself, for contemplation and the enjoyment of the dispensation of light. He was univer- sally beloved by all his neighbors, and the Indians, who esteemed him, not only as a friend, but one high in communion with God in Heaven."-Col. R. I. II. S., Vol. II., 19.
27 Richman, " Rhode Island-Its Making," Vol. I., pp. 108, 109.
٠٠.
64
The Island
in scarcity and privation. For 96 people there were only 108 bushels of corn to be divided. Lechford visited in this or the following year and estimated the population at 200 families. Mr. Richman thinks 200 persons would be more likely and considers that Providence had about one-half as many.28 At this time the Bay sent three " winning " men to negotiate with members absent from the Boston church and sojourning on the Island. The settlers refused to treat, as one Congregational church had not authority over another.
Coddington tried to obtain recognition from the United New England Colonies in 1644 for the Island govern- ment. The United Colonies would receive the petitioners only as a portion of Plymouth Colony. He failed as an executive and direct leader of men, as we shall see in the "Usurpation." He could not comprehend the people as it existed in any form of popular expression. Mr. Richman terms the government sought by Coddington an " autocratic theocracy." Perhaps the record justifies this discrimination, but it is hard to treat Coddington justly from the records existing. He was a man of sub- stance materially and mentally. He could not follow Gorton or even Williams in their efforts for social order- all of which were disorderly vagaries to him. Judge Durfee considers that the well-organized judiciary of the Island, locally adapted "betokens the presence of some man having not only a large legal and legislative capac- ity, but also a commanding influence." 29 It was prob- ably Coddington. "Whoever he was, he was certainly after Roger Williams and John Clarke " a principal ben- efactor of the infant colony. It is more than doubtful whether Rhode Island could have attained a stable gov-
:s " R. I .- Its Making," p. 131.
20 Durfee, " Judicial History of R. I.," p. 6.
-
CODDINGTON'S HOUSE AT NEWPORT, ABOUT 1650.
.
-
1651]
65
Coddington's Usurpation
ernment without Coddington's effort or something equiv- alent.
Coddington and Captain Partridge made a definite proposal in 1648 to the Commissioners of the United Colonies to submit the Island to them, and would even place it under the jurisdiction of Plymouth. This scheme did not succeed. Coddington, according to Doctor Tur- ner, 30 would be a monarch, and, going to England, strangely succeeded in obtaining from the Long Parlia- ment a commission, making him " in effect the autocrat of the fairest and wealthiest portion " 31 of our territory. In 1651 he established himself in his " Usurpation," and this constitutes a remarkable episode in the history of our state.
Shipbuilding began early at Portsmouth, and there was built there or at Newport in 1646 a ship of 100 to 150 tons for New Haven. She made an ill-fated voyage under Lamberton and was lost. In 1649 Bluefield, with his crew of Frenchmen, came into Newport and sold a prize. The authorities would not allow him to purchase a frigate of Capt. Clarke, as they feared the pirates would attack our coastwise commerce. These transac- tions show that a commercial market was well established already.
The West Indies needed the products of any rich agri- cultural region, and the fertile lands of the Island fur- nished the required exchanges. ' The sugar-mills used horses and these appear in Coddington's exports in 1656.32 These West India goods were sold to Connecticut and to the Dutch at Manhattan. Then as always, the central port of Manhattan affected all American trade.
80 Brigham, " R. I.," pp. 87-89.
31 Arnold, " R. I.," Vol. I., 238.
32 " R. I. Col. Rec.," Vol. I., 338.
66
The Island
Our commercial intercourse was important, and the name " Dutch Island," at the mouth of the Bay, leaves a trace of it. Cross marriages occurred, and an occasional Dutch name in early Providence indicates the intercourse.
There was considerable trade with Connecticut, and the influence of this intercourse is shown by Isham and Brown in the type of houses adopted at Newport. The Coddington House, built possibly in 1641, and certainly before 1650, was an example of the comfortable dwell- ing which succeeded the early log house of New England. Though rude in appearance, it was certainly substantial and serviceable, or it would not have survived until 1835. It had an end chimney and the second story overhung, as in houses at London and elsewhere in England in the early seventeenth century. The Henry Bull house, dat- ing from 1638-40, had the central chimney, distinctive of the better class of houses in Connecticut.
This early commerce of Newport, exchanging the rich products of the Islands so profitably, promoted comfort- able living for the settlers accordingly. When Providence had no blacksmith, Newport had three, with masons, joiners, coopers and cordwaniers. Jefferay's Journal notes that the houses in Newport about 1650 were as " yet small with few good ones." Some had glass from England, with furnishings like the " old home," but in- ferior. They had a few books, a little plate, and their dishes were mainly of wood or earthenware. Their tables, chairs and beds were rude, excepting the few brought from over sea.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.