"Providence, 8th of the 8th month (so called), 1638.
"Memorandum, That I, Roger Williams, having formerly purchased of Caunnanicus and Miantinomu this our situation or plantation of New Providence, &c., the two fresh rivers of Wanasquatuckett and Mooshausick, and the ground and meadows thereupon; in consideration of thirty pounds received from the inhabitants of said place, do freely and fully pass, grant, and make over equal right and power of enjoying and disposing of the same grounds and lands unto my loving friends and neighbors,
Stukely Westcoat, | John Throckmorton, |
William Arnold, | William Harris, |
Thomas James, | William Carpenter, |
Robert Cole, | Thomas Olney, |
John Greene, | Francis Weston, |
Richard Waterman, | Ezekiel Holyman, |
and such others as the major part of us shall admit into the same fellowship of vote with us:
As also, I do freely make and pass over equal right and power of enjoying and disposing of the lands and grounds reaching from the aforesaid rivers unto the great river Pautuxett, with the grass and meadows thereupon, which was so lately given and granted by the aforesaid Sachems to me; witness my hand,
Roger Williams."
Other names to the number of one hundred made up the proprietors in what is called "Providence purchase."
Two prominent principles appear in the above civil compact, and memorandum. 1. The majority rule in political matters. 2. Supremacy of conscience or religious belief over all civil enactments; in other words unrestricted religious freedom. They "submitted themselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made only in civil things." Matters of religious concernment were beyond the reach of laws enacted by human beings, and no man need submit to the dictation of any other man, or company of men in religion.
The settlement on the island of Aquidneck adopted a similar rule, and the charter obtained by Roger Williams in 1644, united the two plantations of Providence and Newport, or Rhode Island, and granted to the inhabitants "full power and authority to rule themselves by such a form of civil government as by voluntary consent of all, or the greater part of them they shall find most suitable to their estate and condition."
It was through the influence of Sir Henry Vane, who had been Governor at Boston during the Pequot War, and was greatly assisted by Roger Williams in subduing the savages, and who was now a member of Parliament, that the Charter was obtained. The territory was described as follows: "Bordering northward and northeast on the patent of Massachusetts, east and southeast of Plymouth patent, south on the ocean, and on the west and northwest by the Indians called the Narragansetts; the whole tract extending about twenty-five miles unto the Pequot River and country; to be known by the name of 'The incorporation of the Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England.'"
The government established under this charter was at first a pure democracy. There was a legislative body called a Court of Commissioners, consisting of six persons from each town; but their acts were subject to repeal by the votes of the freemen of each town. All judicial officers, and officers to manage town affairs, were elected by popular suffrage.
Roger Williams arrived home with this Charter in September, 1644, but it was not adopted by the Court of Commissioners until 1647, and the following are the Presidents and their terms of service under this Charter:
1647, John Coggeswall, 1655-6, Roger Williams,
1648, Jeremiah Clark, 1657-9, Benedict Arnold,
1649, John Smith, 1660-1, William Brinton,
1650-1, Nicholas Easton, 1662-3, Benedict Arnold,
1632-4, sic None. |
Coddington of Newport did not like the Charter, and went to England and procured its annulment, and in 1651 returned with a commission erecting the Island of Rhode Island and Canonicut sic into a separate government. In Nov., 1651, Roger Williams and John Clark went to England, and succeeded in getting Coddington's commission vacated and the old charter re-established, and returning, arrived at Providence early in the summer of 1654. At the first general election he was chosen President of the Colony.
The following order copied from the old records will show the indifference manifested by the people of Providence in town affairs as late as
"Oct. 11, 1657. Ordered, that because of the often and present great difficulties of getting ten to make a town meeting, that if upon lawful warning seven only meet, their meeting shall be legal."*
On the 8th of July, 1663, King Charles II signed the last Charter, and the following are the Governors under that Charter down to the Constitution:
1663, Benedict Arnold, 3 years. | 1679, John Cranston, 1 year. |
1666, William Brinton, 3 " | 1680, Peleg Crawford, 3 " |
1669, Benedict Arnold, 3 " | 1683, Wm. Coddington, 2 " |
1672, Nicholas Easton, 2 " | 1685, Henry Bull, 1 " |
1674, Wm. Coddington, 2 " | 1686, Walter Clark, 1 " |
1676, Walter Clark, 1 " | 1687, None, |
1677, Benedict Arnold, 2 " | 1688, " |
* I Book Records, p. 110
This charter was suspend sic by Sir Edmond Androse or Andross. Upon its re-instatement the following were elected Governors:
1689, Henry Bull, 1 year. 1755, Stephen Hopkins, 2 years.
1690, John Caston, 5 " 1757, William Greene, 1 "
1695, Caleb Carr, 1 " 1758, Stephen Hopkins, 4 "
1696, Walter Clark, 2 " 1762, Samuel Ward, 1 "
1698, Samuel Cranston, 29 " 1763, Stephen Hopkins, 2 "
1727, Joseph Jenckes, 5 " 1765, Samuel Ward, 2 "
1732, William Wanton, 2 " 1767, Stephen Hopkins, 1 "
1734, John Wanton, 7 " 1768, Josiah Lyndon, 1 "
1741, Richard Ward, 2 " 1769, Joseph Wanton, 6 "
1743, William Greene, 2 " 1775, Nicholas Cook, 2 "
1745, Gideon Wanton, 1 " 1778, William Greene, 7 "
1746, William Greene, 1 " 1786, John Collins, 3 "
1747, Gideon Wanton, 1 " 1790, Arthur Fenner, 15 "
1748, William Greene, 7 " 1805, Henry Smith, act'g, 1 "
1806, Isaac Wilbour, Lt. Gov., 1 year. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following persons served from 1807 to the establlshment sic of the Constitution which was occasioned by the Dorr difficulty:
1807, James Fenner, 3 years. 1831, Lemuel Arnold, 2 years.
1811, William Jones, 6 " 1833, John B. Francis, 5 "
1817, Nehemiah Knight, 4 " 1838, William Sprague, 2 "
1821, William C. Gibbs, 3 " 1840, Samuel W. King, 3 "
1824, James Fenner, 7 " 1843, James Fenner, 2 " |
The Constitution adopted by the "Law and Order" party went into operation on the first Tuesday in May, 1843. Since then the following have been Governors:
1845, Charles Jackson, 1 year. | 1854, W. W. Hoppin, 3 years. |
1846, Byron Diman, 1 " | 1857, Elisha Dyer, 2 " |
1847, Elisha Harris, 2 " | 1859, Thomas G. Turner, 2 " |
1848, Harry B. Anthony, 2 " | 1860, William Sprague, 3 " |
1851, Phillip Allen, 3 " | 1863, James Y. Smith, 3 " |
1866, Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. | |
One fundamental principle has always been adhered to in Rhode Island. It is her glory and her boast that no person within her jurisdiction was ever legally molested for his religious opinions. No act of her legislature can be found compelling conscience, or regulating those important concerns which lie between man and his Maker. There may be found among this her legislative enactments, that "Every man who submits peaceably to civil government in this colony shall worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience without molestation." And no outward pressure which has been brought to bear has ever been able to swerve her from this Godlike principle. Her response to the surrounding colonies in 1656, who desired her to unite in crushing the Quakers, was, "We shall strictly adhere to the foundation principle on which this colony was first settled." Quakers found a safe asylum in Rhode Island.
Although the smallest state in the Union, yet, she is the parent of that principle which underlies our Republic, and which is the corner stone of civil and religious liberty. "Roger Williams," says Professor Gervinus, in his introduction to the History of the Nineteenth Century, "founded in 1636, a small, new society in Rhode Island, upon the principles of entire liberty of conscience, and the uncontrolled power of the majority in secular concerns. The theories of freedom in church and state, taught in the schools of philosophy in Europe, were here brought into practice in the government of a small community. It was prophesied that the democratic attempts to obtain universal suffrage, a general elective franchise, annual parliaments, entire religious freedom, and the Miltonian right of schism, would be of short duration. But these institutions have not only maintained themselves here, but have spread over the whole Union. They have superseded the aristocratic commencements of Carolina, and of New York, the high church party in Virginia, the theocracy in Massachusetts, and the monarchy throughout America; they have given laws to one quarter of the globe, and dreaded for their moral influence, they stand in the background of every democratic struggle in Europe." Roger Williams' own language expressing this illustrious sentiment is that "every man has the absolute right to a full liberty in religious concernments." The same freedom was allowed in politics as in religion.
Religion.
The prevailing religious sentiments in the early days of the colony were those of the Baptists and Quakers. All religions were toleratel. sic The leaders among the Baptists were Roger Williams, Chad Brown, William Wickenden, Gregory Dexter and Thomas Olney.
Among the Friends or Quakers; George Fox, Richard Scott, William Wilkinson, John Burnett, John Stubbs and William Edmundson. Here men of every creed lived together happily, and those without any religion were not molested. Thither persecuted men fled for refuge and found a safe asylum. The only weapons used were those of the intellect. Reason, argument, truth and free discussions were encouraged. Williams and his coadjutors had no fears for the truth. In the contest with error, she is an over match, for, "She is mighty and will prevail," was their sentiment.
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again
The eternal weight of years are hers
But error wounded writhes in pain
And dies amid her worshippers."
The eternal weight of years are hers
But error wounded writhes in pain
And dies amid her worshippers."
"Roger Williams," says Bancroft, "had already matured a doctrine which secures him an immortality of fame, as its application has given religious peace to the American world. A fugitive from English persecution, he had revolved sic the nature of intolerance, and arrived at its only effectual remedy, the sanctity of conscience. In soul matters he would have no weapons but soul weapons. The civil magistrate would restrain crime, but never control opinion; should punish guilt, but never violate inward freedom. The doctrine contained within itself an entire reformation of theological jurisprudence; it would blot from the statute book the felony of non-conformity; would quench the fires that persecution had so long kept burning; would repeal every law compelling attendence on public worship; would abolish tithes and all forced contributions to the maintenance of religion; would give an equal protection to every form of religious faith; and never suffer the force of government to be employed against the Dissenter's meeting house, the Jewish Synagogue or the Roman Cathedral. In the unwavering assertion of his views, he never changed his position; the sanctity of conscience was the great tenet, which, with all its consequences, he defended, as he first trod the shores of New England; and in his extreme old age, it was the last pulsation of his heart."*
He would hold no communion with the Church of England, "for," said he, "the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Jesus Christ." The magistrates insisted on the presence of every man at public worship; Williams reprobated the law; the worst statute in the English code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their natural rights; to drag to public worship the irreligious and unwilling, seemed only like requiring hypocricy. "An unbelieving soul is dead in sin"—was his argument; "and to force the indifferent from one worship to another, was like shifting a dead man into several changes of apparell." "No one should be bound to worship, or maintain worship against his own consent." "What!" exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at his tenets, "is not the laborer worthy of his hire?" "Yes," replied he, "from them that hire him."†
* Bancroft's Hist. U.S., p. 316.
† Bancroft's Hist. U.S., p. 370.
Adam signifies earth man, | Moses, drawn out of the water. |
or red earth. | Elijah, Jehovah is my God. |
Amasa, a burden. | James, a supplanter. |
Israel, a soldier of God; | Simon, hearing with acceptance. |
prevailing with God. | Asa, a healer, physician. |
Laura, a laurel. | Hannah, grace. |
Deborah, a bee. | Mary, bitter, star of the sea. |
Abigail, my father's joy. | Keziah, cassia. |
Elizabeth, worshipper of God. | |
The same is true of names of Greek origin, as: | |
George, a land holder. | Sophia, wisdom. |
Philip, a lover of horses. | Sybil, a prophetess. |
Leonidas, lion-like. | Theresa, carrying ears of corn. |
Christopher, bearing Christ. | Margaret, a pearl. |
Archelaus, ruler of the people. | Lydia, native of Asia Minor. |
Names of Latin, English and German origin, as: | |
Lawrence, crowned with | Oliver, an olive tree. |
laurel. | Cadwallader, battle arranger. |
Augustus, exalted, imperial. | Victoria, victory. |
Lucius, born at break of day. | Anthony, priceless. |
William, resolution, helmet | Albert, nobly bright, illustrious. |
or helmet of resolution. | Florence, blooming. |
Ada, happiness, rich gift. | |
The chief of the Delaware tribe of Indians asked the meaning of Col. Sprout's name, he being a man of large stature. On being told a twig, or bud, or sprig, he replied: "No, he is the tree itself."
Schlegel has found among the Hindoos sic significant names, and the names of many other nations, both barbarous and enlightened exhibit the same fact. D'Israeli says, "The Indians of North America employ sublime and picturesque names; such are: the Great Eagle, the Partridge, Dawn of the Day, Great Swift Arrow, Path Opener, and Sun-Bright;" and even at the present time, "Each-side-of-the-Sky," "Streak-of-Light," and "Horned Snake" are coming from the West to see President Grant.
Whatever may be said of the surnames of other people, the English surnames are characterized for their great variety and their extraordinary number. The reason of this variety is we have borrowed from everything, good and bad. The number is incredible. Rev. Mark Noble says a friend of his collected all he could find of the letter A, and they amounted to more than 1,500—some letters of the alphabet have more, some less—by estimation there are between 30,000 and 40,000, others place the number considerably less. The English author and statistician E. J. Vernon estimated the number at one-half the above figures.
Shakspeare sic asks, "What's in a name?" We answer much, every way. A name however insignificant instantly recalls the man to our remembrance, his personal appearance, his moral qualities, or some remarkable event of his life. How often the mere name opens the fountain of a tender parent's tears, suffuses the maiden's face with blushes, agitates the heart; lights with rage the eye of an enemy, and awakens the liveliest hopes, fears, regrets, and sorrows. There is much in a name, and if the hairs of our head are numbered by the omniscient Jehovah, no mortal receives his name among men without His cognizance and purpose.
The meaning of the term surname, according to Dr. Johnson, is "The name of the family; the name which one has over and above the Christian name." Sire-name, sir-name, and finally, surname, as we now use it, indicates the father's name which is perpetuated in every child born in wedlock. The practice of giving surname, as before remarked, came gradually into common use during the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. Different surnames were borne by the same person at different times. In 1406, says Lower, a man describes himself as William, the son of Adam Emmotson, in 1416, called himself William Emmotson. Another who is designated John the son of William, the son of John de Hunshelf, appears soon after as John Wilson (or John, Will's son). Other names such as: Willielmus, Johnson, Wilkinson, and Thomas, Henson and Magot prevailed at this time.
"The Romans frequently formed one name from another by elongation, as: Constans, Constantius, Constantinus; a series of names exactly parallel to our Wilks, Wilkins, Wilkinson."
There is no reason to suppose the abbreviated, or nurse name implied any disrespect to the persons to whom they were given, or that the Dicks or Dicksons were less respectable than the Richards or Richardsons of olden time. Mr. Clarencieux says, "Daintie was the deuice of my host of Grantham, which would wisely make a difference of degrees in persons by the termination of names in this word -son, as between Robertson, Robinson, Robson, Hobson, Richardson, Dickson, Dickinson; Wilson, Williamson, Wilkinson, as though the one were more worshipfull sic than the other by his degrees of comparison."
We have said that surnames are derived from baptismal names. The name William is the basis of no less than twenty-nine surnames. The syllable -son to the cant names Sim, Will, &c. We have three principal terminations, viz: kin, ot cock. Of the first two it is only necessary to state they are dimunitives, kin being derived from the Flemish, and ot from the French.
The class of baptismal names to which Wilkinson belongs is: William, Williams, Williamson, Wills, Wilks, Wilkins and Wilkinson; Wickens, Wickeson, Bill, Billson, Wilson, Woolcock, Woolcot, Wilcocke and Wilcox; Wilcoxon, Wilcockson, Willet, Willinot, Willy, Willis, Wylie, Willott, Till, Tillot, Tilson, Tillotson, Tilly and Guilliam.
The antiquity of the name of Wilkinson is very great, going back nearly a thousand years to the days of William the Conqueror. A Dr. Wilkinson of Manchester, President of a medical college, has the genealogy for nearly 900 years, and we are able to trace an unbroken descent of our own lineage from the beginning of A.D. 1500.
Influence of Blood.
The more one studies ethnology, or the history of races and families, the more will he become convinced of the marked and permanent influence of blood. Whatever the soil, clime, or physical condition; whatever the crossings by intermarriage, all who have given the subject attention must have observed the continuance from generation to generation, of some peculiar trait of character which was known in the earliest ancestor. The law of descent in this respect is as inexorable as the law of gravitation. Human history teaches us the influence of blood or race. The qualities of character run in the blood, and are propagated through successive generations from father to son, one only needs to glance at any particular family and follow the stream of human life downward in its spreading, widening flow to be convinced of its truth. The particular characteristics will be seen cropping out here and there no matter what the circumstances that surround the individual. Though sunk in poverty and clothed in squallid sic rags, noble blood will show itself, and traits of nobility will shine out like a diamond in its setting of filth. An Edwards, a Bunyan, a Spurgeon burst upon our vision like stars of the first magnitude in the constellations of christian sic excellence, and if we trace their ancestry back through a few generations, we find perhaps in a lowly cottage an aged mother and father whose whole life has been one of devotion to God, eminent for religious worth, and this is but the breaking out of that moral excellence on meeting with a corresponding current of intellectual greatness that dazzles and astonishes present beholders. This force of blood is just as visible in the transmission of evil qualities as good, and the breaking out of some enormous crime, is but the culmination of certain traits whose fountain head was far back upon the ancestral hills.
Old and New Style.
The double dates may not be understood by all. The change from old to new style did not take place in England and America till, September, 1752, when eleven days were dropped from the calendar to correspond with other nations in the correction of keeping time by Gregory.
In computing time the solar year is reckoned as 3651/4 days, but this is too much by 11 minutes and a fraction. If this excess is neglected, in the course of centuries the first of January would fall back towards midsummer, and in 1582, the time of Pope Gregory XIII, it was found that the vernal equinox which in A.D. 325 happened on the 21st of March, actually occurred on the 10th of March. For the purpose of rectifying the calendar, the Pope ordered that ten days be dropped from that year. This was called "New Style," and the former calendar, "Old Style." The new calendar was soon adopted in all catholic sic countries, but in England and her colonies, as above remarked, it was disregarded till 1752, when the error of the old calendar amounted to eleven days, and by an act of Parliament they were dropped from Sept. of that year.
The double dates may be thus explained. The birth of Joseph Wilkinson, son of Samuel is given Jan. 22, 1682-3. The civil, or legal year in England formerly, commenced on the 25th of March, and was so reckoned till 1752, when the new, or Georgian calendar, was adopted which makes the year commence on the 1st of Jan. But before that period, as some other nations had adopted the new style, it was usual for English and American writers to designate both years if the event occurred before the 25th of March, and after the 1st of Jan. Hence in the case above mentioned, if the year commenced the 25th of March, the date would be Jan. 22, 1682; but if the year began the 1st of Jan., the date would be Jan. 22, 1683, and changed to New Style by adding eleven days, would be Feb. 2, 1683.
Explanations.
- Abbreviations: b., born; m., married; d., died; r., resided; dau. for daughter; unm. for unmarried.
- The Arabic numbers in the lefthand margin indicate the whole number of names from Lawrence; the Roman numerals the number in any given family; the figures in parenthesis sic () at the right of a name refer to names post; and the figure in brackets [] to names ante. The small figure at the right of a name thus, John3, indicates the generation to which John belongs; an interrogation mark (?) implies doubt, or uncertainty.
New Features.
The plan of this work in the main, is that suggested in the New England Genealogical Register, but the following are new features:
- The families appear together with dates of birth and death; hence the period of life is ascertained at a glance.
- The lineal descent of each family is traced at the beginning of the families, and the labor of searching out the descent saved to those not accustomed to such work.
Acknowledgments.
The author acknowledges with gratitude the aid he has received from individuals, and from authors and he feels under especial obligations to Andrew J. Wilkinson, of Keokuk, Iowa, for instituting researches in England; to Ahab G. Wilkinson, of Washington, D.C., for securing the splendid chromo lithograph frontispiece; to Albert S. Wilkinson, of Pawtucket, R.I., for names and information concerning the Pawtucket branch of the family; to Judge Josiah Westcott, of Scituate, R.I., for facts and incidents of the Scituate branch; to Samuel T. Wilkinson, of Wrightstown, Bucks County, Pa., for the names of the Penn. branch; to Stephen Randall, of Providence, R.I., for incidents in the life of the Hopkins family; to Benj. Fessenden, of Valley Falls, R.I., for the sketch of the Fessenden family, and also, the sketch of Abraham and Isaac Wilkinson; to Albert Hubbard, Town Clerk of Scituate, R.I., for his obliging assistance; to Alfred Wilkinson, of Syracuse, N.Y., for "material aid"; to the Librarians of Providence Atheneum and Astor Library of New York, to Moses Brown's MSS., Staple's Annals of Providence, Lower on Surnames, Guild's Brown University, Callender's Century Sermon, Rev. C. C. Bemen's Sketches Scituate, Sanderson's Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benedict's History of the Baptists, White's Memoir of Samuel Slater, Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the First three Centuries of New England, Bliss's History of Rehoboth, Bowen's Naval Monuments, Cooper's Naval History, Wilkins Updike's History of the Narragansett Church, Stephen Hopkins' History of Providence, Z. Allen's Memorial of Roger Williams, Arnold's History of Rhode Island, Lossing's History the U.S., Bancroft's History U.S., Massachusetts' and Rhode Island Historical Collections; also to Mr. Browne, City Clerk of Providence, and to John R. Bartlett, Secretary of State of Rhode Island, for access to public records, in their respective offices.
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