Person:John Easton (26)

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John Easton (1624–1705) was a political leader in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, devoting decades to public service before eventually becoming governor of the colony. Born in Hampshire, England, he sailed to New England with his widowed father and older brother, settling in Ipswich and Newbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As a supporter of the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy, his father was exiled, and settled in Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island (later called Rhode Island) with many other Hutchinson supporters. Here there was discord among the leaders of the settlement, and his father followed William Coddington to the south end of the island where they established the town of Newport. The younger Easton remained in Newport the remainder of his life, where he became involved in civil affairs before the age of 30.

Ultimately serving more than four decades in the public service of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Easton began as an Attorney General for the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, soon fulfilling the same role for the entire colony. To this line of service he added positions as Commissioner, Deputy, and Assistant, for many years serving simultaneously in multiple roles. In 1674 he was elected to the office of deputy governor, serving for two years, with a part of his tenure being during King Philip's War, about which he published a written treatise. Following the overthrow of the Edmund Andros governorship under the Dominion of New England, Easton was elected as governor of the colony for five consecutive years. While in office his biggest concerns were funding the ongoing war that England was fighting with France, and dealing with the disruptive French privateers. Other issues during his tenure included a smallpox epidemic in Newport, charter issues having to do with Rhode Island's militia serving in other colonies, and the ongoing border line disputes with the neighboring colonies.

The son of the Quaker governor, Nicholas Easton, the younger Easton was also a lifelong Quaker, and following his death in 1705 was buried in the Coddington Cemetery in Newport where his father and several other Quaker governors are also interred.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Nicholas Easton, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011).

   Children with first wife Mary...ii. John, bp. Romsey 19 Dec 1624 (d. [blank] Dec 1705, "aged 84 years" [RIVR 7:100]); m. (1) 4 January 1661 Mehitable Gant [RIVR 7:15], d. Newport 11 Nov 1673 [RIV 7:99]; m. (2) by an unknown date Alice --- ("Alice, wife of John [Easton], Sr., aged 68 years," d. at Newport 24 March 1689 [RIVR 7:99])

2. ↑ Tables of Contents of the Land and Notarial Records of R.I., in Rhode Island Roots. (Cumberland, Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Genealogical Society)
   Jun 1988.

   -20 Sep 1693 John Easton (son of Nicholas) to Daniel Thurston (son-in-law), Newport. Witnesses: John Segar, Samuel Meade, and Joseph Cross. (3:91)

3. ↑ Rhode Island Friends Records, in Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636–1850: First series, births, marriages and deaths. A family register for the people. (Narragansett Hist. Publ. Co., 1891)
   7:100.

   EASTON, John, Governor, aged 84 years, Dec. 1705.