Origin: Unknown. Birth: By abt 1605, based on marriage and birth of son John abt 1630. Death: Bef 10 May 1649, when there is reference to widow Smith and her son John, administrators of the estate of John Smith the miller. Smith is referenced in several documents regarding Williams' removal and establishment in Providence, but he is not in most of the foundational documents.
↑ Banished from the Massachusetts colony along with Roger Williams "for divers opinions which he holdeth and hath divulged." In the dead of winter 1635 they traveled overland to Rhode Island, arriving in the spring or summer of 1636, and established the Providence Plantation.
Founders of Providence, Rhode Island
Roger Williams was exiled from Massachusetts Bay in June 1636 for his religious beliefs. He settled the area now known as Providence with a few others, and two years in 1638 purchased it from the Narragansett. He then deeded 12/13 of it to twelve other religious dissenters known as the "Original Proprietors." There also exists in City Hall in Providence a manuscript that purports to show the lands of the first settlers, as originally allotted. It is undated, but appears to have been created before about 1650.
First Comers with Williams:William Arnold, John Smith, William Harris, Francis Wickes, and possibly Joshua Verin and Thomas Angell
Other early landowners (from south to north): Robert Williams - Christopher Unthank - William Hawkins - Robert West - Hugh Bewitt - John Lippitt - Matthew Weston - Edward Hart - Thomas Hopkins - Widow Sayer - Widow Tiler - Nicholas Power - William Wickenden - William Man - William Burrow - Adam Goodwin - Thomas Harris - Joshua Winsor - John Field - William Field - Richard Scott - George Rickard - John Warner - Chad Brown - Daniel Abbott - William Reynods - John Sweet - Alice Daniels - Widow Reeve - Benedict Arnold - John Greene Jr. - Edward Manton - Thomas Painter - Matthew Waller - Gregory Dexter
