| Founders of Newport, Rhode Island
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| Newport was founded in 1639. Its eight founders and first officers left Portsmouth, Rhode Island after a political fallout with Anne Hutchinson and her followers. As part of the agreement, William Coddington and his followers took control of the southern side of the island. They were soon joined by Nicholas Easton, who had recently been expelled from Massachusetts for holding heretical beliefs. The settlement soon grew to be the largest of the four original towns of Rhode Island. Many of the first colonists in Newport quickly became Baptists, and in 1640 the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed under the leadership of John Clarke. Portsmouth and Newport later united with Providence and Warwick in 1654 as the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
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| Original Founders: Nicholas Easton - William Coddington - John Clarke - John Coggeshall - William Brenton - Jeremy Clark - Thomas Hazard - Henry Bull
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Current Location: Newport County, Rhode Island Parent Towns: Portsmouth Daughter Towns:
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