HENRY HALL (? John1), of Newport and Westerly, who appears in Austin's "Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island" as the earliest known ancestor of this family, was born about 1637 and died between 29 Sept. and 5 Nov. 1705. He married ___, who survived him.
On 19 Jan. 1664 Henry Hall and Richard Knight, both of Newport, bought a large tract in the Narragansett Country, within the bounds of Westerly, from Coginaquant, a chief sachem of the Narragansetts. This tract was long known as the Hall and Knight Purchase.
In 1675 Thomas Staunton of Stonington, Conn., sold to Henry Hall of Stonington 50 acres in that town, but Hall's stay in Stonington was evidently of short duration.
On 17 Sept. 1679, at Westerly, he, together with his son Henry, took the oath of allegiance adminstered to the inhabitants of the King's Province.
In May 1687 he was on the grand jury at Westerly.
On 20 Jun 1687 he was deputed to go to Major Smith's at Wickford, in regard to the collection of taxes in the King's Province.
On 23 Apr. 1691 he was deputy from Westerly to the General Assembly.
In 1692 100 acres were laid out to him in Westerly.
On 2 June 1692 he bought of John Knight of Norwich, Conn., 1200 acres in the Hall and Knight Purchase (Westerly Land Evidence, vol. 2, p. 68).
On 2 July 1694 he was constable at Westerly and a member of the Town Council.
On 24 May 1703 he purchased of Ninicraft, the sachem of the Niantics, a tract of land in Westerly, on the Powcatuck River.
On 13 Aug. 1703 he conveyed land in Westerly to his son James Hall and his son-in-law Thomas Stephens (ib., vol. 1, p. 96).
In his will, dated 28 Sept. 1705, with a codicil dated 29 Sept. 1705, he left to his wife, whose name he did not give, a third of all his estate, both real and personal, to be at her disposal, and charged his son Edward to take care of her. To his son Edward a third of all his land and movables. To all his children a third of his estate, to be divided in equal shares. To his eldest son, Henry, 5s. All his children were to take care of his wife, their aged mother. In the codicil he gave to his son Henry half of a certain tract of land.
No executor was named in the will, which was proved 5 Nov. 1705; but the Town Council appointed the testator's son Edward as executor, on the petition of Henry, John, and James Hall, Thomas Stevens, and James Adams, brothers and brothers-in-law of Edward. The inventory amounted of L204. 4s. 2d., the property listed consisting of live stock of every description, together with thirty-five loads of hay, a loom, two guns, a cutlass, a warming pan, etc. In 1706 and 1707 receipts were given to the executor by his brothers and brothers-in-law, Henry John and James Hall, Thomas Stevens, James Adams and Edward Larkin. oath was made also by John Hall and William Wilkinson that the widow had received her portion. (Cf. Austin, op. cit., p. 90, for abstract of the will, the inventory, etc.) ...
