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Rev. Roger Williams
b.21 Dec 1603 Middlesex, England
d.Bet 27 Jan 1682/83 and 15 Mar 1682/83 Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
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m. 2 Jan 1597
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m. 15 Dec 1629
Facts and Events
Roger Williams (21 December 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born American Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, now the State of Rhode Island. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with Native Americans. Williams was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and established Providence Plantations in 1636 as a refuge offering what he termed "liberty of conscience." In 1638, he founded the First Baptist Church in America, in Providence. Williams studied the indigenous languages of New England and published the first book-length study of a native North American language in English. Roger Williams graduated from Cambridge University, England, in 1627, and embarked for the Massachusetts Colony in December 1630. Arrived in Boston in February 1631 and settled in Salem as a "minister." He became assistant minister in Plymouth, Massachusetts and was initially well-recieved. However, he soon got into trouble because of his opinions about church and state, so he returned to Salem. Among his views: Chritianity a "democratice" religion, people should govern themselves; he wouldn't accept a position in the Boston Church because it was not "seperated" from the English Church. He insisted that the king could not grant ownership of land because the true owners were the indians, and insisted that religion could not be forced upon the people. In October 1635 the General Court sentenced him to banishment because of his dangerous opinions about goverment authority and religion. He was given until Spring to move from Salelm, but the local leaders soon learned that he would not refrain from sharing his controversial opinions. They found that many people went to his house "taken with an apprehension of his 'Godliness. They immediately resolved that he should be banished to England. In January 1636 a messenger was sent to Salem to apprehend him, but when the officers arrived they found he'd left three days before. They didn't know where he had gone. Thirty-five years after his bansishment and escape, he wrote: "I was sorely tossed for one fourteen weeks in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bed or bread did mean." He was apparently assisted by the friendly indians. Having left the Massachusetts Colony he helped establish a new colony that was to become Rhode Island. He named the city of Providence in tribute to the "Providences of the Most Holy and only Wise (God)." He dedicated Providence to democracy, seperation of church and state, and toleration in religion. In 1639, dissatisfied as he was with the other churches, he established a new one: The First Baptist Church. Image Gallery
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