FO OT P R I N
0F
RO G E R
REUBE
WI L L I A M S
N A LDRIDGE
GU I L D
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FOOTPRINTS 0F ROGER
I
WILLIAMS
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all t h e early history of New England no one name
stands out so prominent to day in the eyes of the civiliz ed
world as that of the illustrious founder of R hode Island and
”
Providence Plantations
Two hundred and fifty years have
elapsed since he landed upon these shores "and the great\
p rinciples which he annunciated and developed of civil and
religious freedom have come to be the foundation of every
democrat i c republic in Christendom The great c1v1 c anni/
ver sa ry to whic h thousands are looking forward with quic k
ened zeal will tend to bring out facts and illustrations
pertaining to his early life and subsequent career which
have heretofore perhaps been obscure and unknown
The only thing that seems settled in regard to the early
surroundings of R oger Williams is that he was of Welsh
origin It ha s always been supposed that he was of humble
parentage the place of his birth being unknown and the
date uncertain I t occurred to t h e writer during a recent
vacation to make some investigations on this point the clue
h aving been fur n ished him by the late J Wingate Thornton
Esq of Boston H e first visited the rooms of the New
England Historic Genealogical Society No 1 8 Somerset
Street where through the courtesy of the Librarian ( all
librarians are cou rteous " he was permitted to examine the
“
Publications of the Harleian Society of London consisting
of a series of pedigrees and heralds visitations The ninth
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F oo tpri n ts
4
Wi ll i a m s
R oger
f
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0f
The
Visitation
volume published in 1 874 is entitled
Cornwall I 620
edited by Colonel Vivian and Dr Drake
In a foot note on page 2 64 he found a record of the baptism
of two sons of William Williams together with that of a
grandson and a great grandson as follows
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Wi llya m Williams son of Mr William Williams
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November 1 5 98 ; R oger second son of William
Williams Gentleman baptized 2 4t h July 1 600 ; H umph rey
baptized 2 4t h April 1 62 5 ; John
s on of William Williams
son of Humphrey Williams Gentleman baptized at Hig h
Bickington Devonshire
t i z ed 2 7 t h
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These records are taken from the register of th e Parish
church of Gwinear a small town in Cornwall near Truro
Their a ut h ent i cy is vouched for by the Vicar of the church
“
in a letter to Mr Thornton dated
Gwinear Vicarage
Cornwall April 1 2 t h
It would thus appear that
R oger Williams was born in the town of Gwinear C orn
wall and of a good family The Williams family it is well
known were very prominent in Cornwall Devonshire Mon
“
In Burke s Extinct
m o ut h s h i re and throughout Wales
Peerages of Great Britain is an account of Baron William s
of Thame and of Sir R ichard Williams Knight Vv
ho
assumed the name of Cromwell and was ancestor of the
Protector
In Gui lli m s “ Display of H eraldry and i n
”
“
Burke s
Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies are many
pages giving an account of different branches of this Welsh
name of whom Bishop Williams of Lincoln afterwards
Archb i shop of York was a member Guill i m describes the
coat of arms of William Williams of Glan y wan and D y f f yr n
in the Lordship of Denbigh Sir R oger Williams after
whom the founder of R hode Island was undoubtedly named
was the proprietor of Llangibby Castle and the Priory of
U s ke i n the county of Monmouth
He was a brave offi cer
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Foo tp r i n ts
Wi l l i a m s
R oger
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in the reign of Elizabeth and by her knighted in 1 5 86 for
his gallantry Motley speaks of him in his “ H istory of the
”
“
Dutch R epublic
H e might says Camden “ have been
compared with the most famous captains of our age could he
have tempered the heat of his warlike spirit with more wari
”
ness and prudent discretion
He died at London in 1 59 5
and was buried in state at St Paul s H is remains were
afterwards taken to his castle in Monmouthshire
H is
namesake if he did not inherit his honors certainly had a
like disposition that sometimes led him to occasional acts of
rashness in his controversies in after life with those who
opposed him
The date of the birth of R oger Williams may s afely be
fi xed in view of these parish records as 1 600 It has gen
As the year commenced at this
e rall y been given as I 5 99
time on the 2 5t h of March this might be the date for Janu
ary F ebruary and the greater part of March and yet be
Concerning his youth and
1 600 as dates are now reckoned
education we need not here speak leaving it for his b i o gra
pher to give those ampler details which make Masson s Life
of Milton so interesting It is enough for our present pur
pose to State that he was converted in the language of
religious Writers at an early age that he espoused the cause
of the Puritans or Dissenters and that for this reason his
”
“
father probably being a high churchman he was “ perse
”
using his own words “ in and out of his father s
cut ed
”
house these twenty years
At the age of fourteen we find
him in the “ Star Chamber at London taking notes of the
speeches where he attracted the attention of his future
patron Sir Edward Coke By him he was placed in the
“
Charter H ouse
the second scholar whose
name was entered upon the records of that noble institution
This was in 1 6 1 4 Here he probably remained until he was
the rules of the institution at the
e ighteen or nineteen
present day at least not allowing a pupil to remain after that
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Foo tp n nt: qf R oger
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Wi l l ia m s
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In 1 624, he entered Pembroke College C ambridge
The writer has visited this School an d also Pembroke Col
lege and has seen at the latter place the entries made by
Williams in his own peculiar handwriting
F oot
In our next we propose giving some account of
prints in Salem and S eekonk
age
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the most ancient town of Massachusetts Bay has
special attractions for R hode Islanders for here and in Ply
mouth the illustrious founder of the State spent five years of
his eventful life A passenger in the good ship Lyon from
Bristol E ngland he arrived in Boston harbor on the st h
H e was then in the pri m e of manhood
F ebruary 1 63 1
with a vigorous i ntellect trained and disciplined in the best
schools of his time and with moral convictions fixed by the
persecutions and Oppo sitions from which he had fled H is
ar rival gaVe the infant colonists great j oy for he had been
known to Winthrop and his associates in England as a
“
godly minister of gifts and learning
At once they
elected him their spiritual teacher and guide But fin di n g
them “ upon examination and conference an unseparated
pFOpl e Williams in a few weeks left them for Salem where
the uncompromising Separatist Governor Endecott with his
little company of followers had three years before ef fected a
permanent settlement On the 6t h of August
they
had organized a church and elected Samuel Skelton pastor
and F rancis H igginson teacher The latter died on the 1 5t h
“
of March 1 630 and on the 1 2 t h of April 1 63 1
R oger
”
Williams says Bentley
became their minister
We
have neither time nor space to trace in these articles his s ub
sequent career This the orators of the great celebration at
hand will undoubtedly do
Our present purpose is to
examine some of his footprints if we may so term them
Entering the city by rail and walkingout of the depot to
the right we soon reach the corner of Washington and Essex
streets H ere stands a fine brick s t ri i ct ure a marble tablet
S A L E M,
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Foo tp
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ri n ts
R agar
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Wi l l i a m s
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F irst
“
on the western face of which tells us that it is the
bu
i lt i n the
”
Church on the site of the first house of worsh i p
and
in
preached
Williams
assachusetts
Colony
Here
M
oi
language
gave
utterance
to
those
grand
principles
/X l o w i n
g
g
I
religious freedom which are now the heritage of the civilized
“
world On anot her tablet we read as follows : The frame
of the first Meeting LH o us e in which the civil af fairs of
the colony were also transacted is preserved and now stands
in the rear of Plummer Hall It was enlarged in 1 63 9 The
second Meeting House was built in 1 67 0 the third in 1 7 1 8
”
the fourth in 1 82 6 all on this spot
Turning to the right into Essex street and walking a few
moments we reach Plummer Hall on the left The lady in
charge kindly hands us a queer looking key with an old
fashioned piece of wood attached Going to the rear and
unlocking a door we find ourselves in this most ancient and
”
worshipful shrine the original R oger Williams Church
It is indeed a quaint structure twenty feet in length seven
teen i n width and twelve in the height of its posts It once
had a gallery over the door at the entrance and a minister s
seat in the corner opposite Perhaps one hundred persons
cou ld have been seated within its walls the gallery included
The original seats are not preserved They were very rough
if in keeping with the rest of the building Very likely they
were S plit logs without backs On the wall opposite the
entrance we read in prominent letters the succession of
pastors : F rancis Higginson 1 62 9— 1 63 0 ; Samuel Skelton
1 629— 1 63 4 ; R oge r Williams 1 63 1 1 63
5 H ugh Peters 1 63 6
1 64 1 etc
We had come to Salem for the first time on a pilgrimage
to this spot As we looked around us our minds were filled
with veneration and we could but appropriate the words of
a recent writer in H a rper s Weekly : “ Within these walls
silent with t h e remembered presence of Endecott Skelton
H igginson R oger Williams and their grave compeers the
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Foo tp ri n ts
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R oger
Wi l l i a m s
9
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very day seems haunted and the sunshine falls but soberly
in The visitor seems to close the door upon t he bustle and
complacency of his own time and by some subtle spell of
sympathy to find himself standing at last in mute and i n t ell i
gi bl e relations to the firm integral lif e to which he owes so
much Quaint and in keeping as are the visions that the
suggestiveness of the place c o n j une from out the resources of
his memory there is yet in the m al l no longer so bald asense
of Puritanic af fectation or const raint ; the bare timbers of
these narrow precincts evince a necessity that was in itself
denial and he remembers vividly as if for the first co mplete
time that the souls that met God here were sadly weary of a
”
cold er intercession
Within this ancient structure are stored many specimens
of furniture and relics of the olden times Among them is
a sofa brought from Normandy by some of the F rench
Huguenots ; the communion table of the East Church
Salem in 1 7 1 8 ; a small stand which belonged to Deacon
Gerrish in 1 682 ; a pew door from the meeting house in
H ingham , built in 1 680 ; the sounding board of the East
Church etc Chairs of the antique pattern carry us back to
the home circle gathered about the blazing fire of the huge
old fire places while the spinning wheel speaks of the music
which the pastor heard in his friendly calls
The history of this venerable \ hrine is interesting F rom
1 62 9 to 1 63 4 the congregation worshipped in an unfinished
building of one story
In the beginning it being mi d
summer they may have met as did the little band at Provi
dence a few years later beneath some friendly trees or in a
grove In cold weather or on stormy Sundays they may
have assembled in the spacious kitchen of Governor Ende
cott and listened to the Word around the fire of bl az m g
logs Th e records show that in 1 634 they contracted with
Mr Norton to build a suitable meeting house f er
1 00
The trees it appears were felled in th e winter and in the
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Fo otp ri n ts
10
Wi l li a ms
R oger
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summer of 1 63 5 the building was erected Its glaz ed win
dows were not added until 1 63 7 having been ordered from
England the year previous In 163 9 it was enlarged to
twice its original size On the erection of the second edifice
in 1 670 it was removed and for a century and a half
occupied for a school a dwelling or an inn and afterwards as
a barn and place of stowage In 1 860 a committee under
the direction of the Essex Institute having ascertained in
regard to the authenticity of the traditions and record s of
the old building carefully removed the several parts to this
”
“
present site dressed the wounds inflicted by time and
erected them into their original positio n s and form There
the building now stands in the language of the committee in
“
k
ma ing their final report
S a n t i s s i m a ca s a
F itted up
internally and externally as nearly as possible to its original
appearance and made accessible to the public it i nvi t es a
pilgrimage from the sons and daughters of New England
who value our peculiar history and the preservation of
memorials connected therewith
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I II
ON
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the 6t h of September 1 62 8 John Endecott of Dor
C hester
England with his little company of followers
arrived at Naumkeag or Salem and laid the fou n dation of
J
the first permanent town within the limits of the M as sa ch u
setts Patent Judge Story in his eloquent discourse in com
memoration of this first settlement thus vividly describ es
the scene presented to the view of the emigrants as they
landed upon the shores of New England in this beginning of
”
“
the Indian Summer :
“
They were i n the midst of a wilderness untrodden by
civilized man The native forests spread around them with
only here and there a detached glade which the Indian tom
a h aw k had levelled or the fisherman cleared for his tempo
rary hut There were no houses inviting to repose no fields
ripening with corn no cheerful hearths no welcoming
friends ; no common altars The heavens indeed shone fair
over their heads and the earth beneath was rich in beauties
But where was their home " Where were those comforts and
endearments which that little word crowds into our hearts in
the midst of the keenest su f ferings " Where were the obj ects
to which they might cling to relieve their thoughts from the
sense of present desolation " If there were some who could
say with an exile of the succeedin g year We rested that
night with glad and thankful hearts that God had put an end
to our long and tedious j ourney through the greatest sea in
the world t h ere were many whose pillows were wet with
bitter though not repentant tears Many a father of f ered
his evening prayer with trembling accents ; many a mother
clas ped her children to her bosom in speechless agony The
morrow came ; but it brought no abatement of anxiety It
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Foo tp r i n ts
12
R oger
f
o
Wi ll i a ms
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of
fearful
reminiscences
was rather a renewal of cares of sad
”
forebodings
When F rancis Higginson arrived in 1 629 there were only
Endecott
and
these
six houses besides that of Governor
says the historian Bentley were not on the land now calle d
Salem In 1 63 2 there were but forty families ; bUt m 1 63 3
when the inhabitants of the towns in the vicinity of Bost on
began to emigrate such as arrived at Salem were more easily
persuaded to remain In 1 634 the town began to flour i sh
It was during this year or the year following that R oger
Williams built him a large an d commodious house second
only to the one built for the Governor This house after the
wear and tear of two and a half centuries is still standi ng
and is in excellent preservation Every descendant of the
original occupant and owner should make a pilgrimage to this
”
“
hallowed place and view the Meeting H ouse where he
preached the Word and the dwelling where he entertaine d
his loving friends and where the happiest hours of his
domestic life were spent
Leaving the old church described in our previous article
an d returning along Essex street across Washington street
to the western corner of Essex and North streets we stand
before George P F arrington s drug store or apothecary shop
This is the original R oger Wi lliams H ouse known in the
”
“
annals of Salem witchcraf t as the Witch H ouse
F or
many years it has been an obj ect of attraction for visitors
from all parts of the world on account of its connection as
the residence of one of the j udges with the tragedy of 1 69 2
which is such a blot on the fair page of our New E ngland
history R ecent investigations by gentlemen connected with
the Essex Institute prove beyond a doubt that this is the
house built and o ccupied by the illustrious founder of Rhode
I sland and which he made over to Thomas Mayhew and
afterwards to John Jolif fe as security for a debt to Matthew
Craddock It af terwards came into the possession of C aptain
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Wi ll i a m s
F oo tpr i n ts of R oger
R ichard
13
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Davenport whose administrators sold it to Jonathan
C orwin in 1 67 5 when it was thoroughly repaired The
contract between Jonathan Corwin and Daniel
o riginal
Andrew in 1 67 5 for alterations and repairs is in the posses
sion of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester A
c opy of it was published in the Bulletin of the E ssex Insti
tute for April 1 870 In 1 74 6 i t was again altered and
repaired a new roof being built the back part of the house
raised to two stories and the porch taken away A picture
of
t he house as it was before this second alteration was
An engraving of it and
m ade in 1 7 4 6 is in our posse ssion
would be a most acceptable
a lso of the old meeting house
gift to the many descendants of Williams scattered through
out the length and breadth of the land
Let us enter this famous house Through the kindness of
Mr Jesse F U pton the gentlemanly clerk we were enabled
t o examine thoroughly every part and even with a lantern to
e xplore the cellar and note carefully the chimney and fou n
The original rooms measure as follows : Eastern
d ations
room over it 20 x 2 1 %
r oom on the first floor 1 8 x 2 1 % feet
feet ; western room on the first fl o o r 1 6% x 1 8 feet ; room
over it 1 6% x 20 feet The chimney is 8 x 1 2 feet Within
the spacious fire places were formerly placed huge logs the
ruddy blaze of which dif f used light and heat and contributed
t o the cheerfuln ess of the groups that so often gathered
beneath the hospitable roof to hear the gifted Welshman tell
o f his early trials in Old England an d to discuss the duties
of magistrates and the power of the law over the “ fi rst
”
In each of the eastern rooms three stout hewn
t able
timbers one foot in thickness of solid oak so hard that a
c ross the ceil i ng
n ail breaks on their unyielding surface
Two like timbers cross the ceilings of the western rooms
The line of the old roof is plainly visible on the eastern face
o f the chimney i n the garret and shows that the pitc h of the
The only part of the outside of the
r oof was very steep
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Foo tpri n ts
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Wi l l i a m s
R oger
f
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house which retains its original appearance is the western
up
er
p
part of the front on Essex street with its proj ect i ng
story The bricks covered with clay with which i ts S i des
were originally filled still remain giving evidence that there
was at first no plastering
J ust west of the house was the owner s ten acre lot or corn
field H ere while hoeing his corn he doubtless used to
stop and resting on his hoe discuss across the fence with
his neighbors the great questions of the day A massive
stone church where U nitarians worship now stands on one
corner of this field In his famous letter to Maj or Mason
written in 1 67 0 from Providence Williams thus alludes to
his house and lands : “ When I was unkindly and un chri s
t i an ly as I believe driven from my house and land and wife
and children in the midst of a New England winter now
about thirty five years past at Salem that ever honored
”
Governor Mr Winthrop privately wrote me etc H e had
a t this time two daughters the elder Mary born in August
at Salem according to Bentley but according to
1 63 3
K n owles and others at Plymouth and F reeborn born in
October 1 63 5 She was therefore an infant when her father
”
“
left town
In another letter Williams adds : “ I mort
gaged my house in Salem w orth some hundreds for sup
”
plies etc F our or five hundred pounds was a large sum o f
money in those early days equal to twenty five or fifty
thousand dollars at the present time This proves that the
owner previous to his banishment from Massachusetts w as
a man of property
Mr U ph a m t h u s closes his report to the Essex Institute
on the history of this remarkable ho use
H ere then within
these very walls lived two hundred and thirty five years ago
(now two hundred and fif t y one "that remarkable and truly
h eroic man who in his devotion to the principle of free con
sci ence and l i berty of religious belief untrammelled by civil
power penetrated l n midwinter the depths of an unknown
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IV
.
t he
e
i
s
h
Hon
obert
C
Winthrop
in
chapt
r
in
R
T HE
first volume of the “ Memorial H istory of Boston
thu s
writes : “ But the considerations which induced Winthro p
and the other signers of the Cambridge Agreement to com e
over to New England were of no mere private or personal
character They had relation to the condition of England at
that day — its social moral religious and political condition
Charles I was j ust entering on that course of absolut e gov
F orced
er n m en t which brought him at last to the block
loans and illegal taxes were imposed and extorted Bucking
ham had j ust fallen beneath t h e stroke of an assassin ; but
Sta f f ord stood ready to replace him as the tool of despotism
Laud already Bishop of London and virtually Primate was
asserting the Divine right of Kings for his master and
assuming the whole power of the Church for himself Puri
t a n i s m was his pet aversion
Parliament was dissolved a n d
the King s intention announced of ruling without one
Proclamations Star Chamber and High Commission Courts
were to be the only instruments of gove rnment
T he
Marshalsea and the Gate House were crowded with gentle
”
men who had refused to yield to arbitrary exactions
It was under these circumstances that Governor Winthrop
and other leading Puritans persuaded that God w o ul c
bring some heavy a fll i ct i o n upon the land and tha
”
”
speedily provided a shelter and a hiding place f or them
selves and others In a paper drawn up by Winthro
p
ent itled R easons to be considered for j ustifying t he under
takers of the intended Plantation in New E ngland ” is t h
following :
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Foo tpri n ts
Wi l l i a m s
R oger
f
o
1
.
7
It is the revealed will of God that the Gospel should
be preached to all nations and though we know not whether
these Barbarians will receive it fi rst or no yet it is a good
work to serve God s providence in of fering it to them ( and
this is fittest to be done by God s own servants "for God
shall have glory by it though they refuse it and there is good
hope that the posterity shall by this means be gathered into
C hri s t s Sheepfold
3
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It will thus be seen that the spreading of the Gospel and
the conversion of the I ndians were prominent obj ects in the
Williams had doubtless
m inds of the New England F athers
“
c onferred with Winthrop on these subj ects while in Old
England It is certain that h e gave himself to the work o f
converting the Indians during his stay in Salem and at Ply
mouth While at this latter place he had favorable Oppo r
t i mi t i es of intercourse with the Pokanokets who inhabited
the territory of the old C olony of Plymouth This tribe of
Ind i ans i ncluded several subordinate tribes among whom
w ere the Wampanoags over whom Massasoit and a fterwards
his son Philip of Mount H 0pe were chiefs H e also formed
an intimacy with C a n o n i cus the Narragansett Sachem and/
with his nephew M i a n t o n o m o Their residence is said by
Gookin to have been about Narragansett Bay and o u the
island of Conanicut Williams made frequent excursions
among these Indians to learn their manners and their l an
guage and thus to qualify himself to promote their spiritual
welfare Writing to Governor Winthrop from Plymouth in
I am no elder in any church no more nor
1 63 2 he says :
so m uch as your wort hy self nor ever shall be if the Lord
please to grant my desires that I may intend what I long
”
af ter the natives souls
H is whole subsequent life indeed
furnished evidence of the sincerity of the declaration in one
My soul s desire was to do the natives good
o f his letters :
In a letter written near the close of his life he says
God
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,
Wi l l i a m s
R oger
f
Foo tp r i n ts
o
.
"
was pleased to give me a painful patient spirit to lodge with
them in their filthy smoky holes even while I lived at Ply
”
“
mouth and Salem to gain their tongue
H is Key into
”
the Language of America published in 1 64 3 and dedicated
to his “ dear and well beloved friends and co untrymen in old
”
and New England is a lasting monument of his linguistic
tastes and of his perseverance an d; s elf s ac ri fici ng labors
In his letter to the Commissioners i n 1 677 to whom Wil
liams was accused of unfair conduct respecting the lands he
says : It is not true that I was employed by any was sup
plied by any o r desired any to come wi th m e into these
parts My soul s desire was to do the natives good and to
that end to learn their language (which I afterwards printed"
and therefore desired not to be trouble d with English com
”
“
pany
He adds that out of pity he gave leave to several
”
persons to come along in his company
The lan ds 0h e
states were procured from the Sachems by h i s own personal
influence Among the advantages which he enj oyed in his
“
negotiations he enumerates the following : I A constant
zealous desire to dive into the natives language 2 Go d
was pleased to give me a painful patient spirit etc . 3 I
spared no cost towards them and in gifts to Ous amequin
( Massasoit yea and all his and to C ano n i c us and all his
tokens and presents many years before I came in person to
the Narragan sett and when I came I was welcomed to Ousa
m eq ui n and to the o ld prince C a n o n i c us who W
a s most shy
of all English to his last breath 4 I was known by all the
Wampanoags and the Narragansetts to be a public speaker
a t Plymouth and Salem a n d therefore with them held as
a
Sachem 5 I could debate with them in a great measure in
their ow n language 6 I had the favor and countenance of
that noble soul Mr Winthrop whom all Indians respected ”
In a deed s gned by himself and wife and dated December
i
20 1 66 1 W i ll i ams also uses these words : “ Having in
t he
year 1 634 and in the year 1 63 5 had several treaties with
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Foo tp ri
R oger
f
n ts
o
,
Wi lli a m s
19
.
C ano ni c us and M i a n t o n o m o , t he t w o
chief S achems of the
Narragansetts,and in the end purchased of them the lands
and meadows upon the two fresh rivers called M o s has s u ck
”
and Wa n as q uat ucket etc
It will be readily seen from
these and similar statemen ts that the fou nding of R hode
I sland was largely due to a desire on the part of Wi lliams to
establish a mission among the Narragansett I ndians After
his sentence of banishment which of course precipitated
matters he received permission to remain at Salem till
spring But he entertained company in his house t he s ev
eral m oms of which as we have shown in a p revious article
were larger than the meeting house where h e had been accus
t o m ed to preach
It was u nderstood says Winth rop that he
preached to his callers and that he had drawn to his opinion s
l
about twenty who were intended to erect a pl ant at i o fi i
about the Narragansett Bay etc
Whereupon Captain
U nderhill was sent from Boston with a commission to a pp re
hend him and take him aboard his ship to England B ut
when he came to the house he found the illustrious exile had
been gone three days This was in midwinter probably on
the 1 5t h of January 1 63 6
It is n o t certain that anyone accompanied Williams on his
perilous j ourney on foot t hrough the forest s although a num
ber of persons were with him a few weeks afterwards With
his p ocket compass and a watch to tell the hours he set out
taking probably the Boston road over which he had so often
travelled to answer t he citations of the Court until he
reached Saugus eight or nine miles from his brethren of the
Bay When he may have struck o f f west for a while and then
due south until he reached t he home of Massasoit at Mount
Hope near Bristol The ground w as covered with snow so
that he could n o t resort to roots or fruit to satisfy hunger
and the bringing down game with a heavy matchlock gun
imposed a serious burden Of course he found shelter with
fri ends in the beginning of his tedious walk of eighty or
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p
Foo t
20
Wi l l i a m s
R oger
f
ri nts
o
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nat
i ves
ho
pitable
s
ninety miles and af terwards with the
In
his
letter
to
Ma
or
j
severely
Yet he must have su f fered
weeks
Mason h e says : I was sorely tossed for one fourteen
d d
what
bread
or
bed
in a bitter win ter season not knowing
i
I
bear
to
th
is
”
mean
And in his old age he exclaimed
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’
day in my body the ef fects of that winter s exposure
H e perhaps obtained a canoe of his Indian friends and
i
s a nd
li
t
e
a
l
o
c
m
rowed up and down the bay exa ining various
deciding in his own mind the best places for a settle m ent
Doubtless he rowed up the cove and found the famous
”
His language on various occa
R oger Williams Spring
”
s i ons implies this
In “ Cotton s Letter Examined
he
alludes to his “ hardships of sea and land in a banished con
”
”
“
dition
He finally steered his course into a little cove
”
“
“
not far above the present R ed Bridge and began to
”
build and plant at Seekonk
This was about the 2 3 d of
April a s the “ fourteen weeks would carry the time from
the 1 5t h of January to this date
The spot says Knowles where he reared his habitation
was Manton s Neck near the cove This statement was
made on the authority of the late Moses Brown who had
”
“
ascertained the fact to his own satisfaction
Bliss in a
”
“
R
note to his History of ehoboth adds : I called on Mr
Brown to know t h e grounds on which he assured himself of
this fact He told me that some years since he found among
the manuscripts of his grandfather a paper which stated that
R oger William lived near a spring on Manton s Neck ”
There are several springs in the locality but t h e one here
referred to is in a lot owned at the time when Bliss wrote
by Hammond Cole about fifteen rods east of his house
and about twenty rods nearly north of the house of Sam :
uel Daggett It is a clear and beautiful spring and t h e
neighbors still use it as in the early days The writer h a s
visited it again and again and drank from it refreshing
draughts Its water in the warmest weather in summer is
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Foo tpri n ts
f
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R oger
Wi ll i a m s
21
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id to be as cool as that of any well Mr Daggett to whom
reference is m ade i s still living in his 77t h year H ere his
mother was born in 1 7 76 and here h i s grandfather lived and
kept a store The traditions of the family are that Will iams
built his cabin on one corner of their lot and they point with
pride to the precise spot F o r the guidance of those who
would make a pilgrimage to this spot it may be stated that
Mr Daggett s house is a corn er house a nd that the road on
which Willi am s s cabin stood a few rods beyond lea ds to
Richmond s Paper Mill and also Campbell s Cotton Mills
sa
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our previous article we left Willia m s at S eekonk where
he began to plant and build probably about the 2 3 d of
April, 1 63 6 H ere he remained two months B ut he was
still within the j urisdiction of his Massachusetts brethren
and he was advised to remove to the land on the other side
of the river where he would be beyond the claims of any
”
“
Patent and where the country before him would be free
In a short time to use his own language I received a letter
from my ancient friend Mr Winslow the Governor of Ply
mouth professing his own and others love and respect to
me yet lovingly advising me since I was fallen into the edge
of their bounds and they were loath to displease the Ba y t o
remove to the other side of the water and there he said I
ha d the country free before me and might be as free as
”
themselves and we should be loving neighbors together
The precise day when Williams left Seekonk never has
been and probably never ca n be satisfactorily ascer t ained
In his letter to Maj or Mason he says his removal o cca s w n ed
”
“
him the loss of a harvest that year
On the 2 6t h of July
he wrote a letter to Governor Vane dated at Providence It
is reasonable to infer that he left during the latter part of
June when the corn had attained a considerable gro w th and
when it would be too late in the season to p lan t anew His
t o ri a n s are generally agreed on this point and hence June
2 3 d and June 2 4 t h have been wisely fixed upon as the anni
vers a ry days of the coming celebration
E mbarking once more in his canoe with his loving com
panions William Harris John Smith Joshua Verin Thomas
A n gell a nd F rancis Wickes they proceeded down and acros s
IN
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Footpri nts
24
R oger
f
o
Wi l li a ms
.
of All en s land and North Main street nearly Opposite S t
John s Church When the street was widened in 1 870 t h e
house w as moved back so that the sprin g is now somew here
near the middle of the cellar at the foot of the cellar stairs
A pipe connects it with the pump and stone trough on Canal
st reet s o that it still af f ords a refreshing supply of pure
water on one of t he great thoroughfares of travel Near this
spring Williams landed ; and at this spot the settlement of
Rhode I sland commenced
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call i t h o ly g ro und
T h e s o il w h ere fi rs t t h ey t ro d ;
T h ey h a ve l ef t uns t ai ned w ha t t here t h ey f o und
F reed o m to w o r shi p G o d
0
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To the town here founded says Knowles Mr Williams
with his habitual piety and in grateful remembrance of
God s merciful Providence to him in his distress gave the
”
name of Providence
Let us says S tephen H opkins in his admirable history
recently republished by the R hode Island H istoric al Society
view these planters after their several migrations now at
last settled at Providence
Leb us stand still for a moment
and view t hem in this their very indigent condition ; equally
admire their su f ferings and their patience and wonder how
they could possibly live quite destitut e of every necessary
and every conveniency of life having no magaz ine of provi
sions or stores of any k ind ; no domestic animal to assis t
them in their labor or af f ord them sustenance ; no utensils
or husbandry tool s to facilitate their tilling the earth noth
ing to help themselves with but their h and s ; nothing to
depend on but God s goodness their own endeavors and the
”
charity of sa vages
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Foo tp ri nts
Willi a m s
R oger
f
o
25
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h o us e n o r h u t n o r f rui tful field
No r l o w ing h e r d n o r b l ea ti ng flo ck ;
O r ga rd e n t ha t m igh t co m f o r t yi eld
No cheerful ea r ly c ro w ing co c k
No r
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cha rd yie lding p l easan t frui t
O r la b o r ing o
o r us eful p l o w ;
N o r n eighing s teed o r b ro w sing go a t
O r g r un t ing sw in e o r fo o d ful co w ”
No
o
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No fr i e nd t o he l p n o n e ighb o r nigh
N o r h e aling m edicine t o re s to re ;
No m o t he r’ s hand t o cl o s e t h e ey e
,
,
,
A
l o ne
,
fo r
l o r n and
m
,
o
s t ex t rem e ly p o o r
”
.
At once the settlers proceeded to provide for themselves a
shelter Probably they lived for a time in log houses rudely
daubed with clay and then as their numbers increased
erected houses set upon stone foundations roughly but
solidly framed with oak timbers hewn with the axe Such a
house Williams probably had when as he relates in May
”
“
1 63 7 he entertain e
d M i an t o no m o and his barbarous court
His house says Mr H enry C Dorr in his “ Planting and
”
Growt h of Providence was probably the largest of his day
But the whole of the primitive village in the vicinity of the
“
Spring has passed away
The antiquarian research es of
”
“
six ty years ago continues the same author failed to iden
”
The town
t if y a single ho use as a survivor of Philip s war
was afterwards rebuilt and the house of the founder was
doubtless erected upon the foundations of the original dwell
ing The late Philip Allen w ho lived opposite traced these
stone foundations years ago when the old wooden house
which stood over them was removed to make way for the
present Almy house so called The “ home lot of R oger
Williams extended from The Town street now North
Main street east to what is now Hope street and comprised
about seven acres A part of it is included in Bowen street
Its average width says Mr Welcome A Greene who has
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made this a special study is one hundred and twelve feet
Going up H owland street eighty feet and enterin g the rear
of the Almy house we stand over the cellar of the original
”
“
Roger Williams house
A fi ne linden tre e mark s the
locality The late S tephen R andall Esq a descend ant of
Williams through his daughter Mercy used to say that he
had often played about it in his boyhood when the footprints
of the owner were still there and the Spring below bub
bled up into a cas k set in the ground for public convenience
S till further up the hill among the trees of his orchard
was the family burial ground Crossing Bene fi t street and
passin g into the rear o f the house of the late S ullivan Dorr
Esq a few feet from the stable door is the original grave of
It is covered by a fi nished cap of a heavy
R oger Williams
H ere for nearly two hu ndred years slept t he
s tone pillar
remains of the Apostl e of religious liberty In I 7 7 1 a
special committee was appointed by the freemen of Provi
dence to ascertain the spot where he was buried and to
draft an inscription for a monument which was never
erected The traditions and records concerning the location
of the grave are clear and unmistakable On the 2 2d of
March 1 860 at the instigati on of Mr R andall the grave was
opened in the presence of Phili p Allen R ev Dr S amuel L
Caldwell Prof William Gammell Sul livan Dorr S tephen R
Weeden Philip W Martin William D Ely and H on Z acha
riah Allen The dust for that was al l that remained of the
mortal body was carefully an d reverently gathered and
deposited in an urn and the urn placed in Mr R andall s
family tomb at the North Burial Ground The grave of Mrs
William s was al so examined an d a lock of b raided hair w as
all that indicated where she was laid away
A singular incident was discovered on uncovering the
bottom of Roger Willi am s s grave The root of an apple
tree had turned out of its way to enter it at the head
F ollowin g the position of the body to the thighs it di
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late Dr Wayland while preaching one of his cele
”
stopped in the midst of his
b rat ed
U niversity Sermons
discourse and raising his glasses remarked that the senti
ments to which he had j ust given utterance might be
regarded as at variance with what he had stated in former
”
“
years on a similar subj ect
I can only say he added con
tinn ing his discourse “ t hat I am an older man than I was
”
”
“
then
The genial editor of the Book Notes in his kindly
”
“
criticism on the first article of these F ootprints fails to
see the connection between the Gui n ear record and the
“
founder of R hode Island ; and he quotes from the Bio
”
graphical Introduction to the Writings of R oger Williams
published twenty years ago showing that the writer s views
now are at variance with the theories then advanced T his
is true In th i s our closing article we propose to review
somewhat the ground already gone over and to state more
clearly some of the points in the early life of William s which
are k nown and established according to the laws of evidence :
T HE
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It is reasonably certain that the founder of R hode
Island was a Welshman T his all his biographers without
any exception freely admit No one so far as we know has
ever questioned this point
1
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It is certain that the Williams family in England is a
Welsh family very ancient in its lineage and very influential
having numerous branches in all pa rts of the Kingdom In
“
Burke s Encyclop aedia of H eraldry or General Armory of
”
England Scotland and Ireland edition of 1 844 we fi nd
described the coat of arm s of seventy five distinct families
2
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Foo tpri nts
Wi l li a m s
R oger
f
o
29
.
bearing this honored name including that of Sir R oger
Williams of Llangibby Castle in Mo n mouthshire Guilli m s
“
D es pl ay of H eraldry
the oldest and best book of the kind
published more than two hundred and fifty years ago
describes the coat o f arms of four titled Welsh families
including th at of Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby Castle
a grand s on of Sir R oger who died in 1 59 5 In Burke s
”
“
Dictionary of Peerage and Baronetage edition of 1 84 5 we
find given the coat o i arms and lineage of five Welsh families
the first of which is Williams Bulkeley of Penrhyn North
Wales William William s Esq of C o chw ill a n was the first
of this eminent family to assume the n ame of Williams
This was in the year 1 4 7 3 John of this famil y purchased
the home estate of C o chw ill a n from the Earl of Pembroke
and Penrhyn from his cousin Grif fith H e was in holy
orders and a Doctor of Divinity ; born March 2 5 1 582 ;
Dean of Sarum and subsequently of Westminster appointed
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in 1 62 0 afterwards Bishop of
Lincoln and thence translated to the Archbishopric of York
H e died unmarried in 1 650 It was in his diocese of Lin
coln that R oger William s is said to have been admitted to
orders an d to have had charge of a church or parish
F oster s Peerage Baronetage and Knightage of the British
”
Empire a recent work published in 1 88 1 describes five
“
families under the name of Williams Burke s Genealogical
”
and H eraldic H istory of the Land c d Gentry a work in four
large volumes published in 1 83 7 also describes five families
of Welsh descent Burke s Extinct Peerages of Great
Britain describes one family Baron William s of Thame
”
Burke s Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies describes eight
families In all these works on herald ry and genealogy we
find the name of R oger but once previous to the year 1 600
except in connection with the family of Llan gibby Castle
”
“
In Burke s Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies R oger is
mentioned as the third son of Sir David William s of Gwer
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Wi l l i a m s
F ootp ri n ts 41" R oger
30
.
born about the year 1 5 74 R oger was therefore not a
common name Indeed it was hardly known among the
numerous branches of the ancient Williams family H ence
the greater probability that the founder of R hode Island was
named after the brave Welsh o fli cer Sir R oger William s of
Monmouth the first of that branch of the family to adopt a
In this connection it may be stated that Cromwell
surname
belonged to the Williams family
Morgan Williams of
Welsh descent married a sister of Thomas Cromwell H e
had a son R ichard who was knighted by H enry VI I I by the
name of Cromwell after his uncle whose heir he became
This Sir R ichard had a son Henry who was knighted by
a nd four
ueen
Elizabeth
in
Sir
H
enry
had
six
sons
6
1
5
3
Q
daughters H is eldest son R obert had a son Oliver the
Protector who was born April 2 5 1 599 H e w as about the
same age therefore of R oger Williams to whom it is
claimed he was distantly related
“
“
Mr R ider in his Book Notes says : Thus far there
have been discovered in England and America five men
bearing the name R oger or R oderick Williams but the
founder of R hode Island has been in not the slightest degree
”
connected with either one
Why he should include R oder
ick in the five rather than R obert R oland o r R alph we
cannot see unless because Elton finding that a youth of that
name was born in Wales in 1 60 6 and educated at Oxford
Arnold
U niversity identifies him as our R oger Williams
”
“
in his History of R hode I sland shows the absu rdit y of
Elton s reasoning which the author himself afterwards
admitted In a conversation with the writer a few months
before his decease the distinguished Professor stated that he
had been misled by false theories in regard to the birth and
education of Williams and that he was then engaged in the
preparation of a new edition of his work Death interrupted
him in the midst of his labors This was in the year 1 87 0
”
“
Another of the five cam e to New England according to
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Foo tp ri nts
32
R oger
f
o
Wi lli a m s
.
some account how the grace of God hath appeared unto
”
them and wrought that heavenly change in them This he
u n derstood to be conversion ; “ that gallant as he terms it
“
and heavenly and fundamental principle of the true matter
”
of a Christian congregation flock or society
It is cert ai n t h at in consequence of his conversion and
4
of his opposition to many of the forms an d usages of the
Established Church he was subj ect to persecution In a
letter to Governor Winthrop dated Plymouth 1 63 2 ( sup
posed by Drake to be between June and O ctober "he refers
“
to himself as in Christ called and persecuted in and out of
”
my father s house these twenty years
H ere he refers
again to his conversion at the age of 1 2 If his father was a
churchman as is probable he would have had little sympathy
”
“
With the ranting Puritans or Separatists and hence per
”
“
haps the statement persecuted in my father s house
It is ce rtain that R oger Williams was born after July
5
2 1 1 599
Although nothing can be found in any of his
writings relating to the place of his birth and but little
concerning his family or early history he has several allu
sions to his age In a letter published by Backus dated
July 2 1 1 67 9 he says of himself
Being now nearto f our
”
score years of age
Had he been born July 2 1 1 599 he
”
“
would have been j ust fourscore
Had he been born Janu
ary 2 1 1 600 (old style
he would have been at the
dat e of the letter here referred to 7 9 years and 6 months
”
“
or near to fourscore years of age
This was probably
about the time when he was born as we shall see in our
In the letter to which we have referred
n ext number
dated Plymouth 1 63 2 he speaks of himself as “ nearer
upwards of 3 0 than
H e was at t his time about 3 2 years
a n d 6 months old
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VI I
.
T HE
good preach ers of the olden time after exhausting the
s ubj ect of the text and mak ing their m a ny inf erences and
sometimes to conclude with a
pra ctical applica tions used
”
little more about faith
Our concluding a rticle proved
too long for a single issue an d we therefore devote this fi nal
o n e to a reconsideration of the points involved in our fi rst
number The facts pertaining to the Gwinear records as a
critic states are not here given to the public for the first
time In an article published in the Pr ovidence Journal
Tuesday March 1 3 1 87 7 after showing the absurdity of
Professor Elton s reasonings i n regard to R o d eri cus and
R o gerus and his date of birt h 1 606 we al luded to a c o m m u
n i cat i o n recently received from J
Wingate Thornton a
lawy er of Boston a distinguished antiquary and an ardent
admirer of the grea t R hode Isl and statesm a n H e it was
who in looking over a volume of the pub l ications of t he
“
Harleian Society entitled Visitation of the County of Corn
wall
found a note to the ef f ect that R oger William s
was the son of William Williams gentleman and that he was
baptized in the Parish Church of Gwinear on the 24t h of
July 1 600 This statement we embodied in our article on
”
“
The F ounder of the State published in 1 881 in the
Biographic al C yclo Pazd i a of R epresentative Men of R hode
”
Island
We also embodied it in an article which we fur
”
“
for C at hcart s
Baptist Encyclopaedia
a large
ni s hed
imperial octavo volume p ublished in Philadelphia the same
year The late William R Williams one of the most learned
“
and bril liant of al l our writers in his Lectures on Baptist
”
H istory publi shed in 1 87 7 claims that he was born in
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Foo tpri nts
34
Wi lli a m s
R oger
f
o
.
Wales that he was related t o Oliver Cromwell and that he
was named after the great Britis h commander Sir R oger
Willia ms of Monmouthshire H e gives ho w ever no data
respecting his birth Indeed no w riter up to the present
time h as done this unless we make exception in our favor
So much inter est is man ifested in this Gwinear record and
so much criticism has been made concerning it many cl aim
ing that it is impossible at this late day to fi nd out what has
eluded heretofore the search of writers and antiquaries that
we reproduce it in our concluding number The entire entries
read as follows : “ Willya m Williams son of Mr William
Williams bap 2 7 Nov 1 59 8 R oger 2 d son of Wil l iam
Williams Gent bap 24 July 1 600 H umphrey son of Wil
liam Williams bap 24 April 1 62 5 John son of H umph rey
Wyllyam s Gent bap at High Bick ingt on Devon
H ere we have the record of two sons a grandson and a
great grandson
It is obj ected by some that the two
brothers to whom Williams alludes in his writings viz R o b
ert who was with him in Providence and who afterwards
”
“
removed to Newport and the Turkis h merch ant are n o t
“
included i n this record To this it may be s aid that Wil
”
l i am Williams Gentleman may have had like Sir Edward
Coke seven sons The birth of the oldest is recorded and
also his son H umphrey and his grandson John they being in
If R oger was named as we
t h e direct line of succession
claim after S i r Roger then his baptism would very naturally
”
“
be recorded as the second son
Again the father may
have re m oved to another locality after the birth of R oger
F amilies old and respectable sometimes ch ange their resi
dence even in Engla nd If R oger was baptised in July he
was very l ikely born s i x months previous This corresponds
exactly as we have already shown with all the statements
which Williams himself makes respecting his age If his
father was a Gentleman in the English sense o f the term
he was undoubtedly in good circumstances and able to give
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F oo tp ri n ts
R oger
f
o
his
Wi lli a m s
35
.
sons a superior education Hence young R oger at the
age of fourteen attracted the notice of the greatest lawyer
of the age by his skill in taki ng notes of sermons and
speeches in the famous Star Chamber of London It may
be inferred from the record that the father was of the Estab
li s h ed Church
H e would n aturally therefore obj ect to his
son s connection in any way with the Puritans H ence the
“
statement of Williams persecuted in and out of my father s
”
house
In the work to which we have referred Publications of the
”
H arlei an S ociety vol 9 we find the genealogy of the Wil
liam s family in Cornwall They descended from John Wil
liams of H erri ngs t o ne Dorsetshire who married the d augh
ter and sole heir of R ichard Trevers and came to Trevers
In a note the editors Lieutenant Colonel J L V i v
C o rn vval l
ian and Dr H H Drake say : “ Besides the H erri ngs t o n e
branch there appears to have been two or three respectable
families of the name of Williams in Cornwall derivi ng from
Devon and Wales and rendering the identifications very i nt ri
cate The Gwinear entries apply chiefly to the family at pres
”
ent seated at C arnant o n
We have written to parties in
Cornwall and may perhaps obtain further light on this interest
ing subj ect In regard to the Parish Church of Gwinear it is
” “
says Murray s Hand Book for Devon and Cornwall ancient
”
and a conspicuous obj ect on the hills
We have seen photo
graphs both of the exterior and the interior It is a large and
very handsome building of stone The tower and most of the
exterior remain as they were three hundred years ago The
interior has been remodelled and adapted to the tastes and
needs of the present age The rector whose post o f fice
address is Gwinear Vicarage is R ev N T w m ayn e R odd
I n our previous number we referred to the conversion of
Williams in his childhood It was about this time that Sir
Thomas Sutton the wealthiest merchant of his day founded
“
Charter
a hospital chapel and school n o w known as the
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36
Wi l li a m s
Foo tp r i n ts of R oger
.
”
H ous e which F uller calls “ the masterpiece of Protestan t
The hospital
is for the support of
E nglish charit y
”
“
pensioner s so called of whom there are eighty in num
ber None can be admitted under fifty years of age unless
maimed in w ar They each have a separate apartment with
proper attendance and are allowed about twen ty five pounds
a year for clothing etc T he of fi cer in control is called the
”
Master
The of f i cer at the head of the chapel is called
”
”
“
“
the Preacher
The main feature of the school i s the
”
F oundation scholars
the number of which was originally
forty
”
“
These says Carlisle in his Concise Description of
”
Endowed Grammar Schools published in 1 8 1 8 are almost
entirely supported by the H ouse during their stay at school
very few charges falling on the parents besides those for
They wear
s chool books and the washing of their clothes
the academic cap with a black gown j acket and breeches
They are gen erally the sons of gentlemen with large families
a nd moderate fortunes to whom an academic education is an
obj ect None are admitted upon the F oundation under the
age of 1 0 years nor above 1 4 The age of the child is certi
fied by an extract from the register of baptisms in the parish
”
where he was baptised
The o f ficer in charge is called
Master of the School
Boys are received upon the F oun
dation after examination and upon the nomination of the
Governors
Mr Sutton died on the i 2 t h of December 1 6 1 1 Shortly
after his death his nephew and heir at law instigated by Sir
F rancis Bacon commenced proceedings to set aside his
uncle s grant and to divert the Charter H ouse estates to
uses never contemplated by the donor These attempts were
strenuously resisted by the sixteen Governors who were all
prelates noblemen and gentlemen of distinction Prominent
among them was Sir Edward Coke the Lord Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas and Bacon s rival and enemy The
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F o o tp r i n ts of R oger
Wi lli a m s
37
.
result was that Coke was enabled to certify that the founders
incorporation was s ufli ci en t good and ef fectual in law The
Governors held their first meeting on the 3 o t h of June 1 6 1 3
when they proc eeded to make various regulations and to
assig n apartments within the institution for the dif f erent
o fli cers
The following year Nicholas Grey a man “ eminent
”
for his learning in the Greek and Latin languages was
”
appointed Master of the School and the work of instru o
t ion commenced
The second scholar received on t he F oun
dation upon the nomination of Coke was R oger Williams
as we learn from a statement made by Coke s daughter Mrs
”
Sadleir
This R oger Williams she writes “ when he was
a youth would in a short hand take sermons and speeches in
the Star Chamber and present them to my dear father H e
seeing so hopeful a youth took such liking to him that he
sent him to Sutton s H ospital and he was the second that
”
was placed there
Did young Williams come to London
for the purpose of securing the favor of Coke in order that
he might be thus admitted to the Charter H ouse " The
results indicate that he did H e was followed by a long line
of scholars incl uding some of the most distinguish ed men
that England has produced We may name some of them
R ichard C raw s hay the poet a classmate of Williams ; R ich
a rd Lovelace ; Dr Isaac Barrow ; Joseph Addison ; R ichard
Steele John Wesley the founder of Wesleyan Methodism ;
Sir William Blackstone Dr John J o rt i n ; Lord Ellen
borough ; Basil Montague ; General Havelock ; George
Grote ; Bishop Thirlwall and William Makepeace Thack
”
Who that has read the New co m es can ever forget
e ray
the touching allusion to this school in the closing hours of
Colonel New co m e s life
”
It was our privilege to visit the Charter House during
The Great
a short stay in London a f ew years since
”
Chamber supposed to have been built in 1 565 still pre
serves its original decorations This was the drawing room
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Wi ll i a m s
Footpri nts of R oger
38
.
for half a century before the F oundation of Mr S utto n o f
one of the most exalted noblemen in the kingdom H ere
Q ueen Elizabeth kept her court on at least two occasions
and here King James soj ourned on his first arrival in London
”
“
in 1 603 In 1 83 8 this Chamber which had fallen int o
decay was repaired and restored to much of its original
splendor The chapel stands to day with the superb monu
ment of the founder as it stood two hundred and seventy
two years ago when young R oger and his associates knelt
beside it and recited the liturgy of the Established Church
”
“
A fine view of the School R oom may be found in Staun
”
ton s Great Schools of England published in 1 865
”
How long R oger remained at the Charter House we have
no means at present of determining It was usual for t he
“
F oundation scholars to proceed to the U niversity as exhi b i
”
between the ages of 1 7 and 1 9 H e did not enter
t i o ners
the U niversity until he had reached the age of 24 Perhap s
he employed the intervening time providing he left scho o l
at the usual age in studying l aw under the guidance of his
illustrious patron A general impression appears to prevail
that he studied law at some period of his life although no
data have ever been given upon which to form an accurat e
conclusion H e certainly manifested in the various docu
ments which he drew up and in his manifold writings an
acquaintance with legal forms and with general principles
His letters to Mrs Sadleir show that he was on terms of
”
intimacy with Coke
My much honored friend he writes
“
that man of ho n or and wisdom and piety your dear father
was often pleased to call me his son
H ow many thou
sand times have I had honorable and precious remembrance of
his person and the life the writings the speeches and t h e
”
example of that glorious light
In regard to the impression
or belief respecting Mr Williams study of the law as also
his connection with Coke we have this statement of Morgan
Edwards who collected his Materials for the H istory of t he
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Footpri n ts
40
Wi l li a m s
R oger
f
o
.
”
H ouse he had an income of eighty pounds a year and upon
graduating twenty pounds extra The R egistrar s book
which through the c o urt es ey of Mr Bradshaw the Librarian
of the U niversity it was our privilege in the year 1 87 7 to
e xamine gives his name in full
F rom this it appears that
R oger Williams was matriculated a Pensioner of Pembroke
College July 7 1 62 5 H e too k his Bachelor s degree in
1 627
H e was therefore in College three years; entering of
course one year in advance Previous to taking this degree
“
he was required with all others to subscribe to the three
”
articles introduced by James I in 1 6 1 3 and which may be
found in M asson s Life of Milton They embody i nbrief the
”
“
thirty nine art icles
In the first volume of this s ub s cri p
”
tion book under date of January 1 62 6— 7 may be seen the
”
well known autograph signature of R o ger us Williams
”
“
H ere for the present we must leave these F ootprint s
of one whom the late R obert Southey in his closing years a
staunch churchman pronounced “ The best and greatest of
”
”
“
the Welshmen
In an article in the Q uarterly R eview
for October 1 81 3 he speaks of him further as the one who
“
began the first civil government upon earth that gave equal
”
liberty of conscience and as “ one of the best men w ho ever
set foot upon the New World a man of genius and of vi r
”
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VI I I
R OG E R
.
WI L L IA M S
M O NUM E NT
.
”
W E R E the characters of great and good men says the
l ate H on Z achariah Allen in his memorial paper read May
“
t
l
al
1 8 1 860 before
h e R hode Is and H istorical Society
w ays estimated by the honors bestowed upon them by their
neighbors very few would be deemed excellent At the
present day as in the olde n time a prophet might receive
honors everywhere save in his own country This has been
the case in regard to R oger Williams the champion of soul
liberty, and the first theol o gian on this earth who ever theo
Church and State
ret i c a ll y advocated the separation of
and the first statesman who practically established religious
”
freedom as the constitutional basis of civil government
Williams died in the S pring of 1 683 but the precise date is
nowhere mentioned H e was buried under arms “ with all
”
“
says Callender the Colony was able to
t h e solemnity
”
show
H is remains were interred in a S pot which he had
himself selected on his own land a short distance from t h e
”
Spring where forty seven years before he had landed with
“
his five companions and founded Providence
The smoke
”
“
of the musketry says Allen temporarily hovering in the
air over his grave formed as permanent a mark of respect as
was ever bestowed to ho n or it Not even a rough stone was
”
set up to designate the spot
On the i 5 th of July 1 77 1
eighty eight years af ter his death the freemen of Providence
in Town Meeting appoin ted a comm ittee viz Stephen Hop
kins Amos Atwell and Darius Sessions to draft an i n s cri p
tion for a monument w hich it was then voted to erect in
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Footp ri
42
f
n ts
o
R oger
Wi ll i a m s
.
“
the language of the record : Over the grave of the F ounder
”
of this town and Colony
The population at that date
Scarcely exceeded four thousand souls and nothing was
probably contemplated save a simple memorial to mark the
western slope of Prospect H ill T h e swift march of events
the burning of t h e Gaspee the quarrel with the mother
country and the great R evolutionary struggle hindered the
proj ect and no monument was erected
F o r nearly a century the subj ect seemed forgotten About
the year 1 850 it was taken up by the “ Providence Associa
”
tion of Mechanics and Manufacturers, and under their aus
pi ces a course of ten lectures was given to the public by as
m any gentlemen gratuitously the avails of which it was
announced were to go to wards erecting a monument to
A large committee from the Associatio n
R oger Williams
was also appointed to solicit subscripti o ns for this purpose in
the s everal wards The sum received from these ef forts was
deposited in the Providence Institution for Savings by
George Baker, committee The first deposit of $ 1 00 was
made in 1 850 Subsequent deposits with accumulated inter
est swelled this amount i n 1 867 to $ 2 50 This by a vote
of the Association will be available whenever such progress
has been made in the erection of a monument a s in the
j udgment of the Trustees of said Association will secure its
compl etion The writer having ascertained these facts
called at the Institution for Savings on the 8th of May 1 886
when he was informed by one of the o ffi cials that the sum on
deposit as shown by the books then amounted to
On the 26t h of April 1 860 a meeting of n early two hun
dred persons was held in Westminster Hall in response to
an invitation from the late Stephen R andall Esq who had
made special researches to discover and identify the plac e of
sepulture of his distinguished ancestor On the 2 2 d of
March previous in the presence of several gentlemen whom
he had invited to be present as witnesses and with the assist
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Fo o tp ri n ts qf
R oger
Wi l li a m s
43
.
ance of two experienced superintendents of the public burial
grounds he had caused to be exhumed the remains of W i l
”
“
liams dust and ashes and placed them in an urn for tem
po ra ry re interment in his own tomb in the North Burial
Ground The whole subj ect was then submitted by him for
final di sposition “ to the numerous descendants of R oger
Williams and to the people of R ho d e Island gen erally ; they
h aving all equally enj oyed the blessings of civil and religious
freedom mainly obtained by his bold exertions and patient
”
suff erings
The meeting was organized by the el ec ri o n of Hon James
Y Smith as Chairman and Hon Amos Perry as Secretary ;
After eloquent addresses by several distinguished citizens the
following resolution s were unanimously ad Opt ed :
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WH E R E A S Mr Stephen R andall moved by filial regard
for his distinguished ancestor has at no small expense of
time and means very carefully removed from their o riginal,
but neglected resting place to hi s own tomb the remains
of R oger Williams and now has them awaitin g a final resting
place ; and has also caused to be made an accurate map of
t he location of the o rgi n a l grave in connection with the rela
”
“
tive site of the house and of the Spring of Williams ; and
has now called a meeting of his descendants and others
interested in perpetuating the memory of his useful l ife ;
therefore
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That we express to Mr R andall our cordial
a pprobation for his services and especially for callin gon us
to advise and aid in erecting a monument that may properly
preserve the n ame and the remains of the illustrious F ounder
of the State of R hode Island an d of R eligious F reedom
“
R es o l ved ,
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,
.
That we invite all who feel an interest in this
work to unite with us in carry ing out a general plan for erect
ing a monument that shall be a worthy memorial of R oger
“
R es o l ved
.
Wi ll i a m s
Footp ri n ts qf R oger
44
.
Williams the apostle of soul liberty whose memory like
‘
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,
a
priceless l egacy should be fondly cherished by all the lovers
”
of freedom throughout the world
,
.
To carry these resolutions into effect a committee of fifteen
gentlemen was appointed to report a suitable plan and the
m eeting then adj ourned to May 1 0t h At this adj ourned
meeting a petition for an act of incorporation under the name
”
“
of The R oger Williams Monument Association was pre
sented and signed by eighty of the most prominent and
influential of our citizens Among them may be mentioned
the names of F rancis Wayland Elisha Dyer John Carter
Brown William Sprague Thomas M Clark Samuel G
Arnold William Gammell Samuel L Caldwell Barnas Sears
Thomas P Ives R obert H Ives R owland G H azard James
F
Simmons H enry Lippitt R ufus Waterman Wilkins
At a meeting held on the st h
U pdike and Ama sa Manton
of June the proposed act of inco rporation which had been
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passed at t h e May Session of the Legislature was duly
accepted and o f ficers were ele cted as follows : President
F rancis Wayland ; Vice Presidents Elisha Dyer David King
Elisha R Potter William Sprague Jabez C Knight ; Cor
responding Secretary John R Bartlett ; R ecording Secre
tary Amos Perry ; Treasurer James Y Smith ; together
with a Board of fourteen T rustees At this meeting Z acha
riah Allen James Y Smith and Seth Padelford were ap
pointed a special committee to report on the “ site character
and cost of a suit able monument
This committee on the 9t h of July reported substan tially
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that the site be the summit of Prospect H ill this being
near the identical spot selected by R oger Williams himself
as his family burial place and being moreover two hundred
feet above tide water As evidence of the conspicuousness
of this s ummit the committee in their report referred to the
historical fact that during the R evolutionary war a beacon
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Fo o tpri nts
f
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R oger
Wi l li a m s
45
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fi re was kindled thereon at the top of a mast which was seen
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by the inhabitants of Cambridge Massachusetts and of New
London Connecticut This circumstance rendered the sup
position reasonable that the top of the monumental shaft
ne
arly two hundred feet high might be visible from the top of
t h e Bunker Hill Monument which is two hundred and twenty
feet high In that case the worthy descendants of the
Puritans might there behold the R oger Williams Monument
raised on high as an emblem of the triumph of religious free
dom The committee further recommended that the monu
ment be constructed of granite or stratified gneis s and in
the form of a Grecian column, in preference to that of a
tapering and pointed obelisk in order that space might be
provided within the base for statuary sculptures and his
t o ri cal inscriptions ; and that a colossal statue if desirabl e
might be placed on the summit in bold outlines in the sky
The cost of such a shaft or column they estimated at from
sixty to seventy five t h ousand dollars
The Board of Trustees subsequently advertised for plans
several of which were presented but none of which were
approved there being a d i fii cul t y of agreement in matters of
taste At the annual meetings in 1 86 1 and in 1 862 no prog
ress appears to have been made ; and an adj ournment to
the year 1 863 was proposed “ in consequence of the dis
tracted state of the times and the absence from the State of
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many of the members
Similar fruitless annual meeting s
and adj o urn m ent s are recorded up to the year 1 865 when Mr
Stephen R andall despairing of any action on the part of the
Association deposited in the People s Savings Bank on the
5 t h of January the s um of one thousand dollars for the pur
poses o f a monument At the annaul meetin g held April
Seth Padelford was elected President ; F rederic k
1 6 1 867
Miller Secretary and James Y Smith Treasurer At this
meeting Mr Joseph R ogers presented the following preamble
and resolutions which were adopt ed
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46
Foo tpr i n ts
f
o
R oger
Wi l l i a m s
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W H E R E A S A descendant of R oger Williams in a spirit
of patri otic liberality has deposited the sum of one thousand
dollars in the People s S avings Bank, in Providence in trust
to form a fund for the erection of a monument to R oger
Williams ; and
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W H E RE AS I t is desirable that such a mon ument shall be
erected at an early day now therefore to promote that end
and to give the citizens of R hode I sland an opportunity to
manifest by their acts their veneration for the memory o f
the distinguished F ounder of our S tate
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Th at the Board of Managers (o r Trustees "
with such others as they may appoint be and they are here
by appointed a committee to solicit and c bllect subscriptions
etc
to be deposited from time to time in som e
S avings I nstitution
until the same w ith the accu
m ul at i o n s thereof by other deposits gifts and be q uests for
that purpose shall amount to a sum sufficient to procure a
suitable lot and to erect the said monument on Prospect
H ill in the city of Providence between A ngell and H alsey
streets and within three hundred feet of Prospect street ;
the outside wall to be of grani te and not less than one hun
dred and seventy feet high besides an ornamental top of any
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suitable material
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I n accordance with the above the Treasurer Mr S mith
made on the i 7 t h of J uly 1 867 a deposit of fifty dollars in
the U nion S avings Bank of which institution he was the
Presid ent This, with subseq uent deposits and accumulated
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interest amounted on the 2 3 d of A pril 1 87 8 to
The funds were withdrawn at that time by the Treasurer
H enry T Beckwith and deposited in the Providence I ns t i t u
tion for S avings There they remain A note from Mr
Beckwith dated i 3 t h May 1 886 st ates that the funds
amounted on the 1 s t of J anuary 1 886 to
Mr R andall executed a deed of the gift of one thousand
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48
Foo tpri nt: qf
R oger
Wi ll i a m
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The three funds which we have thus described already
amount to
I n fifty years or in the year of our
L ord 1 9 3 6 wh en t h e three hundredth anniversary of the set
t l em ent of Providence may be celebrated they will amount
at 6 per cent interest to
A monument is sure
therefore to be erected in time O ur children may see it
though we o f the present generation be denied the sight
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Perhaps the numerous descendants of the immortal R og
er
some of whom are known to be more highly favored than
their progenitor with w o rdly possessions may at the ap
pro achi ng reunion of the Williams family devise and ex ecute
liberal things and so hasten the erection of the “ Monu
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ment to R oger Williams
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