Roger WILLIAMS

Abt 1604 - 1683

• Name	Roger WILLIAMS  [1, 2]
  Birth	Abt 1604	London, London, England   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Between 16 Jan and 16 Apr 1683	Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island   [1]
  Notes	From "The Descendants of Roger Williams, bk 1": Rogers Williams was born in London, circa 1604, the son of James and Alice (Pemberton) Williams. James the son of Mark and Agnes (Audley) Williams was a "merchant Tailor" (an importer and trader) and probably a man of some importance. His will proved 19 November 1621, left, in addition to bequests to his "loving wife, Alice," to his sons, Sydrach, Roger and Robert, and to his daughter Catherine, money and bread to the poor in various sections of London. The will of Alice (Pemberton) Williams was admitted to probate 26 January 1634. Among other bequests she left the sum of Ten Pounds yearly for twenty years to her son, Roger Williams,"now beyond the seas." She further provided that if Roger predeceased her, "what remaineth thereof unpaid ... shall be paid to his wife and daughter..." Obviously, by the time of her death, Roger's mother was aware of the birth in America in 1633 of her grandchild, Mary Williams. Roger's youth was spent in the parish of "St. Sepulchre's, without Newgate, London." While a young man, he must have been aware of the numerous burning at the stake that had taken place at nearby Smithfield of so-called Puritans or heretics. This probably influenced his later strong beliefs in civic religious liberty. During his teens, Roger Williams came to the attention of Sir Edward Coke, a brilliant lawyer and one-time Chief Justice of England, through whose influence he was enrolled at Sutton's Hospital, a part of Charter House, a school in London. he next entered Pembroke College at Cambridge university from which he graduated in 1627. All of the literature currently available at Pembroke to prospective students mentions Roger Williams, his part in the Reformation, and his founding of the colony of Rhode Island. At Pembroke, he was one of eight ranted scholarships based on excellence in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Pembroke College in Providence, once the women's college of Brown University, was named after Pembroke at Cambridge in honor of Roger Williams. In the years after he left Cambridge, roger Williams was Chaplain to a wealthy family, and on 15 December 1629, he married Mary Barnard at the Church of High Laver, Essex, England. Even at this time, he became a controversial figure because of his ideas on freedom of worship. And so, in 1630, then years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Roger thought it expedient to leave England. he arrived, with Mary, on 5 February 1631 at Boston in the Massachusetts Bay colony. Their passage was aboard the ship "Lyon". He preached first at Salem, then at Plymouth, then back to Salem, always at odds wit the structured Puritans. When he was about to be deported back to England, Roger fled southwest out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was befriended by local Indians and eventually settled at the headwaters of what is now Narragansett Bay, after he learned that his first settlement on the east bank of the Seekonk River was within the boundaries of the Plymouth Colony. Roger purchased land from the Narragansett Chiefs, Canonicus and Miantonom and named his settlement Providence in thanks to God. The original deed remains in the Archived of the City of Providence. Roger Williams made two trips back to England during his lifetime. The first in June or July 1643 was to obtain a Charter for his colony to forestall the attempts of neighboring colonies to take over Providence. He returned with a Charter for "the Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay" which incorporated Providence, Newport and Portsmouth. During this voyage, he produced his best-known literary work - - "Key into the Languages of America", which when published in London in 1643, made him the authority on American Indians....... Roger Williams was Governor of the Colon 1654 through 1658. During the later years of his life, he saw almost all of Providence burned during King Philip's War, 1675-1676. He lived to see Providence rebuilt. he continued to preach, and the Colony grew through its acceptance of settlers of all religious persuasions. The two volumes of the correspondence of Roger Williams recently published by the Rhode Island Historical Society, Glenn W. LaFantasie, Editor, present an excellent picture of his philosophy and personality Unfortunately, there was no known painting made of him during his lifetime, although many artists and sculptors have portrayed him as they envision him...... Roger Williams died at Providence between 16 January and 16 April 1683/1684, his wife Mary having predeceased him in 1676. His descendants have congtributed in many ways, first to the establishment of an independent Colony, later to the establishment of an independent state in a united nation. The United States of America has maintained the reality of separation of church and state which Roger Williams envisioned, and ordained in his settlement at Providence.....
  Person ID	I61859	Main Tree
  Last Modified	6 Mar 2016

  
  

  Father	James WILLIAMS   d. Bef 19 Nov 1621
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Alice PEMBERTON   d. Bef 26 Jan 1634
  Relationship	Birth
  Family ID	F21593	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mary BARNARD   d. 1676
  Marriage	15 Dec 1629	Church of High Laver, Essex, England   [1]
  Children	1. Daniel WILLIAMS,   b. Feb 1641, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island d. 14 May 1712 (Age 71 years)  [Birth]   2. Mary WILLIAMS,   b. Aug 1633, Plymouth, Plymouth Colony d. 1684 (Age 50 years)  [Birth]   3. Mercy WILLIAMS,   b. 15 Jul 1640, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island d. Aft 1705 (Age > 66 years)  [Birth] + 4. Freeborn WILLIAMS,   b. 04 Oct 1635, Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony d. 10 Jan 1710 (Age 74 years)  [Birth]   5. Joseph WILLIAMS,   b. 12 Dec 1643, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island d. 17 Aug 1724 (Age 80 years)  [Birth]   6. Providence WILLIAMS,   b. Sep 1638, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island d. Mar 1686 (Age 47 years)  [Natural]
  Family ID	F21592	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Marriage - 15 Dec 1629 - Church of High Laver, Essex, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S00047] Dorothy Higson White & Kay Kirlin Moore, "Descendants of Roger Williams" Book 1 - Waterman and Winsor Line Through His Daughter Mercy Williams, (Name: Name: Roger Williams Family Association;;). [S3597] Ernest Flagg, "Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England" My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking.