his descendants. His oldest son, Captain Samuell Gorton, succeeded in
some respects, to the position and influence of his father and held many
posts of honor in his Town and State. Benjamin, the youngest son, was
one of the founders of the neighboring Town of East Greenwich. Othniel
Gorton, a lineal descendant of Samuell Gorton, was several times chosen
to the General Assembly from the Town of Warwick, and was Speaker of the
House of Representatives at intervals during and subsequent to the
Revolutionary War. Gen. Nathaniel Greene, next to George Washington, the
most eminent military leader in the contest with Great Britain, traced
his lineage directly to John Greene and Samuell Gorton, noble founders
of the liberties which he fought to sustain; as did also Col.
Christopher Greene, of Revolutionary fame. Albert Gorton Greene, a
descendant of John Greene, Samuell Gorton and Randall Holden, three of
the original settlers of Warwick, became a judge of the Municipal Court
in the City of Providence, and is well known to three generations as the
author of “Old Grimes,” and other popular ballads and poems. The late
Governor Henry Lippitt, and the present Chief Magistrate of Rhode
Island, the Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, as well as the late Lieut.-Gov.
Samuel G. Arnold, the historian of the State, are direct descendants of
Samuell Gorton. The Rev. James Gorton, a Baptist minister of independent
views now living, is a frequent contributor on social and religious
topics to periodical literature. Dr. David Allyn Gorton, of Brooklyn,
N. Y., another living descendant of Samuell Gorton, has won an enviable
reputation in the practice of medicine, was formerly editor of the
National Quarterly Review, is the author of an able work on “The Monism
of Man,” and numerous philosophical essays, as well as a treatise on
“The Principles of Mental Hygiene,” and voluminous contributions to
medical literature. In recent years he has contributed several able
papers to the collections of the Brooklyn Ethical Association. His son,
Dr. Eliot Gorton, is well known as an alienist and an able writer on
this and kindred topics, as is also Dr. W. A. Gorton, of the Butler
Asylum for the Insane, in Providence. Charles Gorton, of the same city,
who owns the only complete original edition of Samuell Gorton’s
published works known to exist in this country, is a tireless
bibliophilist and book collector, the possessor of invaluable literary
and archæological treasures. Dexter Gorton is one of the most respected
citizens of Providence, a man of sterling integrity, for many years
Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of that City, now one of its Fire
Commissioners, and has several times been chosen to the City Council.
The descendants of Samuell Gorton are also widely distributed in other
portions of the country. In the independence of mind and literary
ability which they have often illustrated, the believer in heredity will
recognize the out-cropping of the same sterling qualities which
characterized the first of their honored name who made his home in the
new world.
The house which Samuell Gorton erected and where he spent his later
years was a land-mark in Old Warwick until within the last half century.
From its door his eyes could rest on the placid waters of Warwick Cove,
and beyond the meadow could see his cattle grazing upon the rounded
uplands of Warwick Neck. The surrounding scenery is restful to the eye,
and invites the thoughtful contemplation of the deep things of life in
which his soul delighted. A short time since, I visited the spot, and
conversed with the oldest representative of four generations of his
descendants, now occupying the ancestral acres. I walked up the
hill-side back of the house which now occupies the site of the old
Gorton homestead, to the little family graveyard where tradition says
that Samuell Gorton was laid to rest with the patent of the Town of
Warwick which he obtained in England,—a nobler decoration than a royal
order—upon his breast. No monumental stone—not even a green mound or an
over-arching tree—now marks the sacred bit of earth where his body long
since turned to dust.
All around, however, are the gracious evidences that his life and labors
were not vainly spent. The prosperity of the town which he founded and
the Commonwealth which he helped to build, constitute his most enduring
monument. South, lies the quiet hamlet of East Greenwich, of which his
son was one of the founders, built in part upon land once owned by
Samuell Gorton. West, also, lie the rural towns of Coventry and West
Greenwich, the soil of which was largely covered by his original
purchase from Miantonomi. What fortunes have been made where he found a
wilderness and out of it wrought a humble home for his declining years!
What untold happiness has filled the throbbing hearts of the many
generations that have come after him as they have looked out upon the
pleasant acres, honestly bought of their aboriginal possessors, and
bravely held as a heritage to his posterity!
The Commonwealth which he loved and served so well has proudly held up
the banner of Soul Liberty guarded and consecrated by Righteous Law,
until its beautiful symbol[83] has carried Hope and Safety to the
uttermost parts of our American Union. Could this Founder of our
Liberties look down upon these peaceful and prosperous scenes, and
ponder upon their vast and beneficent significance, hardly would his
unselfish soul miss the monumental stone which yet a grateful community
shall raise to his fragrant memory. In thankfulness of heart he would
bless the Power which has wrought so marvelously in him and in those who
have followed in his footsteps, and murmur in grateful acknowledgment,
“Yea, Lord, I have seen of the travail of my soul, and am satisfied.”
FOOTNOTES
Footnote 1:
Both Samuell Gorton, Sr., and his eldest son, spelled their first name
with the double “L.”
Footnote 2:
“Beniamin Gorton Killed A woolfe And brought ye head & Skine to my
house ye 21st day of December, 1674.”—[_Unpublished Town Records, of
Warwick._]
Footnote 3:
The site of the block-house has usually been placed on the North Side
of the Mill Pond, at Old Warwick. Recent investigations, however,
strongly favor the more natural site at Conimicut. I am told that
Judge Brayton was convinced that this was the true location, before he
died.
Footnote 4:
Notes to “Simplicities Defence against Seven-Headed Policie,” by Judge
W. R. Staples, [_R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll._]
Also “A Defence of Samuel Gorton,” By George A. Brayton, late Justice
of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. [_Providence: Sidney S. Rider._]
Footnote 5:
Report on the Settlement of Warwick, 1642, and the Seal of the R. I.
Historical Society, by William D. Ely and John P. Howland,
(Proceedings, 1887-88,) and Report of the Committee on the Library,
(Proceedings, 1890.)
Footnote 6:
Fuller’s “History of Warwick” also contains some sympathetic allusions
to Gorton’s story. The Hon. William P. Sheffield, in an address before
the R. I. Historical Society (1893), does him less than justice.
Footnote 7:
Mackie, et al. A letter of Gorton’s seems to fix this date with
reasonable certainty as the year of his birth.
Footnote 8:
A Defence of Samuel Gorton and the Settlers of Shawomet, p. 5.
Footnote 9:
In a letter to Nathaniel Morton, Gorton says: “I was not bred up in
the Schoole of humane learninge, and I bless God that I never was.”
Footnote 10:
_Vide_ Mackie, and others. Gorton himself refers to his father as “a
merchant of London,” which would possibly imply an earlier removal.
Footnote 11:
Calendar’s Historical Discourse, p. 9. I have not yet found this
letter of Gorton’s in the original.
Footnote 12:
The fact that he subsequently returned and spent some time in London,
unmolested, also militates against this charge.
Footnote 13:
1636, O. S.
Footnote 14:
The trial of Wheelwright was in progress when Gorton arrived.
Footnote 15:
Under date of June 7, 1637, his name appears on the roll of a company
of volunteers from Plymouth to aid Massachusetts in the Pequot war. He
probably saw no service.
Footnote 16:
An early tradition, the origin of which I have not been able to trace,
gives the name of Gorton’s wife as Elizabeth. In the New England
Historical and Genealogical Register, (Vol. XLIV) however, there is a
record of the bequest of Mary Mayplett, of London, widow, on Dec. 7,
1646, to her daughter, “_Mary_ Gorton, wife of Samuell Gorton, being
in New England,” of “all the money which her said husband Samuell doth
owe me, and a breed of cattle which he hath of mine.” In a later
volume (XLVI), there is a record of the will of “John Maplett, Doctor
of Physicke, of the city of Bath, Somerset,” dated April 16, 1670,
which contains the following clause: “I give and bequeath unto my dear
sister, Mistress Mary Gorton, of New England, the sum of 20s., and to
each of her children I give the sum of 10s. apiece.” Dr. John Maplett,
the brother-in-law of Samuell Gorton, was eminent in letters as well
as in medicine, having been for a time the Principal of Worcester
College. (_Vide_ Stevens’s Cyc. of Nat. Biography.) Samuell Gorton’s
oldest child was a daughter named Mary, probably for her mother. His
youngest daughter was named Elizabeth, but the late date of Dr.
Maplett’s bequest to his sister Mary precludes the idea of a second
marriage. There appear to have been at least two instances in the
later history of the Gorton family of marriages between Samuells and
Elizabeths, and it is probably from this that the confusion has
arisen. I am indebted to Mr. Adelos Gorton, of Philadelphia, for
important facts bearing on this question.
Footnote 17:
Winslow afterwards vaguely accused her of “having made some unworthy
speeches and carriages.” (“_Hypocrisy Unmasked_”).
Footnote 18:
For an account of Gorton’s trial see Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. I,
pp. 100, 105, under date “5 Nov. 1638.”
Footnote 19:
_Vide_ Portsmouth Records, under date “Aprill the 30th, 1639.”
Footnote 20:
April 28, 1639, William Coddington was Governor, under the Royal
Charter, from May, 1674, to May, 1676, and from Aug. 28, 1678, to Nov.
1 of the same year, dying in office.
Footnote 21:
March 12, 1640.
Footnote 22:
He is said to have characterized the magistrates as “just asses,” and
to have called one of the witnesses a “jack-an-apes.” (See charges in
Portsmouth Records). This occurred in August, 1640.
Footnote 23:
So Leckford (1641), Winthrop and Morton. Judge Staples questions this.
Gorton himself refers to “fines, whippings and banishments out of
their jurisdiction,” suffered by himself and friends. (_Simplicities
Defence_). See also Edward Winslow’s “_Hypocrisie Unmasked_.”
Footnote 24:
For charges against Gorton see Portsmouth Town Records. There, also,
under date “Mch. 16, 1642,” is a record of the banishment and
disfranchisement of Wickes, Carder, Holden, Shotten and Potter; an
action practically reversed on the 19th of the following September.
(Portsmouth Records). They had already left Portsmouth before their
official banishment.
Footnote 25:
There is reference to these controversies in Providence Records under
date Nov. 17, 1641, in which Gorton’s name is mentioned.
Footnote 26:
There are strong reasons for questioning the authenticity of this
letter.
Footnote 27:
This is admitted by Knowles, the biographer of Roger Williams. Arnold,
certainly, had few sympathizers. None of the five “Disposers” of the
town took part in this action.
Footnote 28:
The first deed of land beyond the Pawtuxet was made to John Greene,
Oct. 1, 1642, and signed by Miantonomi and Soccononocco. The deed to
Samuell Gorton and others, of the Shawomet lands bears date on the
12th of the following January (1642, O. S.).
Footnote 29:
The submission of Pomham and Soccononocco to Massachusetts bears date
“June 22nd, 1643.”
Footnote 30:
_Vide_ “_Narragansett Historical Register_,” Vol. I, pp. 16, 17, _et
seq._
Footnote 31:
Sept. 12, 1643.
Footnote 32:
Reply of Nowell and the Boston authorities to Gorton, _vide_
“_Simplicities Defence_.”
Footnote 33:
“All ministers of the Gospel.” (Brayton.) The Providence men were
Chad. Brown, Thomas Olney, William Field and William Wickenden.
Sheffield says “Brown and Wickenden _afterwards_ became clergymen.”
(_Samuell Gorton_, p. 45).
Footnote 34:
Sheffield says “for several days.” (Address before R. I. Historical
Society, February, 1893).
Footnote 35:
The invaders also took and sold eighty head of cattle belonging to
Gorton and his friends.
Footnote 36:
A full account of this contest, with statements of both parties,
appears in Gorton’s “_Simplicities Defence_,” (first ed., London, Aug.
3, 1646.) See also Winslow’s “_Hypocrisie Unmasked_.”
Footnote 37:
Gorton was at first ordered to formulate his answers “_within fifteen
minutes_,” but on appeal was given until the next morning.
Footnote 38:
By two majority!
Footnote 39:
Gorton was taken to Boston as “prisoner of war,” Oct. 13, 1643. He was
sentenced Nov. 3, 1643; released Mch. 7, 1643-44 (1643, O. S.).
Footnote 40:
History of New England, Vol. I.
Footnote 41:
_Simplicities Defence against Seven Headed Policie._
Footnote 42:
The reference is to Mr. Cotton’s championship of Anne Hutchinson and
the Antinomian heresy.
Footnote 43:
Williams probably sold his half of Prudence to obtain money to pay his
expenses to England, when he went to make application for a charter.
The purchase was in the name of a friend and co-partner of Winthrop,
one Parker, a merchant of Boston.
Footnote 44:
The date ordinarily assigned to this patent, “Aug. 19, _1644_,” must
be erroneous. It was probably granted two years later, when Gorton was
in England.
Footnote 45:
The manner in which the authorities of Massachusetts Bay recognized
this safe-conduct was characteristic. Under date of “13th May, 1648,”
the following entry appears in the Colonial Records: “Vppon the
request of the Earle of Warwicke, the Court allowes Samuell Gorton,
now a shipboard, one full weeke after the date hereof, for the
transportatiō of himselfe & his goods through or iurisdictiō to the
place of his dwelling, he demeaning himselfe inoffensively, accordinge
to the contents of the Ŝd earle’s l’re, & that the marshals or some of
them shall shew him a coppie of this order, or fix it to the maine
mast of the shippe in which he is.”—_Mass. Records, Vol. III, p. 127._
Footnote 46:
Warwick was not named in the Charter, as the town was not organized
when it was granted; but it united with the other towns in 1647, in
the first General Assembly of the entire Colony.
Footnote 47:
These were the names given the contesting parties of white men by the
Indians. The latter, Roger Williams says, means “coat wearers,” which
leads Dr. Fiske to query whether the Gortonists habitually went in
their shirt sleeves!
Footnote 48:
Peage, or wampum, was legal tender in Rhode Island until 1662, and
doubtless still passed current among the Indians. The bill of sale
bears the name of Pomham’s son, but in its terms binds Pomham as well
as his heirs.
Footnote 49:
The Charter of 1643-44 provided “that the laws, constitutions,
punishments for the civil government of the said Plantation be
conformable to the laws of England so far as the nature and
constitution of that place would admit.”
Footnote 50:
Gorton’s legal acquirements were evidently superior to those of any
other man in the Colony. He was one of the first Judges of the Colony.
Footnote 51:
Historical Records, Vol. I, p. 166.
Footnote 52:
William Arnold and the Pawtuxet malcontents.
Footnote 53:
Hazard’s State Papers, p. 555. Quoted in R. I. Colonial Records, Vol.
I, p. 235.
Footnote 54:
Colonial Records (May 19, 1652).
Footnote 55:
John M. Mackie.
Footnote 56:
_Vide_ “Certain Letters which Passed between the Penman of this
Treatise and certain men newly come out of Old England into New.” By
Samuell Gorton.
Footnote 57:
Colonial Records, 1658.
Footnote 58:
Ibid, 1665.
Footnote 59:
Records of the Town of Warwick (unpublished).
Footnote 60:
Greene’s Short History of Rhode Island, p. 76.
Footnote 61:
Unpublished Town Records.
Footnote 62:
_Vide_ Austin’s Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. See, also,
unpublished Town Records of Warwick.
Footnote 63:
Massachusetts Records, Vol. II, p. 51.
Footnote 64:
History of Rhode Island. By Samuel G. Arnold.
Footnote 65:
Ibid.
Footnote 66:
This is substantially the conclusion of Judge Brayton. (Defence of
Samuel Gorton).
Footnote 67:
That Gorton believed in civil government also clearly appears in his
correspondence relating to the Quakers, where he expressly dissents
from their views about government.
Footnote 68:
_Vide_ Nowell, Rawson, Winthrop, Winslow, Morton, _et al._
Footnote 69:
“The Father was never knowne nor is he knowable but in Christ.”
(Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer).
Footnote 70:
The quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from Gorton’s
unpublished Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer. (Commentary, p. 101).
Footnote 71:
“Though no church was formed in connection with his ministrations, he
exercised a powerful influence upon the religious views of the
Colony.” History of Warwick, p. 301. By Orris Payson Fuller, B. A.
Footnote 72:
He also differed with the Friends of his day in his views about
government.
Footnote 73:
This is strongly emphasized in his Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer.
Footnote 74:
Commentary Mss., p. 11. See, also, p. 14, _et seq._, as well as
“_Simplicities Defence_,” (R. I. Hist. Soc. Ed.) page 183.
Footnote 75:
Commentary Mss., page 57.
Footnote 76:
Dr. Fiske is in error in classing him as a follower of Anne
Hutchinson. His theology was original and peculiarly his own.
(Commentary Mss., p. 58).
Footnote 77:
Commentary Mss., p. 90.
Footnote 78:
It is hardly necessary to say that neither Gorton or Parker held this
doctrine in any materialistic sense. It was a lofty philosophical
conception that the entire creative energy was expressed in the divine
nature, to conceive which as purely masculine was inadequate,
anthropomorphic and irrational.
Footnote 79:
The first charge against Roger Williams, on which he was banished from
Massachusetts Bay, accused him of teaching “That wee have not our land
by Pattent from the King, but that the natives are the true owners of
it and that wee ought to repent of such receiving it by Pattent.”
Gorton agreed with Williams as to the necessity of purchase from the
Indians, but thought the charter also necessary.
Footnote 80:
John M. Mackie, in “_Sparks’s American Biography_.”
Samuel Eddy, Secretary of State of Rhode Island, _circum_ 1820, says
of Gorton: “From the first establishment of the government he was
almost constantly in office, and during a long life there is no
instance of record to my knowledge of any reproach or censure cast
upon him, no complaint of him, although history furnishes abundance of
evidence that there were no lack of enemies to his person, principles,
or property. This can hardly be said of any other settler of the
Colony of any standing.” Quoted in Judge Brayton’s “_Defence of Samuel
Gorton_.”
Footnote 81:
_Vide_ Winthrop’s Letters, the Portsmouth charges, etc.
Footnote 82:
The eldest daughter, Mary, married, i. Peter Greene; ii. John Sanford;
the youngest, Elizabeth, married John Crandall; Sarah married William
Mace; Ann’s husband was John Warner; Susanna’s was Benjamin Barton.
From these marriages have sprung many well known Rhode Island
families.
Footnote 83:
The Colonial Assembly of 1647 provided “that the seale of the Province
shall be an anchor.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following books, articles and manuscripts have been consulted in the
preparation of this paper:
1. SIMPLICITIES DEFENCE AGAINST SEVEN-HEADED POLICIE. By Samuell Gorton.
Original Edition, London, Aug. 3, 1646. Second edition, 1647.
Reprinted in Vol. III of R. I. Historical Collections, with
introduction and notes by Judge W. R. Staples.
2. AN INCORRUPTIBLE KEY COMPOSED OF THE CX PSALME, WHEREWITH YOU MAY
OPEN THE REST OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. By Samuell Gorton. London.
3. SALTMARSH RETURNED FROM THE DEAD, in _Amicus Philalethes_; or the
Resurrection of James the Apostle out of the Grave of Carnall Glosses,
for the Correction of the Universall Apostasy which cruelly buryed him
who yet liveth. By Samuell Gorton. London Edition.
4. AN ANTEDOTE AGAINST THE COMMON PLAGUE OF THE WORLD. * * SMARTLASH
ASCENDED TO THE THRONE OF EQUITY, FOR THE ARRAGNMENTS OF FALSE
INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WORD OF GOD. By Samuell Gorton. London Edition.
(Dedicated to “His Highness, Oliver, Lord Protector of England,
Scotland and Ireland, with the dominions thereto belonging.”)
5. A RUNNING COMMENTARY ON THE LORD’S PRAYER (Matt. vi, 9-13). By
Samuell Gorton. (_Mss._ in Library of the R. I. Historical Society, at
Providence).
6. CERTAIN LETTERS WHICH PASSED BETWEEN THE PENMAN OF THIS TREATISE AND
CERTAIN MEN NEWLY COME OUT OF OLD ENGLAND INTO NEW. By Samuell Gorton.
(London Edition).
7. LETTERS TO NATHANIEL MORTON AND OTHERS. By Samuell Gorton. (Some of
these letters are in the possession of Mr. Edward Crowninshield, of
Boston).
8. LIFE OF SAMUEL GORTON. By John M. Mackie. (Sparks’s American
Biography).
9. A DEFENCE OF SAMUEL GORTON AND THE SETTLERS OF SHAWOMET. By George A.
Brayton. Late Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island (R. I.
Historical Tracts, No. 17.—Sidney S. Rider).
10. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE—Calendar.
11. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORDS.
12. MASSACHUSETTS COLONIAL RECORDS.
13. RECORDS OF PLYMOUTH COLONY.
14. TOWN RECORDS OF PORTSMOUTH.
15. TOWN RECORDS OF PROVIDENCE.
16. TOWN RECORDS OF WARWICK. (Unpublished).
17. HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WARWICK. By Orris Payson Fuller, B. A.
18. NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL REGISTER.
19. HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. Updike.
20. HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. By J. G. Palfrey.
21. HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND. By Samuel G. Arnold.
22. A SHORT HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND. By George Washington Greene.
23. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND. By John Fiske, LL. D.
24. PROCEEDINGS OF THE R. I. HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1887-88, 1890-91.
25. HYPOCRISIE UNMASKED. By Edward Winslow.
26. HAZARD’S STATE PAPERS.
27. AUSTIN’S GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF RHODE ISLAND.
28. THE COLONIAL ERA. (American History Series). By G. P. Fisher.
29. LETTERS OF JOHN WINTHROP.
INDEX
=Adams=, Charles Francis, on Samuell Gorton, 83
=Agnosticism=, Gorton’s views on, 88-89
=Aldredge=, Mrs.
Her trouble with the Plymouth authorities, 28
Samuell Gorton’s defence of, 28-29
=Anarchism=, Gorton’s alleged, 74-78
=Anchor=, the Seal of Rhode Island, 115
=Andros=, Governor, 78
=Antinomianism=, 97 and _note_.
=Apponaug.=
Town Hall of Warwick in, 9, 14
Ancient records in, 14, 15
=Aquidneck.=
Settlement of, 29-31
Effort of Massachusetts to separate from Providence Plantations,
49-55
A refuge for Warwick residents in King Philip’s war, 70
=Arnold=, Hon. Samuel G.,
His History of Rhode Island, 17, 19
On Samuell Gorton’s political creed, 75
His kinship to Samuell Gorton, 75, 110
=Arnold=, William,
His contentions in Providence and Pawtuxet, 34, 36
His alliance with Massachusetts Bay, 36
His small following, 36, _note_.
His friends accuse the men of Shawomet, 62, and _note_.
=Arrow-heads=, 14
=Atherton= Company, 39, 49
=Awoshosse=, 52
=Barton=, Benjamin,
Marries Susanna, daughter of Samuell Gorton, 108, _note_.
=Bible=, Samuell Gorton’s principal text-book, 22, 99
=Bibliography=, 119-122
=Blasphemy=, Charges against Gorton for, 39, 43, 45
=Boston=, Sympathy with Gorton in, 45-46
=Bradford=, William, 10
=Brayton=, Hon. George A.
His Defence of Samuell Gorton, 18, and _note_, 19
On Gorton’s noble connection, 21-22
On the peace-makers from Providence, 40, _note_.
=Canonchet=, 69
=Carder=, Richard.
His banishment from Portsmouth, 33-34, _note_.
His imprisonment in Massachusetts, 47
=Channing=, William Ellery.
Samuell Gorton’s theology compared with, 96
=Charles= the First.
His contest with Parliament, 35
=Charles= the Second.
Gorton prepares an address to, 67
Grants the Charter of 1663, 68
=Charlestown=, Samuell Gorton’s imprisonment in, 45
=Charter.=
Of Providence Plantations, 1643-44, 53, 56, 60, 61, _note_.
Of Warwick, 54
Royal Charter of 1663, 68
=Christ=, Samuell Gorton’s teachings about, 88, 89, 91, 95-97
=Christocentric= character of Samuell Gorton’s theology, 88
=Church= of England, Samuell Gorton’s indebtedness to, 23
=Clam-bakes=, 14
=Clarke=, John.
Represents Rhode Island in England, 66
Gorton’s letter to, concerning the Quakers, 67
Secures the Charter of 1663, 68
=Coddington=, William.
Settles at Aquidneck, 30
Removes to Newport, 30
Establishes a Theocracy, 30
Supported by a minority, 31
Opposes union under the Charter of, 1643-44, 56
Secedes from the Charter Government, 63
Governor under the Royal Charter, 30, _note_.
=Code= of 1647, 60-62
=Cole=, Daniel, marries Mahershallalhashbaz, daughter of Samuell
Gorton, 108
=Colonial= dwellings in Warwick, 8
=Common= Law of England, 76-77, 105
=Conanicus=, 52
=Conimicut= Point.
Samuell Gorton’s Block House on, 12, and _note_.
The siege of, 12, 40-42
=Connecticut= rejects the limitations of citizenship by
church-membership, 80
=Cotton=, John, his alleged heresies, 47-48, and _note_.
=Coventry=, 114
=Coweset=, Gorton’s lands in, deeded to his sons, 72
=Coweset= Bay, 9
=Crandall=, John, marries Elizabeth, daughter of Samuell Gorton, 108,
_note_.
=Cromwell=, Oliver, letter to, concerning the Quakers, 66-67
=Cutshamekin=, 46
=Declaration= of Independence, 105
=East= Greenwich.
Land in owned by Samuell Gorton, 72-73, 114
Benjamin Gorton, one of its first settlers, 73