Major John GREENE, Jr.

Notes:

John Greene came to New England with his family in 1635. On a 1650 map of Providence, his name is shown as owner on one of the original house lots on Towne Steeet. He became a Major in the Rhode Island Militia, Representative to the Rhode Island General Assembly for 12 years, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, agent for the colony in England, and Deputy Governor from 1690 to 1700. (See "Colonial Families of the United States")

"He became a large landowner in his own right as well as by inheritance, and was prominently active in all interests of town and Colony. It was written of him at a later period: 'He was a man of great weight of thought, sharpness of wit, aptness of action, and adroitness of understanding.' " (See "The Greenes of Rhode Island" compiled by Louise Brownell Clarke, New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1903, p. 59)

Official leadership positions he held:
Town Clerk and Surveyor of Warwick, RI
Commissioner: Member of Colonial Assemblies
Deputy, Assistant, and Deputy Governor for about 11 years
Captain of the Militia for 8 years
Major for 7 years
Attorney general 1657 - 1660
Secretary of State 1652 - 1654
Several times was sent to England as an Agent for the Colony

His will, dated Dec 1706, says he is in his 87th year, and his wife in her 80th. He names sons Richard, Samuel, Peter, & Job; and daughters Deborah, Philip(a), Ann, Catherine, & Adere; granddaughter Mary Dyer; and refers to Philip(a)'s children but not by name.

John married Anne ALMY Abt 1648. Anne (daughter of William ALMY and Audrey BARLOWE) was born 26 Feb 1626/27, South Kilworth, Leicester, England; died 6 May 1709, Warwick, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The children of this marriage are found in the Warwick, RI, First Book of Marriages.

1. Deborah Greene was born 10 Aug 1649, Warwick, RI; died 8 Feb 1728/29.
2. John Greene was born 6 Jun 1651; died 1 Feb 1685/86.
3. William Greene was born 5 Mar 1653/54; died Abt Jan 1679/80.
4. Peter Greene was born 4 Feb 1654/55; died 12 Aug 1723.
5. Job GREENE was born 24 Aug 1656; died 6 Jul 1745.
6. Phillip\Phillippe GREENE was born 7 Oct 1658, Portsmouth, RI; died Between 1690 and 1706.
7. Richard Greene was born 8 Feb 1660/61, Warwick, RI; died Abt Jun 1711.
8. Ann Greene was born 19 Mar 1662/63, Warwick, RI.
9. Catherine Greene was born 15 Aug 1665, Warwick, RI; died 1755.
10. Audrey Greene was born 27 Dec 1667, Warwick, RI; died 17 Apr 1733.
11. Samuel Greene was born 30 Jan 1669/70; died 18 Sep 1720.

Notes:

He is referred to as Dr. John Greene; John Greene, Surgeon; and John Greene, Sr.

The following information is extracted and paraphrased from the book "The Greenes of Rhode Island," compiled by Louise Brownell Clarke and published in 1903, available at the RI Historical Library and elsewhere:

This John Greene, an English surgeon who became the first professional medical man in Providence Plantations, was the founder of a family which has become as prominent as any in the history of our state. It gave to the Colony two Governors (both named William Greene); to the Army of the Revolution, Major-General Nathanael Greene; to the United States forces in the Civil War, Major-General George Sears Greene . . . and many others (pp. 43 & 44). These notable Greene descendants were also descendants of our ancestor Samuell Gorton (p. 45).

John Greene, Sr. was born at his father's estate, Bowridge Hill, at Gillingham, County Dorset, England in 1597 or 1598 (the above book gives his year of birth as c. 1590). He later moved to Salisbury, Wiltshire (p. 52), and in 1619 was married there at St. Thomas Church to Joan (or Joanne) Tattershall (or Tatarsole). Their marriage is recorded in the church register, as are the baptisms of all their children (p. 54). The family resided at Salisbury for about 16 years. It is not known exactly what prompted Dr. Greene and his wife to leave their homeland, but we do know that they sailed from Hampton (or Southampton), England, with their six children, on 6 April 1635 on the ship "James." After a voyage of 58 days (p. 55), they arrived in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on 3 June 1635. They first settled at Salem along with Roger Williams who, when he learned in 1636 that officials intended to deport him back to England, escaped south to the Narragansett Bay area, beyond the borders of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The climate of religious persecution also led to the ousting of Dr. Greene, who in the spring of 1637 sold his house in Salem and brought his family to Providence, where he was one of the twelve original proprietors.

According to Massachusetts Colonial Records, i, p. 203 (quoted in above book, p. 57), "John Greene of New Providence [was] fined 20 pounds and forbidden this jurisdiction on pain of fine and imprisonment for speaking contemptuously of magistrates Sep 19, 1637." In a letter sent to the Massachusetts Court, he had charged them with usurping the power of Christ over the churches and men's consciences. It was a bold accusation, one that he would not have made had he not believed it to be both true and an egregious offense.

The right mode of baptism was one of the issues of contention in Massachusetts, where there was no allowance for different beliefs; but in Providence there was freedom of worship. So, here John Greene was baptized by Roger Williams, and was one of the twelve founding members of the First Baptist Church in America. John was also one of the first six settlers to receive home lots, which fronted on Towne Street (now Main Street) facing the cove (now the river) and extending back to Hope Street (p. 59).

Some time after Dr. Greene came to Rhode Island, his first wife Joan died. She was the mother of all his children. He then remarried to Ailsce (Alice or Elsie) Daniels, a widow of Providence.

The first land purchase by an English settler in the Warwick area was made by (Dr.) John Greene, Sr., to whom was deeded on 1 Oct 1642 the tract of land called Occupasuetuxet, by Miantonomi, chief Sachem of the Narragansetts. He moved there in 1642 or 1643 with his new wife and family. His farm came to be known as "Greene's Hold." In addition, John was one of a group of twelve men, including our ancestors Richard Waterman and Samuell Gorton, who purchased "Old Warwick" -- just south of Greene's land -- from the Indians. Known as the Shawomut Purchase, this area deeded to the settlers was about four miles wide and twenty miles inland, extending from the bay to the present-day Connecticut border. Shawomut, an Indian name meaning "a spring," was the original name of Warwick.

Connecticut and Massachusetts officials at various times tried to exert their control over the Rhode Island territory. Massachusetts Bay officials used rivalries among Indian tribes as leverage to stake their own claim to the prime coastal farmlands of Rhode Island, particularly the Shawomut area. Although the Indian Sachem had sold the settlers the land, with a fair written contract to prove it, there was a small group of unfriendly Indians on Warwick Neck who refused to leave and continually harassed the settlers. Massachusetts saw their opportunity and in 1643 sent a posse of armed men from Boston to arrest the settlers, even firing on a house where the English flag was displayed in an appeal to a higher law. The women and children fled in terror to the woods, while some of the men were bound and taken prisoner to Boston. Sadly, two of the wives died, probably from the trauma of fright and exposure to the elements (p. 55). The two who died were Isabel, wife of Robert Potter, and Ailsce, wife of Dr. John Greene.

The leaders of Shawomut, seeing the need for authority from the mother country as a defense against the neighboring colonies, appealed to England for their right to exist. The Earl of Warwick signed the Patent of Providence Plantations on 14 March 1643/44, and so the town was officially named Warwick in his honor.

Official records show that John held numerous leadership positions in the Colony and in the town:
8 Aug 1647 - Member of the first Town Council of Warwick, RI
26 Feb 1648 - Commissioner (Representative of Warwick to the General Assembly)
7 May 1649 - Magistrate in Court of Trials, Warwick, RI
4 June 1649 - Assistant
2 July 1649 - Member of Town Council
26 Oct 1650 - Commissioner
8 May 1655 - Commissioner
6 Oct 1656 - Commissioner
9 Aug 1657 - Commissioner

John made a trip back to London around 1644, where he married his third wife, Phillipa (it was always spelled "Phillip" -- a common name for both males and females at the time; it may have been pronounced as "Phillippe"). Her maiden name is not known. They returned to Warwick in 1646. After a full life, he died in January 1659, and is buried on the family farm in Conimicut, Old Warwick. His wife "Phillip" died in 1687, at about 87 years old.

John is the great-great-grandfather of General Nathanael Greene.

The RI Cemetery Database has his year of birth as 1585.

For more interesting information on the Greenes, see "Warwick's Villages & Historic Places," by Don D'Amato, at the City of Warwick web site:

http://www.warwickri.gov/heritage/damatoshistory/apponaug4.htm

Dr. married Joan TATTERSHALL 4 Nov 1619, St. Thomas Church, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Joan was born Abt 1598, England; died Between 1638 and 1639. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

One online genealogy identifies her parents as Richard (b.1572) & Margaret (Fox, b.1576) Tattershall. No documentation is provided.

Notes:

The church record gives her maiden name as "Tatersole."

Notes:

Richard was appointed executor of his father's will in 1608.

Richard — Mary HOOKER. Mary (daughter of John HOOKER) was born Abt 1567. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Mary was the grandniece of Archbishop Grindal of Canterbury (see "History of Exeter, England" at the Astor Library, New York City, cited in "The Greenes of Rhode Island" compiled by Louise Brownell Clarke, Knickerbocker Press, 1903).

Notes:

John was Chamberlain of the City of Exeter, England, in the mid-1500s. He also was a member of the Irish Parliament in 1568, and represented Exeter in the English Parliament in 1571.