Major John Rhodes, Jr.

John married Catherine Holden 29 Apr 1714. Catherine (daughter of Charles Holden and Catherine Greene) was born 6 Aug 1694; died 25 Jul 1731, Warwick, RI. [Group Sheet]

1. Waite Rhodes was born 29 Dec 1714; died 13 Oct 1768.
2. John Holden Rhodes was born 5 May 1716; died 18 Jul 1774.
3. Catherine Rhodes was born 1 Aug 1717.
4. Charles Rhodes was born 29 Sep 1719, Warwick, RI; died 22 Feb 1777, Cranston, RI.
5. Mercy Rhodes was born 29 Mar 1721; died 1723.
6. Anthony Rhodes was born 27 May 1722.
7. Joseph Rhodes was born 22 Aug 1723.
8. Zachariah Rhodes was born 8 Sep 1727.
9. Holden Rhodes was born 20 May 1731, Warwick, RI; died 1774, Warwick, RI.

John married Mary Whipple Aft 1731. [Group Sheet]

John married Waite Waterman 12 Feb 1684/85, Warwick, RI. Waite (daughter of Resolved WATERMAN and Mercy WILLIAMS) was born 1668; died 21 Feb 1711/12. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Zachariah Rhodes was one of the four original founders of Pawtuxet in 1638, along with William Arnold, William Carpenter, and William Harris.

Zachariah married Joanna Arnold 6 Mar 1645/46. Joanna (daughter of William Arnold and Christian Peak) was born 27 Feb 1617/18; died 1693. [Group Sheet]

Resolved married Mercy WILLIAMS 1659, Providence, RI. Mercy (daughter of Roger WILLIAMS and Mary BARNARD) was born 15 Jul 1640, Providence, RI; died Abt 1705. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Information on Mercy's two marriages is noted in New England Marriages Prior to 1750.

Notes:

"On June 24, 1635, there arrived in Massachusetts Bay a group of neighbors, nearly all related either by blood or marriage. They had sailed from Dartmouth in Devonshire May 1 of the same year, all but one of the party, William Carpenter, coming from Ilchester, in southern Somersetshire or within about five miles of that place. The leader of the party was William Arnold whose 48th birthday was the day of their arrival. His oldest son Benedict, one of the party, a lad 19 years of age at that time, has given us the only account that we have of their embarkation, in his own family record, written probably soon after his removal to Newport in 1651. They joined with Roger Williams in the settling of Providence, RI. In 1638 William moved about five miles south of Providence to the Pawtuxet River where he, with his two sons, his son-in-law, and his nephew, and others bought huge tracts of land from the Indians. With his sons Benedict and Stephen he owned nearly ten thousand acres of land and paid the highest tax in the colony. William Arnold's farm included a section of the most valuable part of the city of Newport, including the 'Old Stone Mill.' Benedict, son of William, was with his father when they went from Hingham to the Narragansett Bay in 1636. He moved to Newport in 1651 where he was very active in town affairs. In 1657, he succeeded Roger Williams as President of the colony until 1663 when he was named as the first governor which he was, with the exception of six years, until his death in 1678."
(The Arnold Memorial: William Arnold of Providence and Pawtuxet 1587-1675, compiled by Elisha Stephen Arnold 1935)

From "Early Records of the Arnold Family" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: "We came from Providence with our family to Dwell at Newport in Rhode Island the 19th of November, Thursday in afternoon, & arrived ye same night. Ano. Domina 1651. . . my father and his family Sett Sayle from Dartmouth in Old England, the first of May, friday & Arrived In New England. June 24th Ano 1635. We came to Providence to Dwell the 20th of April, 1636. per me Bennedict Arnold."

William Arnold was one of the four original founders of Pawtuxet in 1638, along with Zachariah Rhodes, William Carpenter, and William Harris.

William married Christian Peak Abt 1610, England. Christian (daughter of Thomas Peak) was born Abt 15 Feb 1583/84, Somerset, England; died 1659, Pawtuxet Village, Warwick, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

An Arnold web site says she was born 15 Feb 1583, a daughter of Thomas Peake of Muchelney, Somerset, England.

Notes:

The following notes are paraphrased from the book "Descendants of Roger Williams" by Dorothy Higson White:

When Richard Waterman arrived in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony on 29 June 1629, his reputation as a skillful hunter had preceded him. In addition to helping supply the people with good venison, he was appointed to inspect canoes by the Court at Salem, and he also served on a Petit Jury in 1636. Richard agreed with many of the ideas preached by Roger Williams, concerning religious and civil liberty. Because of this, he was among a group of eighteen or more men who were asked to leave the colony, along with their families.
"Providence Town Records quote Roger Williams in 1661 as having declared that in 1634 and 1635 he made treaties with the Narragansett Indians and bought land he called Providence 'for a shelter for persons destressed for Conscience.' He communicated this fact to his 'loving friends, John Throckmorton, William Arnold, William Harris, Stuckley West(cott), John Greene Sr., Thomas Olney Sr., Richard Waterman, and others who desired to take shelter with him. Roger Williams generously shared his purchase of land with twelve" others, who along with Roger are called The Original Proprietors of Providence. Several of them were baptized or re-baptized in the new colony and are co-founders of the First Baptist Church in America, an active congregation to this day.
Richard Waterman was one of the signers of the Compact of Providence of 27 July 1640, proposing a form of government. He also served on the Providence Committee of 18 May 1647 to form a government under the Charter that Roger Williams had brought back from England. At one point he was arrested and jailed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony over a border dispute, and found to be "erronious, hereticall, and obstinate."
There is some question as to whether Richard and family relocated to Warwick. He, along with Samuel Gorton and ten others, was one of the purchasers of the "Grand Purchase," the area which is now Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry. This was bought from Myantonomy (Miantonomo) on 12 January 1642.
Of the men named as The Original Proprietors of Providence, we -- meaning Grandpa Norman Remington and thus I and my children -- are direct descendents of at least five them: Roger Williams, Richard Waterman, Stukeley Westcott, Thomas Olney, and John Greene. We are descended from the Watermans through the Whitford line.
(Read more about Richard Waterman's adventures and accomplishments in the above-mentioned book, pages 2-3, available online from the Roger Williams Family Association; also see other books and web sites to learn about Rhode Island's fascinating history.)

According to "The History of Warwick" by Oliver Payson Fuller, Cowesett farm #8 belonged to Richard Waterman, one of the 12 original purchasers of Warwick. As nearly as I can determine, this would be on the southwest corner of Route 3 (Cowesett Rd.) and Route 2 (Quaker Lane). Farm #3, on the opposite corner (northwest of the four corners), originally belonged to Robert Potter, but was purchased from his heirs in 1707 by Israel Arnold of Pawtuxet. A portion of this was purchased by the Remingtons, and in 1875 "is now owned by heirs of Jonathan Remington." The next plantation eastward also belonged to the Remingtons.

Richard — Bethia WAITE. Bethia died 3 Dec 1680. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

"The Fenner Family" gives her name as Bethia Rice.

Notes:

Did you know: When Roger Williams crossed the Seekonk River to found Providence, the Narragansetts greeted him with "What cheer, netop?" A common greeting in the 17th century, "What cheer?" or "What news of cheer do you bring?" is similar to a 21st century expression, "What's new?" "Netop" is a Narragansett word for friend. (source: RI Historical Society)

The following notes are from "Descendents of Roger Williams" by Dorothy Higson White, Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1991:

"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 burnings 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 and 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 granted 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, ten 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' (Lion).
"He preached first at Salem, then at Plymouth, then back to Salem, always at odds with 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 Miantonomi, and named his settlement Providence in thanks to God."

(Continue reading about his amazing accomplishments which paved the way for future generations. Log on to the following web sites.)
http://www.rogerwilliams.org

We are (at least) triple descendants of Roger & Mary, through two of their children, Mary & Mercy.

The following notes are from a manuscript at the Warwick Historical Society, Pawtuxet, RI (the original source is not clearly identified): "The first English missionary to the Indians of New England was Roger Williams, who preceded John Eliot by at least fourteen years. Williams began to study the languages in 1631 while at Plymouth and by 1633, according to Mr. Wood in the 'New England Prospect,' was the only English missionary and so good a[nd] proficient that he could converse with them (Ernst p. 251) . . . From 1631 to 1683 he was constantly doing missionary work among the New England tribes. While studying the language and telling them of Christ and his love, he built up a large and profitable Indian trading business; much of the profits he used for their peace and welfare (p. 252) . . . Williams was handsome and winning in appearance, generous and enthusiastic in temper, eloquent, religious, and philosophic (Ernst p. 368)."

The following is excerpted from "Materials Toward a History of the Baptists in Rhode Island," Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society of the 4th Series, Boston, Crosby Nichols & Co., 1854, @ [http://21tnt.com/morganedwards/#edwardsrhodeisland]:
"It is certain that he embraced the sentiments of the Puritans, and suffered on account thereof. (Hist. Of Mass., Vol. 1, page 39. Neal, Vol. 1, p. 140.) This sent him and many more to America. He landed at Salem [Boston] Feb. 5, 1631, and immediately was admitted a preacher in the independent church of Salem as an assistant to Mr. Skelton. Soon after he removed to the church of Plymouth, where he continued about three years, and was much thought of by the governor (Bradford) and the people, of whom the former gives this testimony: "Mr. Roger Williams (a man godly and zealous, having many precious parts) came hither, and his teaching was well approved, for the benefit whereof I still bless God and am thankful to him even for his sharpest admonitions, &c." But Mr. Skelton, of Salem, growing infirm, Roger Williams returned thither and soon succeeded him in the ministry. Here he had not been long a preacher before his favorite sentiment, liberty of conscience, gave offence to a small but the leading part of the congregation. Yet, this would have been borne with had he not further maintained that civil Magistrates as such have no power in the church, and that Christians as Christians are subject to no laws of control, save those of king Jesus. These were intolerable positions among the Massachusetts Magistrates, who, from the beginning discovered an itch for being kings in Christ

Roger married Mary BARNARD 15 Dec 1629, Essex, England. Mary was born Abt 1605; died 1676, Providence, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Roger & Mary were married at the Church of High Laver, Essex, England.