Note H. page 355.
The following letter from that indefatigable antiquary, the late Theodore Foster, Esq. contains some interesting information, concerning the residence of Roger Williams, the time of his death, and the place where he was buried. It is copied from the Rhode-Island American, of July 16, 1819:
“To Mr. Williams Thayer, Jr.
“Foster, R. I. May 21, 1819.
“Dear Sir,
“I have, this afternoon, had the pleasure of receiving your polite letter of yesterday, requesting information relative to your worthy and distinguished ancestor, Mr. Roger Williams, the Founder of our State, and for some years its Chief Magistrate and patron. He was chosen President, Sept. 13, 1654, after his return from his second successful agency with the Long Parliament in England. In that office he was continued, by repeated elections, until May 19, 1657, when he was succeeded in it by Benedict Arnold.
“In answer to your queries, “At what time did Roger Williams depart this life? Where did he dwell in Providence? and where was he buried?” I can only say, that I never met with any record, printed or manuscript, which I thought more correct, as to the time of his death, than the account given by Mr. Backus, in his History of the Baptists, vol. i. p. 515. Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 43, says, that he died in the year 1682, forty-eight years after his banishment. Now, adding forty-eight years to the year of his removal from Salem to Providence, which, undoubtedly, was in 1636, it makes the year 1684 as the year of his death, though Governor Hutchinson, by mistake, says it was in 1682. From Mr. Williams’ writings, it appears that he was born in 1599; and, as he died in the eighty-fourth year of his age, it will make the year 1683, as stated by Mr. Backus, that in which his death happened.
“It appears of record, that on the 16th day of January, 1683, Mr. Williams, with others, signed a settlement of a controversy which had long existed between some of the people of Providence and some of those of Pawtuxet, relative to the Pawtuxet purchase; and that, on the 10th day of May following, John Thornton, in a letter to Mr. Hubbard, mentioned his death. So he must have died between January 16 and May 10, 1683.
“The freemen of Providence, in town meeting, July 15, 1771, appointed a committee, viz. Stephen Hopkins, Amos Atwell, and Darius Sessions, Esqrs. to draft an inscription for a monument, which it was then intended to erect to his memory. In their vote on that occasion, Mr. Williams was called “the Founder of the Town and Colony.” The committee did nothing, and the business has slept from that time. In the summer of that year, (forty-eight years ago) when much was said respecting a monument for him, though nothing could be agreed on, his grave was shown to me, near the east end of the house lot now owned by Mr. Dorr. The foot grave-stone was then gone, and the top of the other broken off, so that only the lower part appeared, without any inscription. There were several other grave-stones near his, in memory of some of the Ashton family, who were connected with Mr. Williams, on which the inscriptions were entire. Thinking it a duty to preserve some knowledge of the place, where was deposited the dust of the founder of our State, I have repeatedly, of late years, sought for those monuments, without being able to find any traces of them; though I think I can, within a rod or two, show where they were placed, so that, on digging the ground, the graves may, perhaps, be discovered.
“There is no doubt but that Mr. Williams lived, the latter part of his life, upon the estate whereon he was buried, which was called the Crawford estate, after the connection of the Crawford and Fenner families, by the marriage of Gideon Crawford with Freelove Fenner, daughter of Arthur Fenner, April 13, 1687; which Arthur Fenner, July 31, 1688, gave to his three daughters, Freelove, Bethiah and Phebe, thirty-one acres of land, “in Providence Neck,” all which became the property of Mr. Crawford, who married Freelove Fenner, and I believe was exchanged or negotiated for Mr. Williams’ estate, near the spring.”[[395]]
As Mr. Williams’ grave and others before mentioned were on that estate, I applied, on the 12th of May, 1813, to Mrs. Mary Tripe, a descendant of the said Gideon Crawford, then in the seventy-second year of her age, for information respecting them. She was a woman of intelligence, good sense and information, and careful of what she said. She informed me that your ancestor, Roger Williams, lived in a house which was on the east side of the main street, a little south of the Episcopal church, the foundation whereof then remained, which she showed me, within sight of her house, and which I believe is also now removed, as I saw nothing of it, on looking for it, the last time I was in Providence. So transitory are all things pertaining to humanity! She told me there was no doubt that Mr. Williams was buried at the place which I have mentioned; that she had always been told so; and that she remembered seeing fruit trees growing there, when she was a girl; that her father once owned that and the estate where Moses Brown, Esq. now lives; and that there was a gang-way, fourteen feet wide, south of Mrs. Tripe’s house, given by Mr. Williams, to go to his spring, originally laid out from river to river, near which gang-way his house stood.
“I have an original letter, in the hand writing of Mr. Williams, to the freemen of the town of Providence, dated “11, 3, 60,” [May 11, 1660] claiming personal estate of John Clowson, who had been murdered by Waumaion, an Indian, on the 4th day of the preceding January, containing additional proof that Mr. Williams then lived near the spring before mentioned.
“I can give no satisfactory information relative to the other queries in your letter, but what may be derived from the records of Providence; nor have I any recollection of any circumstance which indicated that Mr. Williams left a will.
“It gives me pleasure to be able to furnish useful information to any of my friends, from documents in my possession. Though in haste, I have written diffusely, in answer to your letter. So far as it goes, I believe the information it contains is correct. That it may in some degree, answer your expectations, and the purpose for which you wanted it, is the wish of
“Yours, respectfully,
THEODORE FOSTER.”
The following extracts from a letter, inserted in the American, of July 20, 1819, deserve to be inserted, as illustrative of the subject before us:
“Providence, July 17, 1819.
“Messrs. Goddard & Knowles,
“Observing, in your paper of yesterday, a letter from the Hon. Theodore Foster, respecting Roger Williams, the founder of this State, I am induced to lay before the public the following facts, communicated to me by the late Capt. Nathaniel Packard, of this town, about the year 1808. About fifty years since, there was some stir about erecting a monument to commemorate that distinguished divine, civilian and statesman, and there was a difference of opinion as to the place of his burial. Capt. Packard was then absent, but had he been present, he could have pointed out the very spot where Roger Williams’ house stood, and where he was buried. When he was about ten years old, one of the descendants of Roger Williams was buried at the family burying-ground, on the lot right back of the house of Sullivan Dorr, Esq. Those who dug the grave, dug directly upon the foot of the coffin, which the people there present told him was Roger Williams’. They let him down into the new grave, and he saw the bones in the coffin, which was not wholly decayed, and the bones had a long, mossy substance upon them. Roger Williams was born in 1599, and died in 1683. Captain Packard was son of Fearnot Packard, who lived in a small house, standing a little south of the house of Philip Allen, Esq. and about fifty feet south of the noted spring. In this house Captain Packard was born, in 1730, and died in 1809, being seventy-nine years old. He was born forty-seven years after Williams died. So if he was ten years old when Williams’ descendant was buried, it was fifty-seven years after Williams died.
“As the people at the funeral of Williams’ descendant told Captain Packard that Williams was buried in the grave dug upon, there can be no doubt that Roger Williams was buried in the lot back of Mr. Dorr’s house, in his own family burying-ground, where I myself have seen stones to a number of the graves, within twenty years, which have since been removed. But, though the stones are not to be found, yet I cannot but venerate the spot where, I have no doubt, the dust of one of the greatest and best men that ever lived mingled with its mother earth.
“Mrs. Nabby Packard, widow of Captain Packard, who is eighty-five years old, told me, this day, that her late husband had often mentioned the above facts to her; and his daughter, Miss Mary Packard, states, that her father often told her the same.
“As to where Roger Williams’ dwelling-house stood, Captain Nathaniel Packard told me, that when he was a boy, he used to play in a cellar, which had a large peach-tree in it, which cellar, he said, was situate on a lot back of the house built by Thomas Owen, father of the late Hon. Daniel Owen, afterwards owned by Levi Whipple, and now owned by the heirs of the late Simeon H. Olney, directly north of the house owned by Ezra Hubbard, and near where an outbuilding now stands. The people, at that time, called it Roger Williams’ cellar. Mrs. Nabby Packard, Nathaniel Packard’s widow, told me this day, that she came to live where she now lives, when she was eighteen years old, which was sixty-seven years ago, and that she well remembers the cellar, and that it was called Roger Williams’ cellar. The site of the house was a little east of Roger Williams’ spring, and situate directly on the road laid out from said spring, to the upper ferry, (now Central Bridge.) The spring is called Roger Williams’ spring, and he owned the land all around it, being the very place where he sat upon the rock, and conversed with the Indians. The above facts, derived from Captain N. Packard, his widow and daughter, are indubitable evidences, that his house was where it is above stated to have been, and that he was buried in the lot back of Mr. Dorr’s house.”
It is hoped, that the prosperous city of Providence will not, much longer, endure the reproach of permitting her founder’s grave to remain without any memorial to indicate the spot. It is already too late, perhaps, to ascertain the precise place where his ashes lie, but it may be found, within a few feet. The ground around it ought to be obtained by the city, a handsome monument erected, and the whole enclosed within a permanent iron fence, and adorned with trees, shrubbery, &c. It would thus form an interesting spot, which the citizen would visit with interest, and which the stranger would seek as one of the principal points of attraction. It has been proposed to erect a monument in some other part of the city; but it would be absurd to place it any where else than on the spot where his bones are interred. The spot itself is interesting, because he owned it, and was buried there. It is surprising that his children ever allowed it to be sold.
In regard to the family of Mr. Williams, little is now known. Even his lineal descendants seem to have a very scanty knowledge of their ancestor. A few facts have been collected, though I cannot vouch for their accuracy.
His wife, it is supposed, survived him, but when and where she died, we know not.
It is nearly certain, that he left no will. He probably had very little, if any property, to bequeath.
He had six children:
1. Mary, born at Plymouth, the first week in August, 1633. Whether she was married or not, is uncertain. In Mr. Williams’ book against George Fox, he speaks of his daughter Hart, as residing in Newport. Mary may have married a person of this name.
2. Freeborn, born at Salem, the end of October, 1635. Of her, nothing further is known to me.
3. Providence, born at Providence, the end of September, 1638. He died unmarried, in Newport [another account says, in Providence] March, 1685–6.
4. Marcy, born July 15, 1640. She was married to Resolved Waterman, of Warwick, by whom she had four sons and one daughter. After his death, she was married to Samuel Winsor, of Providence, by whom she had two sons and one daughter. After his death, she was married to —— Rhodes, of Pawtuxet, by whom she had several children.
5. Daniel, born February 15, 1641–2. He married Rebecca Power, widow of Nicholas Power. He died May 14, 1712. He had five sons, Peleg, Roger, Daniel, Joseph, Providence. Peleg had four sons, Peleg, Robert, Silas, Timothy; and two daughters, who were married to Daniel Fisk and John Fisk. Roger had two daughters, one of whom was married to Jonathan Tourtellot, and the other to David Thayer. Daniel died unmarried. Joseph had two sons, Benoni and Goliah. Providence had one daughter, Elizabeth.
6. Joseph, born the beginning of December, 1643. He married Lydia Olney, December 17, 1669. He had three sons, Joseph, Thomas and James. Joseph had one son, Jeremiah, and eight daughters, who were married to Francis Atwood, William Randall, Joseph Randall, John Randall, William Dyer, Benjamin Potter, Benjamin Congdon, John Dyer. Thomas had three sons, Joseph, Thomas and John, and several daughters. James had four sons, James, Nathaniel, Joseph and Nathan.
Joseph Williams lived, for several years, on a farm in Cranston, three or four miles from Providence, where he died, August 17, 1724, in the eighty-first year of his age, and was buried in the family burying ground, on the farm, where his grave stone now stands, with this inscription:
“Here lies the body of Joseph Williams, Esq. son of Roger Williams, Esq. who was the first white man that came to Providence. He was born 1644. He died August 17, 1724, in the eighty-first year of his age.
In King Philip’s war, he courageously went through,
And the native Indians he bravely did subdue,
And now he’s gone down to the grave, and he will be no more,
Until it please Almighty God his body to restore,
Into some proper shape, as he thinks fit to be,
Perhaps like a grain of wheat, as Paul sets forth, you see.
(Corinthians, 1st book, 15th chapter, 37th verse.)”
His wife died a few days after him, and was buried by his side. Her grave-stone bears this inscription:
“In memory of Lydia Williams, wife of Joseph Williams, Esq. who died September 9, 1724, in the eightieth year of her age.”
In the same yard, is the grave of their youngest son. The stone has this inscription:
“Here lies the body of James Williams, son of Joseph Williams and Lydia his wife, who was born September 24, 1680, died June 25, 1757, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
He was of a moderate temper and easy mind,
He to peace was chiefly inclined;
In peace he did live, in peace he would be,
We hope it may last to eternity.”