“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.”