Of the oldest child Mary—the little maid of Plymouth and the first who came to gladden her mother’s and father’s heart—almost nothing is known.
Fortunately, Freeborn’s history is less mysterious. She married a young shipmaster by the name of Hart and made her home in Newport with her four children. After her husband’s death, she had the courage to marry Walter Clarke, who had been twice a widower and was the father of seven children.
Providence, a shop-keeper and shipmaster of Newport, never married.
Mercy Williams became the wife of Resolved Waterman and the mother of five children. She was married a second time to Samuel Winsor. Their son Samuel became minister of the Baptist Church in Providence. In one point he agreed heartily with his grandfather Roger—that ministers should receive no pay for their services. With something of his kinsman’s spirit, he refused invitations to Sunday dinners “for fear they should be considerations for Sunday sermons.”
Daniel Williams married Rebecca Power, a widow whose husband had been killed in the “Great Swamp Fight.” It fell to Roger Williams’ lot to record the marriage, for he was then town clerk. He described it as “the first marriage since God mercifully restored the town of Providence.” Daniel’s children numbered five sons.
Joseph Williams, the youngest child, married Lydia Olney, who survived him only three weeks. They had three sons. In Roger Williams Park, Providence, may be seen the old family burial plot of Joseph Williams and his descendants, containing weather-beaten stones bearing old-fashioned inscriptions. That of the head of the family is quaint enough to be given a place here:
“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.”
In all probability Joseph Williams did his duty during the terrible Indian scourge, yet we prefer to dwell upon those earlier, pleasanter days when the friendship of the red man had not turned to distrust and hatred.
Roger Williams Park recalls that period, for it was formerly the woodland and fields given by Canonicus and Miantonomo to the white neighbor and friend they always loved and respected. In time it became the possession of Miss Betsy Williams, who bequeathed it to the city in memory of her famous and well-beloved ancestor. The hundred acres have since been beautified and added to until to-day the picturesque stretch of park-land is one of the most attractive in the United States—a fitting and beautiful memorial to the great man whose name it bears.
Miss Williams attached one condition to her gift—that a statue of Roger Williams should be erected by Providence. The condition was met and to Mr. Franklin Simmons of Rome was entrusted the important but difficult task of trying to express in granite and bronze something of the nobility of one of the greatest of Americans.