[7]. This name appears in the writings of the subject of this paper both as “MacSparran” and “McSparran.” In his work “America Dissected,” he repeatedly spells it “MacSparran,” while on other occasions he frequently uses the abbreviated form “McSparran.”
[8]. In Mac Sparran’s time great latitude was exercised, even by educated people, in the matter of orthography, including proper names.
[9]. It will be noticed that Dr. Mac Sparran never uses the cant term “Scotch-Irish.” His education, good sense and patriotic spirit raised him above such a subterfuge.
[10]. Dean Berkeley, the famous “Kilkenny scholar,” located near Newport, R. I., in 1729, and on various occasions visited MacSparran. Berkeley was subsequently made Anglican bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland.
[11]. Recently deceased. Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
[12]. A small remnant of the Narragansett nation still exists, chiefly at or near Westerly, R. I. Few, if any, of these survivors, are of pure Indian blood.
[13]. The claim has been made that the slaves were kindly treated in Rhode Island. No doubt they were in many cases, but so, in some instances, were those in the South. Still, at the best it was slavery, and the very nature of this traffic in human beings must have been equivalent to injustice, oppression and cruelty.
[14]. This Dr. Giles Goddard was the father of William Goddard who, in 1762, established the Providence (R. I.) Gazette, the first paper ever printed at Providence.
[15]. Captain Wilkinson was an Irishman who resided at Newport, but was an intimate friend of Dr. MacSparran, Col. Updike and other prominent Narragansett people.
[16]. In Narragansett, R. I.