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Childhood
Roger was born at Cow Lane, London. His father, James, was a cloth merchant. He joined “…the Merchant Taylors’ Company on 7 April 1587, by apprenticeship to Nicholas Treswell…”
http://www.marcwkohler.com/?page_id=2285/ James and Alice, Roger’s mother, own an inn called The Harrow across the street from their home, which was also James’ business location. Roger lived near the Smithfield Market, where executions were held at The Elms no. It is believed that Roger witnessed executions. When he was eight or nine, he witnessed the burning of Bartholomew Legate. Roger was an avid reader, and he teaches himself stenography short hand. He attends the St. Sepulchre not a school, a church early school (no indication of formal training before Charter House school).
This is from The First American Founder page 7. RW could not have worked His education emphasized religious training as well as English and Latincc. Some have suggested that Roger met John Smith at the church or at his mothers public house.. Smith returned to England in 1615, where he remained until his death in 1631.
1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies, and James VI, King of Scotland, becomes King of England: The Millenary Petition and the Hampton Court Conference (1604) deals with hopes that Puritans have for the future. James I rebuffs all of their pleas, and orders his own translation of the Bible, The King James Bible.
1606: Sir Edward Coke becomes directly involved in American adventures when he helps write the charter of the Virginia Company.
1610: King James declares “that even by God himself [kings] are called gods.”
1615-1621 why always stenography and not short hand? hmmmm…I do not know. I guess stenography has more prestige
Judge Sir Edward Coke meets Roger, and he learns that Roger can do stenography. Roger becomes Coke’s secretary and stenographer for Coke’s courts and meetings. Roger does stenography and final copies. Coke had several young stenographers, and he sent them out to courts throughout London. They would do stenography at the courts in London, and file final copies with Coke. “…His Law Reports, known as Coke’s Reports, were an archive of judgments from cases he had attended, in which he had participated or about which he had been informed.
1621-1628: Roger’s name in Pembroke College register: Here
Sir Edward Coke supports Roger to go to the Charterhouse School and Pembroke College. Roger is one of only two students that Coke ever recommended to these schools. In 1624 Roger is one of three Charterhouse scholars chosen to be sent to university. He stays at Cambridge through 1628. He has learned Greek, Hebrew, Latin French no indication frecnh was taught at CharterHouse. “..Displaying a gift for languages, he quickly mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch and French https://www.biography.com/scholar/roger-williams
to add to Dutch and Latin that he learned as a child. Charterhouse was a grammar school, where proper grammar in Greek and Latin were taught. French Dutch eyc were more than likely learned just being in London. By this time, Roger had become a committed Puritan Separatist no. I think you are missing the end date of this paragraph–1628
1617: Smallpox not smallpox that is why there is an “or” here. or other plague kills 60%- 90% of Native Americans in New England. . The Narragansett were (NOT AT ALL) You are right “…The plague that swept through the region from 1616 to 1619 left the Narragansett’s largely untouched while the Wampanoag and others suffered devastating losses, increasing the Narragansett’s power…”.https://www.aaanativearts.com/narragansett-indian-tribe-index…only slightly affected. At that time, the tribe living east of the Palmer River were called the Pokanoket. After the Indian War of 1676, the name was outlawed, and that is why we call them Wampanoag NO today Wampanoo are on early Dutch maps. Yes, but should I use thgat nae instead of Wampanoag? No one would know what I am talking about. That was the name for a larger group of tribes of which the Pokanoket Yes, I could use The Pauquunaukit, but no one would recognize it.were a member.
1620: Mayflower sails to New England. .
1620: Francis Bacon writes Novum Organum, sive indicia vera de Interpretationes Naturae (New organon, or true directions concerning the interpretation of nature.)
1625: James I dies, and Charles I becomes king. On June 13, Charles Marries fifteen-year-old Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England.
1625: Bubonic Plague strikes London.
1626: Sir Francis Barrington and Sir William Masham are imprisoned for not paying into the King’s forced loan program. They are not released until January 1628.
1628-1630
July: Sir Francis does not recover from the prison conditions and passes away in July of 1628. His reputation in Essex County grows, and he becomes a “Saint” of the Puritan movement.
Late in 1628: Roger decides to leave Pembroke graduate school??? They say that he was working on a masters. I will drop this., could not be assigned would not accept-— I have not read this anywhere. It may be true, and I will look into it.to a Church of England church, because of his Separatist views. Some historians say that Roger is ordained into the Church of England. Others think that all he did was to sign the 39 Acts. We do know that Gov. Winthrop of Bay Colony calls Roger a “Godly minister” when Roger and Mary arrive in Massachusetts. He finds a position as a domestic chaplain for the family of Sir William and Lady Elizabeth Masham. They are members of a leading Puritan group in England. Roger marries Mary Bernard, who is the daughter of Puritan clergyman, Richard Bernard. Oppression of Puritans increased, and Roger and Mary leave England for New England on December 1, 1630. Lady Joan Barrington, Elizabeth’s mother was one of Oliver Cromwell aunts, and the matron for the Cromwell-Barrington families. She arranged Oliver’s marriage to Elizabeth Bourchier in 1621. Her home becomes an important location for Parliamentary opposition to King Charles I. Here is a list of some of the visitors that visited Otes Mansions:
Ministers: Thomas Hooker, John Eliot, Hugh Peter, John Preston, James Harrison, Nicholas Barnard, and more.
Members of Parliament and other politically active individuals: John Hampden, Edward Whalley, John Bourchier, Gilbert Gerard, Williams Meux, Francis Harris, Richard Everard, Oliver St. John, who marries Elizabeth Masham’s daughter from her first marriage, and John Pym often comes and stays at Otes.
Marc’s Comment: Google any one of these men, and you will find the heart and the soul of the English Civil War.
After war, John Locke. Not sure what you mean
July 1629
Roger attends a meeting of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Company meeting at Sempringham castle . He travels to the meeting on horseback with two well respected ministers of the time, Thomas Hooker and John Cotton. I used to think that the Barrington-Masham group sent him to this meeting, but apparently, there is no evidence of that being the case.
1630-1631
Oppression against Puritans grows under Bishop Laud who will become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. He has spies everywhere. Roger and Mary decide to sail to the Bay Colony. They arrive at the Bay Colony on February 5th or 9th, and Roger is “unanimously chosen teacher at the Boston church” by the congregation there. Roger “conscientiously refuses” to join because the church held communion with the Church of England. Roger wanted a complete separation.Addition: After spending a short time in Salem, Roger and Mary move to Plymouth where he speaks at the church, runs a trading post, and establishes a close relationship with the local tribes. Roger and Mary’s first child is born in Plymouth in August of 1633, and later that fall the Williams moved back to Salem. Roger served in several positions at the Salem Church, and engenders the ire of the Bay Colony.
I have learned that there is no evidence that RW ran a trading post in Plymouth, but I am sure that he did.
1633-1636
When Roger returns to the Salem(Boston is not Salem, big difference) Sorry, I thought they were all in the Bay Colonyhe angers the leaders of the Bay Colony by insisting on speaking even in small group (?)s against the rules of the colony. He writes a tract questioning the rights of King Charles and his Charters. He thinks that the colonists should negotiate and make a deal for any land that they acquire from tribes. He wants a complete separation from the Church of England, and he wants governments to stop being involved in enforcing the first four of the Commandments. He is interviewed many times, over the years, and in October of 1635, he is banished from the colony. He is told that he can stay in the Bay Colony through the winter. Roger is found guilty for advocating:
1st. That we have not our land by Patient from the King, but that the natives are the true owners of it, and that we ought to repent of such receiving it by Patent.
2d. That it is not lawful to call a wicked person to swear, to pray, as being actions of God’s worship.
3d. That it is not lawful to heare any of the Ministers of the Parish Assemblies in England.
4th. That the civil magistrates power extends only to the Bodies and Goods and outward state of man as stated in the Second Table of the Ten Commandments.
1636
In January Roger learns from John Winthrop that soldiers are coming to arrest him. He flees South. With the help of the local tribes, he makes the walk to Warren, RI. Sachem Ousamequin allows Roger and his group to stay in Seekonk. Plymouth claims that the land is theirs, so Roger must move. Sachem Canonicus and his nephew, Miantonomi, of the Narragansett, agree to allow Roger to come west “… and therefore I declare to posterity, that were it not for the favor God gave me with Canonicus, none of these parts, no, not Rhode Island, had been purchased or obtained, for I never got anything out of Canonicus but by gift..” There is a signed deed which plays key roles in the history of Rhode Island.
1637 The First Providence Agreement Here
The First Providence Agreement among the residents of Providence is signed: August the 20th “…We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of families — incorporated together in a Towne fellowship, and others whom they shall admit unto them only in civil things…” Richard Scott, Edward Cope, William Reynolds, Thomas Angell, by his mark. by his mark, Chad Browne, Thomas Harris, + John Warner, by his mark, John Field, + Francis Weekes, + by his mark, by his mark, George Rickard, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, William Wickendon. https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Providence_The experience of living and working in the world of Coke and Bacon has given Roger a deep understanding of the law, science, and human behavior. Constitutionalism has its birth. There is no mention of God in the agreement.
1636-1637:
The Pequot War occurs between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists, and their allies. Roger spends three days negotiating with the Narragansett while the Pequots argue against him. In the end, the Narragansett elect to side with the colonists. The Pequot are destroyed. In one major attack, the colonists set fire to a fort filled with 700 Pequot men, women, and children. They all die in the fort or are killed when they tried to escape the flames. The Narragansetts are shocked at this treatment.
1637: Roger Williams opens trading post in the “heart of Narragansett country” in North Kingstown. Roger William’s Marker Inscription: “….In 1637 near this spot, ROGER WILLIAMS set up a trading post where he dwelt for many years, trading and treating with the Narragansett Indians. His dealings so completely won and held the friendliness of the powerful Narragansett sachems that for more than a generation the white settlements of Rhode Island were spared to become a flourishing State….” Page is: Here
1638 In Providence, Roger meets with Particular Baptists who have been banished by Massachusetts. He joins their group, but after a few months, he gives up his membership. He calls himself a “Seeker.”(no, seeker was derogatory name) My notes to this:
“… In 1651, Williams sent to John Eliot (the Massachusetts Bay preacher whom Williams was to oppose in his “Brief Reply”) a copy of John Jackson’s A Sober Word to a Sober People.94 Jackson acknowledged being a Seeker, but he rejected the common misimpressions of what a Seeker was. Rather, he defined Seekers as “such, as, not seeing a sufficient ground for the practice of Ordinances [religious requirements] are said to seek them.”95 In the remainder of his work, Jackson questioned the scriptural authority for the current churches and ministry. Although Williams may not have agreed with all the details of Jackson’s analysis, it is clear from the historical evidence discussed above that he was a Seeker in Jackson’s definition of the term. Accordingly, Roger Williams supported the Baptist view of baptism in his “Brief Reply” while having earlier questioned the scriptural authority of any current church or minister, Baptist or otherwise,
Johnson, Alan E.. The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience (p. 94). Kindle Edition. g
Oliver Cromwell called himself a Seeker “…:In religion, however, Cromwell represented the army more completely than in politics. Cromwell was, as Baillie truly termed him, “the great–“Independent” — a type of Independency itself, representing not any particular species of Independent, but the whole genus which the term included. He called himself by the name of no sect, “joined himself to no party”, and “did not profess of what opinion he was.” “In good discourse” he would sometimes “very fluently pour himself out in the extolling of Free Grace,” but he refused to dispute about doctrinal questions. There are indications in some of Cromwell’s utterances that he was attracted to those who called themselves “Seekers”, because they found satisfaction not in any visible form or definite creed, but in the perpetual quest for truth and perfection. “To be a Seeker,” says Cromwell in a letter written about this time, “is to be of the best sect next after a Finder, and such an one shall every faithful humble Seeker be in the end.” But while standing a little apart from every sect, Cromwell seemed to share the aspirations and enthusiasms of each. “Anabaptists, Antinomians, Seekers, Separatists,” he sympathised with all, welcomed all to the ranks of the army, and “tied all together by the point of liberty of conscience, which was the common interest in which they all did unite.”
Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (pp. 100-101). Lume Books. Kindle Edition.
So, how can we say that the term was derogatory?
John Clarke has started a Baptist church in Newport. Chaddus Brown takes over as minister when Roger steps away.
1640: The Plantation Agreement at Providence
Citizens of Providence sign The Plantation Agreement at Providence forming “..a pure democracy, which for the first time guarded jealously the rights of conscience by ignoring any power in the body politic to interfere with those matters that alone concern man and his Maker.”-Arnold. The cpmment pn that Page was written by
1643: Roger travels to England to find(?) a charter for Rhode Island. Due to the English Civil War, Parliament is the functioning government, and Roger has friends in Parliament. Oliver Cromwell and Henry Vane the Younger give Roger support. On March 14, 1644, Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Plantations grants Rhode Island Charter, also called a Patent. On the ship sailing to England, Roger writes his first book: A Key into the Language of America known as A help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America called New England. It is a translation of Algonquin, and a discussion of the cultures of both the indigenous people but Europeans as well. A year later, Roger completes his best-known book: The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace. Factions in Parliament order that it be burned. He will write twelve more books.
1647 May, Acts and Orders of 1647 also called The 1647 Code of Laws for Providence Plantations is signed. “…Made and agreed upon at the General Court of Election, held at Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, for the Colonies and province of Providence…’ The evolution of the democratic state continues. It includes: “…Forasmuch as the consciences of sundry men, truly conscienable, may scruple the giving or taking of an oath, and it would be noways suitable to the nature and constitution of our place (who professeth ourselves to be men of different consciences, and no one wiling to force another) to Debar such as cannot do so, eyther from bearing office amongst vs, or from giving in testimony in a case depending…” Alan Johnson covers the many unique and “progressive” of this Great document. A copy is Here
1652: Roger, John Clarke, and Mr. and Mrs. John Dyer travel to England to stop Coddington’s efforts to form a colony in the Aquidneck islands, and attempt to receive a stronger Charter. Clarke stays in London, and the English Council of State agrees with Roger against Coddington. Roger writes that he had “the confirmation of the charter.” Roger connects with the Masham’s children, Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Vane, Coke’s daughter, Anne Sadleir, and others.
1653-1658: Oliver Cromwell becomes the Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The instrument of Government or Constitution has the order that there be freedom of religion except for Popery and Prelacy. (and must be Christian, not really freedom, but tolleration) These are the core beliefs and aims of all that Roger Williams had worked for, and the Popery became legal, too, later, but Catholics were not allowed civic participation until decades later.Oh?
Article:XXXVII. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ (though differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship or discipline publicly held forth) shall not be restrained from, but shall be protected in, the profession of the faith and exercise of their religion; so as they abuse not this liberty to the civil injury of others and to the actual disturbance of the public peace on their parts: provided this liberty be not extended to Popery or Prelacy, nor to such as, under the profession of Christ, hold forth and practise licentiousness.
1654-75 Roger is elected president of the combined colonies of Providence, Newport, Narragansett, and Warwick. Then, he is elected as a Commissioner. Then, he serves as Deputy, Finally, he serves on Providence Town Council.
1675-76: King Philip’s war is the deadliest war per capita in the history of America . In the space of little more than a year, twelve of the region’s towns are destroyed and many more are damaged. Providence is burned to the ground. Roger’s home is destroyed. Roger serves in the local militia. With devastation all around them, a group of residents of Providence send surviving tribal members into involuntary indenture.
1676: Mary Williams dies.
1683: Roger dies.
ROGER WILLIAMS PUBLISHED WORKS
A Key into the Language of America known as A help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America called New England. 1643
Mr. Cotton’s Letters Lately Printed, Examined and Answered. It is a copy of a letter that John Cotton wrote to him, with his answers against Mr. Cotton’s views. 1644
Queries of highest consideration, proposed to the five Holland ministers and the Scotch Commissioners (so called) : upon occasion of their late printed apologies for themselves and their churches. In all humble reverence presented to the view of the Right 1644
The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace 1644
Christenings make not Christians, or A Briefe Discourse concerning that name Heathen, commonly given to the Indians. As also concerning that great point of their Conversion. 1645
Mr. Cotton’s Letters Lately Printed, Examined and Answered. It is a copy of a letter that John Cotton wrote to him, with his answers against Mr. Cotton’s views. 1644
The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody: By Mr Cottons endevour to wash It white in the Blood of the Lambe of whose precious Blood, spilt in the Bloud of his Servants; and of the Blood of Millions spilt in former and later Wars for Conscience sake, that most Bloody Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience, upon, a second Tryal1652
Experiments of spiritual life & health, and their preservatives in which the weakest child of God may get assurance of his spirituall life and blessednesse 1652
The fourth paper presented by Maior Butler to the honourable committee of Parliament for the propagating the gospel of Christ Jesus : which paper was humbly owned, and was, and is attended to be made good by Maj. Butler, Mr. Charles Vane, Col. Danvers, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Wall, and Mr. Turner ; also a letter from Mr. Goad, to Major Butler, upon occasion of the said paper and proposals ; together with a testimony to the said fourth paper by way of explanation upon the four proposals of it : Unto which is subjoyned the fifteen proposals of the ministers.1652
The Hireling Ministry None of Christ’s: Or a Discourse Touching the Propagating of the Gospel of Christ Jesus 1652
The Examiner defended, in a Fair and Sober Answer to the Two and twenty Questions which lately examined the Author of Zeal Examined 1652
George Fox Digg’d out of his Burrowes, or, An offer of disputation on fourteen proposals made this last summer 1672 unto G.Fox 1676
John Cotton’s answer to Roger Williams
Marc Kohler
Roger Williams Educational Foundation
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