Providence Civil Compact

Those who came to Seekonk with Roger Williams early 1636


Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in October 1635 but was allowed to remain at his home in Salem until the end of winter, provided that he did not preach. However, his followers visited him at his home in sizable numbers, and the authorities deemed this as preaching. He was to be apprehended and put on a ship for England in January 1636. He was, however, tipped off by magistrate John Winthrop and slipped away from Salem near the middle of January, in the dead of winter, to find shelter with the Wampanoags. He bought a parcel of land in Seekonk from Wampanoag sachem Massasoit which was then at the western edge of the Plymouth Colony (now Rehoboth, Massachusetts). In a 1677 statement, Williams mentioned the four who were with him at Seekonk. The five members of the group were:


 * Roger Williams
 * William Harris
 * John Smith (miller)
 * Francis Wickes
 * Thomas Angell

Those who first settled Providence


In the spring of 1636, Williams and his company planted crops at Seekonk but were informed in a gentle letter from Governor Edward Winslow of Plymouth that they were within Plymouth's jurisdiction, and this fact would cause difficulties with the Massachusetts authorities. Without urgency, Winslow suggested that Williams and his group move across the Seekonk River into the territory of the Narragansetts, where no colony had any claim. By this time, it is likely that the family members of the original settlers had joined the group. Two other families also joined the settlement. Joshua Verin wrote a statement in 1650 mentioning "we six which came first to Providence", suggesting that he was the next to join the original five. Also, Benedict Arnold later wrote, "Memm. We came to Providence to Dwell the 20th of April, 1636"; Providence had not yet been established, so he certainly was referring to Seekonk, where the Arnolds came from Hingham to join the other settlers. It is likely, therefore, that sometime about June 1636 the following 25 people crossed the river from Seekonk, in the Plymouth Colony, to a location on the Moshassuck River in Narragansett territory which Williams soon named Providence Plantation:


 * Roger Williams with wife Mary and daughters Mary and Freeborn
 * William Harris with wife Susannah and son Andrew
 * John Smith (miller) with wife Alice and children John Jr. and Elizabeth
 * Francis Wickes, a minor
 * Thomas Angell, a minor
 * Joshua Verin with wife Jane
 * William Arnold with wife Christian, daughter Joanne, and son Stephen
 * Benedict Arnold, still a minor, son of William Arnold
 * William Carpenter with wife Elizabeth (the daughter of William Arnold)
 * William Mann with wife Frances Hopkins (the niece of William Arnold)
 * Thomas Hopkins, still a minor, nephew of William Arnold (and ancestor of Governor Stephen Hopkins)