2'>«»S.VII. APRIL23. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



345 



with him. I think it highly probable (though I 

 cannot prove it) that he went with John Cotton, 

 or the liutchinsons, in 1633 or 1634, Laving pre- 

 viously been intimate with both those families in 

 Lincolnshire, and they all went out at this period. 

 They were all together in Boston, Massachusetts. 

 Coddington was there elected to the magistracy, 

 and to a leading part in public affairs. — i. 61. 



At Mrs. Hutchinson's trial and sentence of 

 banishment in November, 1637, for the commo- 

 tions on religious topics which she raised in the 

 colony (and given verbatim at the end of the 2nd 

 volume) Coddington takes part, and pleads in her 

 favour ; and when the persons in court are re- 

 quested to hold up their hands in token that the 

 sentence should not be passed on her, only William 

 Coddington and a Mr. Colborn obey the appeal. 

 Hugh Peters was present. 



Seven months before this period, i. e. March 

 29th, 1637, Coddington, Hutchinson, and others 

 had purchased the great island of Aquidneck or 

 lihode Island from the Indians ; and on the event 

 of the trial, they all seem to have left Boston 

 together in order to proceed to their new acquisi- 

 tion. The island is about sixteen miles long, and 

 perhaps four or five or more miles broad, the town 

 of Newport being the capital. They bought it of 

 Canonicus and Miantonomi, chief sachems of those 

 parts, for the full payment of forty fathoms of 

 white beads, and some clothes. The beads passed 

 for money. They were made out of conch-shells. 

 Roger Williams signed his name to this deed of 

 conveyance as a witness. I had an ancient copy 

 of it in my possession, together with other papers, 

 but the gentleman to whom they were lent has 

 not returned them. The signature of one of the 

 chiefs was an attempt to depict a bow and arrow. 



But I am required to give what information I 

 can on the question as to who may be considered 

 the founder of the colony of Rhode Island, Roger 

 Williams, or William Coddington and his associ- 

 ates? Williams was banished from Massachu- 

 setts in November, 1635, exactly two years before 

 Mrs. Hutchinson ; but though he settled himself 

 down on a spot not far from where the present 

 town of Providence now stands in the spring of 

 1636, he did not, to the best of my knowledge, 

 acquire territory by writteti documents till March 

 24, 1G37. He bought of the same chiefs as Cod- 

 dington and Hutchinson. I must here beg my 

 readers not to lose sight of one essential point, and 

 that is this, — that Coddington bought the island 

 of Rhode Island, but Williams settled on the main- 

 land. Coddington was governor of his island, but 

 Williams's jurisdiction lay on the continent; a 

 glance at the map makes this clear. By compar- 

 ing the dates of Williams's purchase, March 24, 

 with that of Coddington, March 29, we see that 

 Williams has five days the start of Coddington. 

 This is shaving it pretty close. Although in the 



extract above Coddington is called the "father 

 of Rhode Island colony," I am inclined to think 

 (unless there is still some evidence in his favour 

 of which I am not possessed) that my ancestors 

 must relinquish to Williams the honour of found- 

 ing the colony, at all events by the space o^Jive days. 



Mrs. H. but ill-requited Coddington's friendly 

 intercession in her behalf at the trial ; for, in the 

 governor's History, i. 72, we have : — 



" Mr. Hutchinson, her husband, sold his estate, and re- 

 moved, with his wife and family, first to Aquidneck 

 (Rhode Island), being one of the purchasers of that 

 island from the Indians, where, by the influence of his 

 wife, the people laid Mr. Coddington, and chose him for 

 their sole ruler," &c. 



Nathaniel Coddington, whom I conjecture to 

 be the child for whose birth the parents delayed 

 their voyage, as mentioned above, married Su- 

 sannah Hutchinson, granddaughter of William 

 and Ann, April 19, 1677 ; and if so, he was forty- 

 four, and she about thirty-five. A daughter of 

 this marriage, and sole heiress, as far as I know, 

 married Colonel Peleg Sanford, descended from 

 the John Sanford who married Bridgetta H., as 

 remarked ; and John Sanford I take to be the son 

 of EUena and Samuel S. of the Alford register. 

 Peleg Sanford was represented by two co-heiresses; 

 Margaret, the eldest, married my great-grand- 

 fatber. Governor Hutchinson ; and Mary, the 

 youngest, married Lieut.-Governor Oliver, one of 

 whose daughters was my grandmother. By this 

 network of intermarriages we became possessed of 

 much Coddington Rhode Island property ; but all 

 this, together with several estates in Massachu- 

 setts, was lost at the period of the revolution 

 eighty years ago. 



The most likely place to obtain information re- 

 specting the Coddingtons would be amongst the 

 records and registers at Newport, Rhode Island. 

 When I was there I overlooked many things, for 

 my visit to America was a boyish pleasure trip. 

 Boston might also furnish something, especially 

 before 1638, and perhapl Salem in 1630 and 1631. 

 If I go again I will think of all these points ; but 

 in the mean time, perhaps some of my American 

 cousins would rummage them up. 



Mr. p. Thompson also makes inquiry respecting 

 Sir Henry (qy. Harry ?) Vane's family; but I re- 

 gret that I have no private papers that would assist 

 him in that quarter. P. Hutchinson. 



JS>.t^\iti tfl ;^itT0r eauoricif. 



Scandal against Queen Elizabeth (2"'' S. vii. 

 106.) — The depositions I read at the Society of 

 Antiquaries, accompanied by a letter to the Privy 

 Council from Mr. Justice Weston and Mr. Serj. 

 Harper, then acting as judges of Assize at Salis- 

 bury, are Harl. MS., No. G990., art. 24. The 

 date of the doi.KJsitions taken before John Erneley 



