The Greenes of Rhode Island, with historical records of English ...

44 Settletnent of IVarwick, R. 1.
the '
Honorable
State of Old England, ' procuring at the same time and
also bearing with them to England the submission of the powerful Narragansett
tribe to King Charles (see note) . The justice of their claims could
not be denied. The laws and the throne of England were supreme. England
upheld both the men of Shawomet and the Narragansetts against the
assumed jurisdiction of the Bay, which in her humiliation was forced to
appeal for aid against ' opposition from Warwick, ' to the Commissioners
of the United Colonies. Thus Gorton's successfiol appeal and the stern
rebuke it brought to the tyrann}^ of the Puritan Hierarchy led in a momentous
degree to the preservation of the whole Colony of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, and the final emancipation of its entire territory
from the usurpation of Massachusetts Bay.
" Here, happily, on the territory known as Warwick, nothing seems bet-
ter established than the fact that the first purchase by the English in these
parts was made by John Greene, to whom was deeded, October i, 1642, the
tract of land called Occupasuetuxet by Miantonomi,^ Chief Sachem of the
Narragansetts, and Socononoco, the local Sachem of Pawtuxet. That he
(John Greene) bought it for a settlement, a plantation, and a home seems
evident, for Judge Staples states that on the 25th of September, 1644, he
was actually residing there. How much earlier he had established himself
there does not appear, but he and his family held it as a home for
more than a hundred and forty years, and there, doubtless, he himself
was, as certainly successive generations of his descendants were laid to
rest.
This John Greene, an English surgeon, was the founder of a family
than which none has been more prominent or more honored in the history
of the State. The mention of a few names will suffice. It gave to the
Colony two Governors (both named William Greene) ; to the Army of the
Revolution, Major-General Nathanael Greene; to this Society, two Presi-
dents; and to the United States force in the Rebellion, Major-General
George Sears Greene and his two gallant sons.
any part of the continent of America within your jurisdiction, to the said tract of land called Narragansett
Bay, or any part thereof, they carrying themselves without offence, and paying according to
the custom of the country and their contract, for all things they shall make use of in their way, of
victuals, carriages and other accommodations. Hereof fail not, and this shall be your warrant."
Dated at Westminster, May 15, 1646.
This was directed to the Governor and Assistants of Massachusetts and signed by the Commis-
sioner of Plantations.
I A copy of the deed of Miantonomi (see Appendix I.) will bear out the well established facts
attending John Greene's purchase of Occupasuetuxet, and additionally warrants the inscription of the
date 1642 upon the seal of the Historical Society as the earliest date in which Warvi'ick (alias Shawomet)
first began to pass permanently imder English control.