Enright Rosemary - Historic Tales of Jamestown (American Chronicles)

A map of Jamestown celebrating the important sites and activities of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Jamestown Historical Society (A2006.409.008).

Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2016 by Rosemary Enright and Sue Maden

All rights reserved

First published 2016
e-book edition 2016

ISBN 978.1.62585.503.9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955759

print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.955.2

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Contents

Preface

Historic Tales of Jamestown grew out of a series of articles that Sue and I wrote for the Jamestown Press about the history of Jamestown.

Neither Sue nor I is a native Jamestowner. Sues roots are deeper than mineher great-grandmother built a summer home overlooking the West Passage of Narragansett Bay in 1896. Sue was brought to Jamestown before her first birthday, spent many youthful summers here, and moved here permanently in 1982. I married a summer Jamestowner whose family had been coming to the island since the 1880s. My husband and I settled here year-round in 1974.

Perhaps it is our status as outsiders who have had to learn the history of our community, rather than natives who have grown up as part of it, that gave birth to our fascination with the subject.

Sue has been researching and co-authoring articles and books about Jamestown for over twenty-five yearsWest Ferry Press published her first Jamestown book, Greetings from Jamestown, Rhode Island: Picture Post Card Views 19001950, in 1988, and her first articles appeared in the JamestownPress in 1992. Many of the articles she wrote with Patrick Hodgkin in the early 1990s were published in Jamestown Affairs: A Miscellany of Historical Flashbacks in 1996.

I joined the list of her co-authors in 2009 when we wrote a monograph for the Jamestown Historical Society about keepers of the Dutch Island light. Since then we have written two books and more than fifty articles about the history of Jamestown.

Our work pattern for our articles is well established. Sue identifies people, events, places, or eras that she finds interesting and thinks will interest others. Together, we decide which ones to tackle in detail. Sue does the research, combing through town records, historical society documents, newspapers, taped interviews, census dataany resource she can find. If the event is recent enoughoften it isntshe talks to the people involved.

I take her detailed research and weave the facts into a story. Sometimes the story I put together needs some corroborating information. Sue finds it. If she cant, or if the new facts she discovers change the meaning or importance of other events, I rewrite until we are both happy. We then hand it off to Harry Wright, our arbiter for grammar, organization, and common sense.

We followed the same pattern for this book, with the notable exception that half of the articles were based on our own essays for the Jamestown Press.

ROSEMARY ENRIGHT

November 2015

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to all the people who have helped us with this effort.

Harry Wright read and reread these essays, and without him, they would not read as smoothly.

Jeff McDonough, publisher of the Jamestown Press, gave us room in his newspaper for the original articles and permission to use them here. The bibliography contains a list of the articles we incorporated or referenced. Almost all of them were rewrittensometimes to change the slant of the story, sometimes to put the essay in context, sometimes to lengthen or shorten the original. And sometimes just because.

The Jamestown Historical Society gave us unlimited access to its archives and permission to use photographs and graphics from the collection. We especially thank the Collections Committee, of which we are both members, for helping us find material we needed and for ignoring our frequent lack of attention to the business of the society.

Many peopletoo numerous to mentioncontributed to the original articles that were the genesis of this book. Joe Bains, Emeline Cabral, Archie Clarke, members of the Daggett family, Elizabeth Di Censo, Mary Greene, Judy Hannold, Carol Hopkins, and Ryan Weeden were the sources for stories and pictures that are new for this collection.

The personnel in the town clerks office were always helpful, particularly in our use of land evidence, vital records, and official minutes of the town council and financial town meetings.

Ken Carlson, reference archivist at the Rhode Island State Archives; the reference department at the Seattle Public Library; and the staff of our own Jamestown Philomenian Library answered numerous questions.

And finally, we thank our readers Joyce Allphin, Ralph Klingbeil, Lois Migneault, and Ginny Saunders for pointing out errors or infelicities that escaped Harrys eagle eyes.

Part I

EARLY DAYS

Chapter 1

Beginnings

Although the history of Conanicut Island begins in the distant past, the first document that is uniquely Jamestowns is the 1657 Land Agreement. This document, to which all land claims on Conanicut and Dutch Islands are traced, is a pre-purchase agreement among buyers about land they expect to buy. Gould Island, which is also a part of Jamestown, was purchased the same year but was not part of the 1657 agreement.

In the document, a brief preamble is followed by twelve numbered articles. The preamble states the reasons for wanting to purchase Quononaqutt (now Conanicut) Island.

First forasmuch, as it is frequently declared that of late there have been endeavors used by some who are neither inhabitants of this Island nor members of this Colony, to get into their possession and power of disposal the abovesaid Island quononaqutt, And

Secondly considering how Commodiously the said Island lies for the enlarging the accommodations of some of us, in regard of the nearness of it to our dwellings, As also considering the great straight that many of us are in for want of commonage for Cattle, as also for other occasions therefore

And for the preventing any foreigners getting it into their possession. whereby inconvenience and disturbance, might possibly, yea, and probably, arise to the Government of this Colony.

After that brief introduction, the men who intended to purchase the land in the middle of the entrance to Narragansett Bay got right down to business. The first article of the contract names seven trustees and authorizes them to negotiate the purchase of the islands from the Narragansett.

That for the procuring the aforesaid Island Conanicut for the occasion aforesaid we do hereby Authorize and appoint, seven of our own NumberNamely William Coddington Esq., Benedict Arnold Sr., William Brenton or in his absence William Baulstone in his stead, also Richard Smith Sr., or in his absence his Son Richard Smith of Narragansett, also Captn John Cranston, Caleb Carr and John Sanford, to use the best of their endeavors thereby to Make A full and firm purchase of the aforesaid Island quononaqutt.