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FAMILY TREE WHITE
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UNIDENTIFIED PHOTOS
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| Governor William Coddington |
immigrant ancestor |
see FAMILY TREE |
| Born: 1601 Boston, Lincolnshire, England |
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| Married: 1650 |
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| Died: 01/Nov/1678 Newport, Rhode Island |
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WIFE
Mary Mosely
Mary
Ann Brinley
CHILDREN with Ann Brinley
1. William Coddington b. 18/Jan/1651
2. Nathaniel Coddington b. 23/May/1653
3. Mary Coddington b. 16/May/1654
4. Thomas Coddington b. 05/Nov/1655
5. John Coddington b. 24/Nov/1656
6. Anne Coddington
7. Noah Coddington
8. Ann Coddington b. 20/Jul/1663
William Coddington was born in Boston, Lincoln County, England, in 1601. He
was a man of fortune and position. In his own words, he was "one of those
Lincolnshire gentlemen, so called, that denied the royal loan, and suffered for
it in the time of Charles I." This probably referred to the forced subsides of
1626. He went to Boston in New England in 1630, the year in which the New Boston
was founded, as one of the Magistrates appointed by the Crown. He had sailed
from Southampton in the ship Arabella for Salem and thence to Boston, and was
"Assistant," or Councellor to the Governor when John Winthrop was first made
Governor of Massachusetts Bay in 1630. He went into business and continued to
exercise his judicial functions, although he made a visit to England in 1631-2.
He was active in the local government, and continuously "Assistant" until 1636
when Winthrop succeeded Vane as Governor and Coddington was dropped, but the
freemen on the following day testified their approval of his course, by sending
him and Vane as their deputies to General Court. When Anne Hutchenson was tried
during the Antinomian Controversy, Coddington undertook her defense against
Winthrop and his party.
In 1633 he was once of a committee to oversee the building of a bridge over
Muddy River, and another bridge over Stony River. From the year 1634 he was
treasurer. In 1635 he was appointed on the Military Committee, and in 1636 (May
5) was appointed to hold certain Courts, maintain his rank as Judge. On the 26th
of October, 1636, his accounts as Treasurer for two years were allowed, the
Colony owing him L 25 14 s 6d.
Thus far William Coddington seems to have been in general accord with the
prevailing sentiment of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, but he was in advance
of his neighbors. Roger Williams had arrived in Boston the year after Coddington
(Feb. 5, 1631) - "A godly Minister" - as Gov. Winthrop then called him but Roger
Williams was also in advance of his neighbors, and did not believe that the
Civil Powers could define orthodoxy, and for this, and similar offences on 9th
Oct, 1635, the General Court sentenced him to banishment - "for his new and
dangerous opinions." - In this controversy Coddington had been with Williams,
and soon after decided to follow him to his new settlement. On March 24, 1637,
Coddington and his friends received a deed from Cononicus and Miantunomi, Chief
Sachems of Narragansett of the Island of Aquidneck, and for forty fathom of
white beads. And they also gave to Miantonomi to give to the Indian inhabitants
as a farther inducement - "to remove themselves off the Island before next
winter" - "ten coats and twenty hoes." Aquidneck is Rhode Island, the Island,
not the State.
Coddington was a man of too much importance in Boston to be willingly spared,
and much effort was made to detain him, but he preferred to go with Williams and
on the 7th of March, 1638 in Portsmouth, RI he and eighteen others signed the
following compact.
"We whose names are underwritten do solemnly, in the presence of Jehovah,
incorporate ourselves into a Body Politick, and as he shall help, wil submit our
persons, lives and estates, unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his given us
in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby."
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In 1665 Coddington having openly joined the Quakers attempted to bring about
peace with the local government. But he continued to serve the Colony, was
Deputy in 1666, Assistant, or Councilor to the Governor in 1666-67, and Governor
in 1674-75-76 and 78. The Government at this time was chosen annually.
William Coddington died at Newport, RI, on the 1st of November, 1678 in his 78th
year, and was succeeded as Governor by Walter Clark. He was buried in the
Coddington burial place which he bequeathed to the Society of Friends, in
Farewell street, Newport. In 1836 the freemen of Newport repaired his monument
at the head of his grave.
Governor Coddington's house was on the north side of Marlborough street opposite
Duke street.
William Coddington was three times married, but left no descendants except by
his third wife, Anne Brinley."
The portrait often associated with him, cannot possibly be him according to
Charles Knowles Bolton, author of The Founders: Portraits of Person Born Abroad
Who Came to America, 1919.
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