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Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island Genealogy

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Newport, Rhode Island
Map
Map of Newport County highlighting Newport
Location in Newport County
Map of Rhode Island highlighting Newport County
Newport County's location in the state of Rhode Island
Facts
Founded 1639
Seat Newport
Ri-newport-cityhall.jpg
Address City Hall
43 Broadway
Newport, RI 02840
Website: www.cityofnewport.com/
Modern town borders of Newport in Newport County, Rhode Island.

Town Information

Description

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County.

Colonial Period

Newport was founded in 1639 and its eight founders and first officers were Nicholas Easton, William Coddington, John Clarke, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull, who left Portsmouth, Rhode Island after a political fallout with Anne Hutchinson and her followers. As part of the agreement, Coddington and his followers took control of the southern side of the island. They were soon joined by Nicholas Easton, who had recently been expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for holding heretical beliefs. The settlement soon grew to be the largest of the four original towns of Rhode Island. Many of the first colonists in Newport quickly became Baptists, and in 1640 the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed under the leadership of John Clarke.

The early Jews

In 1658 a group of Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal were allowed to settle in Newport (Jews fleeing Brazil after defending Dutch interests there against the Portuguese were denied the right to stay in then-Dutch New York until governor Peter Stuyvesant finally relented in 1655; seeking asylum in Spain and Portugal was not an option). The Newport congregation, now referred to as Congregation Jeshuat Israel, is the second oldest Jewish congregation in the United States and meets in the oldest standing synagogue in the United States, Touro Synagogue.

Parent Towns

Populated Places

Includes Neighborhoods, Villages, Unincorporated Communities,
Districts, and Census-Designated Places:

Adjacent Towns

Town Records

In New England most original vital records of birth, marriage, and death can be found at the town clerk's office

Newport Town Clerk

Vital Records

Births

Marriages

Deaths

Divorce


For more resources see:

Town Reports

Resources

For more County and State resources see:

Biographies

  • Robert Durfee's journal and recollections of Newport, Rhode Island; Freetown, Massachusetts; New York City & Long Island; Jamaica and Cuba. FS Catalog Collection
    Robert Durfee was born about 1770 in Rhode Island. During his lifetime he spent time in Massachusetts, New York City area, and several islands in the West Indies before settling on Saint Simons Island, Georgia about 1805. This material includes his journal kept during this period with supplimentary information collected by Virginia Wood concerning the events, individuals, and thoughts discussed in Robert's journal.

Business and Commerce

  • Commerce of Rhode Island: 1726-1800 FS Catalog Collection
    Half title: Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, seventh series, v. 9-10. Includes index. Contents: v. 1. 1726-1775 -- v. 2. 1775-1800."The letters and papers printed in these volumes formed a part of the commercial correspondence of four generations of a Newport mercantile house. The earlier letters were of the Redwood family. The house of Ayrault of Newport entered about the middle of the eighteenth century as also that of Lopez. To the second half of the century, the firms of Lopez and Champlin contribute the larger part"--Prefatory note, v. 1.

Cemeteries

Church Records

Historically, the largest religious groups in Rhode Island were the Congregational, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist churches. For general information about Vermont denominations, view the New Hampshire Church Records wiki page.

To see the churches in TOWN, visit.

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. The following are church records available online for the town of TOWN:


Society of Friends

also known as Quakers.

  • A preliminary guide to the records of the meetings in New England Yearly Meeting of Friends with their subordinate meetings FS Catalog Collection

City Directories

Land Records

The following are online land records for the town of Newport:

Maps

This selection incudes town, county, state, and historical maps

Military

Some Records are Searchable by Town

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

For more Revolutionary War Military Records see:

Civil War, 1861-1865

For more Civil War Military Records see:

World War I, 1917-1918

For more World War I Military Records see:

World War II, 1941-1945

For more World War II Military Records see:

Newspapers

  • 1800-1801 - The Guardian of Liberty (Newport, R.I.) at Google News - free

Other Town Records

In Rhode Island, most records are kept at the town level and generally began being kept at the founding of the town. These records may include the following:

  • Births
  • Marriages
  • Deaths
  • Burials
  • Cemetery records
  • Appointments
  • Earmarks
  • Estrays (stray animals)
  • Freemens' oaths (men eligible to vote)
  • Land records
  • Mortgages
  • Name changes
  • Care of the poor
  • School records
  • Surveys
  • Tax lists
  • Town meeting minutes
  • Voter registrations
  • Warning outs (of town)

The following are TOWN town records available online:

Probate Records

In Rhode Island, most probate records are kept at the town level. The following are online probate records for the town of Newport:

Websites

Research Facilities

Archives

Libraries

Museums

Nearest FamilySearch Center

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

  • FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
  • FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Societies

References

v • d• e
Towns in Newport County in Rhode Island articles
Ri-newport.png
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