Rhode Island Colonial Records

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Rhode Island

Colonial Records

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Many records from the colonial era in New England were kept at the town or county level. Search the catalog at the town or county level to locate those records.

History

Rhode Island was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams and other European settlers who were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams negotiated with the Native Americans living there for land and named the place Providence Plantations. In 1644 the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was created and consisted of Providence, Portsouth, and Newport. Warwick joined in 1647. Rhode Island became part of the Dominion of New England in 1686, but regained its independence in 1688.^[1]^[2]

Earliest Church Records	Earliest Land Records	Earliest Court Records	Earliest Newspapers
1636	1636	1638	1732

^[3]

Resources

Court Records

Rhode Island Court Records: Records of The Court of Trials of The Colony of Providence Plantations, 1647-1670. 2 Vols. (Providence: Rhode Island historical Society, 1920-1922).
Records of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Rhode Island: 1716-1752. (1936. Reprint. Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1975).
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and providence Plantations in new England 1636-1792, Printed by Order of the Legislature by John R. Bartlett. (Providence: A.C. Green, 1856-1865).

References

↑ Christina K. Schaefer, Genealogical encyclopedia of the colonial Americas : a complete digest of the records of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1998), 313. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 929.11812 D26 1998
↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Rhode Island," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island, accessed 7 January 2020.
↑ Christina K. Schaefer, Genealogical encyclopedia of the colonial Americas : a complete digest of the records of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1998), 183, 192. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 929.11812 D26 1998

[1] Christina K. Schaefer, Genealogical encyclopedia of the colonial Americas : a complete digest of the records of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1998), 313. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 929.11812 D26 1998

[2] Wikipedia contributors, "Rhode Island," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island, accessed 7 January 2020.

[3] Christina K. Schaefer, Genealogical encyclopedia of the colonial Americas : a complete digest of the records of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1998), 183, 192. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 929.11812 D26 1998

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