1. William Coddington served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport in that colony, governor of Portsmouth and Newport, deputy governor of the four-town colony, and then governor of the entire colony.
40 Facts About William Coddington
1. 2.
William Coddington accompanied the Winthrop Fleet on its voyage to New England in 1630, becoming an early leader in Boston.
3.
William Coddington was not asked to depart, but he felt that the outcome of the controversy was unjust and decided to join many of his fellow parishioners in exile.
4.
William Coddington was the lead signer of a compact to form a Christian-based government away from Massachusetts.
5.
William Coddington was encouraged by Roger Williams to settle on the Narragansett Bay.
6.
William Coddington was named the first "judge" of the colony, a Biblical term for governor.
7.
William Coddington was elected president of the united colony in 1648, but he would not accept the position, and complaints against him prompted the presidency to go to Jeremy Clarke.
8.
William Coddington was initially welcomed as governor, but complaints from both the mainland towns and members of the island towns prompted Roger Williams, John Clarke, and William Dyer to go to England to have Coddington's commission revoked.
9.
William Coddington was not re-elected in 1676, but he was elected to a final term as governor of the colony in 1678 following the death of Governor Benedict Arnold.
10.
William Coddington died a few months into this term, and was buried in the Coddington Cemetery on Farewell Street in Newport.
11.
William Coddington was born in Lincolnshire, England, most likely the son of Robert and Margaret Coddington of Marston.
12.
King Charles circumvented Parliament in 1626 by raising funds through the Forced Loan, and William Coddington was one of many Puritans who resisted this royal loan; his name was recorded on a list for doing so the following winter.
13.
William Coddington was admitted to the Boston church that summer.
14.
William Coddington was a leading merchant in Boston, and he built the first brick house there.
15.
William Coddington was elected an assistant every year from his arrival in New England until 1637.
16.
William Coddington was the colony's treasurer from 1634 to 1636, and a deputy for Boston in 1637.
17.
William Coddington was a Boston selectman in 1634, and was on several committees overseeing land transactions in 1636 and 1637.
18.
William Coddington was a magistrate as the events of the controversy unfolded, elected by the freemen of the colony.
19.
In contrast to the remainder of the colony, Boston continued to be represented with strong free grace advocates, and William Coddington continued as one of its three deputies.
20.
The trial lasted for two days, and William Coddington likely coached Hutchinson on legal matters at the end of the first day.
21.
William Coddington addressed the court with her own judgment, claiming divine revelations as her source of inspiration, and she threatened the court with a curse, as well.
22.
William Coddington's words were ignored, and the court wanted a sentence, but they could not proceed until some of the ministers spoke.
23.
William Coddington was angry about the recent trials, considering them to be unjust, so he began making plans for his own future in consultation with others affected by the Court's decisions.
24.
William Coddington remained on good terms with Winthrop, and consulted with him about the possibility of leaving the Massachusetts colony in peace.
25.
William Coddington's name appears first on the list of signers, and the signers elected him as their "Judge," using this Biblical name for their ruler or governor.
26.
In 1640, the two towns of Portsmouth and Newport united, the name of the chief officer was changed to governor, and William Coddington was elected to the position.
27.
William Coddington did not attend the meeting probably because he did not support the patent.
28.
William Coddington arrived in England to find the country in the midst of a civil war, and he was delayed in getting the attention of the proper authorities.
29.
William Coddington eventually met with his old friend and associate from Boston Sir Harry Vane.
30.
William Coddington thought that Coddington would be a wise and effective chief magistrate and permitted him to serve as governor for an indefinite period, subject to the will of Parliament.
31.
William Coddington spent nearly three years in England, and he met and married Anne Brinley while there.
32.
William Coddington was the daughter of Thomas Brinley, auditor to Kings Charles I and Charles II, and sister of Francis Brinley, who settled in Newport in 1652 and built a large structure that later became the White Horse Tavern on land he obtained from the Coddingtons.
33.
Bicknell asserts that William Coddington had been the chief magistrate of a flourishing island of nearly 1,000 inhabitants, while the combined population of Providence and Warwick was about 200.
34.
The venerable Dr John Clarke voiced his opposition to the island governor, and he and William Dyer were sent to England as agents of the discontents to get the Coddington commission revoked.
35.
The powerless William Coddington withdrew from public life to tend to his business affairs.
36.
In time, William Coddington briefly re-entered public life and became a Newport commissioner on the General Court of Trials.
37.
Sometime in the early 1660s, William Coddington joined Governor Nicholas Easton and many other prominent citizens in becoming members of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers.
38.
William Coddington remained out of public office for most of the two decades following the demise of his commission to govern Aquidneck Island, but he was still considered one of the colony's leading citizens, and his name appears in the Royal Charter of 1663.
39.
Benedict Arnold was elected governor in 1677; he died a year later, and William Coddington was elected to his final term as governor.
40.
William Coddington's grave is marked with the original marker, as well as a taller monument erected on the 200th anniversary of the establishment of Newport.