John Easton (1624–1705) was a political leader in the

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...

, devoting decades to public service before eventually becoming governor of the colony. Born in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England, he sailed to

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

with his widowed father and older brother, settling in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

and Newbury in the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

. As a supporter of the dissident ministers

John Wheelwright John Wheelwright (c. 1592–1679) was a Puritan clergyman in England and America, noted for being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Antinomian Controversy, and for subsequently establishing the town of Exeter, New Hamp ...

and

Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...

during the

Antinomian Controversy The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of ...

, his father was exiled, and settled in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...

(later called Rhode Island) with many other Hutchinson supporters. Here there was discord among the leaders of the settlement, and his father followed

William Coddington William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...

to the south end of the island where they established the town of Newport. The younger Easton remained in Newport the remainder of his life, where he became involved in civil affairs before the age of 30. Ultimately serving more than four decades in the public service of the

, Easton began as an

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

for the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, soon fulfilling the same role for the entire colony. To this line of service he added positions as Commissioner, Deputy, and Assistant, for many years serving simultaneously in multiple roles. In 1674 he was elected to the office of deputy governor, serving for two years, with a part of his tenure being during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, about which he published a written treatise. Following the overthrow of the

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

governorship under the

Dominion of New England The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure represe ...

, Easton was elected as governor of the colony for five consecutive years. While in office his biggest concerns were funding the ongoing

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

that England was fighting with France, and dealing with the disruptive French

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. Other issues during his tenure included a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic in Newport, charter issues having to do with Rhode Island's militia serving in other colonies, and the ongoing border line disputes with the neighboring colonies. The son of the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

governor,

Nicholas Easton Nicholas Easton (1593–1675) was an early colonial President and Governor of Rhode Island. Born in Hampshire, England, he lived in the towns of Lymington and Romsey before immigrating to New England with his two sons in 1634. Once in the Ne ...

, the younger Easton was also a lifelong Quaker, and following his death in 1705 was buried in the

Coddington Cemetery The Coddington Cemetery is an early colonial cemetery located in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It is sometimes called the Friends' Burial Ground, and has more colonial governors buried in it than any other cemetery in the state. Description The ...

in Newport where his father and several other Quaker governors are also interred.

Early life

The son of

, a President and Governor of the Rhode Island colony, John Easton was baptized at the parish church of St. Ethelfriede in

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

, England on 19 December 1624. His mother, Mary Kent, died in 1630 in England shortly after the birth and death of her fourth child. At the age of nine, in late March 1634, Easton boarded the ship ''Mary and John'' at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

with his father and his older brother Peter, his only surviving sibling. Once in New England, the small Easton family settled first in

, and then later in Newbury, both in the

. While in Newbury, Easton's father became an adherent of the dissident ministers

and

. On 20 November 1637, the elder Easton was one of three Newbury men disarmed for his support of these ministers, and the following March he had license to depart the colony. He then went to Winnecunnet, later

Hampton, New Hampshire Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. On the Atlantic Ocean coast, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination. The densely populated central part ...

, but was ousted from there as well, and by the end of 1638 he was at

in the

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

with other followers of Anne Hutchinson.

Rhode Island

Easton, now a teenager, went with his father when he became a founder of Newport at the south end of the island in 1639, and it is here that the younger Easton lived the remainder of his life. In 1653, while less than 30 years old, Easton began a career of public service that would span more than four decades. In this year he was elected to be attorney general for the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, and the following year he became a Commissioner from Newport. In 1655 he was made a

freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

from Newport, and in 1656 he served his first of 16 years as the attorney general of the entire colony. Easton continued to serve in multiple capacities, and in 1665 was a Deputy, and the following year served for his first of 18 terms as an Assistant. In 1674 Easton was elected deputy governor of the colony, serving under

. He served for two one-year terms in this office, being replaced in 1676 during

with the militarily experienced John Cranston. In 1675 he wrote an account of the Indian war entitled, "A True Relation of what I know & of Reports & my Understanding concerning the Beginning & Progress of the War now between the English and the Indians." The following year he was a member of a Court Martial at Newport for the trial of certain Indians charged with complicity in King Philip's designs. The period of time from 1676 to 1681 was one of the few periods when Easton did not serve in a public capacity. Throughout the 1680s he was an Assistant, and in January 1690, following the three-year rule of

over all the New England colonies, he was one of the Assistants who wrote a letter to the new English monarchs,

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

, congratulating them on their accession to the throne, and informing them that Andros had been seized in Rhode Island, and returned to the Massachusetts Colony for confinement.

Governorship

At the May 1690 elections, all members of the General Assembly were present, and the

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

was publicly read as had been done before the Andros interposition. The aged Henry Bull was elected as governor, but declined the position, and Easton was chosen to serve instead, with John Greene as deputy governor. It was a special time in Rhode Island's history, described by Rhode Island historian and Lieutenant Governor

Samuel G. Arnold Samuel Greene Arnold Jr. (April 12, 1821February 14, 1880) was an attorney and politician from Rhode Island. A Republican, he was most notable for his service as lieutenant governor and as a United States senator. Early life Born in Providence ...

as such:

War with France

The governor, deputy governor and assistants were exempted from paying any colony tax because of the expenses they incurred in attending to their official duties and the fact that they received no salaries. Easton held the governorship for a period of five years, during which period, England and her allies were engaged in the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

with France, and the New England colonists were left to deal with this war in North America, known as

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

. Letters from other colonies came to Rhode Island asking for troops to aide in their efforts, and the reply was usually that the Rhode Island colony had a very exposed condition, and required its men to stay at home. Nevertheless, In October 1690 the General Assembly agreed to raise 300 pounds for the prosecution of the war. The colony now had nine towns: Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, Warwick, Westerly, Jamestown, New Shoreham (Block Island), Kings Town, and East Greenwich, each town being taxed for its portion of the levy. Legislation was also applied to property appraisal, which in the past had been done by the "guess" method, and shipping was to be taxed, with all ships from other colonies being henceforth assessed a tax on cargoes unloaded at Newport. While the war was a major burden upon the colonists, one bright spot occurred in July 1690. As the colonies were being continuously harassed by French

, an expedition consisting of two

sloops A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

and 90 men under the command of Captain

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

went out from Newport to attack the enemy. Paine approached five ships near

Block Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...

, sent a few men ashore to prevent a French landing, then ran into shallow water to keep from being surrounded. A late afternoon engagement ensued, lasting until nightfall, when the French withdrew, losing about half their men to casualties, while Paine's loss was one man killed and six wounded. The brilliant exploit of Paine inspired the people of the colony with a naval spirit; this was the first victory for Rhode Island on the open sea. French privateers, however, continued covering the seas, plundering the commerce of the colonists, and compelled a special session of the Assembly to adopt stringent measures for raising the tax levied but not yet collected.

Other issues

In October 1691 the regular session of the General Assembly was held in Providence at the home of John Whipple (brother of Col.

Joseph Whipple Col. Joseph Whipple Sr. (1662 – 28 April 1746) was a wealthy merchant in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and active in the civil affairs of the colony during the first half of the 18th century. The son of John Whipple ...

). The

had broken out on the island, and being a particularly virulent strain, it was nearly a year before the Assembly met again in Newport. On 7 October 1691 the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies united under a single charter, with

William Phips Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...

assigned as governor. The following year Phips announced to the Rhode Island colony that he had been appointed the commander-in-chief of all militia and other forces of the New England colonies, by sea and by land. This was in direct conflict with the charters of both Rhode Island and Connecticut. Captain Christopher Almy was sent to England to address this issue, to declare that the

Royal Charter of 1663 The Rhode Island Royal Charter provided royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, approved by England's King Charles II in July 1663. It outlined many freedoms for the inhabitants of Rhode Island and was the ...

gave control of troops to the Colony, and to present other issues of concern to the Rhode Island colony. The outcome was that decisions rendered were all in Rhode Island's favor. The Rhode Island colony would have full control of its militia during times of peace, but during wartime would have a quota to offer the collective colonies. Under this quota, Rhode Island was then assessed 48 men to be sent into the service of the Governor of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Another issue during Easton's tenure as governor greatly affected the Massachusetts Colony, but did not spill over into Rhode Island. This was the era of witchcraft, and in Rhode Island this offense appears on the statute book, but no prosecutions were ever made from it. Historian Arnold wrote, "The people of this colony had suffered too much from the superstitions and the priestcraft of the Puritans, readily to adopt their delusions, and there was no State clergy to stimulate the whimsies of their parishioners. More important matters to them than the bedevilment of their neighbors engrossed their whole attention." Jurisdictional disputes with the Connecticut Colony continued, but a letter from that colony to Governor Easton in May 1692 struck a far more amicable tone than had earlier communications, and Easton replied in kind. A new era of warmer feelings between the two rival colonies was ushered in, and the settlers in both colonies were satisfied with the easing of tensions.

Death

After stepping down from being governor in 1695, Easton retired to a private life in Newport, where he died on 12 December 1705. He was buried in the

on Farewell Street in Newport where several other Quaker governors of the colony are also interred. He was the last of the Rhode Island colonial governors who came out of the exile of the

, his father having been expelled from that colony as a follower of

Family and legacy

In 1661, Easton married Mehitable Gaunt (or Gant), the daughter of Peter and Lydia Gaunt from nearby

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

. They had five children and at least 17 grandchildren. They had been married less than 13 years when Mehitable died in late 1673, after which Easton married a woman named Alice, but had no children with her. Historian

Thomas W. Bicknell Thomas Williams Bicknell (September 6, 1834 – October 6, 1925) was an American educator, historian, and author. Early life and career Thomas W. Bicknell was born in Barrington, Rhode Island to Harriet Byron Kinnicutt (September 1, 1791 – D ...

wrote of Easton, "Governor Easton was one of the best qualified and most efficient of Colonial governors. His knowledge of the history of the Colony was complete, his judicial ability was tempered by long experience and careful study, and his great activity and energy, mental and physical, partook of the quality of men at life's meridian. Weakness in policy or vacillation in opinion found no lodgment in Governor Easton's administration."

Ancestry

The ancestry of John Easton's father, Nicholas, was published by Jane Fletcher Fiske in '' The New England Historical and Genealogical Register'' in 2000, and she published the ancestry of Easton's mother, Mary Kent, in the same journal in 2008 and 2009.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

Popular Culture

John Easton is a prominent character in the historical fiction series "My Father's Kingdom" by James W. George.

External links

*
Chronological list of Rhode Island leaders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Easton, John 1624 births 1705 deaths 17th-century Quakers Colonial governors of Rhode Island Converts to Quakerism English emigrants Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island Rhode Island Attorneys General Burials at Coddington Cemetery