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Colonial

Mary Cowley: Eighteenth Century Rhode Island Entrepreneur
2 months ago

Mary Cowley: Eighteenth Century Rhode Island Entrepreneur

Eighteenth-century American society allowed women to take on some roles outside of homemaker. Women were plaintiffs in court cases, administrators of wills, held powers of attorney, and were property owners. …
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Samuel Casey, Talented Colonial Silversmith and Notorious Counterfeiter, Escapes the Hangman
12 months ago

Samuel Casey, Talented Colonial Silversmith and Notorious Counterfeiter, Escapes the Hangman

Samuel Casey of Little Rest (now Kingston) was one of the most skilled silversmiths in colonial times in all of the colonies.  His craftsmanship of silver tankards and teapots made …
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Banister’s Band of Brothers: Fox Hunting in South Kingstown and Narragansett After the American Revolution
1 year ago

Banister’s Band of Brothers: Fox Hunting in South Kingstown and Narragansett After the American Revolution

We viewed the sea from a high rock…below us of three or four miles extent, a pleasant green meadow, thro’ the middle of which run a pritty winding river. Hamilton …
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South Kingstown at 300 – Part 2: From King Philip’s War to 1723
2 years ago

South Kingstown at 300 – Part 2: From King Philip’s War to 1723

Long-simmering tensions in southeastern New England over land and the mistreatment of Indigenous people finally exploded into all-out conflict in June 1675. King Philip’s War, as it became known, began …
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South Kingstown at 300 – PART 1: From the Narragansetts to the First White Settlers
2 years ago

South Kingstown at 300 – PART 1: From the Narragansetts to the First White Settlers

In the vault at the South Kingstown Town Hall, tucked into the inside back cover of Town Meeting Records March 1798 to 1836 South Kingstown, there are several typewritten copies …
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The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island
3 years ago

The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island

At the current time, informed by our shared experience with Covid-19, most Americans now have more than just a passing familiarity with how our government and health-care system responds to …
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The Philosopher George Berkeley Visits Rhode Island
4 years ago

The Philosopher George Berkeley Visits Rhode Island

One of the most exciting European visitors to colonial America was the Very Reverend Dr. George Berkeley (1685-1753), who spent most of three years in Rhode Island. The rest of …
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Rhode Island Dominates North American Slave Trade in 18th Century
4 years ago

Rhode Island Dominates North American Slave Trade in 18th Century

After a slow beginning in the 17th century, the colony of Rhode Island came to dominate the slave trade in British North America in the 18th century.

Slavery by the …
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Creative Survival: Africans as Mariners in Colonial Rhode Island
5 years ago

Creative Survival: Africans as Mariners in Colonial Rhode Island

The 17th century brought enormous changes to the Western Hemisphere, commonly called the Americas. European explorers and settlers claimed land in North and South America for economic, sovereignty, political or …
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Three Ministers Help Shape Colonial Rhode Island:  Ezra Stiles, Samuel Hopkins, and James Manning
5 years ago

Three Ministers Help Shape Colonial Rhode Island: Ezra Stiles, Samuel Hopkins, and James Manning

These three ministers helped shape colonial and revolutionary Rhode Island. The first was the minister of the Second Congregational Church in Newport, Reverence Dr. Ezra Stiles. The second was …
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