Memoir of Roger Williams, the Founder of the State of Rhode-IslandKnowles, James D. (James Davis)
History
Memoir of Roger Williams, the Founder of the State of Rhode-Island
Knowles, James D. (James Davis)
Rhode Island -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Williams, Roger, 1604?-1683
“The genealogy was extracted from Welch chronicles, about the year 1602,
to show the descent of Sir Henry Cromwell, who was then living. It
commences in the person of Glothyan, fifth Lord of Powes, who married
Morpeth, daughter and heiress of Edwin ap Tydwall, Lord of Cardigan, who
was lineally descended from Cavedig, of whom the county of Cardigan took
the name of Cavedigion. His son, Gwaith Voyd, was Lord of Cardigan,
Powes, Gwayte and Gwaynesaye. He died about 1066.
“From Gwynstan ap Gwaith, second son of the above Gwaith Voyd, was
lineally descended, through about thirteen generations, or in about four
hundred and forty years, Morgan Williams, who, in the reign of Henry
VIII., married the sister of Thomas Cromwell. This Morgan Williams had a
son Richard, who was knighted by Henry VIII., not by the name of
Williams, but by the name of Cromwell, after his uncle, whose heir he
became. This Sir Richard had a son Henry, who was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth in 1563, and married Joan, daughter of Sir Ralph Warren, and
had six sons and four daughters. The sons were Oliver, Robert, Henry,
Richard, Philip and Ralph. Oliver, the Protector, was the only son of
Robert, and born in the parish of St. John, in Huntingdon, April 25,
1599.
“The above will satisfy us, that the tradition in the family of their
being a connection by blood with the Protector, may be true. You will
see, however, that the connection was quite remote.”
Concerning the parents of Mr. Williams, I have discovered nothing. The
name “Roger Williams” occurs in Welsh genealogies, but without any clue
to guide us. I have written to Wales for information, but have received
no reply. A brother of Mr. Williams, named Robert, was one of the early
inhabitants of Providence, and was afterwards a schoolmaster in Newport.
He mentions, in one of his books, another brother, “a Turkey merchant.”
Richard Williams, who settled in Taunton, has been supposed to have been
a brother of Roger.
NOTE B. p. 54.
Our note respecting the Anabaptists must be brief. An Anabaptist is one
who baptizes again a person previously baptized. The Cathari, of the
third century, were accustomed to baptize again those who joined them
from other sects.—Murdock’s Mosheim, vol. i. p. 247. The name was early
applied to those who opposed infant baptism, and who baptized those who
joined them, though they had been baptized in infancy. The name, of
course, expressed the views of their opponents, and not their own,
because they did not consider such persons as having been baptized.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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