# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rhode Island founder banished from Massachusetts | October 9, 1635 | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Religious dissident Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court of Massachusett…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This article was most recently revised and updated by

Mary Dyer, (born early 1600s, probably Somersetshire, England-died June 1, 1660, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony [now in Massachusetts, U.S.]), British-born religious figure whose martyrdom to her Quaker faith helped relieve the persecution of that group in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Married in 1633 in London to William Dyer, Mary Dyer went with him to America (c. 1635) and settled in Boston. She began to accept the antinomian religious views of Anne Hutchinson and in 1638 followed Hutchinson into banishment in Rhode Island. Dyer's husband joined in the founding of Portsmouth (Rhode Island) and became a leading figure in the new colony.

From 1652 to 1657 Dyer lived in England with her husband. During that time she became a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Upon her return to New England in 1657 she took up missionary work on behalf of the Quakers. Severe anti-Quaker laws passed in 1657 and 1658 made Dyer's work in Massachusetts extremely perilous. She suffered imprisonment in Boston in 1657 and expulsion from New Haven, Connecticut, in 1658 in the course of her missionary travels. In 1659 she was again imprisoned briefly in Boston, where she had gone to visit two other imprisoned Friends, and in September of that year she was formally banished, a sentence that carried the threat of execution should she return. Dyer nonetheless did return in October. Arrested and condemned, she was reprieved while at the gallows (two others were hanged that day) by the intercession of her son and the governors of Connecticut and Nova Scotia. She was again expelled.

In May 1660, in obedience to her conscience and in defiance of the law, Dyer returned once more to Boston. An appeal to her to acquiesce in banishment failed, and she was hanged publicly on June 1, 1660. Her death came gradually to be considered a martyrdom even in Massachusetts, where it hastened the easing of anti-Quaker statutes.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Amy Tikkanen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mary Dyer | Biography, Quaker, Anne Hutchinson, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mary Dyer, British-born religious figure whose martyrdom to her Quaker faith helped relieve the persecution of that group in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Married in 1633 in London to William Dyer, Mary Dyer went with him to America (c. 1635) and settled in Boston. She began to accept the

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this chapter, Carnes details oppression experienced by the early New England colonists. In particular, he chronicles Mary Dyer’s path from a once uncomfortably conforming Puritan to an outspoken Quaker unshaken by threats, banishment and even death.

# data[].attributes.headline
This article is more thorough and a little easier to read than the second one. Use the second article to fill in extra details.

# data[].attributes.subject
This article is more thorough and a little easier to read than the second one. Use the second article to fill in extra details.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 - July 7, 1647) founded the Connecticut Colony after a disagreement with the church leadership in Massachusetts. He was key in the development of the new colony including inspiring the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. He argued for a wider number of individuals being given the right to vote. In addition, he believed in freedom of religion for those who believed in the Christian faith. Finally, his descendants included many individuals who played key roles in the development of Connecticut.

Thomas Hooker was born in Leicestershire England, most probably in either Marefield or Birstall, He attended school at Market Bosworth before entering Queen's College at Cambridge in 1604. He earned his Bachelor's degree before moving to Emmanuel College where he earned his Master's. It was at university that Hooker converted to the Puritan faith.

Immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony

From college, Hooker became a preacher. He was known for his speaking abilities along with his ability to help his parishioners. He eventually moved to St Mary's, Chelmsford as a preacher in 1626. However, he soon retired after being suppressed as a leader of Puritan sympathizers. When he was called to court to defend himself, he fled to the Netherlands. Many Puritans were following this path, as they were able to freely practice their religion there. From there, he decided to immigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arriving aboard the ship called the Griffin on September 3, 1633. This ship would carry Anne Hutchinson to the New World a year later.

Hooker settled in Newtown, Massachusetts. This would later be renamed as Cambridge. He was appointed as pastor of "The Church of Christ at Cambridge," becoming the first minister of the town.

Founding Connecticut

Hooker soon found himself at odds with another pastor named John Cotton because, in order to vote in the colony, a man had to be examined for their religious beliefs. This effectively suppressed Puritans from voting if their beliefs were in opposition to the majority religion. Therefore, in 1636, Hooker and Reverend Samuel Stone led a group of settlers to form Hartford in the soon to be formed Connecticut Colony. The Massachusetts General Court had granted them the right to set up three towns: Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford. The title of the colony was actually named after the Connecticut River, a name that came from the Algonquian language meaning long, tidal river.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

In May 1638, a General Court met to write a written constitution. Hooker was politically active at this time and preached a sermon that basically espoused the idea of the Social Contract, stating that authority was only granted with the people's consent. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were ratified on January 14, 1639. This would be the first written constitution in America and a foundation for future founding documents including the US Constitution. The document included greater voting rights for individuals. It also included oaths of office which the governor and magistrates were required to take. Both of these oaths included lines that said they would agree to "...promote the public good and peace of the same, according to the best of my skill; as also will maintain all lawful privileges of this Commonwealth: as also that all wholesome laws that are or shall be made by lawful authority here established, be duly executed; and will further the execution of Justice according to the rule of Gods word..." (The text has been updated to use modern spelling.) While it the individuals involved in the creation of the Fundamental Orders are unknown and no notes were taken during the proceedings, it is felt that Hooker was a key mover in the creation of this document. In 1662, King Charles II signed a Royal Charter combining the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies which basically agreed to the Orders as the political system to be adopted by the colony.

Family Life

When Thomas Hooker arrived in America, he was already married to his second wife named Suzanne. No records have been found concerning the name of his first wife. They had a son named Samuel. He was born in America, most probably in Cambridge. It is recorded that he graduated in 1653 from Harvard. He became a minister and well known in Farmington, Connecticut. He had many children including John and James, both of whom served as Speaker of the Connecticut Assembly. Samuel's granddaughter, Sarah Pierpont would go on to marry Reverend Jonathan Edwards of Great Awakening fame. One of the Thomas' descendants through his son would be American financier J. P. Morgan.

Thomas and Suzanne also had a daughter named Mary. She would marry Reverend Roger Newton who founded Farmington, Connecticut before moving on to be a preacher in Milford.

Death and Significance

Hooker died at the age of 61 in 1647 in Connecticut. It is unknown his exact burial place though he is believed to be buried in Hartford.

He was quite significant as a figure in America's past. First, he was a strong proponent of not requiring religious tests to allow for voting rights. In fact, he argued for religious tolerance, at least towards those of the Christian faith. He was also a strong proponent of the ideas behind the social contract and the belief that the people formed the government and it must answer to them. In terms of his religious beliefs, he did not necessarily believe that God's grace was free. Instead, he felt that individuals had to earn it through avoiding sin. In this way, he argued, individuals prepared themselves for heaven.

He was a well-known speaker who wrote a number of books on theological subjects. These included The Covenant of Grace Opened, The Poor Doubting Christian Drawn to Christ in 1629, and A Survey Of The Summe Of Church-Discipline: Wherein The Way Of The Churches Of New England Is Warranted Out Of The Word in 1648. Interestingly, for someone so influential and well-known, no surviving portraits are known to exist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learn About Thomas Hooker, Founder of Connecticut

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article takes a look at the life and times of Thomas Hooker. He founded the Connecticut Colony along with Samuel Stone. Learn more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Roger Williams' religious views were not the only unusual thing about him. He was one of the few Englishmen in the New World to sympathize with and respect the Native American population. He proposed that the Indians were the legitimate owners of the land, and that colonists should acquire property by purchasing it from the Native People. This view challenged the system under which the British king had granted land in North America to his subjects and stirred resentment among the rulers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

A few years after Roger Williams established Providence, he founded the first Baptist church in America there. Providence was open to people of all faiths, and Baptists, Quakers, and Jews found a home in the colony. Williams remained a friend to the Native Americans, and did not try to convert them to Christianity.

In 1644 he published a powerful defense of religious freedom. "To molest any person, Jew or Gentile, for either professing doctrines or practicing worship," he wrote, "is to persecute him . . . Having bought Truth dear we must not sell it cheap, nor the least grain of it for the whole world."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On this day in 1635, Puritan minister Roger Williams was found guilty of spreading newe & dangerous opinions and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Before leaving England in 1630, Williams had seen heretics whipped, imprisoned, and burned at the stake. He called for religious freedom, a serious threat to the ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Scroll to the second section of the text AFTER the background information) START in the section called "Why Didn't They Stay in Massachusetts?"

# data[].attributes.subject
Scroll to the second section of the text AFTER the background information) START in the section called "Why Didn't They Stay in Massachusetts?"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project - Stories about the people, traditions, innovations, and events that make up Connecticut's rich history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How do we in the 21st century come to honest understanding of the Puritans, those influential culture shapers from the 1600s? Answering two questions helps us not only get at the heart of Puritan beliefs but also understand why Puritanism in Connecticut differed in at least one important way from its ideological cousin in the Bay Colony.

What Was a Puritan, Anyway?

The word "Puritan" usually conjures up a host of associations; these days, mostly unpleasant ones. Puritans have been cast as mean-spirited (Nathaniel Hawthorne), priggish (H L Mencken), sexually repressed (Arthur Miller), pathologically superstitious (Marion Starkey) folk who liked nothing better than to mind other people's business and to hang their neighbors (especially women) for no apparent reason.

To be sure, the few 17th-century artists who painted Puritans helped reinforce these images by depicting their subjects as dark-fashioned, arched-eyed, pursed-lipped people you wouldn't want to meet at a cocktail party or, worse still, in an alley off of Gold Street.

But the frosty forebear image of the prudish Puritan competes with other, more appealing images: bold builders of John Winthrop's "City on a Hill;" persecuted refugees who risked their all to find religious freedom; rugged egalitarians whose founding documents (the Mayflower Compact and Connecticut's Fundamental Orders) laid the foundation for American democracy. These images, usually hauled out in civics classes or commemorated with scissors and construction paper at Thanksgiving, are generally no more accurate than the negative stereotypes.

In truth, a Puritan was someone for whom religion was the most important single aspect of life-more important than the self, family, friends, wealth, and status. Moreover, Puritans saw the hand of God's providence permeating every aspect of daily living and sought to read divine instruction in ordinary occurrences. Did it rain on the garden? A sign of God's blessing. Were there worms in the cheese? A warning to avoid Satan's snares. The most important thing a Puritan could do was get religion right; this was a lifetime pursuit, engaged in while milking the cow as well as while reading the Bible.

Puritans believed the reforms of the Church of England initiated by Henry VIII in 1533 had not gone nearly far enough. To their minds, the Anglican Church remained encumbered with liturgies and rituals that cast a Catholic shadow over God's Protestant glory. Puritans rejected these practices and pushed hard for further English reformation.

This stance complicated their tenure in England. The monarch, as head of the English church, was naturally prone to view the Puritan push for reform as an expression of disloyalty. James I, upon ascending the throne, said of the Puritans, "I will make them conform [to Church of England rituals] or I will harry them out of the land." Which, gradually he, and his son Charles I, did.

Royal and ecclesiastical persecution led to what has been called The Great Migration, which saw some 20,000 Puritans leave England for New England between 1620 and 1640. Most of them landed in Massachusetts.

Did they come seeking religious freedom? For themselves, yes. But for Catholics, Jews, or even Anglicans, not in the least. Now that we've finally perfected Christian practice, most Puritan migrants reasoned, why should we allow others to blaspheme in our presence? That hard-line stance led to problems among the godly in America almost from the beginning.

Few things unite people more than a common opponent. As long as the Puritans stayed in England, their focus was on what was wrong with the Anglican Church. But having risked their lives to come to New England, far from the reach of king or archbishop, the émigrés could now concentrate on perfecting their own religious practices. This led to almost immediate internal conflict over a range of issues. How did one know if he or she was one of Christ's chosen people? How did others know if a professed "saint" really was a saint? Who should be admitted to the congregation, and on what grounds? These were fundamentals about which many New England Puritans disagreed, and, since getting religion right was the most important thing in the world, they disagreed with vigor.

Why Didn't They Stay in Massachusetts?

One person caught in the crossfire of this religious controversy was the Reverend Thomas Hooker, the celebrated English minister who arrived in Boston in 1633 with the equally celebrated minister John Cotton. Almost immediately, both men were called upon to help resolve a number of religious conflicts that had arisen in the new colony. But Hooker and Cotton frequently had opposing views, which led to increased factionalism. One issue over which they strongly clashed was the standards for admission into the church: Hooker argued for more inclusive membership, Cotton for more restrictive. Hooker believed that achieving assurance that one was a Puritan saint came through a long and arduous process of living a Christian life and that people should be admitted as church members as soon as they had achieved "some hope" of their salvation. Cotton disagreed. He believed membership should be open only to those who could persuade the membership that they had fully received God's grace.

Over time, these disagreements, combined with other factors such as scarcity of good pasture land near Boston and fear of royal intervention (because of a widely trumpeted incident in which a Puritan zealot had cut the cross of Saint George out of the Bay Colony's royal flag), helped convince Hooker to remove to Connecticut. The early New England historian William Hubbard wrote, "Two such eminent stars, such as were Mr. Cotton and Mr. Hooker, both of the first magnitude, though of differing influence, could not well continue in one and the same orb."

On May 1, 1636, Hooker and his assistant, the Reverend Samuel Stone, left Newtown (later Cambridge), Massachusetts, with about 100 members of their congregation and 160 head of cattle, on an overland journey to a place the Indians called Suckiaug. Stone, who had originally ministered in Hertford, England, had led an advance contingent to the area the year before. There, by the banks of the Little (later Hog) River, the company founded Hartford. Hooker's and Stone's new church was to follow the congregational model established in Massachusetts (in which the congregation selects its own ministers), but under Hooker's leadership, the people of Hartford proved more tolerant in terms of church admissions than their coastal peers.

This bent toward tolerance among Connecticut Puritans was later expressed in Connecticut's more lenient treatment of Quakers (whom Bostonians occasionally executed), Connecticut's acceptance of the oath of religious tolerance imposed on New England colonies by Charles II in the 1660s, and Connecticut's cessation of witchcraft executions a full generation before the trials at Salem . These relatively progressive positions were further mirrored in Hooker's sermon on May 1, 1638, wherein he expressed the view-remarkable for its time-that the foundation of governmental authority rested in "the free consent of the people."

This is not to imply, however, that the Puritans of Connecticut were advocates of religious freedom for all. Far from it. Quakers, though allowed to live, were still run out of the colony, and in the early 1660s Hartford hanged more than its fair share of witches. And as Connecticut grew, people still managed to squabble over the details of Puritan practice with almost as much fervor as their cousins to the north. Ultimately, even Hartford's first church was torn by controversy. But the fact remains that Hartford in 1636 was founded by a minister who thought the Bay's practice of Puritanism was harsher than it ought to be. And he thought so with enough intensity that he and his congregation pulled up stakes and headed west for the promise of a kinder, gentler, and better, life.
Walter W. Woodward is the Connecticut State Historian.
© Connecticut Explored. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in the Hog River Journal (currently Connecticut Explored) Spring 2005.
Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What's a Puritan, and Why Didn't They Stay in Massachusetts? - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mean-spirited, repressed souls or persecuted refugees and rugged egalitarians? Connecticut's state historian sets the record straight.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Despite the threat of death, Mary Dyer repeatedly returned to Boston to support fellow Quakers who had been imprisoned. Finally, in the fall of 1658, she and two other Quakers were arrested and sentenced to death. When the governor pronounced the death sentence, Mary Dyer responded, "The will of the Lord be done." A week later, the two men were hanged, but at the last minute, Mary Dyer was granted a reprieve. She reluctantly left Massachusetts, but less than two years later, she returned one last time to defy "that wicked law against God's people and [to] offer up her life there."

Once again, she was arrested and condemned to death. On June 1, 1660, she was taken to the gallows. Her husband pleaded for her life, but she herself refused to repent. The execution of Mary Dyer and the other Quakers so appalled King Charles II that he ordered an end to the death penalty for Quakers in all his colonies. By 1677 members of the Society of Friends were free to hold regular meetings.

Three centuries after Mary Dyer's martyrdom, a descendant left a bequest that paid for Sylvia Shaw Judson, a Quaker woman herself, to produce a life-size bronze statue of Mary Dyer. In 1959 the statue was erected on the west lawn of the Massachusetts State House, where it stands today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On this day in 1658, Plymouth Court ordered that any boat carrying Quakers to Sandwich be seized to prevent the religious heretics from landing. A year earlier, Quakers in Sandwich had established the first Friends' Meeting in the New World. Magistrates in both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were alarmed by ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Anne and William Hutchinson and their 15 children were among the 200 passengers who arrived in Boston aboard the Griffen in the fall of 1634. The couple had followed their minister, the Reverend John Cotton, to be part of a new community where they would be able to practice their faith openly.

A successful merchant in England, William Hutchinson had the resources to buy a house in Boston and a 600-acre farm. The Hutchinsons were respected gentry by the standards of early Massachusetts, and they quickly assumed a prominent place in Boston affairs.

But within three years, Anne Hutchinson would stand before a Massachusetts court, charged with heresy and sedition. In 1638 she would be excommunicated from the church and banished from the colony for holding and teaching unorthodox religious views.

Anne's father was an outspoken English clergyman. Sentenced to house arrest for being publicly critical of the established church, he turned his prodigious intellectual energies to educating his children. Anne inherited her father's intellect and strong religious beliefs. With the benefit of his library and his careful tutelage, she received a better education than most men of her day.

At the age of 21 she married and took on the traditional role of housewife and mother. She bore 15 children and learned midwifery, a skill that entitled a woman to special respect and esteem. She also maintained her interest in theology. She and her husband became devoted followers of the Puritan preacher John Cotton. At a time when Puritans could not worship freely in England, they chose to follow the Reverend Cotton when he emigrated to Boston in 1633.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On this day in 1638, Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Three years after arriving in Boston, she found herself the first female defendant in a Massachusetts court. When she held prayer meetings attended by both men and women, the authorities were alarmed; but what really disturbed them was ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey [ushistory.org]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Related Posts

On This Day in History, October 20, 1658, Massachusetts bans Quakers, enacts death penalty for Quakerism

While many are familiar of the story of the Puritan Pilgrams fleeing persecution in England for religious freedom in the new world, fewer are aware of what exactly religious freedom looked like in the Colony of Massachusetts in the 17th century. While Puritans were able to secure religious freedom for themselves in Massachusetts, they did not freely give that freedom to others looking to escape religious persecution. The Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, as they're officially known, were another religious group that sought religious freedom in Massachusetts.

The Quakers are a religious denomination that was born in mid 17th century England from the teachings of George Fox and centered upon the belief that god is in every man and the absolute right of human consciousness, with a strong focus upon the tenants of non-violence and equality. Quakers were persecuted for their beliefs in England and some began to travel to Massachusetts in search of the religious freedom that the Puritans had sought. Puritans in Massachusetts were however horrified by the arrival of the Quakers and found their beliefs blasphemous. Beginning in 1656, the colonists in Massachusetts sought to prevent Quakers from living within their colony, enacting harsh punishments for Quakers and even ship captains who assisted Quakers in traveling to Massachusetts. Quakers who defied the ban were severely persecuted including whippings, extended imprisonments and even the removal of their ears.

When these attempts failed to quell a growing Quaker population, two years later, on October 20, 1658 the governors of Massachusetts passed an even stricter law that forbade Quakers from entering Massachusetts and threatened Quakers who defied them with the "pain of death." Over the years numerous Quakers were executed and mutilated in Massachusetts for their religious beliefs. Some of these Quakers became known as the Boston Martyrs, including Mary Dyer who had escaped Boston in 1658, before returning two years later, willing to sacrifice her life to make a demonstration out of their cruel law. Dyer was among the Quakers hung for their beliefs.

As news of the atrocities committed against the Quakers reached England, King Charles II forbade further execution of Quakers in Massachusetts and then as the King struggled to maintain control, eventually suspended the Massachusetts Charter and sent a royal governor to Massachusetts to enforce English law.

These executions would have a wide ranging affect on the history of the United States, as this incident would end up serving as a precedent a century later as the English insisted that they had a right to pass laws that affected American Colonists without their consent and even the authority to disband colonial governments. They would also help to inspire a young William Penn to come to the new world and create his own colony, Pennsylvania, where Quakers could finally live without the fear of persecution. Pennsylvania and its capital Philadelphia, were however not just created as a haven for persecuted Quakers, but for all. Penn's groundbreaking "Holy Experiment" of religious freedom in Philadelphia led to persecuted individuals from across Europe to flock to the city and led to Philadelphia quickly growing into the largest city in the American Colonies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Related Posts Buy Tickets for The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia - See 20+ Sites on a Primary Overview of Independence Park, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall Arch Street

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Group of people around well in Providence, RI

A Life of Rebellion

Born in England around 1603, Roger Williams was educated at Cambridge and ordained as a minister in 1629. However, he would soon become disillusioned with his faith. Like the Puritans who would colonize the area known to the English as Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams believed that the Church of England was moving increasingly in the direction of the Roman Catholic Church. He argued that the Church needed to be simplified and purified. This was a dangerous belief for the time. Williams and other Puritans knew that they would not be safe in England for long. Church and state were intertwined in England, and the punishment for dissent was severe. Execution for their religious beliefs was a real possibility.

In 1630, John Winthrop and around a thousand other Puritans fled England for the land that was to become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Roger and his wife Mary arrived a year later. Upon his arrival, Williams was greeted with a warm welcome, even being offered a ministry position. Williams, however, declined - he believed that the Puritans needed to separate entirely from the corrupted Church of England. This belief put him at odds with Winthrop, now leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and drove Williams to move to Salem, a more moderate settlement. However, his preaching continued to get him into trouble, and Williams again moved to the separatist settlement of Plymouth.

Williams did not conform at Plymouth either. Here, he spoke out against the practice of paying ministers with public tax dollars and fines. Instead of preaching, Williams would trade English goods with the local Indigenous people, the Wampanoag and Narragansett. It was here that he learned the Algonquian language of the Wampanoag and Narragansett. Williams also developed mutual respect and friendship with Massasoit, Chief Sachem of the Wampanoag and Canonicus and Miantonomo, Chief Sachems of the Narragansett.

When Williams returned to Salem, it was not as a minister, but as a trader. However, Williams continued to preach outside the established Church in Salem, speaking out against the belief that English colonists had the right to Native American lands, and arguing for the separation of church and state. For Williams, the "First Table" laws, or the first four of the Ten Commandments, were not to be enforced by the government. Instead, they were matters of individual conscience, or liberty. This directly contradicted the legal foundations of the government of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

As a result, Williams was charged with "new and dangerous opinions against the authority of the magistrates" in October of 1635. Faced with the possibility of deportation, and knowing the stakes were high, Williams fled Salem and Massachusetts Bay Colony to avoid arrest, leaving his wife and young children behind. Alone in a blizzard, Williams made his escape on foot. He was eventually found by a Wampanoag hunting party, who brought him to the home of Massasoit where he was welcomed and sheltered through the winter.

In the spring, Williams and some of his followers moved to the land that would become Providence. Unlike many colonists of his day, he negotiated a settlement for the land with the Narragansett Sachems Canonicus and Miantonomo. Williams did not believe that the English settlers were entitled to the land. While Williams and his followers were offered sanctuary and the opportunity to settle the land, in return, the Narragansett Sachems would be allowed to take any English trade goods they wanted. Once Providence was established, Williams sent for Mary and their two children. After years of controversy and conflict, Williams and his family were ready to start over, away from the watchful eyes of the Puritan authorities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Roger Williams: Rebel, Revolutionary, Radical (U.S. National Park Service)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Born in England around 1603, Roger Williams was educated at Cambridge and ordained as a minister in 1629. However, he would soon become disillusioned with his faith. Like the Puritans who would colonize the area known to the English as Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams believed that the Church of England was moving increasingly in the direction of the Roman Catholic Church.